2016 is nearly behind us…And my feelings for the year that’s quickly slipping away are mixed.

So what better way than to celebrate with an emoji cake and cookies to express all those emotions!

I did this order a few months ago for a cutie-patootie 6-yr-old who loves her wacky, zany, tongue-out-wink emoji (who doesn’t, right?).  So that’s the emoji we used for the cake.

It was a 9″ round 2-layer sour cream vanilla cake with smooth vanilla buttercream icing tinted yellow.  The emoji details and font were made from fondant (I used round cutters for the eye and letter cutters for the font, the rest was hand-cut).

The cookies were assorted emoji faces iced and decorated with fresh lemon royal icing. Jayde’s mom had me bag them with a ribbon to be given out as favors at the party.

The cake and cookies were really a blast to make and ring true for me this last week of the year.  Our family has had so many ups and downs this year with the deaths of 2 dear matriarchs (Grandma at 101 last April and Aunt Tata at 100 just yesterday), the destruction of our cherished Spencer cabin in Wyoming by wildfires last July, and the demise of numerous family pets…But we had great times, too.  It’s difficult to say which won out, the good times or the bad.

That said, I’m resigned to enter 2017 on an upbeat note, so here’s a toast and great big hurrah for the year ahead!