Mom's birthday cake. (March 2001)

I totally screwed this one up when I baked it. I actually made it from scratch, went out of the room for a couple minutes too long, and the cake was dry as a bone when i pulled it out of the oven. I was extremely upset at the time, and I came very close to putting my fist right through it, but I didn't have the time to bake another one and still get it decorated before my mom arrived, so it had to do. :(

The sides were done as basketweaving with a #5 tip, which, as my mom pointed out, looks an awful lot like wicker. (see photo #4 to see what I mean) The roses on top are royal icing. The letters are runouts I did with royal icing on waxed paper (see the last photo) and then stuck on the cake using icing as glue. Everything else is buttercream.

Problems: Well, the biggest problem was that i baked it too long. This was the driest cake I have ever tasted. I nearly cried when I realized it. Also, The roses are a little too upright for my taste. At the time, I was having problems making them open a little wider, but I have since discovered what I was doing wrong: I was holding the icing bag at 6:00 instead of at 4:30. When I started doing the roses at 4:30, it made all the difference in the world. Then, of course, there was the problem with the icing getting soft again as I did the wicker basketweave. I had the same problem when I made Noddy's cake (above) with the icing getting soft and changing shades of white toward the end. I even tried sticking it in the freezer for a few minutes, but it wasn't very long before the icing returned to that super-soft consistency. I asked Debbie about it finally, and she suggested I keep filling the bag up with icing, which sounds like a good idea to me. I'll try that next time around.

Noddy's "Welcome" Cake (March 2001)

This is a cake I made for Noddy's housewarming party. It's a yellow cake covered with buttercream icing. This cake is important for 2 reasons. One, it's the first time I've done lettering, and you can see that except for the oversized "O" in "WELCOME", it turned out quite well. I actually started lettering from the center and then moved outward to make sure I'd have enough room. Two, although I've done basketweaving before, I've never done it with a number 5 decorating tip. (Debbie had suggested it in class, so I gave it a try, and wow does it look good!) It took about an hour and a half to get that part done, and we were actually a few minutes late getting to the party because i was still finishing it up.

Despite the problem with the basketweave (see problems below), I think the cake was beautiful in its simplicity, and I got several compliments at the party! Dan and I didn't stay at the party long enough to get to dessert, but the next day, Jeanne stopped by my office and said that everyone had been very impressed with the cake, which made me feel good.

Problems: I had very few problems with this cake. Basically, I just should have started a little sooner, but I had no idea the basketweaving would take so long. Also, the "O" in "WELCOME" was a little big, but not so big that it was a big deal. Oh! An interesting thing happened as i finished the basketweaving. As I approached the end, I noticed that the icing wasn't the same shade of white I'd started with. It had also gotten considerably softer. (You can see what I mean in the 5th photo) I'm guessing this has to do with the warmth from my hands melting the icing, but I'll have to ask Debbie to be sure. It's kind of annoying because it's quite noticeable, but overall I was happy with the way it turned out.

Rose Cake (March 2001)

I didn't use a cake mix for this one--I made it totally from scratch. I didn't make it for any special occasion, as far as I can remember, except I had just learned how to make roses and I was eager to practice them. I just took it into work the next day for everyone to eat. It disappeared quickly--especially once Azzolina discovered it. :) I originally wanted to make it look like a basket of roses, but I think I ran out of stiff icing, so I had to make due with the few roses I'd managed to squeeze out. Also, note in the last photo how happy Stephanie and Shiva are to be eating my cake, so you know it's gotta be tasty!

Problems: Not many problems. Basically, I should have planned out how many roses I was going to need for the top, but this wasn't a planned cake to begin with. I just spontaneously decided to make a cake to use the roses I'd just learned to make. (Roses were the whole reason I took the beginning cake class. I mean it.)

The Clown Cake (March 2001)

An important thing to understand about this one is that it was a practice cake. I was practicing several techniques on this cake, which is why it has kind of a motley look to it. I decorated it at Fantes, and then had to bring it back on the bus. By the time I got it home, the clowns had slumped down quite a bit from all the bumping around on the bus until they looked drunk. You can see in the 3rd photo below that the cake itself collapsed a bit, too, but it still tasted good. I painted food coloing directly into the pastry bag to make the multi-colored outfits. The heads are just store-bought plastic clown heads, nothing special.

Laurie and Aella made a clown cake much more interesting (in a morbid and disturbing way) than mine. They fashioned a make-shift knife, dipped it into blood-red food coloring, and plunged it into the clown as though he'd been brutally stabbed. (possibly by the 2nd clown.) There was also a pool of red food coloring next to him. They said they'd send photos when they get them back, so I'll share them with you when I get them.

Problems: Not much to say here. Like I said, this was really just a practice cake. My only real problems were the settling the cake did on the bus ride home.