The Great Cake Adventure

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cupcake

2009-07-14T19:26:00.001-07:00

Oh my, my, my...

Is there anything more tasty than a plump, ripe strawberry, dipped in a thick, rich chocolate coating?

Well, maybe there is, but you can't deny that it is a divine flavor combination, right?

I love strawberries. LOVE. THEM.

I love chocolate. LOVE. IT.

I couldn't let oodles of leftover Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting go to waste, so I whipped up a batch of chocolate cupcakes and topped 'em with chocolate ganache and the leftover frosting.

Decadent. Rich. Positively divine.

I'm talking about the ganache and the strawberry cream cheese frosting. The cupcake was really just a third wheel.

Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup heavy cream

8 oz's semi sweet chocolate squares

Boil cream.

Remove from heat.

Add chocolate and let rest for a moment.

Stir.

Resist dipping the spoon in for a sample.

Ah, go ahead, sample.

Spoon onto top of cupcakes and cool before frosting.

The end.

There are other uses for ganache and had I had the time and energy, I probably would have spooned the ganache on top of the frosting instead. mmmmmmm.

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Chocolate Cupcakes

(From The Whimsical Bakehouse)

(This was the first time I have tried this recipe, and admittedly, I substituted the cake flour with All Purpose Flour, and it was...*OK*; I like my chocolate cake thick and rich and this is not a thick and rich recipe. However, since the frosting and ganache are already very rich, this recipe actually provided a nice balance. Just don't be a cheapskate like me. Use cake flour.)

1/2 cup milk

1 cup packed brown sugar (I used light, but dark might give it that extra "oomph")

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 large egg, separated

4 ounces unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt 1/2 cup milk, brown sugar and chocolate together over low heat.

Whisk in the egg yolk.

Remove from heat.

With an electric mixer, cream the stick of butter, then add sugar and cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly add 2 large eggs and 1 egg white.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture, alternating with the milk and vanilla extract.

Fill cups almost full. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes, or at 325 for a little longer. Be careful not to overcook, this recipe is not forgiving and will get very dry.

Strawberry Lemonade

2009-07-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

I imagined that I'd have something else to show you, a beautiful tiered cake, but I ran out of something I needed for it during a failed experiment that shall remain nameless. So, I scrapped the cake idea for now and decided to go with flavors I love together.

These are vanilla cupcakes with lemon mousse filling and strawberry cream cheese frosting.

Oh. my. heck.

Really sweet, but hello, cupcakes? These are perfect for a hot summer day and are reminiscent of the strawberry lemonade my son got from Over Easy recently.

You can use your favorite yellow or white cake recipe with these.

Lemon Mousse

Lemon Curd (courtesy of The Whimsical Bakehouse)

1/2 cup strained fresh lemon juice (about four small lemons w/o a juicer)

1/2 cup sugar

3 ounces unsalted butter

1 tablespoon lemon zest (have fun zesting!*)

4 large eggs

Bring first four ingredients to a boil (whisking pretty regularly)

Beat the eggs well just before mixture boils

Slowly stir the hot mixture into the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low to medium low heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. You will feel it thicken. Be very careful with the heat or the curd will curdle (hahahahahaha!). However, if you are not a perfectionist and you do get a teeny tiny bit of curdling, the next step, straining the mixture into a bowl will take care of it.

Once you have strained the mixture into the bowl, put a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the curd and chill for at least four hours.

*The zest is the yellow part of the outer rind of the lemon. Do not zest the white part of the rind, you will get bitter lemon curd.

To make the mousse:

Whip up 1 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream with two tablespoons of powdered sugar, you want the whipped cream to have stiff peaks; but be careful, whip too long and you'll have butter.

Fold in 3/4 cup chilled lemon curd and do with as you wish. Spooning it directly from the bowl and into your mouth is a perfectly acceptable use for this light and refreshing mousse.

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Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

(adapted from The Whimsical Bakehouse and modified almost beyond recognition)

(P.S. Also tastes divine on chocolate cupcakes)

9 oz softened cream cheese

1 stick softened butter

8-10 cups of powdered sugar

10-12 strawberries

1/2 cup strawberry daiquiri mix

Put the strawberries and daiquiri mix in a blender and liquefy. Set aside in a bowl.

Cream the cheese and butter.

Add the first six cups of powdered sugar and mix on low.

Add strawberry mixture and blend.

Add powdered sugar until you get to the consistency you want. This recipe is not for decorating, it is for taste, so you will not get a light and fluffy buttercream no matter how much powdered sugar you add.

Assembling the cupcakes

Cool the cupcakes.

My idea of filling a cupcake is rudimentary at best, so, uh, sorry about that. Basically, I filled a plastic plunger (that came with our Pancake Puff pan - yes, we own the Pancake Puff pan) with the lemon mousse and inserted it through the top of the cupcake. I did this three or four times on each cupcake after I discovered rooting around inside the cupcake trying to make a single "fill hole" compromised its structure. I settled for having several "tubes" of mousse instead.

To get the frosting's swirly effect, I squirted the frosting on to the cupcake using Ateco tip number 824.

Sip and enjoy.

Hello, Old Friend

2009-07-06T19:15:00.001-07:00

There must be a reason this blog is still around, I think. I stopped posting nearly two years ago, but here it is, still existing.

I think I've known.

I've known that this blog would come back, eventually.

I think I'm just about ready. I've got all kinds of pretty/tasty ideas floating through my head.

I think I know why I quit and why I want to keep going.

It is not some deep, dark rooted thing. No, it is a matter of taste.

You see, I do not like fondant or jam, I do not like it Sam I am.

(Truthfully, I'm okay with jam, but fondant didn't rhyme with Sam.)

Fondant, oh, how I curse thee.

I tried, really tried to like it, but it got to the point where I couldn't be proud of what I made because I couldn't actually eat it. What good is a cake if it just looks pretty? Fondant has the effect of finding a hair in my salad. If I make a fondant covered cake, I can't eat it. End of story. The whole cake is guilty by association.

So, from here on out, it's anything but fondant. Ganache, buttercream, mousse? I can't promise meringue, but I promise I might try?

If I won't eat it, I won't post it.

Stay tuned.

Closing up Shop

2007-10-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog I was making more cakes than I had time for because I was trying to learn. When I figured this out, the posts on this blog went from sixty to zero. I don't have the time to create as many confectionary delights as I was doing back then, and this blog is severely neglected. So I'm closing it. It's been fun.

Optimus Prime

2007-09-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

The good news is this cake made it to the party, and the standby cupcakes I purchased did not get touched. It was an absolute hit. The bad news is that my poor little son was having a slight tummy problem (he wasn't sick though), and he didn't want any.

The cake is all Chocolate Fudge. I made four 12 x12 inch cakes and cut off about 1/3 of it to use as scrap and to make the back of the truck.

The rest is a modge podge of 8x8's and 6 x 6 inch cakes. Here is a picture of the first cake I attempted and how I put it together. It's how I did the second cake, too.

At certain points during this process I thought for sure I was done-for. But I kept on truckin' (haha), and was pleased with the final results. Sure, the fondant isn't smooth, but the overall effect was definitely there. For my first attempt at something of this nature, I can't complain.

The frosting was just regular lemony buttercream infused with cake for sturdiness. Actually a little too much cake, the frosting didn't wan't to stick, and if it did it wanted to fall off and take pieces of cake with it. That contributed greatly to the mushy look of the fondant.

The silver pieces are cardboard and fondant or just cardboard. The black portions are Rice Krispy Treats covered in fondant.

The big part of the truck was eaten, we brought home the leftovers only because Little Man didn't get to have a piece yesterday.

Ask me if I'd try this again and right now I'd probably say no. But in a few weeks the bug will bite me again and I'll be tearing the kitchen up!

&*^%# Cake

2007-09-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

This is the last thing that went well on the practice cake. (It is supposed to be Optimus Prime, the lead Transformer, in his truck form)

It's covered in Spackle Paste, a mixture of butter cream and cake scraps that makes the frosting a lot more stable. It was supposed to make the fondant look better.

In fact, I threw in the towel on the whole deal. Ready to go to the closest grocery store and order a cake. But dadgumit the towel put itself right back in my hands because NO ONE sells Transformers cakes. Not that it was like this huge blockbuster or anything. Sure, there's Yugi-oh or whatever the heck it is called cakes, but can you believe one of the bakery gals actually asked me what Transformers are? OK, I totally get that that you don't go to the movies often, but this movie was all over the place, dontcha think?

Needless to say, since the goody bags are already Transformered out...I am probably going to give the cake another go.

The problems started occurring because I had to load in massive quantities of Super Red and Royal Blue food coloring into the fondant (Optimus Prime colors). The combination of that and the heat (even with the AC set to 70) made it mush, absolute mush.

So if I'm going to do this, I'm going to purchase fondant that is pre-colored so I only have to tweak the color a bit instead of trying to turn white fondant into Super Red fondant.

Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

And if it doesn't work out, I'm going to have to rename myself.

More Than Eats Your Eye

2007-08-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

I have been saving my cake making energy for the grand finale of the summer, the reason I started doing this whole decorating thing to begin with...

THE BIRTHDAY.

This will be the most important cake I've ever made. So, please forgive my absence this summer. It's been too hot, and I didn't want to get sick of making cakes before my son's birthday. I want to make him the mother of all cakes. Granted, I'm quite sure my vision of the cake and what actually comes out might be a bit different; but it's the thought that counts, right?

So here's a hint for the cake I'm making:

When Color Attacks - The Recipe

2007-07-17T18:22:00.001-07:00

I feel that since I've started this blog, I've been entirely too stingy with the recipes. So my dear readers, prepare for the most luscious cake recipe(s) you have ever tasted. I am not a scratch snob, though I do prefer a good scratch recipe over an "extended" box recipe any day (except for White Almond Sour Cream, which I will reserve for another post where I've actually used it).

The lovely thing about this cake is that it is horribly imperfect, yet it's received the best reception because of that. Some have called it a Dr. Seuss cake (without my prodding), and that is an effect I find delightful! I purposely did not take my time on the details because the book (Whimsical Bakehouse) I got the idea from stressed that it's okay to be imperfect, much like an impressionist painting. It's horrible from up close, but from afar it is fantastic (that's impressionist, right?)

The cakes are 9", 6", and 4", which are relatively small for a tiered cake, but really quite enormous for anything but weddings. The bottom and the top layer are Chocolate Fudge cake (a Toba Garrett recipe), and the middle layer is a Lemon Supreme Pound cake. The frosting and filling is buttercream. I want to stress that unsalted butter is a must. Unless you like things realllllly salty.

I also have a few tips before I get started.

1. Line the bottom of your pans with parchment paper. You would not believe what a huuuge difference this makes in releasing the cake. Also, grease them with butter. Flour is not really a necessity when greasing. Do not use Crisco unless you like crispy edges (learn from my mistakes, peeps).

2. Use GOOD pans. They make all the difference in the world. The two types of pans I typically use are Magic Line and for Springform I use Kaiser.

3. Drop the pans before putting them in the oven. I've gone into more detail in my first recipe.

4. Cool the cakes for at least 20 minutes (some say 10), and before you flip them out (or release them from the Springform), run a butter knife along the sides to release it. The bottom is taken care of with the parchment paper.

5. Wrap them in plastic and refrigerate or freeze until firm.

6. Use gel food coloring in your frosting because it doesn't water down the consistency much; but don't use Wilton - it sucks. I use Americolor or Ateco (Ateco is available at Sur La Table among other places I'm sure).

7. Buy your extracts and other specialty items (like high quality cocoa/chocolate) at a gourmet food store or specialty kitchen store like Sur La Table. Believe it or not, it is usually much cheaper than what you will find at the grocery store. I can get a 4oz bottle of high quality lemon extract for 6.95 at Sur La Table, that at the grocery store costs $5 PER OUNCE.

Now, without further adieu:

Chocolate Fudge Cake

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed DARK brown sugar

1 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (IMO it doesn't NEED to be Dutch processed because it is pricey, but if you want to do it right for a special occasion it does make a small difference)

2 and 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 and 1/2 tsp salt

2 and 1/4 cups buttermilk (you can substitute with milk and vinegar [1 tbsp per cup of milk] if you have an oh shit I don't have that moment, but use the real thing if you've got it)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs

1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

6 oz melted semisweet fine quality chocolate (Bakers brand will do)

Heat the oven until 325 or 350. If you've got patience you will have much more even cooking results at 325.

Mix all ingredients together in a mixer on low for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl (constantly if you're anal about following recipes to the T).

Blend in the melted chocolate. I have a tip at this point. Before you preheat your oven and measure the ingredients, put the chocolate in the pan on the stove and don't turn on the burner. The heat from the oven when preheating will melt the chocolate very evenly and nicely if you've got a cheapie stove like I do.

Mix on high speed for 3 minutes. If you've got a Kitchen aid like I do (oooh I like my Gloria!), it may take less time. You will notice a consistency change in the batter, it will become fluffy. That's where you want it.

Pour into pans and smooth. Then lift the pans and drop them several times on the counter. Then stand on your head and spin around while twiddling your thumbs and singing "You've Got a Friend in Me". Just kidding, but seriously, do the pan dropping thing, it helps to alleviate air bubbles. Use this as a general rule of thumb when baking cakes.

This will make two nice sized 8" layers. For my 9" and 4" layers I used a recipe and a half and it was plenty.

Bake for 50-75 minutes depending on your oven temperature. They say that when the toothpick comes out clean it's overcooked, but I've always used this rule and my cakes are never dry.

Are you still with me? Are you ready for the Lemon Supreme cake that I find "okay", but non-chocolate lovers find fabulous? Here goes:

Lemon Supreme Pound Cake

(I usually double - but for this particular cake you wouldn't need it unless you want scraps for filling and that's another topic for another day)

1 box Lemon Supreme cake mix (Duncan Hines is the best for cake mixes)

1 box Lemon Jello

1 Cup Hot Water for the Jello

3/4 cup Vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 TBSP lemon extract

Dissolve the Jello in the hot water and mix the rest of the ingredients while the water is becoming one with the Jello.

Add the dissolved Jello

Bake.

Yup, that's it.
Again, cooking times vary depending on oven temperature. The cake will look very crispy very quickly, but that's okay, the inside is still moist.

The BEST Buttercream frosting ever

(provided you like powdered sugar based frosting's):

2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup vegetable or hi-ration shortening (yeah, fancy words...just use solid Crisco)

1 and 1/2 tsp Lemon extract (you can actually substitute with any extract, including vanilla, but lemon really works well and gives the frosting a nice subtle touch that you do not get with vanilla)

3 lbs confectioners sugar (technically you should sift, but who the heck has time for that?)

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp water - start with just the 1/2 cup and add the tbsp if you need it.

3 TBSP meringue powder (you can find this with the Wilton Cake Deco Supplies at craft stores. It is NOT a necessity, but very helpful during the warmer months in stabilizing the frosting)

1 tsp salt

Cream the butter and Crisco (or whatever). It should be nice and creamy, not lumpy at all.

Add the extract and salt.

Add Confectioners sugar one cup at a time (but I usually cheat and add more, it depends on how much *poof* you want from the sugar and what your mixer can handle - but you definitely need an electric mixer).

When all of the sugar is added, mix in the meringue powder. Your mixture may become too dry before this point, if it does, you may add a small amount of water to help.

Add the water or milk (if you so choose) and mix for 7-8 minutes (again, Kitchen Aid's need less) until light and fluffy.

Sample for quality.

Then sample again for good measure.

And sample a third time for prosperity.

Oh heck, sample until you feel sick to your stomach so that you can resist the finished cake.

Note: Even though you can store this (freeze for up to two months) - I make this right before I'm ready to decorate because it has the best consistency at this point. If you do store it before making, make sure you mix it again in the mixer before using on the cake.

Now, if you want to decorate it like the above cake, umm, I have no advice. It was a modge podge flurry of color and I'm actually quite surprised it did not collapse. Okay, well it didn't collapse because I at least know how to support a cake, but the rest of it was just a lot of dye on my hands and coupler changes (for the frosting tips).

I know there are a few of you out there who are going to be making cakes soon and have expressed interest in getting advice from this non-expert. Please don't hesitate to email me at sugarbunz at gmail dot com. It would make me feel important :)

Garden Time

2007-06-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

I literally threw this cake together. I decided at about 1:30 this afternoon that I had a cake making bug up my butt and went out to the store to get the supplies I needed. I figure the "messyness" is okay because it's kind of a nature-ish cake. Yeah, it was intentional, mmm hmmm, yeah that's it.

Chocolate fudge cake with cookies and cream buttercream filling and buttercream frosting.

And here's a small picture of another cake I did for a coworker for giving me his monitor. It's really hideous up close so you only get a little peek!

Hey, I had to make lavendar and mint frosting into manly colors, and this is really the only color combo I could think of that would work.

The Birthday Cake

2007-06-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the cake I made for my mom's birthday. It was good, but I am not a big cheesecake fan so I could have done without the layer of cheesecake.

Mom loved it so it's all good.

Chocolate Fudge cake with chocolate (Godiva liquer) frosting, Cream cheese frosting, and a layer of plain ole cheesecake.

Oh Gee, Another Flop

2007-05-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

Not much to say about this one, except I'm not proud. Not in the least.

The bottom, unseen tier is strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream filling, and regular buttercream frosting.

The top tier is Chocolate Fudge cake with buttercream filling/frosting.

Gloria did a fabulous job, the heat and my lack of motiviation made this cake a disaster. Once the fondant started tearing I literally just threw stuff on it. While it's still true to my original vision, I had much better plans for it. I've been having a lot of flops lately so I am going to ease off a bit for the summer. I'll still make one on occasion, but me, cake, buttercream and heat don't make such a great combo.

Introducing......GLORIA

2007-05-18T17:12:00.001-07:00

Ahhh, it's good to be me. First a brand new camera, and now my new mixer! I truly don't care for the name Gloria, but I thought she was glorious and the shoe fits. You might think I'm strange for naming a kitchen appliance, but after using my mom's 20 some-odd old mixer that clankety clanked along and half the time did not whip or cream properly, you might think me only slightly insane.

My mom was kind enough to get this for me for my birthday (June 3, if anybody cares to send me gifts, I'd settle for comments :P). I will be gone that weekend, so she wanted to get it for me early. Thank you mom!

