Decorating a cake for the 4th of July - fresh berries

Last year Ben and I made an ice cream Independence Day cake, and it was a challenge in hot Moscow weather. This time we decided to have a baked white cake with mousse and decorate it for the 4th of July with fresh seasonal red and blue berries. I feel more and more interested in actually decorating and styling food, I love the visual part of the cooking experience more now than I did, so it seems less important which exact recipe of cake to use.

I decorated our 4th of July cake with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and dark chocolate covered açai berries. I wish I could find red currants and blackberries, as well, but the stores didn't have any. At the very end I used some dark chocolate to grate on top of this berry field. You can also imagine it being sprinkled with white powdered sugar - unfortunately, by the time I started taking the pictures, it melted on the fresh juicy berries, but I didn't really notice and didn't add a new layer. I think it looks glorious even without any powder.

Right after I got finished taking the photos, we heard roaring thunder and it started heavily raining. We called Ben's parents and invited them for an early 4th of July tea party. We ate the cake, looked through the art books we thrifted last weekend, listened to the rain outside and chatted about dreams, space shuttles and weekend plans.