Unbirthday Cake: Piping Practice

Today I made a simple cake for the sole purpose of decorating it. Well, to be eaten too I suppose, but I was actually more keen to practice stringwork and swag/ drapes, which I've never done before.

I rather hastily buttercreamed the cake up in my eagerness to get piping, so it's not perfectly smooth, but I don't mind- my stringwork drapes turned out alright for a first kick at it. I know the flower border isn't completely evenly spaced: I did mark spacers out beforehand, but I changed my mind about portion size in the middle of piping (so there's be big pieces for dad and smaller pieces for mum and I!)

I also had to photo it sideways because the central rose I made blocked the writing (I should have piped the words to curve around the border more rather than straight, but live and learn). At least I'm also getting better at writing, too.