I had a KitchenAid before, but due to space limitations had to ~~sell it~~ give it up a couple of years ago. We lived in a tiny apartment and baking wasn't my thing. Plus it carried some emotional baggage with it (yeah, I know, I need to get over this attachment with inanimate objects). This one is soooo much better! She's a powerful red beast. The specs look like something you would find attached to a car. Transmission this, power that. Of course I have a lovely cake in mind for her virgin run. I shall post pics soon!

Orange Crush

2007-05-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

Umm, yeah. I know. It's not even smooth. I did do the whole decorating process in about 30 minutes if that counts for anything. I had a beautiful picture of what I was going to do in my head. I was going to name it "Orange Blossom", but "Orange Crush"seems a bit more fitting considering the sorry state this cake is in.

This cake is:Orange butter cake with orange mousse filling and orange/vanilla buttercream frosting. Think Creamsicle.

Despite it's flaws, I'm happy I did this cake. It was 106 degrees yesterday (yes, you read that right), and I wanted to see how fillings and buttercreams react under the heat. The answer for this particular cake is, not well. I probably could have kept the oven off, and just stuck the cakes outside to cook for a few hours, but instead turned the oven on inside. Let me just tell you, it doesn't matter how low your air conditioning is set, when it's that hot outside and you turn on the oven, you're screwed. As are your unstable cake fillings.

Live and learn though, right? Even with the "icing dam", the orange mousse filling oozed out the sides and caused the top layer of the cake to slide around everywhere (hence the hurried deco job). Now I know that until the temps dip below 90, I need to stay away from anything less stable than plain Jane buttercream. That means no meringue buttercreams, whipped cream based fillings (IE mousse), etc. That's no skin off my back (or should I say 'that's no frosting off my cake'?), because I am particularly fond of plain Jane buttercream and now I have an excuse to decorate exclusively with it and/or fondant.

mmm mmm good.

Another man's cake

2007-05-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

I sit here tonight, typing to you from a beautiful, new monitor.

Sort of.

Actually, it's another man's junk, and my treasure. He upgraded to a flat screen. I upgraded to a real monitor.

You see, my previous beast, I mean monitor was a 12+ year old pawn-shop reject (quite literally). It was ugly, the screen was small, and the picture quality was horrible. It often faded from slightly yellow, to totally yellow and seeing a webpage as it was meant to be seen was nearly impossible.

I feel like I've hit the motherload. This is a BEAUTIFUL monitor. Oh, it is still a big beast, but the picture is pristine. This page I post on looks *gasp*, WHITE. I never knew it was white. I thought it was a creamy ivory. Who woulda thunk it?

So thank-you office-mate *J*. You totally made. my. day. My work-day that is.

To show my appreciation I think I shall bake him a cake! It shall be chocolate, it shall lack scrolly thingees. It shall lack flowers. Oh dear. What will I do?

I Would Like to Formally Apologize to Blue Bonnet

2007-05-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

I just have to say it. Are you ready? Drum roll please.....

I am pleased with this cake.

*Collective GASP*

I know, I know. It's a shocker. I actually LIKE a cake I made and can admit it. No self-defacing comments in this post. Well, at least not yet.

The cakes are as follows:

First tier 8" - Chocolate Fudge Cake with Natalie's own concocted chocolate buttercream. The chocolate flavor is derived from cocoa powder, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and chocolate extract. It came out a bit dryer than expected, but crusted very well (for smoothing).

Second tier 6" - Sour cream white cake with raspberry flavoring. Frosting is lemon-y buttercream.

Third tier 4" - same as the first. Someone gets a personal sized cake. Kinda like a personalized pizza, but with a lot more calories. Scary, I know. How can anything contain more calories than a personal size pizza? Well, here it is. In the flesh. Erm..in the frosting. I dare not estimate the reality of the calories and fat inside.

As you can tell, my flavor of the moment is scrolls (specifically pink and brown). I wanted to make a small three-tier cake with scrolls and I wanted to do it quickly. The baking was done last night after work, the decorating, tonight. It took, all in all, from warming butter to room temperature to the last buttercream rose, about six hours. Yeah, a lot of time, but a lot less than the full day task I am used to. I want to get used to doing cakes quickly, as it's a possibility I may be doing it for real in the future.

Now for the title of this post. Last night I ranted and raved about Blue Bonnet margarine and how I felt a bit misled that it would work well in buttercream. I used all butter tonight (with a small amount of Crisco-blech), and had the same results. I now know it was the stinking butter and NOT the margarine that was giving me crappy results. I was still able to ice this cake successfully enough, but something in the butter seems to cause the powdered sugar to crystallize so that you get "chunky" frosting (it's not the sugar because I used two different brands last night and tonight). Eeeeew, sounds gross, but it's similar to tasting granular sugar in something, and it royally pisses me off! As a result I didn't bother to smooth the frosting as well as I could of, but it's all good.

So there it is, my official apology to Blue Bonnet. I am sorry, I shall not give up thee just yet!

As for the cake. I wasn't so sure at first. The largest layer went well, the smallest, not so great. Thankfully I had planned roses on top and knew that the little mistakes on the smallest layer would probably be a moot point by the time the top was encrusted with pink buttercream. I think I was right. I have to learn that no cake looks great until it's finished. When I am making these "little" mistakes, it really gets me down; until I see the big picture. I just have to learn to see the big picture a bit sooner!

To close this post I must share a picture that really exemplifies how messy cake-making really is. I now know I am a powdered sugar buttercream frosting kinda gal, and as such, powdered sugar is the single most messy ingredient in a cake. The picture below shows just how well powdered sugar can infiltrate your kitchen. I promise this cake had no alcohol in it! How powdered sugar got there is anybody's guess, but if you've never tried powdered wine, I highly suggest it.

The Return of Lady Godiva

2007-05-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

She's aged a little so she is not as beautiful as she once was. Actually, this was just a simple cake I was making for home. I have some leftover Godiva frosting in the freezer so I decided to use part of it tonight.

This cake was honestly not worth the work. I am having a rough go of it with cakes lately, and I think part of it is the heat. I get more clumsy the hotter I am. In a cheaply built apartment, when it's 100 degrees outside, the oven heats the entire place up quickly even with the air conditioning on. I know my latest cakes have not been as stellar as previously, and I think the heat is a huge contributing factor.

I had heard that Blue Bonnett margarine worked wonderfully in frostings so I gave it a whirl. First, I decided to put it in a chocolate fudge cake I made tonight for later in the week (it will be part of a small three tier). Usually, the batter in this recipe almost "whips" up as it is beaten. It goes from a very liquidy texture, to a light and fluffy cream. It didn't do it tonight and the cakes came out more flat and uneven than usual, but still usable. I thought maybe I just screwed up something in the recipe...

Until I tried to make buttercream roses that contained just half a stick of the Blue Bonnett, two sticks of regular butter, and a quarter cup of Crisco. I had identical results with the buttercream as I did with the cake batter. Even though the frosting was thick, it was runny...if that's even possible! Just the small amount of margarine threw the "creamy" factor way off. So I had to scrap the roses and just go hog wild with the number 2 tip on the cake. The table was shaking a lot by a certain little three year old who wishes to remain anonymous, sorta accidentally on-purpose sticking his hands in the frosting poopies. Frosting poopies = frosting that's dropped on the table on it's way from the bowl to the cake. Aren't ya hungry now?

The cake itself is a white cake with some chocolate and raspberry extract in it. It's a variation of the white almond sour cream cake. It is filled with the same chocolate buttercream that covers it, and I must say it tastes much more fabulous than it looks!

Feelin' Froggy

2007-04-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

There is a *condition* that inflicts itself on cakers everywhere. It affects our daily lives and spins it's tangled web right into our unsuspecting minds. No, I am not referring to the unnatural tendency to stick your tongue out and taste the powdered sugar "poof" cloud when mixing frosting; I am referring to the illness of seeing everyday objects as a potential cake.

As I poured myself a glass of wind-down wine tonight, this little label came off in my hand. I have been thinking of doing a frog themed cake lately (just because I can), but I wanted a good frog to get my inspiration from. Who would have thought a cheap bottle of wine would give me my answer? It was fate I tell you. I have never had a wine label come off in my hand. As I placed this label it in it's own special spot amongst my cake paraphernalia, I realized that this was not the first time I had done such a thing. Why, earlier just today I bought a piece of scrapbook paper, not to scrapbook with (which I also do); but to use as inspiration for a fabulous garden themed cake I want to do someday. (Spell check just informed me there is an extra r in paraphernalia - who knew?).

I thought I was immune. I have heard people speak of this affliction, but thought "pffft, it shall never get me! I have too many other things on my mind!" It's got me. It's got me good, and I fear that nothing is safe from being imagined into a sinfully delicious confectionary treat!

Cakers Block

2007-04-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, Cakers Block. If writers can have Writers Block, I certainly can have a block of my own. I have chosen not to show this new cake in it's entirety. It is entirely too ugly. Correction, it's FUGLY. Yes, it is beyond ugly. It looks like Christmas threw up pink.

So before I focus on what is so horrid about this cake, let me entice you with what is GOOD about this cake.

The cake itself is White Almond Sour Cream cake. Something I've made a few times before. It is a "doctored" cake mix, not a full blown scratch recipe like I typically like to use; but good nonetheless. I
went back to my good ole standby buttercream for filling, but of just filling it with plain buttercream, I strained some fresh strawberries into it. OMGOSH, it is soooo good! The outside is still just plain buttercream (with lemon oil), and it's a nice combo.

