Happy Chinese New Year

I had an incredibly busy time leading up to Valentines Day. My mixer was on overdrive!
When somebody asked me to make a cake for the Chinese New Year, I could not resist. I knew there would be no time to make the Chinese symbols out of sugar but I also knew they were important to the theme of the cake. So, I improvised! I found something in the party store that I could use. I cut up money bags and sealed them in plastic which I put on the sides of the cake. In between the symbols, I piped branches and placed plum blossoms, which represent good fortune, on them. When it was time to decorate the top of the cake I decided to cut the symbols out of the rectangles and place them in the center of the blossoms. I liked the way this looked and wish I had done it to the sides as well. Time was an issue, so I had to leave well enough alone.
This cake was a 10" vanilla layer cake with chocolate butter cream frosting.