Lana’s Matryoshka Doll

My brother’s girlfriend is a beautiful Russian woman.  She recently celebrated her “29th” birthday (again).  I was thrilled to make the cake.  I just didn’t know what to do.  I don’t know her well enough to have zeroed in on a specific theme, but I did know that her Russian heritage was very important to her.  It has been a joy to spend time with her and meet her family and friends.  I decided to make her one of my favorite Russian things – a Matryoshka Doll.  The cake was much larger than it needed to be (almost 2 feet tall), but once I got started, it took on a life of its own.  Not shown in the picture is a little tag I made that said “Happy Birthday Lana” in Russian.  The funny thing was that I got the translation on the internet, and until she confirmed it for me, I had no idea if they really were the words I had intended.  Thankfully they were, and I did not insult anyone that day.