The good news is I had a much easier time with the buttercream roses and sweet peas than I did yesterday. The bad news is that I apparently have hot hands. It explains why the roses are so "smooth", while the ribbon (the last thing I did), could not stand up on it's own and was just blobby. As I worked, my hands heated up the contents of the piping bag, making melted decorator's buttercream. I also forgot to use regular consistency buttercream for the rest of the piping (scrolls), so on the side of the cake the scrolls didn't stick so well and they look rather horrid.

Here comes my worst offense. I wanted to make the scrolls and ribbon a slightly darker shade of pink, just to offset all that perky pink and green a bit. BIG MISTAKE. I darn well know that once you start adding red, it might still look pink, but the longer it sits, the more red it becomes. Do you think I listened to that smart little voice inside my head telling me to lay off as I gleefully squirted Super Red Gel food coloring into my pink frosting? Well of course not! It's such an ugly color combination. Like I said, it looks like Christmas threw up pink. I told my mom to please tell her coworkers that I really do make pretty cakes!

In all fairness. I usually do one cake per weekend. These two cakes I whipped out in a matter of a few hours a piece. So be easy on me, OK?

Just pretend you didn't see this, K?

2007-04-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

All right, this is NOT my finest hour, but I expressly forbid ANYONE from telling me just how ugly this truly is because I already know. I am not self-depreciating, really I am not; but this little confection had disaster written on it as soon as I started in on the blobs...umm...I mean flowers.

I was so buoyed by a wonderful email I received today that I decided my mom needed a cake to take to work with her that would not make everyone drunk.

I also wanted to try Italian Meringue Buttercream. I had tried the Swiss version a while back (which is very similar); but thought maybe I had done something wrong because I thought it was disgusting. As I have mentioned, I was kind of floating along today so I decided to give it another whirl.

Meringue buttercreams are not made with powdered sugar. They are made from regular sugar, egg whites, and butter. LOT'S of butter. I cannot tell you how much butter I go through nowadays, but I will tell you that Albertson's had it for 50 cents for four sticks because it is expiring in a week. I felt like a kid in a candy store when I found this, and I made sure to test it on myself before sending spoiled butter out to any unsuspecting cake-eaters. This is another reason for my mad-cake-baking frenzy. I need to use up the TWELVE POUNDS butter or freeze it (that's six bucks worth if you are counting). I literally smell like a stick of butter right now. I am normally covered from head to toe in white powder from the "POOF" of powdered sugar that occurs when mixing my normal buttercream, so I don't mind the trade off of smelling like a piece of toast.

I also tried out a new cake recipe today. Golden Butter Cake from The Whimsical Bakehouse. I added some new lemon oil that I found today just to give it a little spunk and cautiously proceeded with the buttercream preparation.

I now know what went wrong with my last attempt. I did not mix it for long enough. None of the recipes tell you that you need to mix it long enough for it to basically change it's composition, because it went from whipped meringue texture to buttercream-y after a while. I had nooooOOoo idea it would do that. I am a bit shy of overmixing things after I made butter out of heavy whipping cream (no, I'm not kidding). And it is delicious. It's a much lighter, non-gritty frosting that is much less sweet than traditional buttercream. I still like my traditional buttercream, but this was a nice change of pace. It also smooths shiny, which I thought was kind of fun.

Now onto the mess I'll call a flower spray and scrollie thingees. I thinned down my buttercream because I'm sick and tired of those dang ragged edges. I'm all for the "natural" look on myself, but I want my buttercream roses to look like fake buttercream roses darn it. I did use my traditional buttecream for this part of it.

Well, I thinned it a bit too much, the air is a bit too warm, and my hands are hot. So instead of flowers, I got blobs with definition. Those big blobs are roses, and those three horned blobs are supposed to be Sweet peas. Oh and the green blobs are my sad sad attempt at melted leaves.

I can only hope the cake tastes good. I greased the pans with Crisco instead of butter and the edges got too crisp so I'm worried it's too dry. Oh well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?

A little somethin' somethin'

2007-04-18T17:24:00.001-07:00

I hereby dub thee...

"Lushious Lady Cake". Emphasis on the mispelling of "luscious" because this puppy is infused with Godiva Liquer. The recipe for chocolate buttercream came from the same book I've got all of my favorite recipes from so I wanted to make it right. Which means when it called for Godiva liquer, I went out and bought an expensive little bottle of the stuff. The frosting has approximately five buckaroonies worth of alcohol in it.

I didn't think the alcohol would be noticable, and as you might guess, it's nearly impossible not to sample the goods to ensure quality when making a cake. No, I didn't pour myself alcoholic chocolate on the rocks, but I did have my fair share of boozy frosting. After about two tablespoons I actually felt dizzy! I'm not a lightweight by any means, so I can only guess the sugar mixed with the alcohol had some kind of special effect on me; but nevertheless this cake will not be going to it's intended recipients: My mom's coworkers. The last thing she needs is to get blamed for a workplace full of drunkards.

The cake itself is Chocolate Fudge. It's funny, but the first time I tried the recipe I didn't care for it, now it is my hands down favorite. I filled it with raspberry flavored buttercream, and covered it with the Godiva infused chocolate buttercream. Honestly, it's ok. I will have a piece later (shucks) to determine if I think it's really just ok, or if when mixed with the flavor of the cake and the filling if I like it.

This was also a good excuse to practice buttercream roses. They are still eluding me with their ragged edges, but I am now convinced it's the consistency of the frosting, not the inexperience of my hand that is causing the problem.

I went a little crazy with the scrolls because they are one of my favorite cake effects, andthere are many MANY mistakes, but the overall effect is very pretty I think. Once I realized that there was no way I was sending this to work with my mom I just had a hay day without regard to how many mistakes I made.

This is one cake my son will not be sampling!

Hip Hop HOORAY!

2007-04-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Call me crazy, but I'm rearin' to go again after this cake! I guess I'm truly getting better at this stuff after all, because things ARE getting easier. There is absolutely nothing that went wrong with this cake. Well, at least not the decorating portion of it. I didn't have any "oopsies" to cover up. The flowers are NOT placed strategically to cover up my screw ups. They are there because I thought they would look nice there.

The lady I was making this for only requested something lemony so it's a lemon pound cake. Now here comes the one and only screw up on this cake. Are you ready?

I found a recipe for doctored lemon pound cake that was highly rated on cakecentral.com. Knowing that most box cakes only make an 8" cake if you're lucky, I doubled the recipe. I was making a 9". When I poured the batter it didn't seem like it filled the pan enough but I figured it would rise.

Umm, no. I had one "decent" sized layer, and one incredibly puny layer. After levelling, it was not even an inch high. The other layer was puny too, but not as puny. I really love my scratch recipes, but I didn't really have the time; and they tend to rise better. So I decided I would make this more of a torte style cake with three layers instead of two and bring out my last box mix; which happened to be white cake instead of Lemon Supreme (Duncan Hines if you are curious, it's the only box mix I'll buy most of the time). No problem, I'll just add a boatload of lemon extract to it. Since the other two layers were yellow I decided it would be fun to make the white layer, pink. Hey, I was feeling springy.

That was it, that was THE ONLY THING THAT WENT WRONG! Can I get a WOOT WOOT?!

Since I had already done the pink and yellow thing with the cake, I decided to take it up a notch and really go crazy. I colored one of the layers filling blue, and one layer purple. Or was it green and purple? Or blue and green? Oh who knows, but you get the picture. I'm not sure how it will look once cut, but I hope it looks "springy" instead of like I ran out of one color of frosting and used another.

I thoroughly enjoy basketweave. Yes, it's tedious and can be hard on the hands, but I can do it. Yes, that's why I like it. Because I can do it. Yes, that's reason enough thank-you-very-much. It looks shiny in the pic, and globby, but it's really not. My cheap-o camera is notorious for taking things out of context. I don't think that made sense but I don't care.

This was my first try at "grass". I think it came out pretty good. It was very easy. There is a wonderful little tip, #233 to be exact that is an absolute necessity IMHO. I have some small holed tips and was actually going to attempt grass with one of those. Yeah, then I really would have been certifiable.

As good as this cake went, my apartment is an absolute mess. When you mix three layers of cake, fondant, gumpaste, buttercream, and a very bored 3 year-old, things are, umm, shall we say VERY MESSY? My poor kid, he really gets mesmerized when I'm doing these things and I'm sure he was disappointed to see it walk out the door. So I have decided I'm going to go to the store and get the fixin's for one small easter basket cake that I can surprise him with tomorrow. Let the sugar high begin!

HAPPY EASTER!

UPDATE:

Here is the cake I made for my lil man. He pretty much completely ignored what I was doing because I told him this was for someone else, so I think he'll be tickled pink when it sits next to his Easter basket tomorrow morning! This is a small cake, only 6", the right size for our family...I got a little too busy with all of the decorations and umm, grass, but it was fun. Yes, I know there are lot's o' white spots in the grassy section but you must understand that at that point my hand wanted to fall right off!

Happy Easter............Again!

