Lessons learned while making this cake!

I once took a cake decorating class. I loved it because, I got to decorate cakes. I did not make the cakes. I did not make the frosting. I got to explore my creative side with colors and piping tools and my canvas was the cake. When I finished my cake decorating class, I made one cake. I actually bought the frosting for the cake from a bakery,... and the cakes. I like to bake. And I like to decorate cakes. Putting those two processes together has always been overwhelming to me. So I gave all my cake decorating supplies to my sister in law and washed my hands of the idea.
Mel came into my life and inspired me to be creative again. She asked me to make this cake for her son's first birthday. (I won't show the original that I was trying to copy... It's too embarrassing.) I was excited to try cake decorating again. I was also excited to finally overcome my fear of butter cream frosting. And this is what I learned in the process. And I did learn all of these lessons the HARD way.
1. It takes 30 minutes to bake a cake in two 6X2 inch cake pans. (8 inch is the smallest it goes on the instructions on the box.
2. You can NOT use regular food coloring to die white chocolate. It doesn't work. You have to buy a special kind that is oil based not water based.
3. When following a recipe for butter cream frosting, the couple of tablespoons of milk it says to add are not suggestions. You should actually add them.
4. When using gel food coloring (with frosting not chocolate) a little goes a long way.
5. Piping frosting onto a cake that doesn't have enough liquid, doesn't stick very well, and is a lot of work.
With those lessons learned, I am more prepared to make the same cake next week. I will update on the progress I make. It should be a much simpler and smooth process.