Ahoy There!

Sometimes when I think about a theme, I have these grand visions in my head of what I'd like the cakes to look like. It should be said though that I am possibly the least crafty person I know - I can't sew, knit, draw, paint or do anything that involves taking a vision in your head and somehow representing it on paper. I do okay with play-dough though, so that must be why I manage okay with cakes.

Last year my gorgeous best friend, Sarah, organised an absolutely sensational surprise 60th birthday party for her very lovely Dad. Her Dad is a sailing man and so the party's theme was a nautical one (which, I might add, was such a sensational theme - everything for the party just looked terrific!). Sarah, and her sister Kate, did a fabulous job with the party organising - their Dad was completely surprised and I'm sure they will all treasure that evening always.

Sarah asked me to do some cakes for him and I had a few ideas in my head and I really had to tinker around a little to make the end product match the vision in my mind. Of course, it didn't help that once I'd mucked around night after night to finally find something I was happy with, my darling eldest Son woke up early one morning and decided he'd break all of the decorations into pieces!!! (The first one was an accident and I think the rest followed because he figured if he was going to get into trouble he may as well do a good job of committing the crime.)

Despite the sabotage, I was really happy with how the stand turned out - in fact, the decorations were probably better the second time around. I did 60 vanilla cupcakes which were all iced with a whipped white buttercream frosting. I then decorated each cupcake with either a fondant life preserver, sailboat or anchor. The decorations were fiddly, but really effective. If either of my boys turn out to be rowers, I'll be set for cake ideas!