Sunday, January 10, 2010

Sunday Thoughts Part VI- Cake Surgery

You may wonder why I posted a picture of flowers instead of the cake mentioned above. The reason is that the lighting was poor and I didn't have time to properly photograph it.

I had two three-layer cakes yesterday to frost for a baby shower that took place at our house this afternoon. I desperately wanted to make these cakes. It would have been so easy to get a Costco or Safeway one- but I was inspired. The first cake turned out fine. The second underwent major trauma. First I frosted all three layers with a terrifically think covering of gloppy icing. The whole thing was literally groaning under the ridiculous weight of that frosting. (My mother warned me.) Soon, the edge of the top layer understandably started to fall away from the cake. There were crumbs in the frosting. I scalped the cake, leaving piles of cake chunks everywhere. After this the remaining two layers were frosted with chocolate icing and covered in chocolate shavings. It looked presentable. The cake and I had fought a fierce battle, but victory was mine.

Thus the story of the Epic (almost) Cake Fail. I'm forever in awe of people who can do it perfectly the first time. But you know what? I was sort of due for a cake adventure. And now my fancy little tips are dried and placed in a box waiting for the next mass of butter and sugar to enter my life. I'm sure it will be great fun.....cake decorating is so rewarding.




3 comments:

Hannah Nicole said...

Beautiful flowers, though.

Andrew Anderson said...

> The whole thing was literally
> groaning
under the ridiculous
> weight of that frosting.

Wow, I'm glad you fixed it, because I'm pretty sure most people would be too weirded out to eat a cake that was "groaning".

Elisabeth said...

The trick is to give yourself lots of time and FREEZE BETWEEN LAYERS! This way the cake and frosting becomes structurally sound before adding more weight.