Speedy Delivery...

My dear friend who is letting me arrive on her doorstep with 5 little girls and an adult girlfriend in tow this summer, had a birthday on Saturday. She is not shy about making known her love of chocolate, and she's admired my cakes on a few occasions, and has not been reticent to ask for one of her own cakes.

Unfortunately, like many of my good intentions, this cake was delayed and put off and procrastinated until almost the last possible moment. Not having chocolate chips on hand, and having lots of school projects and evening meetings, etc. delayed the cake-making. This also put a crimp on how much cake decorating I could do.

I used The Cake Mix Doctor recipe book to make "Darn Good Chocolate Cake," which is one of my all-time favorite recipes (semi-sweet chocolate chips, chocolate pudding and sour cream added to a devil's food chocolate cake mix... Mmmmmm). I then made chocolate butter cream frosting. And, made marshmallow fondant made into chocolate with cocoa powder. I wish I could've brought the cake in person, cuz then I could've had a slice with her. Still, I almost melted myself when I put some chocolate butter cream frosting on the cake left-overs and sank into a chair to enjoy yummy moon-high-calories.

I made some flowers from home-made gum paste. I fashioned the delicate flowers after the wild honeysuckle that grows in our yard and smells heavenly.

And, I wrapped it up like a newborn in a snowstorm before I tucked it into the freezer. The next morning I took it to the post office and tucked in some plastic bags to cushion the wrapped-up cake and taped it shut and sent it off in the mail. I had hoped it would be delivered on her birthday (Saturday), but I knew that it might not get there until Monday. Still, the cake is supposed to be thawed at room temperature and can last up to a week at room temp. I am just thinking that those delivery trucks aren't kept very cool in the summer...

Still, apparently the cake arrived on time, and wasn't destroyed. Hurrah!

Here's what it looked like before I shipped: