Happy Birthday Melanie

this is such a great idea! stolen ;-)

lol Goreti!  Wish I could get such great results from 'dumb luck' and 'winging it'

Leena, that was plain dumb luck.  I was already tired and just winged it.

Very very nice, amazing technique, please share if you can, how did you manage to get the slanted stripes so well aligned?

Isn't that the truth.  I really wanted to make it extra special so I was a "little" upset but in the end it wasn't a bad looking cake just not what I had planned. 

The cake is amazing ... but I hear you ... more then once I have been in tears decorating ... I love to decorate but sometimes my passion gets away with me when the cake, filling, or fondant doesn't do what I am expecting / planning. Most of the time the receiver doesn't know what did or did not go as planned ...  so we stress for nothing J:~D

Thank you everyone.   I guess I was over confident since the last cake had gone perfectly.  This was to keep me on my toes.  I had to take a deep breath, step back and come up with a new plan.

good job. love your flowers.

This absolutely beautiful,I love the stripes.  ALL my cakes give me nightmares.