Tuesday, March 2, 2010

How sweet it is

It seems a little strange to move from such a somber post last time to something upbeat tonight.
But working on cupcakes for Rose's funeral
inspired me to write about my own adventures in cake decorating.

By the way, the service for Rose was on Friday
and it was a beautiful testament to an even more beautiful woman. 
Rose was loved by so many.
Not just close friends, but even someone who was willing to drive all the way from Arizona 
to honor the life of a women he had only met once....
for two hours.
Rose truly had an indescribable spirit that will never be forgotten.

So for those of you who don't know,
this last year I've become interested in cake decorating
(because I have so much extra time on my hands....ha, where's the sarcasm mark when you need it?!)

Anyway,
 I'm not really sure what it was that originally got it in my head
that this would be a good idea.
But I've always been pretty crafty and thought it would be fun to try.

Looking back,
I think that most logical route would have been to take a cake decorating class. 
This way I could get a handle on the basics and learn some solid techniques.

That would have just been  way too easy.

Instead,
I dove right in
and for my first cake,
I attempted a 2 tier cake with fondant.

For those who don't know what fondant is,
it's the smooth frosting that is over a lot of wedding cakes
that makes it look completely smooth.

That's it's purpose....

completely smooth....

uhhh huh....

Here was my first attempt:


Yikes!
Not so smooth.

I'm not going to enlarge that picture anymore
because then you could see even more of the flaws!

Anyway,
it wasn't terrible considering it was my first attempt,
but fondant was definitely harder than it looks.

That, and it doesn't taste great.
It's meant more for looks then taste
and being a novice,
mine wasn't even worth tasting.

So, for my next attempt,
I decided to go with modeling chocolate.
Same general idea as fondant (smooth look)
but more pliable and it's chocolate...
ya can't go wrong there right?

Here was the result:


Consensus????

The kids said it looked like play dough
and my cousin thought it looked like a Dr. Seuss cake.

Either way,
it was interesting
and it did taste better than fondant.

So next, I decide to undertake an even more difficult cake.
Makes sense right?
I'm not having much luck on the easier ones....
go for a more difficult one.

Not only that, but this one was for Robyn's baby shower.
On display
for everyone to see.

I ordered a backup cake from Costco, just in case.

For this cake
I wanted to make a topsy turvy cake,
(a.k.a. a Mad Hatter cake).
This is what they are SUPPOSED to look like:



Cute huh?!




And, this is what mine ended up looking like:




I actually was pretty pleased with this one.

I didn't do a third layer for reasons of time and sanity,
but it did end up pretty cute.
 I even got kudos on it from an attendee
who actually decorates cakes for a living.
She did Robyn's wedding cake.
(keep this in mind...I'll come back to it later)

  Then, I got busy and didn't do much at all for a few months.
But then last month,
I was supposed to bring a dessert for a family dinner,
so I thought I'd give it another try.

I'd been wanting to try some scroll work on a cake
and with valentine's day approaching,
I figured this would be a good time to try.

I knocked this one out in about 3 hours including baking, cooling and decorating:


Not too shabby.

But what did I learn?

Do NOT use canned frosting to do any fancy decorating.
It's way too soft and not nearly stiff enough to hold up properly.
Still, I thought it turned out cute.

Finally,
the cupcakes for Rose.

I wanted to try something different than traditional cupcakes,
so this is what I came up with:



Cupcake Pops.

These ended up being cute and are soooo tasty!
(How could you go wrong with Oreos and cream cheese?)

However, this was a picture of my practice run.
When it came down to the line,
I ruined the ones for the memorial service.

Luckily, I had helped Robyn out with her cupcakes,
so I got partial credit for those.

They turned out really cute:



Anyway.......

why is it that I am rambling on about cakes?

Because,
when Amanda asked the same woman to do her wedding cake
that did Robyn's,
The women replied,
"Oh I know that Kristen would be able to do it. 
The cake she made for Robyn's shower was so cute!"

What??!

Now,
I'll ease your minds right away by saying that
I am NOT doing Amanda's wedding cake on my own.

I am however, helping out the EXPERT cake decorator
(who by the way will be out of town on the actual day of the wedding. 
So guess who gets to transport and construct the cake????)

That, and Anthony also suggested that I do the groom's cake.

So, I need lots of practice,
lots of support,
and lots of patience
between now and July 3rd.

So,
stayed tuned as I keep on practicing.
I'll be posting all the details.

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