A Knitted Decorated Birthday Cake

This is my last post that highlights some of the details of the big family gathering for my mother-in-love’s 95th birthday party!

If you’ve been reading along you’ll know her family is pretty much in awe of this special lady. At 95 she is still very active and gets around and is tech savvy! She is on Facebook, writes emails and prints her own photos. She might even do Facetime with her great-grandchildren, it wouldn’t surprise me.

We celebrated her big day on her actual birthday which also happened to be on Thanksgiving day this year. Her entire family was present – 3 sons, 8 grand-children, 3 great-grandchildren, 1 brother and all the spouses and significant others that come along with the package, 27 total!

Jean has a love and talent for knitting. At her residence she founded a knitting group where the ladies donate their time and talent to Knots of Love, an organization that gives persons going through medical treatments knitted hats to wear so I knew I had to step my my creativity on her cake.

knitted decorated birthday cake

As luck would have it, I recently found a “knitting” mold by Marvelous Molds. This helped to inspire me to make a cake that looks like it was hand knitted.

For the bottom tier I repeated the mold pattern and also decorated it with knit buttons from the same mold line.

To give the cake a touch more elegance, I added gold powder mixed with vodka to a paint consistency and painted it on to the cable knit trim and knit buttons.

What really made this cake special for me is that my son who flew in from NJ for the party greatly helped me out when I hit a major creative snag. Originally, I made the top tier covered in the sprinkles I had decorated the mini pumpkins with, which I loved, but it looked terrible. There was such a disconnect with the understated elegance of the bottom tier against the bright colors of the top. As I scraped off all the sprinkles into the sink we both agreed the sink looked like a clown had thrown up. It was very funny at the time. Maybe you had to be there. 🙂 This knitted cake was a faux cake using cake dummies because no one in our family likes fondant and would eat it so my other son made 2 of his famous award winning chocolate cakes as requested by the birthday girl but unadorned. My guys are great in the kitchen. Well trained, if I say so myself. 🙂

Anyway, I was so disheartened that my original design did not work out aesthetically so we started over on the top tier design with a fondant base. This is where my son’s stellar math skills came into play designing and calculating the spiral spacing and angles. You’d be amazed how much exact planning went into this second tier to get all that perfect. I was also reminded why I don’t make cakes like this on my own anymore and why I have so much admiration for those who do. 

knitted birthday cake

For the topper, I was completely stumped. This was day 2 now. My son thought of a ball of yarn and knitting needles. Genius! We tried different ways to make the yarn ball. You wouldn’t think it would be that hard but it was. We tried covering a baseball, a styrofoam ball, and just making a big fondant ball (such a waste of material) and all my ideas. Finally he said let’s just try wrapping up the long strips of fondant that we made using a clay extruder and wind them up like a ball of yarn. Why didn’t I think of that? That was the solution and it worked perfectly!

For the knitting needles, we used kabob sticks that I had in a drawer and painted them with the same gold “paint” used on the cake. For the caps on the knitting needles, we used thumb tacks since this was not an edible cake.

knitted decorated cake

To top it off, I had found numbers that were sparklers. Had. To. Get.

knitted birthday cake

Another benefit to making a showy faux cake like this is that it can have many lives that a real cake can’t have, for instance, Jean wanted to show this cake off to her knitting group so we took it over to her place so she can bring it to one of their meetings. She plans on keeping it so when they have an exhibition of their work the cake can make an appearance for a conversation piece and little fun and whimsy.

But for my sons and me it was just a labor of love to show how much this wonderful person means to us.

Happy 95th birthday, “Jeana”… and many more! xoxo

95th birthday party jeanapalooza95

Autumn Birthday Decorations

sunflower arrangement

I know we are fully into the Christmas season but if you’ve been following my blog, Instagram page or Instagram Stories in particular, you’ve seen a few photos of our family’s big celebration for the birthday of our matriarch! We called this special day the “Jean-a-palooza 95” because Jean turned 95! My mother-in-love is an amazing woman who is active, is on Facebook, sends emails, prints out her own photos and is the founder of a knitting group at her… [Read More]

A Thanksgiving Day Birthday – Jeanapalooza #95!

