Happy Valentine's Day

It's V-Day people. You know, the day in which some people go overboard with romantic gestures and make the rest of us feel bad? Or, as I like to tell myself, the hubs and I don't need one day a year in order to be nice to each other because we do that 365 days a year.

Okay, I'm slightly bitter because the guy has never sent me roses or chocolates to my office. He's not much for public displays of affection.

That's cool because I'm a big girl and I can do them all on my own. Since I knew a few of my co-workers would be the recipients of flowers and chocolates I wanted to bring in something for everyone at work.

BAM!

Enter red velvet cake with buttercream frosting that just happens to look like roses if you squint your eyes the right way.

All I did was make a simple two-layer red velvet cake (used Martha Stewart's red velvet cupcakes recipe here) and add on some yummy buttercream frosting.

To get the rose look I followed directions from here, which I found on Pinterest, and they are super easy to make. Start a rose with a center dab of frosting and then continue around the center 2-3 times with your frosting tip. Repeat over and over again. Then, fill in the gaps with little swirls of frosting.

One tip - put your cake on a flat cake stand or tray. My tray has a bit of an upward lip on it and that kept me from being able to pipe my frosting close to the bottom of the cake. Minor detail, but it's something I hope to remember for next time.

The roses aren't as tight as I would have wanted them, but for whipping this together at 10 o'clock at night for the first time I'm pretty happy.

Another tip - since this was a cake I was making for my office I siphoned off enough batter for two cupcakes. That way the hubs and I have dessert for our home-cooked V-day dinner tonight. Making two cupcakes from the cake batter is a nice way to share some of the baked goods I make for my office with the hubs.