Rugby Fan's 21st Birthday Surprise

This was one of the many cakes I worked on last weekend (28th). You can tell I had more than I could handle; sigh* its just a habit of mine to pile up on the stress, get my adrenaline pumping for a healthy rush of frustration every so often. *grin* I admit...I'm strange.
Anyway...back on topic; Two thoughtful and generous girls from Sydney CBD were scouting for a personalized cake specially made for a very lucky birthday boy. Discussions with the design and flavor of the cake were fairly prompt and they seem to be pretty happy with letting me do what I think is best. The cake order was taken a little less than 2 weeks in advance; but I didn't get into too much trouble with the sketch or last minute details. I had a long weekend filled with many long "to-do" lists but the cake did not stand in the way much as I had intelligently mapped out my sugar crafting schedules earlier in the week. I'm just glad the weather was on my side the whole way through.Rugby was the main cake theme and "All Blacks" from New Zealand was his favorite team. Unfortunately for me, the All Blacks had a FERN as their logo... fern---->painting+stenciling= painful. *laughs* Many would begin (or probably already have begun) questioning what the sticks around the cake are. Well...to tell you the truth, they do not serve a purpose other than "to-eat". They were cookie sticks covered in sweet black sesame seeds. I thought the cake looked more masculine and artistic with them going around. *shrug*...I recieved comments from a couple of honest observers that they looked strange and out of place (I bet they meant retarded) but oh well...to each his own. What's most important is that the customer was satisfied; and they surely were...the birthday boy got his surprise, and everyone had a delectable piece of cake!
THanks lots to both very sweet girls...and extra hugs for sharing your photographs for my publishing purposes. XOXO