Friday, October 22, 2010

Cake Project

By cake project I mean a project in which I make a cake, NOT a project that is ridiculously easy, like "Making this sandwich was a piece of cake."

One of the ladies who reports to my husband at work celebrated her 25th work anniversary yesterday. My husband thought that it would be nice to bring her a nice homemade cake for the celebration, rather than pick one up at the store. He asked me if I would make one for her. I enjoy making cakes, so I said I would take the challenge.

The lady being celebrated likes chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, (who doesn't?!). Since my vision involved fondant, I thought I would make it with cocoa powder. This was probably a bad idea since it was my first time making my own fondant. The fondant I did not flavor with cocoa was very easy to work with. The fondant I DID flavor with cocoa tasted great, but was too dry and tended to crack and tear easily. I may or may not have flung a handful of fondant across my kitchen at one point. There were no witnesses to the event so we will never know.

I made a delicious chocolate cake and spread some blackberry preserves between the layers. I covered the entire thing with a layer of chocolate buttercream frosting, then decorated it with a large Lands' End label, the words 25 Years, some braiding, and a bunch of fondant leaves. It did not turn out as well as the vision in my head, but each time I work with fondant I learn a little more. Someday maybe I'll be good at it. Anyone have any good tips for me? And every time I work with fondant I am more impressed with folks who create masterpieces with the stuff, like Angie, a woman I went to school with. You've got mad skills, Angie.

2 comments:

Virginia said...

Ummmm.. Yeah. Have you Seen the photos of the last cake I made?

Probably not because they're too dang embarrassing to publish.

You rock.

merathon said...

i think you've got mad skills too, molly. the cake looks amazing! i've never even attempted fondant-- is it fun?