"First Birthday" Cake

My baby girl is turning 1 tomorrow - and we had her party this evening.  I debated long and hard about what to make for her first cake, because since she's so young, it's hard to tell what her interests are or even what colors she likes.  I decided to go with something simple and cute, with colors my other girls would enjoy.  

I baked a chocolate cake mix (from Trader Joe's - no bad ingredients!) in two 9" pans and froze them ahead of time so they would be easy to frost.  

This afternoon I made a chocolate filling - can't have too much chocolate, you know.  It was a simple recipe.

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 heaping T. unsweetened cocoa
• 1-1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 3-4 T. cream or milk, enough to get to your desired consistency

Beat the butter with the (sifted) cocoa and powdered sugar.  Add vanilla and cream and beat until smooth and creamy, soft enough to spread but stiff enough to stay on the cake.  Set aside.

Then I made my standard buttercream, only a smaller amount than usual because the cake is smaller.

I tinted part pink, part purple, and left the rest white. 

I drew the outline of the 1 (with a toothpick) and filled it in with #16 star tip.  I also used that tip for the rosettes around the top border.

I used tip #2 for the writing, butterflies, and outlining of the number 1- and tip # 107 for the pink flowers and bottom border.  

Turned out cute and very delicious!  

This recipe is linked to the Ultimate Recipe Swap: Birthday Cakes.