Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Okay here are more CAKES!
So, I've posted the cake from my first class previously so that's where I'll start. In class number two we learned how to make characters. We made faces on cupcakes and clowns whose bodies are made from huge globs of icing. Monte was excited for me to bring home the sugar-rich clowns for him to eat. Goodness knows, I do not like icing or cake enough to eat it myself. Good thing my husband is here to do the job beautifully. I think I had one and half slices from this entire cake.
(Look he has his arms around arms around the outside two. They are friends.)

And here are the cupcakes. I made them look like baby carriages so that I could take them to a baby shower. We already had a clown cake. We did not need cupcakes too. (The best part about these cupcakes, however, is not the icing on top...it's the chocolate cake with creme cheese filling in the middle.)

I used drop flowers to make the wheels.
Then there will still a dozen cupcakes left and I did not feel like making more babies so they became donations to Monte's work. The guys at work have yet to turn down sweets that I've sent with Monte. So, that works out well for me.
[ And maybe I can help secure his job in this troubled economy. Cause who wants to fire the guy who works so hard, is so nice, and on top of that brings you delicious treats every few weeks. The boring unpleasant man in the corner would be a better choice. ]
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The next week's course was our final for course 1. We learned how to make buttercream frosting roses! This was my favorite thing up until this point. We also learned a couple more borders and leaves to go with the shell border we had learned the previous week. Here are my flowers that I was so proud of:
This cake was a rainbow chip with a chocolate filling in the middle. I took the cake over to a girl's night for a treat. They ate a fourth of it. Then Monte polished off about half. And then I took a piece with a big chunk of the flowers to a lady who was turning 91.
I put one candle in it cause the other 90 would have made it crowded. It was great! She loved it and would have taken the last slice home if it had not been for the toddler who grabbed the plate and shook it vigorously until the cake slid from under the wrapper into the dirt at the park. Her mother kept apologizing. I thought it was funny. I had smelled so much cake and icing in the last three weeks that there was some sort of glorious delight in watching it fall mercilessly into the dirt. Take that cake!!!
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Now onto the fondant class. I've got the first two classes under my belt and thus far this is my favorite medium. It reminds me so much of working with clay. Granted it's stickier, softer, and has a (in my opinion, sickly) smell of sugar but I love working with my hands to mold things.
Here is the cake from my first class. We learned how to cover the cake, make cut outs, and bows and swirls, things that stood up on the cake. I baked a yellow cake with chocolate chips in it and then covered it to look like a present. I then took the cake to a friend's housewarming party. It was their gift. But they did not cut it and serve it. That's the trouble with making cake that looks like too much fun. No one wants to eat it. (Can't say I blame them...I nearly abhor the smell of cake now. haha)
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In the second class we learned to make roses. This the part where I really began to think I was back in a ceramics class. It was utterly delightful. This is the only class that we did not come home with a decorated cake. (Much to my relief.) We spent the whole time learning new borders, ruffles, and icing techniques...as well as the roses.
Our homework was to make 30-40 roses that will cover our final cake which will be a two layer wedding cake. I have spent everyday working on these flowers. I've watched 4 different chick flicks (that I've missed doing since I've been married) and just made roses and leaves. Very relaxing. I have pictures of the flowers but the cake will not be made till this Friday.
I will of course have to make the cake on Thursday and cover it with fondant and then bring it with my roses to class and we will learned how to assemble the cake and then do the final decorations with fondant and buttercream icing. Our teacher also informed us that she would show us at least three more kind of flowers that you can make out of royal icing. Just you wait. I will have one more cake update later to show you my final wedding cake project!