Our granddaughter Vivian’s First Holy Communion was this morning with a celebratory meal after. I finished her choice of a confetti cake two hours before services. Its design is much like her sister Graces except I made the chalice by cutting tempered chocolate and dusting with gold and/or silver sparkling dust.

I see all the imperfections, but will keep quiet.

Crusting gold buttercream was a bit of a challenge but mixing the appropriate quantities of yellow, brown and red food colorings yielded an acceptable shade. I wanted crusting so the sugar decoration would not melt (it did slightly) and I wanted the boarder piping to keep its form

Transform regular butter cream by substituting half the butter for and equal volume of vegetable shortening.

Note: volume, not weight. By weight half the butter weighs 113g and the vegetable shortening is 93g.

P.S. This is undoubtedly my last communion cake.