Thanksgiving Birthday Pumpkin with Sprinkles

We have a big celebration happening in our family on Thanksgiving Day! The matriarch of our family, my mother-in-love, turns 95! I’ve written about her before as 5 years ago we hosted her 90th “Jeanapalooza”. She’s pretty incredible and her birthday is a big deal for our family as all her children, grand children and great-grand children will be here for her. What makes the day even more fun is that her birthday is actually on Thanksgiving this year so… [Read More]

Succulent Pumpkin Arrangement DIY

succulent pumpkin arrangementDIY

If you’re a guest this Thanksgiving and the host or hostess has got the menu covered, I’ve got a different idea for you as a special gift to give. Flowers are lovely and always welcome but how about making a succulent pumpkin arrangement for something a little more unique? I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is to put together. Things you’ll need: Pumpkin (grocery store, home improvement store or nursery) Sheet Moss (home improvement store – I found… [Read More]

A Party To Welcome A Sweet Baby Boy

rubber duckie decorated cookies

Hello! If you’ve been following me on SweetsToImpress Instagram, you’ve seen pics here and there of the dessert party I created for my great-nephew’s Meet n’ Greet.  I not only had the fun of making all the desserts for the table but I also made the decorations!  I’ve been a very busy great-auntie for weeks but I was also very organized which was a tremendous help in not becoming too stressed to get-it-all-done. Since my niece had no preference for… [Read More]

Dressing Up Your Halloween Drinks

Wilton Halloween Mold

“Where can a nice ghoul go to get a drink?”  Right here!  Whether it be alcoholic or not (can’t believe I offered an option) I’ve got a couple easy ideas to make your Halloween drinks fun with a few Wilton Halloween products. I’m not normally a blood n’ guts Halloween enthusiast but I don’t mind a little faux A positive for festive effect especially when it’s sparkly.  It’s just friendlier that way.  I found this over-sized bowl at Kohl’s and… [Read More]

Peeps Among the Flowers (DIY Peeps Floral Arrangement)

peeps in flower arrangement700

When you return from a vacation does it always take you awhile to acclimate again? I spent last weekend in Berkeley and Lake Tahoe with all my men and it was gorgeous! Did I even take one photo? No! I can’t believe it but it proves how much I drank in the moment without a thought about getting a shot to post on Instagram or Facebook.  In my zen state-of-mind I kind of forgot Easter is nearly here too!  Instead… [Read More]

Get The Party Started with Shutterfly– Perfectly Personal™ Holiday Card Collection

Are you thinking yet about the December holidays and sitting on the fence whether to entertain and host a fun party?  With the temps in the high 80’s here in Southern California it doesn’t exactly feel like the holiday party planning season is here but it is!  Thanks to Shutterfly, I was able to find my holiday spirit while working on a project for them. I’m very pleased to feature a party invitation that I chose, and I think you’ll… [Read More]

A Bridal Shower Styling for Shutterfly and so much more

I love the celebrations of weddings and the anticipation of the big day.  I’ve had the delight and honor to be involved with numerous nieces’ and nephews’ wedding preparations from making hundreds of rosettes to hang to baking and decorating hundreds of cookies favors for every guest to enjoy so when Shutterfly asked me to style and photograph a bridal shower theme party using their products of my choice, I couldn’t wait to get started on a bright and fun… [Read More]

Hello! Bridal Shower Styling Sneak Peek!

I hope everyone had a nice Mother’s Day.  I did!  Just a quick check-in today as I’m styling and shooting for a project for Shutterfly that will post on Friday. I’ve had a bit of an injury to my right hand which I believe has been from swiping constantly “to the left, to the left” on my iPad and phone and swirling all around on my track pad on my laptop which I use for everything, even photo editing and… [Read More]