Practice Makes Perfect

2007-03-31T14:32:00.000-07:00

This is the first cake that *basically* went as planned. Does it still look like an amateur made it? Yes. But this is the first cake in a while (beside Easy Breezy), that did not give me fits. I did not have the desire to throw my bag of powdered sugar across the room. Nope, not once. Dare I say it? Dare I ADMIT that I might have done a half way decent job on the Power Ranger head that only sort of creeps me out? No, he does not have legs, but by golly, it looks like the Blue Mystic Force Power Ranger! Even my critical-of-mommy's-work-when-I-have-to-go-to-bed son admitted he liked it. So, to celebrate my success, I am allowing all five of you a glimpse into my super secret cake world.

Here is the head on it's respective lopsided cake (6" for perspective). I put a couple of lollipop sticks below it in the cake, and into the head itself for support. It's pretty heavy so it could have easily smooshed in the cake. He's very thick-headed you know.

All of this stuff is for the bottom cake (10" for even more perspective)! From left to right: Cookies and Cream Filling, *older* buttercream (but not bad buttercream) to *glue* the cake to the drum, spackle paste bowl (to fill in any 'oopsies the cake came off' holes. It works like spackle, go figure),a bowl of regular buttercream frosting. I am sure at this point you are wondering how messy one's kitchen can get. I am here to tell you that you have not seen a mess in the kitchen until you have put seven pounds of powdered sugar, several drops of food coloring, and who knows how much Crisco, butter, powdered cocoa, and eggs into a cake. Yeah, it aint pretty folks. I clean as I go, but it still looks like a sugar coated Tasmanian Devil had at it when I'm done. EVERYTHING about baking and decorating cakes is messy!

Though the frosting doesn't need to be perfectly smooth because it will be covered in smooth (*erm, ahem, supposedly smooth) fondant, I still take a Viva paper towel and a fondant smoother to it, just to help my already lumpy little cake be a little less lumpy. I know what I'm like with fondant, and unwanted lumps come in droves.

LOOK, LOOKIE HERE!!! This Fondant went on like a charm! This is the first time I've covered a cake this large with very little problems with the fondant. Now I can really see that practice makes perfect. I still need to work on my smoothing technique once the fondant is on, but I got it on in one piece, and had very little tearing while smoothing. Nobody better say a word about my fat fingers.

This is smoothing the Fondant. Exciting, huh? Dum dee dum dee do *whistle*

Lollipop sticks inserted into the cake for support so that the top cake with the big ole head on it doesn't smoosh into the lower cake. More "glue" to help hold it in place. Sidenote: I buy lollipop sticks by the package in the candy making section, no need to worry that they are *used* lollipop sticks.

Getting close!

Even closer!

Time for a Vodka break (see fruitcake recipe).

OK, not really. The Vodka is for the gold dust I'm painting on the cake. I pour a tiny bit of Vodka (like a drop) into the dust and VOILA! It's insta-paint.

TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby steps people, baby steps

2007-03-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

I think this looks better than the last, and if you don't, well, I don't wanna hear it! I had much bigger plans for it, but c'mon, this is only my second try at molding Rice Krispy Treats for goodness sakes! I would have liked to separate the helmet from the neck some more, but I think this will do just fine. Plus, I got positive feedback from my three year old. Last night he thought the head sucked; but he smiled big at this one and told me he liked it. Trust me, that is the opinion that matters most! He didn't even complain that there were no legs!

Easy breezy

2007-03-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

After the disaster that was the poker cake, I felt I needed to do something that would validate me. Call it an ego trip, but I needed it. If you look at the cake closely, the scrolls are messy, I used a bigger tip and softer frosting than I should have, but the overall effect is nice. I was really just practicing, because I think scrolls done very well can make a cake absolutely stunning. I am not anywhere near that effect, but I like this nonetheless. The best part of this is that the entire decorating process (not including baking, the cake was leftovers from yesterday's project) took about 20 minutes. I just whipped those little squiggly lines out like nothing flat. This is a little 6" White Almond Sour Cream cake with raspberry cream cheese buttercream filling and regular buttercream frosting. Gumpaste rose. Ahhhh, it feels good to be me. Oh and the cake is fantabulous too!

The dragon plays poker

2007-03-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

Oh my, so many things to say about this cake, so little time. I think out of all my efforts, this is my least favorite. The sloppiness alone is reason for tears. Of course, frame of mind did not help matters in the least, but I had honest intentions of making this one kick butt cake.
It all started off well-enough. The original intent was that this would be a Wednesday cake. Meaning I would accomplish the decorations and fondant ahead of time. The cake layers would be made on Sunday. Buttercream on Monday. Decorated Tuesday night.

Saturday I made the dice and poker chips out of gum paste. I felt like quite the artist sitting there with my little food coloring palette, adding the details. I thought they were quite nice thank you very much.

The more and more I thought about it the more and more I realized that trying to accomplish a cake like this on a weeknight would be foolish. So I made an even more foolish decision. At 11AM on Sunday I started this cake with the intention of completing it by 9pm. OK, first off, when in a hurry, things will go wrong; so try to never be in a hurry if you can help it. Second of all, even my minimal experience has taught me that I need a full weekend to do cakes because I can’t devote every single second to them.

I discovered very quickly that I did not have enough corn syrup to complete the two batches of fondant that I’m supposed to let sit for 24 hours so I did one batch and went to the store for the corn syrup. On a side note: Corn products are supposed to be pricey right now, but at least corn syrup was on sale for 1.99! Hmmm, wasn’t there some hulaballoo about corn ethanol for fuel or something? Wowsa, that could get pricey!

I have duplicates of all of my round pans, but none of my squares. So, each layer had to be baked separately. I realize that a 10” square cake is child’s play to those more experienced than I; but a 10” square cake is a monstrosity to me. Each layer took an entire recipe of Toba Garrett’s oh so yummy Chocolate Fudge Cake.

First layer came out of the oven looking nice enough. After about five minutes out of the oven the middle started sinking. What the? I dropped my pans on the counter to combat the air bubbles before baking, what happened? The normal “problem” is that the middle rises too much. But nothing about this cake was typical. I don’t mind rising, In fact, I like having the extra top that I have to cut off to make level as a sample of my fantastic baking. Instead, I had a flat middle section that made the cake about half as tall as it should be. Ok, well, I can deal with that, I’m not a professional and I don’t guarantee cake height. Now let’s flip it out of the pan before it’s ready because you are in a hurry. Now let’s watch as said cake becomes about 50 little cakes. Oops.

Oh well, I sort of have the ingredients to make an extra layer, finished second layer and decided to work on the top portion of the cake which was White Almond Sour Cream cake. Time constraints be darned! But really, can you make a Chocolate Fudge Cake without eggs? Yes, that’s right, the remaining 8 eggs all went to the big monstrosity on top of the cake. AH HA! Hatch plan to get two things done at once. I haven’t got my exercise in for the day, so to save time I will run to the store with a backpack. No worries. I have it all planned out. I will ensure the eggs get a nice comfy little spot where they will jostle minimally. I came out of the grocery store with a few more items than intended, but that’s ok, they’ll help keep the eggs in place.

I began my jaunt back cautiously. I decided to jog very slowly at first and then check the eggs. Ummm…within a quarter mile there were six eggs cracked in my son’s Car’s backpack. Rut Roh Raggie! Oh but it gets better folks. What do you think was also carelessly placed in the same compartment of the backpack and promptly forgotten about until the egg incident? What is the WORST thing that you typically carry with you that could be in the bottom of that backpack?

That’s right. I egged my cell phone. CRAP! It wasn’t just a little eggy, it was submersed in a sea of yellow yolk and goopy gunk. OK, deep breaths. Egg does not seep like water, right? Right, but it also doesn’t dry like water and just go away. Nope. I HATE THIS CAKE!!!!!

Really, all I could do was giggle. This is so typically Natalie when I’m having a rough go of things. I cleaned off the cell phone as best I could with the parchment paper I had just bought and wrapped it up. Finished the job when I got home but am discovering today that egg is very crumby when it dries. I wonder if salmonella dries with the egg?

So I finally finished all of the cakes. At 8pm. Hmmm, cutting it rather close aren’t we? I went to work on the top part first, as I was anxious to try the Satin Ice fondant I had purchased. Not being a fan of the texture of fondant, I had heard this was fabulous and would change my mind. Not so, but it’s not bad. It’s not the taste, it’s the texture. Sort of like I’m not fat, I’m fluffy.

OF COURSE the stuff cracked where it shouldn’t. It’s really my fault, I was feeling very rushed at this point. No biggie, will cover up with the white circles and the worst will be placed in the back of the cake.

Boy did I have a fun time stacking the two layers for the bottom portion of the cake. My top bottom layer was not fully cooled because it was the last one I made, so getting it on the cake (mostly) in one piece deserves a gold medal.

I quickly rolled out the homemade white fondant, crossed my fingers and toes and flipped it onto the cake. Mmm hmmm. Of course I came up short on one side. OK, that side will also go in back. I do want to point out that while I had problems with the fondant, this time I added glycerin, and it made a world of difference as far as handling!
Let’s see, it was about 9:30 at that point. My original plan was to have a black and white diamond pattern on the sides, with the card cut outs (club, heart, diamond, spade) in the white portions of the diamonds. Yeah, that didn’t happen. I threw those puppies on there in no apparent order, stuck the top of the cake on and called it good. Nope, didn’t even work on smoothing out the awful bottom edges. Dispersed poker chips and dice (the only thing I am pleased with on this cake!); and stuck it in the fridge.

The good news is, the cake is delicious. Quite a chunk of the bottom portion is gone and I told the birthday girl to take the top part home to her family. The bad news is I’ve had three pieces. Hey, I think I’ve already worked it off!

