Record Cake for dad's 50th

This record cake was my next lesson in cake decorating. It was baked for my dad's 50th birthday and presented at a 50's themed surprise party. I did all the baking and decorating at my aunts house to avoid spoiling the surprise.  I was really nervous about this one because the party was kind of my culinary debut. But despite my trepidation I think it turned out pretty great, and the party goers started asking me for business cards! a very awesome experience
     The cake is a cherry-chip cake with a black cherry filling. the decorating was pretty simple. My biggest problem was making the icing as black as possible. It seemed like no matter how much color gel I used, I could only manage a darker shade of gray. I did some research online, and found out that if you start with dark blue or purple, then add the black from there, the icing will become black. I started with a dark blue base and added about half a bottle of Wiltons black gel into it, and eventually came out with a suitable black. after frosting the cake, I used the serrated edge of a bread knife to get the record's grooves and a piece of white fondant for the label.
       If I could go back and do it again I would have changed the border around the record to a black and white twisted rope, and replaced that white center-piece fondant with an actual food-safe printed record label that read "Randy's 50 greatest hits."