Farewell Pumpkin Cake

God.  I love cake.  It's the best.

At work my project manager quit so we threw her a going away soiree.  Her signature color is orange so everything was orange and since I volunteered to make the cake...clearly I had the color palette already decided for me.

I went all out for this one--well at least I went as far as my cake decorating skills allowed.  I did the petal ombre technique I learned here.  And then I made some white modeling chocolate that I dyed orange (of course) and created the strip that straddles the cake.  I also used it to make the rose which I learned how to do via this superb tutorial.  

It was a fun cake to make.  And it was delightful to eat.

Here's a quick breakdown for you:

Cake flavor - pumpkin (adapted the recipe from here)

Filling - salted caramel apple butter swiss meringue buttercream w/diced apples

Frosting - brown butter swiss meringue buttercream (brown butter is an intoxicating flavor...)

Rose and orange strip - white modeling chocolate