Makenna's Birthday Cake

So even though I feel a teensy bit bad about talking Makenna out of her usual Dora cake that she wants every year, I really wanted to try something a bit more fun for me to make. She did end up loving it and was very excited to show it to all her friends.

Here are the details and a few things I learned:
-I can't take credit for the design- I semi copied this cake but I made smaller flowers and dots. The author of that cake blog makes amazing cakes. I am so inspired by her.
- The bottom layer was rice krispy treats (for a 10x3 inch pan it takes two batches of Rice Krispy Treats, that is 2 bags of marshmallows and 1 big box of cereal). I slightly frosted the Rice Kristy Treats just to have a smoother surface.
-The top two layers were mixes- rainbow confetti (I figured since I was heavily influencing the choice of cake, she should get complete say in the flavor). It was filled with plain old vanilla buttercream (6 cups for filling and frosting). It took two cake mixes to do one 6x3 pan and two 8x2 pans, which worked out quite nicely.
-I think I learned that most professional cakes you see out there have 6 inch high layers instead of 4 inch- that is they have 3 layers instead of two. I felt like it was a bit squat. Perfect for a birthday but not grandeous enough for a wedding.
-The butterflies were just fondant though but if I did it again I would use gumpaste. I did them three days before and they still werent as dry as I would have liked- I actully made 6 butterflies but ended up only putting on three- sometimes less is more. There is a definite noticeable difference in working with fondant in dry Utah vs humid Omaha. The recipe works out so much better here and doesnt need added water like in Utah but it doesnt dry nearly as fast.
-Another lesson learned- sharpen wooden dowels with a pencil sharpener- works fabulously!
-I used straws to support the middle layer which seemed to work since it wasnt a huge cake- and the bottom layer held its own since it wasnt made of cake.
-The fondant covering the cake is colored very light green- its hard to tell from the pictures.
-Next time I do a band of fondant border, I will measure more carefully and more carefully place it on the cake. I got a bit reckless but fortunately flowers and polka dots hide mistakes beautifully. I would also make sure to do the bow out of gumpaste and make sure its smooth- don't settle- try to make it perfect- that is my note to self!
All in all it was a lot of fun and there werent even any crisises- amazing!