My Sister's Flag Day Birthday Cake

This cake was for my sister's birthday.  She threw her party on Flag Day, and went with flag decorations and colors.  I decided to go with the theme too.  I got the idea and concept from a cake decorating class I saw on craftsy by Jessica Harris.  She has an awesome blog too.  The top was a chocolate cake filled with three layers of chocolate ganache, crumb coated with lots of ganache, and then covered in Marshmallow Fondant.  The bottom tier is an Old Fashioned Buttermilk Cake using a recipe I found on craftsy.com  I love this website for learning new tricks.  Anyway, the cake was delicious, and it was almost, ALMOST, like a pound cake.  I filled those layers with a Swiss Meringue Butter Cream (SMBC), another recipe I found on craftsy.  Now we Americans are used to the "butter cream" from Costco and grocery stores, or the kind that leaves a nice greasy slick on your lips.  Let me tell you that this stuff is not that stuff.  This is real butter cream, made by carefully cooking egg whites and sugar in a double boiler and then whipping it up to stiff peaks.  Then you add a pound of butter, two pounds powdered sugar, and some vanilla to it all.  It is so creamy and light and whipped.  My hubby and I found that this butter cream is well suited to fresh fruit filling.  So after using it plain on my last Jake and the Neverland Pirates cake, I decided to use sliced fresh strawberries in this one.  Yummy! Just what it needed. I did have to refrigerate the cake, but that wasn't a problem.  I also gave it a generous crumb coat of SMBC.  All the decorations are made of modeling chocolate.  I am in love with this stuff now!  How did I live without it for soooo looonng!?  I definitely need more practice, but I am well on my way.  I can't wait to see what it does on a trial trip to St. George.  A friend has asked me to make a cake she can take on the road with her to Utah, and since I will be going there soon, I am anxious to see how it will hold up in hot weather.

Here is the top tier by itself, I thought it was super cute just like this.  It's sitting on a piece of wax paper because I can move it around better that way without having to touch the cake.  Just a tip if you needed it.   It would make a cute little smash cake for a one-year old.  Or for a young woman's birthday.  In any color.  It is a perfect size for a small party, 6" round by 4" tall.

Here is the bottom tier by itself, chillin' in the fridge.  Pun intended, heh heh.  I think it looks good on its own too.  Almost good enough for a bridal shower or something of that sort.  It was a tall cake, 6" high and 8 inches round.  I had to take a shelf out of the fridge for this one.  Thank you hubby for helping me with that.
Til next time!