Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Tuesday T Gang ladies and anyone else who stops by. :)

. The snow has finally ended here and now we are cleaning out from this big storm. This is definitely one of the biggest storm we've had in a couple of years.  We got a foot of snow, (30 centimeters) but its hard to tell with all the drifting. Not the fluffiest either, as my arms and shoulders are feeling it from doing some cleaning out today.

 But the dogs loved it.

 Especially Pete.

 Wish I could harness some of that energy and teach him to shovel. That would make my life easier. :)

Next snow is expected on Wednesday. They say it won't be as much as this storm though, but right now, even a dusting is going to be too much.

And Happy Valentine's Day.
 My husband and I don't really celebrate the day, but I like to make something special for him. This year I decided to try making a fancy cake.

I thought this heart cake on this cover was pretty cool. I  had picked up this cookbook last month on markdown and decided to give it a try for Valentine's day.

I did decide to make my heart solid colored rather than rainbow striped. I thought it would be a lot easier since this would be my first attempt at cake carving.

So last Thursday on my snow day home I baked my cake layers. I made 2 white layers and a red/pink layer for my heart.

I chilled the cake and on Saturday morning I  carved according to the instructions.

 Weird how this looks like it is popping out of the cake rather than going into the cake.

Then I frosted my layers and assembled the entire cake except for the final frosting.

Here's my crumb coat. I made  a Swiss meringue buttercream flavored with some strawberry extract.

Then on Sunday I put on my final frosting.

 I'd never piped these frosting roses before and I love them! The only problem was that I didn't have a big enough frosting bag while I piped. I had to fill it several times just to do the top, and so I decided it was easier to just put plain smoother frosting on the sides.

And then I added some strawberries to finish it off.

I think it looks bakery shelf ready. :)

Now I was REALLY curious how the inner heart worked.

OK, so it didn't. 

But the cake was yummy.

So for T for Tuesday, won't you share a slice with me? I'm having a glass of skim milk but I could make you a cup of coffee or tea, or even some ice water if you prefer.

The pink part does kind of look like half a heart here.  So maybe the heart shape wasn't a total bomb.

Stop by Elizabeth's blog, Altered Book Lover to see what the T Gang has been up and maybe even join in yourself.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day everyone!