Oh, and here is my newest dragon who has unfortunately already met an untimely demise, due to my very own clumsiness. Go figure.

I think I’ll go make a fruitcake now.

Some humor

2007-03-24T17:19:00.000-07:00

I don't know where this came from, so I can't credit the appropriate person, but I found it on cakecentral.com. Fruitcake is very popular across the pond, and is the traditional wedding cake. This is just the pick me up I needed today.

A great fruit cake recipe

You'll need the following: a cup of water, a cup of sugar, four large eggs, two cups of dried fruit, a teaspoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of salt, a cup of brown sugar, lemon juice, nuts, and a bottle of whisky.

Sample the whisky to check for quality. Take a large bowl. Check the whisky again. To be sure it is the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar and beat again.

Make sure the whisky is still okay. Cry another tup. Turn off the mixer. Break two leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers pry it loose with a drewscriver.

Sample the whisky to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Who cares? Check the whisky. Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever you can find.

Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window, check the whisky again and go to bed.

Dragon's Lair part deux

2007-03-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

My latest beast. I am really starting to enjoy working with fondant and gumpaste for modeling. I am not good at it yet, but it is so fun to see a blob of what is basically clay turn into something that could pass as a dragon. I wanted to experiment with different colors and make this dragon a bit more "cartoonish"; and play around with paint (food color) and glitter (edible). The verdict is that I'm still not happy with the wings, I need them to appear to be thinner (more like bat wings), and I want an irridescent sheen to parts of the dragon. I also want to be able to put the dragon in positions other than laying down. Unless I have something to prop him up with, I will definately need to use gumpaste, as that dries much harder than fondant. I think for the castle theme I am more fond of the orange and red, as it stands out quite a bit more than this little guy will. I have decided I will do another "dragon and castle" cake this weekend. I am determined to have a fantastic cake to show! It's funny, even though these are considered "edible", when my son asks if he can taste part of it my reaction is "EEEEW!" Edible does not equal palatable. So folks, when you see a work of art cake and it says 100 percent edible that does not mean you want to necessarily eat 100 percent of it!

Dragon's Lair

2007-03-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

This was a REALLY fun cake to do, up to the point where a pillow was launched at it by a three year old who wishes to remain anonymous. :P It happened right as I was completing the painstaking brickwork that "used" to be pretty even and solid looking. The original intention was not for this to be an old decrepit castle, but it took that turn after the pillow incident. There is also supposed to be another level (smaller cake) on top, but such is life. I really learned about using fondant/gumpaste for modeling purposes and covering a cake in fondant a little bit differently. Instead of using a solid circle of fondant, I applied buttercream and then cut "bricks" to cover the buttercream with. I had originally used plain white buttercream, but it seeped through the bricks and looked awful so I applied another layer of grey which didn't really show until "the incident".

Because the idea for this cake was inspired by Debbie Brown, and was originally supposed to contain some carved cake elements to it, I originally made the recipe for Madeira cake contained in her book (here). I suppose if you are inclined to eat dog biscuits that recipe might taste ok to you, but I am not so I threw the whole cooked batch out and used Duncan Hines Yellow cake mix modified to be a pound cake. Normally I'd do it from scratch, but I'm experimenting with mixes now because there are some awsome "doctored" mixes out there. I will still do mostly scratch, but mixes are great for when time is of essence or the supplies are low (like butter, eggs, buttermilk, etc...) I just used regular old buttercream because it can sit out and because of the fondant this cake should be left out of the fridge.

One thing I don't understand. I don't dispute that Debbie Brown is an incredibly talented cake decorator, but to me, a cake must taste just as wonderful as it looks. I can't imagine spending oodles of money on a cake only to find out that it was not very palatable.

P.S. Yes, the end of the dragon's tail didn't quite make it onto him. I was so fed up when I was done I just didn't care!

Good neighbor

2007-03-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

Since I was only making 6" cakes with a huge recipe, I ended up with three two tier cakes. This one went to our downstairs neighbor in appreciation of them being MUCH better than our last ones! I was trying to get a little better at buttercream and tried my hands at scroll work. It's all fine when it's on top, but the sides are what I need to work on. It's not perfectly even but it's not meant to be because it was really done on the fly. I am really into mixing colors with brown, it's really fun. The third cake shall never be posted. It was a sad little cake meant only for my families eyes. I was trying to do a basket with roses on top; the basketweave was great, the roses...well, they were lacking. I am going to get myself in a class as soon as I can find one so that I can get hands on instruction with those wiley little buggers (buttercream roses and flowers in general). It's funny, the first time I tried my hand at them I did pretty well, but ever since then I end up with these blobs of jagged edges! Excuse the lame wording tonight, I knocked the crap out of my head trying to take this picture and I think I'm still a little dizzy. Don't ask! :P

Pink and Brown around town

2007-03-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

I wanted to try out a new recipe, it's my first foray into "doctored" cakes. I am pretty adamant about doing my cakes from scratch, but this recipe sounded fabulous and I had to try it! The cake itself is white almond sour cream. Mmmm, sounds sooo good huh? Well, it's made from Duncan Hines white cake mix, but has a ton of other ingredients including (surprise) sour cream. It's pretty good but I can still tell it came from a mix. It's so moist it almost seems undercooked but it is not. I also tried out a new buttercream recipe. I really like different buttercreams, but plain ole buttercream is the only one that doesn't require refrigeration once it's on the cake. I did try Swiss Meringue Buttercream a couple of weeks ago because everyone raves about it; but I found it rather plain and was very reminiscent of whipped cream frosting which I am not fond of at all. Oh well, back to my original topic! The frosting and filling on this cake is raspberry cream cheese buttercream and it is FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! This little experiment ended well

My other little experiment did not. I wanted to make a chocolate fondant covering with raspberry flavoring. I played around with it too much and it ended up becoming too brittle. So I started with a fresh batch and just colored it brown and used raspberry extract in it. It tastes halfway decent. But because I had to get into a new batch that wasn't technically ready for it's showtime (Fondant should sit for 24 hours after being made); There are a lot of tears and small bubbles. That's why there are so many dots! HA!

Overall I am happy with this cake. I had very little idea of what I was going to do when I started on it; so I think this is halfway decent. I did learn to let fondant well enough alone, but since I am giving this to my friend in the morning, I needed it tonight. So I think tomorrow I'll make a batch or two just to have around! I also learned that I am not big on doctored cake mixes, they still taste like cake mixes. Most people love cake mixes, but I want my cakes to taste different. I am just as interested in baking good cakes as I am in decorating good cakes.

P.S. The roses are what are called Ribbon Roses. I see them a lot on whimsical cakes, and since that is one type of cake I really want to learn how to make I thought I'd give the roses a try. :)

That really ugly cake

2007-02-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

About that really ugly cake... The one I refused to post about in my last post. It was indeed ugly. I had lost any semblance of patience by the time I got to it, so it ended up being a really badly non-decorated heart cake. It was a chocolate fudge heart cake with a chocolate peanut butter filling, a thin layer of buttercream on top; and semi-sweet ganache (a mixture of heavy cream and chocolate) poured completely over it. I have discovered that I need to let my cakes sit for at least two days before making any judgement on taste. The night I made it I was so disgusted with it that nothing about it tasted good. I didn't like the filling, I forgot to put vanilla extract in the cake, the buttercream was too thin, and the ganache was too *semi* and not *sweet* enough. HOWEVER, two days later, after 15 seconds in the microwave (I did this because the pb filling needed to be refrigerated, and a refrigerated cake should be put back to room temp before serving as far as I'm concerned) and MY GOODNESS, this cake was FANTASTIC. Looks be darned. It was GOOD. Seriously, a freaking fantastic tasting cake. I will definately be perfecting my ganache technique because as far as taste goes, that is definately a signature cake. Of course, if you are not fond of chocolate, this might not be your cup of tea, but if you are, you will crave one of these puppies during your worst PMS. I really think I am good at making cakes! That's hard for me to say because I am really critical of my cooking, but my cakes have really turned out well. I will be venturing into new flavors soon, but I am just so happy knowing I've got my staple recipes now!

Too many ideas, too little time

2007-02-13T20:31:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when my brain goes into overload. I had way too many cakes I had planned on making, and as a result, only came out with three (and one that is NOT shown it was sooo bad - really); and they aren't even good. I am really embarrassed to post these, but this blog is about my progress so I am going ahead with it. I think I've regressed. From now on I won't plan on making four heart cakes and some mini cakes for work to look like conversation hearts (the pink hearts letters are purposely blurred in case you are wondering). I will post more about this adventure tomorrow or the next day. I am exhausted and need to go to bed right now.

Hi, my name is Natalie

2007-02-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

...and I am a cakeaholic. It only took me a month and a half but I am totally engrossed in cake decorating. It takes two parts of my personality, food and creativity, and rolls it into one convenient little package.

