Final Project Time!

Wednesday 8/31/2011: Wow this was a long day! We had to come to class with a two layer 8 inch round cake already iced with extra icing for the design. I think this is the day that sparked my desire for a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. We began with learning how to write in icing! Of course I made the comment that I was unsure if I would be able to free hand writing on a cake - and I had to eat my own words when I actually did it on my final cake! Then it was rose piping time. Again this flower nail is a handy tool but challenging as well. I struggled to get a proper bud at first but after several tries and the instructor adding some water to my icing I was good to go. Before this class I had the brilliant idea to make cupcakes with red and buff roses (our flowers) for my sorority Alumni tea at the end of September so the pressure was on to perfect these roses. I'm sure more practice will be necessary before taking on that endeavor. The rest of the class was final project time. We were allowed to let our minds go wild with creativity using the techniques we had learned in class. My parents were on their way home from their vacation out west and I was picking them up from the train station after class so I decided to write "Welcome Home" on the cake which is the part where I had to eat my words about free handing the writing. It was EASY. I was so proud of my roses that I decided to place them on the cake too. Then I did some dots on the bottom perimeter of the cake and the top perimeter I piped drop flowers. Piping on a flat surface is easy once you learn the technique but I sure did have a time piping the drop flowers on the edge of the cake. Needless to say I scrapped a few off before I got the hang of it. Oh and another lesson learned involved the chocolate butter cream icing. I'm going to triple check the consistency of my icing from now on is all I'm saying. My parents truly enjoyed the cake and were so impressed with my piping skills. My mom has already picked out a white raspberry cake she wants me to make. I agreed as long as she is the sous chef!