Remember the imperfection we learned about in Acts? It may not fully apply here, because here we’re not talking about physical, spiritual or emotional brokenness, but I’ve really been learning to embrace imperfection in all areas of my life, because the sooner we can accept the flaws in the little things, the sooner we can see the glory in our healed brokenness (or maybe it really works the other way around).

As little as four years ago, I was known to say that I could bake just about anything to taste good, but please don’t ask me to make it look good – I could not decorate a cake or cupcake to save my life. I once baked the most awful-looking poppyseed muffins and because they were muffins I couldn’t salvage them with frosting, so I opted for a lemon glaze. They tasted great. They looked like a goopy mess – which was unfortunate as they were for a semi-formal ladies tea party at church.

But I digress.

For all of my children I’ve tried to improve my skills as I’ve baked birthday cake after birthday cake, but it wasn’t until my youngest turned one that I decided to really focus on my cake icing abilities. I began to watch youtube videos and take free classes on craftsy.com (now defunct, but bluprint is similar!). I wasn’t obsessed, but each birthday really became a new opportunity for me to try something new (it should here be noted that when I’m not particularly inspired or if he is, my husband also takes up the cake-decorating torch – he particularly specializes in princess cakes and animated characters).

And here we are, at her fifth birthday. And now I’m pushing the envelope with my wire shaping abilities, as well, so I decided to combine the two. And I appreciate her willingness to ditch the the Marie (from the Aristocats, which she had never seen before making her request) cake she had previously insisted upon (though my aforementioned husband did tackle a Marie kitten cupcake for her, because we’re not heartless) and venture out with me on a flower-themed cake that I was itching to create cake toppers for.

Lo, the results:

I look at that cake and I see wonky icing, crumbs on the cake platter and tilted cake toppers. But I look at that photo and I see a beautiful five-year-old making her wish (and struggling with all her might to get those candles). Because as much as I tried on that cake, it’s not about the cake, it’s about her. The imperfections and the flaws on the cake didn’t ruin her day. She saw a cake that was for her, just for her, and was filled with love and pretty colors.

And that’s why I can say it’s ok if what I’m creating isn’t the epitome of perfection. I can glory in imperfection and revel in love even when I’m less-than-perfect.

Because God is love, and when we love others (even through our imperfections), our children, our friends, our sisters, we are giving them glimpses into the love of our Savior.

Now, on the off-chance you’re interested in creating your own perfectly-imperfect masterpiece of a garden cake, here’s what I did . . . (keeping in mind, I’m NOT a professional by any stretch of the imagination) . . .

NOTE: You’re going to need some basic cake-decorating supplies to get this job done. If you’re starting from scratch, there’s this awesome kit from Wilton that would be a GREAT place to start:

STEP 1: Bake a cake. Yep. Just do it. Follow a recipe, open a box mix, whatever, just bake the thing. I used 8-inch round cake pans. And my favorite trick is this reusable parchment paper – I have multiple of these, so I cut a few down to fit in my 8-inch pans and they just live there. I still grease and flour the pans, because I’m paranoid, but this parchment paper is one of my favorite kitchen tricks, because real parchment paper is expensive and it hurts my heart to use it once and throw it away! After the cake bakes, leave it out to cool until it’s completely cooled. After about 30 minutes, turn the cake onto foil, a cooling rack, or clean surface to allow them to cool more thoroughly.

STEP 2: Make frosting. Look up a simple buttercream recipe. They’re rather forgiving – if you accidentally make it too drippy, add more sugar. If it’s too tough, add a drop or two of milk (really, take it easy on the milk, that frosting can turn on you fast!). You want the frosting to stick to your beater and hold its shape, but still form peaks when you pull the beater out. We always make the wrong amount and usually have to go back and make more. Don’t stress about it. For this recipe, we made a chocolate frosting first for the base layer and then made a vanilla frosting, which we portioned out into multiple bowls to prepare the various colors.

STEP 3: Level the cake. I almost forgot to mention this step, but it’s something I didn’t know to do for a long time. Take a large serrated knife and skim off the top layer of your cake so it does not have a rounded top. Maybe YouTube this if you don’t know what I’m talking about. If you have your own method, do that.