Sorry to disappoint you but there are no cake pics tonight. There will be tomorrow night though. You don't think I am going to miss Valentine's day do you? My son is getting a stuffed bear, and a cake. Work is getting...a cake. My husband and mother are getting....yup, you guessed it (drum roll please)...a cake. There are about 12 little cakes of varying sizes and shapes sitting double wrapped in my fridge right now. You would almost think I'm doing it as a side job, but I am not! All of these are free. I must decorate most of them tomorrow night. I don't want to give it away, but they will be the easiest cakes I've made so far, yet the *I think* idea is cute, even if it's been used a gazillion times before. At least I think so. I really enjoy this stuff. I enjoy the baking. I hate the cleaning, but with practice, I'm becoming better and better at knowing how to keep it under control. Rarely does my kitchen get left overnight with dishes in the sink. In fact, I have only my recently emptied pans in the sink right now. The rest of the paraphanalia that needs to be cleaned is long gone. I love the decorating. Even when it goes wrong it's satisfying. I look at my green super flower cake that was only my third and realize that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was at the time and my flowers came out pretty darn well! I did forget to put the finishing touches on a lot of them but that's ok. My son is perfectly content to let me "do my thing" because he knows he'll get some treat out of each batch. Lot's of times he "helps" me. He has is own play kitchen, complete with a very realistic play hand mixer and when he gets the hankering he gets his little mixer and a jar of what he percieves to be the makings of icing (which was a wood peanut butter food item last time), pulls his little chair up to the counter and makes his own stuff. When he is done "mixing", he gives me a beater like I do sometimes for him. Don't worry folks, I ensure my stuff is very VERY clean. I am so paranoid about making someone ill!

But here is my problem. I have very few things that I cook that I like. Among them include my casserole mac and cheese, my mushroom sauce for meat (beef, chicken, pork), and mashed taters. However, I have found that I absolutely ADORE my cakes. I mean, I may not be pleased with how they look, but by golly, they taste fabulous! I can't believe what a talent I have for this. I rarely "overcook", and people rave about the moistness. I really only have two kinds that I'll make right now: Chocolate and Yellow, but the recipes I'm using are excellent, and as I perfect them, I'll venture into other avenues. I'm typically a pretty plain jane type of cake flavor person, but I realize not everyone is.

This is just such a wonderful creative outlet for me. Anybody who knew me as a kid would tell you that I was very creatively inclined, but could never find something that I really jived well enough with to make a career out of it. Now I have a career in something NOT creative in the least, but have found this wonderful creative outlet that who knows, when I'm older or retired, I may just start up my own little quaint business. A lot of people HATE to cut into my cakes. I think they are not all that, I see really professional pics on a website I go to, but I guess for a beginner I'm not bad. But for me, cutting into the cake is half the fun. They see this "work of art" (even though I haven't really acheived that status except in their eyes) and don't want to harm it. What they don't realize is that half of the art is in the taste. So dig in! It won't hurt my feelings! Tell me how fantastic and moist it is!

Dot's dot's everywhere!

2007-02-03T14:30:00.000-08:00

This is my first cake that is leaving me (beside the mini wedding cake - I don't count that). It is nothing like I intended it to be but I reached a milestone with it. I know, I am sooo completely negative about my cakes, but we truly are our own worst critics. I KNOW where the errors are, and most of them I cover up so you can't see; but I know they are there and shouldn't be! I posted it on a "cake" website that I go to and someone added it to their favorites! WOOOOOOT. That's the first time someone has liked my idea enough to want to look at it again and use it. She was fond of what I did with the bows. I think it's funny because the bows were a result of me knot knowing what to do with the ends of the stripes! (knot pun intended - just in case you are wondering if I am a total moron who mispelled 'not') :P. Of course the fondant was uncooperative with me so I ended up covering it up with more decorations than I intended. It's uneven, and it's got boo boo's everywhere, but I think it turned out well considering. I am REALLY adamant that fondant and I will become friends. It's soooo purty! The picture doesn't show the color well. It's almost hot pink, with lighter pink and black dots. It looks almost orangey in the pic but that's my cheapo camera for ya. It was really a fun cake to do, dots and pink and ribbons. Total girlie cake. In fact, I met my friend outside the mall to do the hand-off and the only one who commented on this strange lady sitting ouside the mall with a "custom" cake was a little girl who could only manage an open mouth saying "That's AMAZINNNNG!" Yup, totally girlie! It's my typical chocolate fudge with oreo cooking filling and buttercream under the fondant (I have a feeling it will become my trademark - it's soo good. As much as I critique my cakes, I really love their taste, and that's a big step. I usually can't stand my own cooking - unless it's mushrooms and onions, then I'm superb :P). Can you tell fondant is my favorite covering? I really REALLY love fondant. As much as I hate the taste, I love the options. It keeps the cake so fresh, and there are so many decorating possibilities with it. I love buttercream too, and nothing beats the taste, but if you mess up with buttercream, it's harder to cover up. Plus, with fondant, you don't lose the buttercream, fondant is really a decration so I don't feel I am compromising taste. I tried making some buttercream roses tonight, this time without the fondant centers and I failed miserably at it. I think I might take a Wilton course, just to perfect those and get better at piping in general. I feel that a "REAL" cake decorator will be proficient in butter cream AND fondant. I want to get good at piping. Covering the cake in fondant is definately a challenge, but once it's on, the decorating is much more easy than piping buttercream. Nothing beats a good buttercream rose!

Wedding Bells

2007-01-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

I did this cake for a coworker who is mercilessly teased about her impending who knows when wedding date to our boss. She loves it though and is aware she will be recieving a wedding cake from me sometime this week (it's a mini-cake, you probably can't tell in the pic, but it's sitting on a dessert plate- not a regular plate). Originally the plan was to give it to my boss as a joke on his birthday, but well, the actual BIRTHDAY cake took precedence. I don't know how edible this cake is. I had to use "piping" icing, which is a bit thicker than regular buttercream (though it's basically the same recipe) and Wilton premade fondant...which is quite possibly the nastiest thing you can put on a cake. It was a fun little cake to make though. She loves hearts and that is why there is a heart on top. Sorry for the horrible pictures and crop job, but it's late and I should be in bed!

Birthday's and Anniversaries

2007-01-28T18:21:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at a tiered cake. I should have stuck with the one tier! I made a 10 inch and an 8 " cake thinking that would be plenty of space between the layers. WRONG! That's ok, it was a lot of fun. It's not the prettiest thing ever created but I'm sure it tastes fantastic! I used marshmallow fondant this time, and of course "sampled" it. It's still not as good as good old buttercream, but for some reason seems more palatable than the last fondant I made. Of course there is buttercream underneath, so if one really hates fondant, they can just peel it off. I made two different types of fondant, one with whole marshmallows, one with marshmallow fluff. The fluff version was not as cooperative as the whole marshmallow fondant, and you can tell because the top layer is so much more "messy". Bulges and bumps galore! (Sort of like my butt!)

My favorite part of this cake was actually impromptu. I was trying to figure out what to border the bottom with and decided that since it is desert, rocks would be appropriate. I think they are a bit out of place because they are realistic while the rest of the cake is cartoonish! Hey, at least I know how to make edible rocks now! This cake is 100 percent edible. There is nothing on it or in it that cannot be eaten (except for the support *dowels* that keep the top cake from smooshing the bottom). With my previous cakes, any other flower than buttercream flowers were attached with wires, which of course, you would not want to eat (unless you are a guy, then you believe anything can be eaten- as evidenced by a couple of guys who have sampled my cakes!)

So, I bet you are salivating wanting to know what kind of cake it is? The bottom layer is yellow cake with plain buttercream frosting (with lemon extract). It's the recipe I don't care for, but I think a lot of people would like. It almost tastes like the little shortcake cups you can buy for strawberries, which are great for strawberries; but REALLY sweet for cake with buttercream icing. The top layer is chocolate fudge with cookies and cream filling. It tastes like the cake version of an oreo! YUMMMMMMM. Oh yeah, and of course the marshmallow fondant on top. I made it for a combo of my boss's birthday and the year anniversary of our office opening here.

UPDATE: The cake was a hit. I really should have just made a rock cake, they were quite a splash! The fondant kept the cake super moist and yummy. The recipe is a really good chocolate cake anyway, but the fondant kept it that much more fresh. The entire top tier is gone, but the bottom tier hasn't been touched yet. I have decided that this weekend will be a no bake weekend. I love doing it, but this is the fifth week in a row and I don't want to burn myself out! Liz, I am really looking forward to doing the cake for your party, keep me posted on when it will be! I know my cakes are very amateurish, but considering I started from nowhere I think I've done a pretty good job!

When flowers attack...coming soon to a station near you!

2007-01-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

I should have known that this cake was going to be disastrous to begin with. I put a great amount of time into the gumpaste flowers, I should have known the finished cake was bound to be a less than stellar achievment for my unseasoned hands.
I had problems with the flowers. It was my first time creating a lot of them and the roses were a new technique. But I figured I'd make some leaves, and some ladybugs and call it "Garden Party". Well, this is not going to be called that. I'll reserve the name for the cake I make that actually turns out as I intend it to. This one is titled "when good ideas turn into bad cakes". It looks like someone threw up flowers all over it. Better yet, it looks like the cheap bundles you can get at the grocery store. Even my mom had nothing to say except "oh honey, that looks good!" She usually has much better praise for my cakes! She was impressed with the lily, probably the least problematic part of this entire thing. I also made the yellow cake recipe that I wasn't sure I liked last time and added some strawberry extract for flavor; but I still wasn't impressed.
I think for a beginner I do a decent job of smoothing the frosting. I can point out all of my errors and bulges, but I can't complain, as it's only the second time I've tried to smooth seriously. Smoothing buttercream is truly an artform. I think I'm going to buy stock in Viva papertowels (Kleenex); for that is one of the best kept secrets to cake decorating there is. The jury is still out on Fondant, I think I will try a marshmallow version of the recipe soon. Apparently it's much better than traditional. I will also not use almond extract. I think that's one of the reasons I was so turned off by my initial efforts. I don't like almond tastes in my cakes (unless it contains REAL almonds).
Next weeks cake will contain ZERO flowers and for that I am relieved. I am challenging myself with flowers because I percieve them to be one of the hardest things to perfect, but I am looking forward to the desert themed cake I need to make for my office opening anniversary/boss's birthday for Monday. However, it will be my first attempt at more than one tier so that might be a disaster waiting to happen!

