Inspired by Pinterest

If you "Pin", then you know how addicting it can be. Pinterest is yet another resource for inspiration, whether you're looking for an outfit, recipe, craft, diet.... and the list goes on.

Monday was my Mom's 60th Birthday, so last weekend I traveled to Wisconsin to celebrate with her. As I was growing up, cakes were my thing. I have made tons of cakes in my past for every occasion you can think of. Many were made from the commercial Wilton pans that came in a variety of shapes and characters. I started to get burnt out.... mixing 10 different colors of icing..... washing the tiny frosting tips....... So I don't really make them anymore. But I do still love special desserts. So now, I try to find recipes that have that "wow" factor, but are fairly easy.

I knew I wanted to make a layer cake because I was planning on using my Grandma's glass cake pedestal and the rhinestone "60" cake topper that I had made 5 years ago for my Grandparent's 60th Wedding Anniversary cake. So I did a search on Pinterest for layer cakes and I found this 14 layer cake! There are many variations of the recipe, and for ease I choose to do the one that uses a box cake mix. Although you add a different ratio of things to it rather than follow the box, as well as the addition of pudding mix.
The night before my travels, I set out to bake the cake layers. This required 2 batches of the cake mix and I used the disposable tin pie pans that was suggested (lined with parchment paper for easy release). The recipe called for 1/2 cup of batter in each pan. This seemed like too little to me. So I added another 1/2 cup so each one had a full cup. My layers were thicker then, and I ended up with 10 rather than 14. I was okay with this. I wrapped up each layer individually for the trip.

Once I was at my parents, I assembled the cake. I did make 2 batches of a homemade chocolate frosting (yum). It worked out perfectly. Before frosting the entire tower, I secured the layers by pushing 4 skewers through them all.

Here it is completed, with a dotted frosting border and the topper in place.

Here's a close up of the topper I made. I painted house numbers silver and then painstakingly glued all different size rhinestones to them.

Mom with her grandsons.

Here's our cake once it was cut into. It was enjoyed by all! I would definitely make this recipe again.