Cake 101, Class #4

So... tonight was the last class in the series for Wilton Course 1. It was a busy night, let me tell you. We learned the full Wilton Rose (yeah, it deserves caps, I'm pretty sure it's a proper noun) and how to make bows and leafs. (And before you start with me on how those three things don't sound like they'd really take all that long to learn, let me tell you - THEY DO!) I'm telling you, that blasted bow was killing me. And the leaves were pretty bad, too. The roses, well... let's just say that it's a good thing that I'm not a perfectionist. The worst news about class tonight is that I was so busy making all the roses for my own cake that I totally spaced the time and didn't get pics of everyone else's masterpieces. By the time I was done with my little cake and had picked up the camera, both Raina and Angela had their cakes in the carrying case and were headed out the door. It's really tragic that I didn't get pics of theirs, because both of them did a total slam dunk awesome job. The good news is that I did get pics of T, C & C's cakes. Please allow me to share their finished products with you.

This little guy is Tiff's. I thought that the stars amongst the roses was pretty cool. I would have never thought of that, but I liked the texture that they added.

This is Christine's. Please note the bow. She's a friggin genius that she can make a bow look so easy. (I'm telling you people, it looks easy... IT IS NOT EASY.)

And this is the top of Christian's. Again, I was so fetching busy with my 13 (yes, count them, 13) roses that I totally lost track of time and missed all the good photo ops. The border around the edge of Christian's cake was the same teal/burgundy that she did her roses out of, and it was totally awesome. I'm sorry to say that by the time I had the camera out to take a shot, she'd already put the cake in the carrier, so the top shot is all you get.

And by now, I'm sure (I like to flatter myself, as we all know) that you're DYING to see my own little lovely. But first, I have to tell you - I had a vision of what I wanted my cake to look like this week. I wanted to do a tiered number, with an 8 inch on the bottom and a 6 inch on top, with roses (purple roses, actually) all around the top of the 8" tier and then covering the top of the 6" top. Uhm, that plan was shot plum out of the water when I realized that my 8" pan is actually a 9" pan... and is actually closer to 10" than 9", thanks to the weird lip on the pan. (Yeah, I have no idea how I don't even know what cake pans I have until I go to use them. Someone should just shoot me in the head (or maybe just buy me an 8 inch round), I swear.) Of course, because necessity is the mother of invention (or rather, because I'm too dang cheap to go and buy an 8" round when I have a perfectly good, albeit weird sized, set) - I ran with the funky 9 1/2" pan and the 6 incher. Sadly, once I got it put together and frosted, it looked more like a hat. Like, circa 1930's hat. Or maybe the purple ladies hats... you know what I'm talking about. Oh geez. (And yup, as always, there's my Cherry Coke cup there in the shot. Me + caffeine = creative genuis. Or maybe it = distracted woman manned with decorator's tips... Either way, there's my Coke cup. And my funky hat/cake.)

But don't you worry, I still went to class fully intending on making enough flowers to cover the now 11 inch (thanks to the icing, it grew an inch) bottom layer. Thus... the 13 roses. These are pretty much lined up in the order in which they were made. As you can see... it... uh... took me some time to get good. (Check out #3 from the left, this is what I'm lovingly referring to as my hydrangea. Hey... it's in the flower family, okay?) And then as soon as I got good (by about #4), my icing got warm and squooshy and... I got bad again (case in point, #5). But, like I said, it's just a good thing that I'm not a perfectionist... and I just kept going. I whipped through every blasted spot of what-I'm-loosely-calling-purple icing that I had and ended up with 13 roses. 10 for the outside rim and 3 for the top. (Okay, 12 roses and 1 hydrangea. But still.)

After I got the roses on, I TOTALLY FAKED some leaves (it's a really fun tip, the texture is totally awesome... but it's killer to get those suckers to come to a point) - I found that if I drug the end of the leaves out a bit over the edge of the cake they looked more leaf-ish and less, uhm... weird-blob-of-green-ish. But that still wasn't enough color for a colorful chick like me, so... I added the yellow border around the bottom and at the top. All in all... I'm pretty happy with the end result. It isn't my total dream come true (so much for the idea that I could see the future... because this cake is so not the vision that I'd had earlier this week), but I've found that as I've been able to let go of the perfectionism thing and just have fun... the cakes turn out pretty, even when they don't turn out they way I'd planned them to. (And if I wasn't so determined to just start posting pics right about now, I think I could probably turn that last bit into a life lesson and wax all profound. Lucky for us all, it's time to show some cake and you're all spared my Thursday night philosophy lecture. Woohoo!)

And because I'll all kinds of proud of this sucker, here's a pic from another angle...

And yet another of just the top. (Yeah, that's Hydrangea up there amongst the roses. I figured since she was the biggest flower of the bunch, she should have prime seating.)

If I wasn't heading right into Wilton Course 2 next Thursday, I'm pretty sure I'd be weeping bitter tears of sadness that it's over right now. But... I am heading right back into class next week, and so I can cope. Next week we'll be starting on the royal icing (flowers, flowers and more flowers... that I can keep in a tupperware in the pantry for WEEKS - it's my own personal version of Heaven, I'm telling you). Of course I'll be keeping you posted. And sharing pics. You know me...