What says happy birthday better than a reality tv cake?!  I think i had way too much fun making this cake…lol. This cake was for my fabulous cousin on my husbands side who is obsessed with cheeseball reality tv (we often commiserate over our mutual love of trash tv!).  The great thing about this cake is that every year, i have complete free reign (hence the purple cake…lol).  Our cousin’s birthday is in late December, so every year i make her a birthday cake as part of the desserts for the family holiday party (last year it was the Phillies cake, the year before that it was the Baby belly cake when she was pregnant). So it gives me a chance to experiment and try out new techniques and flavors. And really, i get to play…hehe. And after a crazy holiday season, it’s a welcome “lisa play time” cake…lol.  So after some secret emailing with her spouse and sister to confirm the shows she likes, this is what i came up with.

Everything is completely edible! From the rug (that matches their actual rug in their living room) to the little ipad she got for Christmas. It even has a little apple on the back. All the “TVs” were made with help of our fabulous edible ink printer and edible paper (the big tv on top of course is fondant based). Even the chair is a big brownie! All the top garnishes were made from fondant and a few lollipop sticks for support. The cake is iced with tinted vanilla buttercream and purple sprinkles on the side. I even used some edible purple luster dust on the top for some added purple sparkle!)

The cake itself is a brand new flavor i tried out that i ended up LOVING!! I call it “Caramel Toffee Crunch”. It’s our rich chocolate cake and the filling is salted caramel buttercream with more gooey caramel and chocolate covered toffee bits all swirled together.  OMG it was fabulous! I even had a second piece it was so good. And everyone loved it! So now that will be an official Chocolate Swirl cake flavor!

And i am happy to report, the Birthday girl loved it!  Even her little daughters got a kick out of the little figurine looking just like mommy and they loved eating the “brownie” chair.  So until next year, Happy Birthday Joanne!

TheChocolateSwirl.com/customcakes

Top view

“Bravo, watch what happens!”

The Birthday Girl and her cake

Closeup of some of her favs

We love us some NJ Housewives!!! And 90210, had to throw in our classic fav!