Obnoxious Spring Monday Cake. (April 2001)

Well, i started this one thinking it would be my sister's birthday cake, but I ultimately decided that I didn't have the time to do what I wanted for her cake (You'll see what I mean next week when I finally make her cake), so I decided to make a nice Spring cake I could take into the office on monday. And i decided, for some reason, to make it as obnoxiously colored as possible. You can see below that i succeeded. I baked the cake in the late afternoon, and I started decorating it right after dinner, finishing around 2 in the morning, keeping in mind that I watched Malcolm in the Middle and The X-Files during that time period, too.

Once I decided on the color scheme, I iced the cake (Marvin said he really liked the chartruse because it reminded him of the 60s), and then I made all the flowers. The daisies are by far my favorite, and they added to that "60's feel" Marvin liked so much. (i want to do a cake with all daisies one of these days. Debbie taught us a much easier--and prettier--way of making them than the way the Wilton book describes) But the apple blossoms are nice too. While they dried, I did all the border work. I did the blue shell border on the bottom and top with a #199 tip instead of a #21. It worked ok, but I think it would look better on a more formal-looking cake, so I'll probably go back to the #21 next time I do something like this. The yellow ruffle turned out well, but I wish I'd done some stringwork or something along the top of it to hide the rough edge. I'll remember for next time. I made the flowers as I watched the aforementioned television programs (You can't beat FOX on a Sunday night).

All the hours of work payed off, and when I brought the cake in to work, it was by far the most popular i've made to date. I left it in Adela's office for people to help themselves. People really seemed to like it. One person asked me where I bought it, and when I told him I'd made it, his eyes nearly popped out of his head and he asked if I did commissions. (The answer is YES!! Please pay me to make cakes, people! I desperately need the money to pay for all the decorating supplies I've been buying!) It *is* quite striking, just because of its colors if not the design. Adela actually made people wait an hour or two before she let anyone cut into it so people could appreciate it as they walked by. In the end, neither Ancil nor David Azzolina got any because it was gone by the time they came back for a piece. I felt really bad, so I'll make a bigger cake for next week, possibly with the gumpaste flowers Debbie is teaching us now.

problems: a few things I'd change. First, I whipped the chartreuse icing too fast in my kitchenaid, and it was filled with lots of air bubbles, which were a huge pain when I was trying to smooth the icing. Also, I stuck the daisies on with a little blob of soft chartreuse buttercream. The next morning, the green had seeped through the petals (see the 2nd picture). Now, as it turned out, it was a neat effect, but it certainly wasn't expected, so it's something to be aware of in the future. I probably should have used royal icing or white buttercream instead. Last, I put the yellow ruffle on before I did the bottom shell border, which made it impossible to put the shells on neatly. You can't tell from the photos, but trust me, it could have looked a lot better.