A Rose Cake for Aunt Rose

Sometimes I think I'm just so silly for making things as much as I do, but I love making stuff for people espeically if I know they'll like it (after all, who wants to put time and effort into something someone might not like?). That's why I've been into cakes and such, it is a guaranteed handmade gift I know they'll like.

So a while back I saw the perfect idea for a cake to do for my sister over by Amanda at I Am Baker, one of the blogs I stalk. It just screamed "Scarlett", at least it did how I saw it in my head. I added my own little twist with the actual cake because an all pink center just seemed to fit my sister, also known as Aunt Rose to my boys, perfectly.
For the actual cake I used a white cake mix to keep things simple but I switched out applesauce for oil and egg whites for eggs, probably just to make me feel a little less guilty for all that rich vanilla buttercream frosting. Mmmm. I used three boxes, started with it white, added a bit of pink gel food coloring for every layer (some red for the darkest), stacked them and did a layer of frosting covering the whole things. And as far as the roses go it was EXTREMELY easy. Just use a large 1M star tip and make swirls. Looks way more complicated than it is. Just circles.
Happy Birthday Aunt Rose!