Butter Cream and Piping

So, the pretty little stars and flowers on cakes aren't as easy as they look.  Not for me anyway.  My second cake was for another nephew who likes Disney's Cars.

The car on top is a Wilton pan with detailed instructions to decorate.  I don't remember what the flavor of the cake was, but the icing was homemade vanilla butter cream.  I learned lots of things with this cake:

• Color the icing the night before, most colors will deepen over time
• Too much color changes the texture of the butter cream
• When the icing gets too warm it doesn't hold shape of any kind.  It IS ok to put it in the fridge for a bit to set back up.
• Just because the pan you baked the cake in is straight, doesn't mean the edges will be perfectly straight.  When piping edges, eyeball a straight line, don't follow the edge of the cake.