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My ambition knows no bounds...
So here's the problem.
I see a hobby I want to take up, and I want to be an immediate expert. I don't know how to hold knitting needles, but somehow I convince myself that I can immediately jump to making ponchos with flowers and all sorts of crap. And when I realize there is a lot of time and patience and beginner-level stuff standing between me and excellence, I lose interest.
My latest kick is cake designs/decorating. If you haven't seen my wedding cake you won't know it, but I LOVE cake, and I love fancy pretty cake even more. Knowing that I won't be Sylvia Weinstock from day one is sad, but something I think I can accept. I'm starting with the Wilton classes at Michael's, and we'll go from there.
A good tasting cake is key. My Wilton's instructor is more interested in the decorating than the taste aspect, so she uses cake mixes for everything. I probably will too because I'm lazy, but I'm getting the Cake Bible from the library just in case I'm inspired to do something better. We used to make cakes from scratch growing up and they were so much better than the box stuff. (Is this the best thing to be writing about when I'm still struggling to lose baby weight? Oh well, screw it.)
I wish I could content myself with those little character pans covered in piped on stars- you know what I'm talking about? Everyone's mom made those growing up, mine included- but I've become a snob and want something more 3-D and sophisticated. Well, the term 'sophisticated' is relative when you are talking about a frog cake but you know what I mean.
My daughter is turning two at the end of the month, hence my sudden desire to become Colette Peters. I'm hoping this will help keep me motivated to actually continue practicing and working at it- well that, and the stupid sum of money I had to drop on decorating supplies for the 'cheap' Michael's class. Being two and devoid of the high level of taste I hope to one day instill, my daughter has chosen "Teletubbies" as her theme. I don't think I will be able to construct a 3-D stand up Po cake in 30 days time, but hopefully I can come up with something a little cooler than the chemical-ly sludge they slap on the cakes at the store and charge an arm and a leg for. Further updates as events warrant.
Comments
Good luck on the cake making. That is always something I have wanted to do also. You should share all the tips you learn :)
Although if I start making cakes I would have to taste test them all, and I am also trying to loose the baby weight from my last little one.
You know I made my wedding cake, right? And the wedding cake for a friend of mine (Phen's sister). I set out to learn all sorts of stuff, and these are my conclusions. 1) I know the Cake Bible is supposedly the be all and end all of cakes, but it bores me stiff for the actual flavors. And lordy it's complex. But I do actually own a copy. 2) Cake mix cakes are rarely dense enough to hold anything resembling an interesting design -- homemade cakes tend to be denser 2) I love Dede Wilson's baking books -- I used her Wedding Cake Book to make my wedding cake (ground almonds and grated chocolate) and Meg's (an orange buttermilk cake) and I think she has another wedding cake book (which I like because you can make regular layer cakes from it, since she gives the recipe amounts for each tier, and usually the middle tier is normal cake sized. It's only OK for decorating, though. 3) Fondant is your friend for really professional looking finishes -- you can buy it and practice rolling it out 4) You need a turntable - they're pretty cheap 5) Piping is HARD -- probably IMO the hardest thing about cake decorating 6) Chocolate Plastic is super fun to work with and tasty too! And not difficult to make.