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J.Lo’s birthday cake designer  – Ana Paz — dishes to HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY on how she prepared Jen’s lion-shaped birthday cake!

Jennifer Lopez, who recently split from her hubby of 7-years Marc Anthony, spent the weekend in Miami celebrating her 42 birthday surrounded by her family and friends. While’s she’s trying hard to put her soon-to-be ex-hubby out of mind, Jennifer received a special present from her secretary. On July 24, Jennifer was presented with a custom made Ana Paz birthday cake — just like the one she ordered for Marc for his b-day a few years back — except that it was in the shape of a lion!

“It was a lemon cake with toasted coconut filling,” Ana Paz, the cake’s creator, tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively.

The reason Ana and her team made J.Lo’s cake to look like a lion is because “she’s a Leo,” explains Ana.

Ana has made cakes for J.Lo before. “I did her first wedding cake,” remembers Ana. And Jen had ordered a lemon cake with coconut filling in the past from Ana for Marc’s birthday. “I thought Marc was the one who liked that [flavor,]” gushes Ana. But now, “I know Marc’s birthday cake was for her,” Ana jokes.

Making Jen’s birthday cake was no easy task. Her secretary ordered the cake from Ana on Friday, July  22 to picked up on July 24 at 9:30 in the morning. Ana along with her daughter Cecilia Paz, who designed the lion shape, spent all day Saturday preparing the cake.

“We had to work on it a little bit and then go back to it,” shares Ana. “The last time I worked on it was at 9:00 p.m. Saturday night.”

Ana reveals that making the lion was the toughest part. She and her daughter used butter cream, fondant, royal icing and fudge to create the masterpiece. “We couldn’t have done the mane bigger because there was no time for it to dry,” says Ana. “We had to do a tiny mane, but for my taste I would have liked it bigger.”

A typical custom cake from Ana Paz Cakes ranges in price from $5.oo-$6.50 a slice depending on how ornate. Jen’s cake served about 35 people.

Ana has been designing cakes for 33 years and had many celebrity clients in the past including Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes, Mariah Carey and Gloria Estefan.

For more information the cake, be sure to check out Cecilia’s blog, Miami Art Blog by clicking here.

- Lindsey DiMattina

More J.Lo Stories:

1. Happy 42 B-Day J.Lo!
2. Marc’s Getting Close To Another Woman!
3. Jen’s Spending Her Birthday In Miami!