P.S. The red things are ladybugs, can't really tell in the pic because it is too small. Wanted to make my posts uniform though.

Today's cake brought to you by....

2007-01-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

SPRINGTIME!

Yes, I realize for most it is still the middle of winter, and while we had 20 degree lows a few days ago, most of our winter feels like spring. Neener neener neener. Don't worry, you'll have your sweet revenge as soon as May hits when I'm complaining about the heat!

I really *threw* this cake together. My favorite part of it is the weaving because this is the first time I tried it. It was not as hard as I thought it would be until I started running out of yellow buttercream and didn't have any white left to make more yellow. I am completely unimpressed with the flowers (hey, all but the small purple ones were made within an hour), but I will be getting better tools and practicing more this weekend. Practice makes perfect and I am a looong way off! I really didn't have a design in mind when I created this so that's why you see the flubs on the "handle", and that wierd little flower thing I have going on on the side of the cake. It was fun though, and my coworkers have no complaints. It's the same flavor as my first cake, chocolate fudge with plain buttercream icing (has a faint lemony taste to it due to the lemon extract the recipe calls for).

2007-01-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

The purple people eater

Today I tried fondant. My original idea was to do white fondant with blue and brown dots - like a piece of scrapbook paper I have. The reason it's purple is because the first time I tried to put it on the cake, I overestimated on one side and underestimated on the other - so I had to take it off and have a do over. Of course, the buttercream undercoat got on the fondant and pushed the color *off* enough that it looked dirty and I needed to tint it. The result is a blast from my past. Those were my high school colors. Ahhh, the Amador Dons. I didn't intend for it to be that way, it just so happened that I had yellow pre-made fondant, but not pink (the purple is home-made). When I took my first step back to look at it I realized what I had done. Maybe it was subliminal. This really was a practice cake for me, and there are many, MANY errors that I've tried to cover up well enough, but this is probably a cake that will end up having a couple of slices eaten out of it tonight and thrown out tomorrow. I learned a lot from this cake, namely applying fondant correctly; so I don't feel guilty about wasting it at all. Now I know I can do it, I will be a little more confident when making the fondant cake for my boss's birthday and for our one year anniversary of our office opening!

As pretty as fondant looks I have come to a conclusion...

I just can't stomach the stuff! It's no worse than eating marshmallows, but it just looks non-edible, so I have a mental block that will not allow me to eat it. I made it, so I KNOW what went into it is completely edible and doesn't have anything strange in it. Buttercream frosting is just the best frosting, hands down, and even though the fondant has buttercream underneath it; it sticks to the fondant, and you have to scrape it off if you want to eat it. Well, of course some fondant comes off in the process and "contaminates" the buttercream, making it something I won't eat! I will continue to make fondant cakes, if for no other reason than to keep me from pigging out on the finished product! However, it also will motivate me to get REALLY good at smoothing buttercream.

UPDATE: My son, my mom, and my husband (and of course me!) each had some tonight. Alexander (my son) loves the "purple part, it's really yummy"; Emmanuel (husband) likes the cake heavily laden with generic strawberry syrup, my mom liked the whole thing including the fondant. I thought it was "ok". It was a bit too sugary for me. I can't bring myself to eat the fondant. I don't know why. It's completely edible, but I think because I made it and kneaded it and worked so hard with it; in my mind it has become something that's not meant to be eaten. It's really just a mixture of sugar, shortening and gelatin. I might try MMF (Marshmallow Fondant) next time. Maybe I can get over my mental block of fondant that way. But hey, it might keep me from sucking down all of my creations at lightning speed!

2nd update: I did indeed throw it away yesterday. Everytime I looked at it I wanted to throw up. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it and it was a hit with my family, but it's that stinking fondant that did it! I can't stand it!

2007-01-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

Here is my first cake. *sigh*. It was a valiant try I think. I spent Friday night gathering items I thought I would need to start decorating, and I spent Saturday finding items that I didn't know I would ever need. Soooo, my itinerary of making the cake on Saturday and decorating on Sunday kind of got postponed. Who would have thought one would need meringue powder to make frosting? Well, just how do you think frosting can be so rich, yet fluffy? Not moi. Yes, my friends, it's meringue. I bet you didn't even know there was such a thing as meringue powder, because I sure didn't. I could have stuck with the ole C&H recipe of butter, vanilla, milk, and powdered sugar; but if I'm going to do this, I should do it right, RIGHT? Meringue powder is not cheap, but it sure is fun. I was so impressed with the finished result I have four buckets of the stuff in four colors in the freezer. If it's frozen, I'm less likely to pig out on it.

This was truly an adventure. I tried to do everything so right, you know I went wrong somewhere. I misread the original recipe for the cake and thought it said "makes two 8" layers". So I poured what I perceived as half of the batter into the first layer of my sparkling new 8" springform pan. It said 45-50 minutes per layer, which in Duncan Hines speak, is an eternity. Well baby, this aint Duncan Hines. After about 20 looong minutes I peeked in on my lovingly crafted dessert and saw that it bubbled up about 2 inches from the top of the pan. Ummm, maybe I better look back at that recipe. It sure seemed like a lot of batter, but you know, not all cakes rise really well. Sure enough, it said "Makes two 8" two layer cakes". OOPS! Well, at least I have enough batter left over right? I thought I might just cut my one huge layer into two, but alas, the bubble deflated, leaving a huge crater that if I'm lucky, left about an inch of usable cake.

I decided to try conventional cake pans with the extra batter this time - heavily greased and floured. Alas, they wouldn't separate from the pan and they tasted awful.

My second (well, technically THIRD) attempt at making the cake came out brilliantly. I only made a half recipe so I did not get to taste it until I cut into it at work the following day and I was not disappointed. It was a thick chocolate cake that was perfectly moist. In fact, two unrefrigerated days later it still tastes as fresh as the first day.

Lessons learned in this section:
1. Read the instructions THOROUGHLY
2. Use the ingredients the recipe calls for. I substituted cream of tartar and milk for buttermilk. I also substituted salted butter for unsalted. The result was a gooey, salty mess that might remind someone of a pile of dirt. That's what husbands are for though, to clean up our yucky messes via their mouths.
3. Use Springform pans, just don't overfill them. The cakes come out much more level, minimizing the amount of leveling you need to do, which, for a beginner is essential.

Now on to the decorating. Because I was not salivating for a taste of my work (I practiced a great deal of restraint, partially because I had been sampling the frosting all day); I was able to let the cakes cool properly before even thinking about messing with them.

I am really interested in fondant, because I like the look, but I wanted to learn more classical techniques first (and buttercream tastes better). What I perceive to be one of the hardest "basic" techniques would be that of buttercream roses. As I result I went hog wild and made more roses than what you see in the picture. My first two roses looked decent, but then I realized I had the tip the wrong way. When I turned it around the result was a much more delicate and "real" looking petal. The red frosting shown above was much more liquified than the pink, giving it the thicker appearance, but by the time I got to them it was 9pm Sunday, and Monday was quickly approaching. The instructions I read for the roses suggested using a fondant base. The only problem with this is that for my inexperienced hands, the rose becomes very heavy on the nail quickly, and several of my masterpieces slid off into oblivion before their last petal was placed. This elicited a small cry from me.

I made the larger roses out of gumpaste. A much easier feat in my humble opinion; molding with my hands was much easier than molding with a globby bag of frosting. The only drawback is that the material dries quickly, and while water will help, it also makes it stickier.

I have not tried icing with fondant yet, so I cannot truly attest to the level of skill it requires, but I can say icing with buttercream has to be one of the harder tasks. Trying to smooth what is basically soft butter onto crumby (literally) cake sides is a load of fun; especially when you only have a small icing spatula. I ended up using an icing comb to camoflauge the uneven terrain, but as you can see, was pretty unsuccessful. I know now that doing a crumb coating of icing all but eliminates this pesky problem.

Lessons learned in this section:
1. Read the instructions on using the tip. Otherwise you'll look even more stupid and inexperienced.
2. Have more than one size spatula
3. Crumb coat the cake first. That way your pink icing won't be pink with hints of brown that may or may not look like a small insect.
4. Work very quickly with thin gumpaste, you get a second chance, but as with tests, you really should stick with your first answer.

It really was a lot of fun and a decent hit at work. The biggest compliment I got was when a lady I work with thanked me for bringing in the cake and then inquired about "how THEY made the base of the flowers because it was interesting". When I told her that *THEY* was ME she was shocked. Most honestly thought I had brought it in from a store, and were really impressed with the hand made roses; which for an experienced cake decorator is an insult, but for a beginner is the biggest compliment you can give. The picture really does not do it justice, it adds ten pounds.