With a star tip and enough 10X sugar I could rule the world.

This was Entropy Girl's birthday cake. My inspiration for the bright saturated colors was cakes I saw at Aroma's in Williamsburg when she was just a few months old. We had gone to meet my parents for a long weekend to recover from the post-partum haze and pneumonia that darkened our spring. We stopped for lunch at this quirky little cafe and fell in love with the cakes - all bright and cheery, happy and a little silly. Those featured more mature themes - makeup and rock music - so I didn't copy them exactly but I went all the way with the color and loopy piping. The cake itself was chocolate with chocolate filling, at the Boy Wonder's behest.

My baby is one.

Making the cake was a little anxiety producing because my mom - who thinks nothing of producing in a single weekend a five-tier wedding cake to feed 400 - was visiting and I assumed that she'd be all over me about the cake. But she was very respectful and stayed out of the kitchen, coming in only to pour a(nother) diet coke and comment how well everything was coming along. Her, well, I don't want to say approval but I can't think of a better word, was a pleasant surprise and she made me very happy by having two pieces after the birthday dinner.

The only other issue was one that I hadn't considered or planned for. I used 7 colors on the cake, most of which required both writing and star tips. I have two writing tips but only one star tip, and only four pastry bags so the actual decorating was held up for several washing and drying episodes. I also used every small bowl and teaspoon I have for mixing colors. The very next day I found myself at our local craft place and bought three more 10 inch pastry bags. I don't know that I'll ever use so many colors on a single cake again but I want to be prepared should the occasion present itself.

Many thanks for your comments and e-mails after my angst-ridden post about careers vs. family vs. location for same. Much of the last week was given over to continued discussion of these issues and we think we've come to some kind of resolution, if only we have the guts to actually follow through. Time will tell.