Birthday Cakes

I have been very busy. That is the reason for missing in action for more than a week here. Working 55 hours a week with all the other stuff I do, it is not an easy task to plan a birthday party that too when you are cooking everything at home including the cakes. Yes, cakes and not one cake since I combined two kids' birthday party together. You will see few new recipes that I made as part of the food sometime this week.
Here is how the conversation goes two weeks prior to the birthday party in my house. My older one is 'Vibha' and younger one is 'Lakshmi'. Here is how it went this time.

Me: Vibha, what cake do you want for your birthday.
Vibha: Vanilla cake, but I want a heart cake.
Me: Nobody has a heart cake for their birthday. It is for valentine's day or anniversary, engagement and stuff like that.
Vibha: But I love a heart cake with flowers on it.
(My husband who was silent all this time started talking. Let's call him 'S')
S: When she is asking for a heart cake, why don't you make it? Do you have a pan?
Me: Yes. But I have only one pan and I will have to bake it twice to make a layered cake.
S: Just make it one single layer cake then. If that is easier for you.

That is how this cake was made to make my kid happy. She wanted flowers on the cake and since I knew I would be very busy to pipe all buttercream flowers, I chose royal icing flowers which I made 2 days in advance.

Conversation with younger one:
Me: Lakshmi, what cake do you want for your birthday?
Lakshmi: Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
Me: What design.
Lakshmi: I don't know.

So, I decorated this in a very simple way with some dots and scrolls. I tried piping scrolls in another way in the beginning which, I didn't like. So, I had to remove them and redo it which has left some smudge marks on the cake. She actually wanted some sprinkles on the top, but since I have sent cupcakes for her birthday with sprinkles, I wanted something different.

Enjoy.