This is one birthday cake guaranteed to please.

It's huge, shaped like a zebra, complete with the distinctive stripes. Only this cake was made to please a lion cub rather than a human child so it was fashioned from raw meat.

Sometimes from the greatest of losses we can find what has the most meaning to us in our lives.  Such was the experience of Misty Ester who at the age of twenty two lost her grandmother.  Misty's grandmother was for Misty her guiding light, the one who raised and loved her.  At the time up until her grandmother's death, Misty was working in the corporate world in sales advancing and succeeding in her work and personal life.  When her grandmother passed she said it was as if nothing made sense to her anymore, the drive to succeed was for a while gone.

Misty Rose, professional cake decorator, will teach a class in decorating from 3 to 5 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Camellia Rose Tea Room, 120 N. Collins St.. The fee is $25, and class size is limited.Camellia Rose, located in the downtown historic district, will provide the cake, frosting and supplies.Call for reservations (813) 659-8287.

The heat of competition got a number of children into the kitchen for the recent youth cooking contest sponsored by Bruton Memorial Library. The dessert contest that has been held for the past two decades produced seven winners in two age groups, 6 to 8 and 9 to 12.