Green Ombre

For a co-worker's birthday I decided to pull out the big guns and show off my cake skills to the people of Apache Junction.  I hardly ever get to bake these days so it was pretty darn fun.  

I started out with a double batch of white cake mix.  I just use good ol' Betty Crocker and didn't even add any pudding mix or anything.  I split this up into 5 bowls using a measuring cup and started dying away.

I used Wilton Kelly Green frosting dye.  I went for the darkest color first and then just tried for one in the middle.  This one ended up being the second darkest.  This allowed me to learn through trial and error.  Turns out you need VERY little dye to get the lightest green colors.  I baked each layer individually for about 15 minutes each.  This was a pain since I'm operating with only one 8" pan, but I eventually ended up with this:

I whipped up some vanilla buttercream.  This needed to be nice and thick for the frosting technique I wanted.  I bought a can of raspberry pie filling and made some whipped cream with cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla.  Turns out I love fruity fillings.  I started assembling and soon found out two things.  A) Two of my layers didn't look like two different colors.  B) My cake was going to be TALL.  I left one layer out and thoroughly enjoyed it later.  I started assembling with my darkest layer first.  I made a moat around the edge with buttercream and filled it first with a little layer of whipped cream and then a thin layer of raspberry.  When I got all four layers on there, I gave the whole thing a nice crumb coat.

I'm really into the messy buttercream look these days.  The layer of frosting on the top was nice and thick, but the sides were thin and don't really matter because I covered them with...

RUFFLES!

I did this once before with Emily's help for a party last summer and I have been in love with it ever since.  I added some glitter and pretty sprinkle balls on top and called it a day.

 I'm pretty sure everyone was happy!