STEP 4: Crumb coat (or dirty ice) and layer the cake. I’ve seen Cake Boss, so that’s how I know this step. Sorry I didn’t photograph it (or the above, yikes!), but you literally just slather some frosting on one of your leveled cake layers, put a good thick layer here because this is what’s between your cake layers and you want some solid frosting. But once you’ve plopped the second layer of cake on top of this thick frosting layer, swipe a thin layer of frosting over your whole cake. The purpose of this layer is to lock in your crumbs. Again, I can’t tell you how long it took me to figure this out and how many frustrated years I spent being angry at all the crumbs building up in my frosting and decorations. Don’t skip this step! After you have the crumb coat, stick the whole cake in your fridge or freezer to set that layer, so it won’t try to mix with your real outer-layer of frosting. So, I created the chocolate frosting first, and then while the crumb coat was chilling, I cleaned out the bowl and focused on the vanilla frosting and getting that colored (ok, I’ll be honest, husband did that, because it’s great to have an awesome sous chef, but it’s ok if you’re going it alone – you can do this!).

STEP 5: Base layer of frosting. Remove the cake from the fridge/freezer and apply a thick, solid layer of frosting, because chocolate. You’ll want this layer to be smooth, so if you have a good spreading knife (like what came in the Wilton kit listed above), use that. Otherwise, use the blunt side of your serrated knife to create a smooth finish. In the end, though, we’re going to cover all of this, so don’t stress!

STEP 6: Pipe the grass. Wait a minute, did that sound like a drug reference? I promise it’s not. Fill one piping bag with green frosting and use a fine-point decorating tip – the kind you would use for lettering, it’s a tiny circular hole. Then, I promise this step is going to feel tedious and annoying and you’ll want it to go faster and you’ll worry about whether you have enough frosting or the frosting thinning because it’s melting in your hand (or was that just me?), but you’ll start at the bottom and just make single strokes upward to the top edge and just release. If it’s not perfect or it won’t release or whatever might happen if this is your first time, don’t cry, it’s ok. It’s just cake. Everyone loves cake no matter what the grass looks like. Also, it’s grass. It’s not worth your tears. Even the grass outside doesn’t look perfect. Do you see my work here? Totally not perfect. (Also, note, after I completed the grass, I did a border along the bottom. I did not like it because my frosting was a little melted from my hands and it looked not great, but if you can do a great border and you want to do that, go for it.)

STEP 7: Pipe the flowers. Ok, here’s where I’m helping you to learn from my mistakes. I did the “dirt” layer BEFORE I did the flowers. I thought if I did it after I’d accidentally sprinkle crumbs all over my pretty flowers, and maybe I would have, but you remember that crumb coat we made? We did that for a reason, because frosting doesn’t like crumbs. It doesn’t hold on to crumbs, it carries the crumbs with it. So when you try to pipe flowers on the edge of crumbs, they. don’t. stick. to the cake. Don’t. Do. This. Pipe the flowers first. We used a different star-shaped decorating tip for each color just to make it easy without having to switch tips around constantly. Choose a color to start with and a tip for that color, then just make quick bursts of frosting at regular intervals around the cake. Then do the same with the subsequent colors. (See how I had extra space and had to stick in an extra blue flower and broke my pattern? I promise we ate the whole cake and that extra blue flower bothered not one person.)

STEP 8: Apply “dirt” layer. Place 3-5 chocolate sandwich cookies in a food processor and crush into fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, place the cookies in a Ziploc bag and roll a rolling pin or even a drinking glass over them until they are crushed into fine crumbs. Then press lightly to apply dirt to the top of the cake (trying to avoid tarnishing your pretty flowers).

And that’s it! You’re done! And your cake is so ready now for some adorable cake toppers! (If I do say so myself! – Also, check below this post to save 15% at my Etsy shop so you can grab your own!)

Like I said, my five-year-old loved it! But I also think this cake would be stinking adorable for a baby shower or gender reveal (“Look what’s growing!”) or a wedding shower (“Your love is growing!”) – or you know, for a Tuesday. Because cake.