Happy birthday, little brother!

My brother turned 21 during the week and last night we had a party to celebrate the occasion. It was also the first time I'd seen my dad since he'd returned from overseas last week, so for me it was a big celebration.

Jared is a big fan of poker, so I thought it was only fitting to incorporate this into his cake. I created a two tier fondant-iced cake that was decorated with sugar poker chips, a sugar 21 and some real playing cards (if you look closely, you'll notice that they add up to 21! Clever!)

The top tier was white chocolate mud torted with chocolate buttercream and covered in chocolate fondant. The bottom tier was dark chocolate mud and was torted with chocolate buttercream and covered in white fondant.

I also created some cupcakes to match the cake - they were lemon & coconut topped with raspberry buttercream and red fondant.

I was just glad to finally find a use for the suit cutters I have!

All in all it was a lovely night - my dad made a wonderful speech recounting some funny stories from our childhoods. He couldn't have sounded more proud when he spoke about my brother's next endeavour - his own website design business. He has quit his job so that he can concentrate on setting up the business. This will be the second business my brother has started - and he's only 21! I wish him all the luck in the world...not that he needs it. Keep an eye on http://www.stompcreative.com/ - it will be launched very soon!

Happy 21st birthday Schmoopy!