Sophie’s Heart Art Party :: The Cake

This cake was all set to be pink and white… and forgettable. But thanks to my husband’s inattention to detail, Sophie got a heart-shaped artist’s palette cake for her “Heart Art Party” instead. So much more fitting, and fun. (Fuller story of how it came about is at the end.)

It was so fun making a cake that had 9 different colors (counting the white) but required only ONE pastry bag. 

The girls at the party figured it out all on their own – seven splotches of color because Sophie was turning SEVEN years old.

A few of them also made the connection that instead of an arrow, this “heart” has a brush going through it.

Since I didn’t have any brushes that were long enough to go all the way through like that, I improvised and used two, both with red handles. I thought I’d have to cover the bristles of one with saran wrap or something, but then realized I could yank the collar and bristles right off the cheap plastic one.

I love adding themed phrases to my cakes (like “You are precious to us” on Heidi’s Treasure Chest Cake and “Guess who’s Farty?” on Mo’s Whoopee Cushion Cake) so I added “You are a masterpiece” to the side, because Sophie certainly is!

Oh, and I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of the inside. As a little surprise, I tinted half the cake batter pink (like I tinted this rainbow cake last year) and then swirled it around with the spatula to mix it up a bit with the yellow cake batter. The girls oohed and aahed when we cut into it. So worth the little bit of extra work!

And I just have to laugh at how it all came about. Looking back, this cake design seems so obvious for a “Heart Art Party” but it wasn’t my initial plan at all! The invitations to the party were all pink, red, purple, and white, and I planned to continue that color scheme for the rest of the party – goodie bags, cake, decorations, etc. 

Wonderful Ken went out to get some last minute supplies, saw “crepe streamers” on the list, but apparently didn’t see “(red, pink, white)” right underneath. The fun, bright colors he came home with did not match my color scheme at all!

I’d already baked the heart-shaped cake and done the crumb coat. And I had a container full of pink frosting from the cookies I’d frosted the day before, on Sophie’s actual birthday, for our dessert.

But my mind just wasn’t meshing “rainbow streamer decorations” and “frilly pink cake.” When I started brainstorming how/why I could add brighter colors to the cake, I decided the heart-shaped cake kinda looked like an artist’s palette, especially if I dug a hole in it.

One thought led to another, and eventually, I had the finished cake.

And the funniest part?

We did use the streamers to decorate Sophie’s bedroom for her birthday morning “surprise”, but the day of the party, Ken was at work and I had so many last minute things to do that we didn’t even hang any of the rainbow-y streamers that inspired the whole cake change!