Leopard Print Cake

I love this one! This cake was pretty tall; it was four layers of white cake with 3 layers of strawberry filling. The outside was frosted with homemade buttercream. I was a little nervous with this cake because it was the first time I've actually hand-painted onto buttercream (besides accent features) and really didn't want to mess up. I usually would pipe the leopard prints on with frosting, but I tried something new and I like the way it turned out. I think by doing it this way it gives a smoother, more finished look to the cake. For the leopard prints I used gel colors diluted with vodka. The customer who ordered this cake wanted it for a birthday party that was going to be held at a bar, and I joked "no need to purchase alcohol- vodka is already included in the cake!" Not entirely true since the vodka evaporates as it dries and only the color is left behind. I also used diluted coloring for the pink circle in the middle. I originally was going to use pink frosting for the center but I like the different swirl of watercolors it took on when painted, rather than frosted.