One of my very, very good friends had a birthday recently and I knew I had to make something special for her and that it wasn’t going to be a cake with frosting. It has been pretty snowy and cold so I figured I would go with something bright and citrusy to celebrate her birthday. I settled on a lime bundt cake. It looked amazing after it was done, but the flavor fell flat.

I wasn’t impressed with the batter when I was making it, but I wasn’t about to waste it – so I brought it into work anyway. I kept saying – this isn’t going to taste good, and I was right. For all the lime zest and juice that I added into the batter it tasted like a flavorless cake. The glaze of lime zest, juice and sugar was the only part that had flavor – talk about disappointment.

So, take 2, I decided to make her a cheesecake. A UNICORN CHEESECAKE. I took my prized cheesecake recipe and divided it into four bowls and added Wilton gel colors – pink, purple, yellow and blue. I gently spooned half of each color onto the bottom in four quadrants and then gently swirled it with a butter knife. I then took the remaining halves and put them in opposite quadrants and gently swirled them again to ensure maximum color variation without muddling the colors too much. The result was a colorful and amazing looking cheesecake that satisfies the Lisa Frank in all of us!

This technique can be used with no bake cheesecakes also and it really is amazing looking!

Even at our best we can sometimes not be pleased with how something turns out. Don’t let it get you down. Dust yourself off and go for something bolder!