Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Grooms Cake

This groom' cake seems fairly simple, but even simple cakes can pose problems.  This cake posed two problems:

How do I cascade chocolate dipped strawberries down the side of the cake while securing their placement?  This one wasn't terribly hard.  I used long (sandwich style) toothpicks placed in the strawberries so that I could anchor them into the cake.  This allowed to pile them nice and high without worrying that they might later fall, taking parts of the cake with it.

How do I minimize the variance in my icing color?  OK, I have to admit that this is probably a problem that's unique to me.  My chocolate icing tastes great, but when I refrigerate a layer and then put more icing on it, the "new" icing goes on in a little different color than the layer below.  If I keep working on it, I can eventually work it out, but it has always bugged me.  This week I had a little extra time and tried a new technique that worked well.  I got out my trusty blowtorch and used it to gently (can you do anything "gently" with a blowtorch?) heat the outside layer of the icing.  To my surprise, the colors began to come together and normalize.  The effect was really nice, it gave the cake a sort of leathery look.

Have a great weekend!!