A crown fit for a birthday princess: Chloe turns 5

Some cakes you build upward. This one is mostly hat.

The crown

The crown is fondant, cut and shaped and stood up on its own, with a gold ball on the tip of every point. It's nearly as tall as the cake underneath it, which is exactly the effect a five-year-old is after.

Fondant has to firm up before it will hold a shape like that. Try to stand it too early and the points sag; leave it too long and it cracks when you curve it. There's a window, and you work in it.

Underneath

Two tiers. The top one is plain ivory, kept quiet so the crown has something to sit against, with a ring of rainbow sprinkles where the crown meets it and two pink butterflies resting on the side.

The bottom is the rainbow — soft bands of pink, peach, yellow, mint, blue and lavender wrapped around in rows, each one smoothed in separately. A sprinkle band runs along the base, and a fondant 5 sits in a little cluster of roses and leaves beside her name.

What's inside

White sour cream almond cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.

White sour cream almond is one of those flavors people order once and then keep asking for.

Happy birthday, Chloe

Five years old, and officially crowned.