Happy Kentucky Derby Birthday!

May 5th was my friend Ami's mom's birthday...as well as the annual Kentucky Derby.  She wanted it Kentucky Derby-themed, so I went looking for cake toppers, decorations, toys, anything that can be used in a derby-themed cake.  Finding none, I opted for using the Kentucky Derby logo, a red rose in a gold horseshoe.
For the actual cake itself, I decided to somehow incorporate an ingredient that the state of Kentucky is famous for.  Of course--Kentucky bourbon!
Chocolate and caramel pairs very well with bourbon.  So I made a chocolate chiffon cake base, filled it with caramel pecan filling, and set it in a 10" springform pan (Oh how I wish I had a cake ring/mold instead...).  I topped it off with Kentucky bourbon chocolate mousse, smoothed the top, and froze it.  Once frozen, I glazed with chocolate glaze.
Then the "fun" part of decorating...
The problem is, I've been under a bit of stress with my father being ill and having trouble sleeping.  My brain just wasn't functioning at its usual tiptop shape.  As I piped the logo design on the cake, I had the hardest time concentrating.  After piping the icing, I set a red rose candle in the gold horseshoe.
And this is how it ended up looking...

...Yikes.  Quite crooked.  And so not professional looking.  I should've just placed the template directly on the cake and traced it.

The royal icing roses looked pretty cool though.  Those are chocolate mint leaves.
At least the cake tasted pretty good.  The texture of the mousse was spot on, but the cake was a bit dry (at least to me) and the glaze too sweet--probably because I used a bag of cheap chocolate chips instead of the quality couverture.

Well this was definitely a good practice in cake decorating.  Hopefully I can get more practice and get better so my cakes won't resemble those in Cake Wrecks.