Vanilla birthday cake

For a perfectionist, something as simple as making a vanilla cake can be a complicated procedure.

The texture most be perfect, light, fluffy, springy, and the flavor must be delicately scented with vanilla, without overpowering the cake. The buttercream must be thick to hold the cake together, but light enough to pair well with the texture of the sponge.

Needless to say, although this is a very complex procedure (for me anyway) it doesn't affect the fact that a plain vanilla cake can end up looking, well.. plain.

I have seen SO many wedding cakes and occasion cakes with this classic shell border, which somehow, transforms the cake, making it appear a great deal more fancy" than before.

I decided to give this a go, going for the whole girls pink birthday party theme (regardless of the fact that a) don't actually have anyone who has a birthday anytime soon b) don't even have a baby sister that this would be appropriate for). When I say pink, i mean very pink-

  

Normally i wouldn't use sprinkles (I have a thing against them) but I thought glitter and sprinkles would be a good final touch to make the cake seem girly enough.

The overall outcome was a cake that was really, really pink, and screamed birthday. I will definitely be using shell borders again, as they literally transform a plain cake into something that would do for a birthday cake, or any type of occasion for that matter.