Let them eat cake!

20th April 2008

posted in Personal |

About a year of so before I began the diet that would turn into an eating disorder, I took the introductory Wilton cake decorating classes at a local crafts store. I have never been particularly domestic, but the idea of cake decorating really appealed to my artistic side. With visions of iced roses and candy clowns, I spent a small fortune buying nearly the entire line of Wilton products, much to the delight of the overly enthusiastic Wilton instructor.

After I developed the eating disorder, I shoved all my icing tips and cake pans in the furthermost reaches of my pantry, determined to never again tempt myself with the oddly enticing mixture of Crisco and powdered sugar. When I moved apartments, I donated everything to a local charity.

This was a profoundly stupid decision.

Thanks to my morbid obsession with Ace of Cakes and the challenge shows on HGTV, I decided last summer to get back into cake decorating, namely so that I could make and design my own wedding cake. I had to spend another small fortune rebuying everything I once had and gave away, but it was worth it.

So, anecdote aside, here’s a few photos of a couple baby shower cakes I decorated for a coworker last month and forgot to post. I like cake decorating, but I don’t think I am too terribly skilled at it. I’m not patient enough to read the books and learn the techniques, and cleaning up my kitchen afterward is like cleaning the Aegean stables. But for being my second attempt working with fondant – homemade marshmallow fondant at that – I think the cakes turned out pretty fabulous. Most importantly, they tasted good, too.

Edit: I totally forgot! Duff was literally 5 minutes away from my house on Saturday to promote the aquarium’’s new exhibit! He made a four-foot cake that looked like Sweet Pea, the aquarium’s shark. I’ve had it on my mental backburner for a month and I can’t believe I totally forgot!

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On April 20th, 2008, Fat Girl

said:

I took up cake decorating cos I like the frosting. Heehee.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

2 On April 20th, 2008, Charlotte

Wow, those cakes look great! I especially like the second one.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

3 On April 20th, 2008, weedivine

wow, you are totally skilled. Those are amazing.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 3:25 pm

4 On April 20th, 2008, Lala

Wow! The second cake in particular is amazing! I love Ace of Cakes too - the characters are really likable, and the cakes are great.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 3:36 pm

5 On April 20th, 2008, vesta44

Those are so cute. I remember when I was a kid, my mom had a book from Baker’s Coconut that showed how to cut sheet cakes and round cakes to make different animal shapes and then decorate them with frosting, colored coconut and various types of candies. They were pretty neat (but my mom managed to get nasty little digs in at people with them. My dad’s sister-in-law liked a drink now and then, so my mom made her a pink elephant cake for her b-day one year).

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

6 On April 20th, 2008, Ashley

wow those look real good I love the second one, it almost looks to pretty to eat. almost….

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

7 On April 20th, 2008, Twistie

My mother took the Wilton course when I was in my teens (shortly after giving up her obssession with raising African violets), and did some amazing cakes.

I love to bake, but I don’t decorate them so much.

Hey, if I bake a cake, you could totally decorate it…and then we can invite some people over to eat our joint creation. It would be fun.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

8 On April 20th, 2008, Rachel

Thanks for the comments, everyone. They definitely tasted better than they looked. The first cake was a butter cake with buttercream frosting. The second cake had two layers of German chocolate with buttercream frosting, and the top tier was a lemon cake with raspberry preserves.

I used the Wilton premade fondant for my wedding cake, but it tastes awful. It’s full of chemicals to make it easier for the amateur decorator. The marshmallow fondant was easy to make, if messy, and it required more handling, but it tasted much better than the Wilton stuff. I’d love to be as skilled as the Ace of Cakes crew, but if I did it for a living, I’d probably get burned out on it.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 5:26 pm

9 On April 20th, 2008, Shannon

Those are incredible! I, too, am partial to the second one. Sooo cute.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 6:35 pm

10 On April 20th, 2008, annaham

rachel, those are fantastic!

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 6:59 pm

11 On April 20th, 2008, Carrie

I regularly go by the Ace of Cakes bakery- it’s about half a block down on one of the bus routes I use. I can only watch the show when I’m at home because I don’t have cable, but I do love it.

You’re making me want to take a cake decorating class!

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

12 On April 20th, 2008, AnnieMcPhee

Those are very cute. I took a cake-decorating class about a hundred years ago but we only used buttercream frosting. Fondant just kind of makes me retch; and I like the ability to use the more difficult frosting and still make something pretty. (You have to freeze the roses so they can handle the transfer between the nail and the cake, and you have to use a hot, wet knife to smooth the frosting so it’s as smooth as fondant.) Though of course fondant is much more workable and you can do things with it you can’t do with frosting. YMMV.

Will definitely give the marshmallow fondant a look though; sounds a lot better than the regular kind, which is icky to me. Actually, I saw an in-depth show on Disney weddings, and they remove the fondant outside before cutting and serving - I thought it wasn’t really meant to be eaten - the regular kind, that is.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

13 On April 20th, 2008, Bri

Oh that second one is AWESOME!!! My mum did cake decorating before she died. She was great at it. I don’t think I have the patience. I have a picture for an awesome funky wedding cake (or any occasion really) I will put it on photobucket and link you to it - just cos I want to share how cool it is! lol

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 7:40 pm

14 On April 20th, 2008, Easy Family Living

Love the cakes! Personally, I can’t warm up to fondant, the taste I mean. I have taken the cake decorating classes myself and loved it! You’re right though, clean up can be slightly time-consuming, but worth it. I have a sweet tooth that knows no boundaries, so I love the blog name…it reinforces to me that eating cake before or in lieu of dinner is not a bad thing after all. Keep the cakes coming!

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 10:15 pm

15 On April 20th, 2008, Fatadelic

Wow. That puts my rustic cupcake decorating to shame. Fabulous cakes, Rachel.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 10:33 pm

16 On April 21st, 2008, liz

Gorgeous!!! I love them!

posted on April 21st, 2008 at 1:55 am

17 On April 21st, 2008, Risha

I don’t know why you keep saying that they don’t look very good. That second one in particular is absolutely adorable!

posted on April 21st, 2008 at 9:44 am

18 On April 21st, 2008, Bree

I love to bake cakes but have never taken a decorating class because it costs too much for supplies. I did make a wedding cake though for a work project and did homemade frosting using granulated sugar. I haven’t made fondant, although my aunt does. Like some others here, I don’t care for the taste. Give me that good old-fashioned buttercream anyday.

Those cakes are very cute. It’s amazing what you can do with cakes. I have a cupcake book and I have recipes for a purse cupcake cake, a Christmas wreath cupcake cake, and a wedding cupcake cake.

posted on April 21st, 2008 at 11:25 am

19 On April 21st, 2008, Fauve

Rachel - very cool! I especially love the pink cake. I’m an artist and would love to learn what you do - but not to have to bother to prepare cakes. Maybe I will take one of those classes someday.
I wanted to make a special lamb cake for easter - I have the mold - it looks very similar to this: http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=940568

I feel a little too interested in cake these days. The binge monster is staging a comeback and has the upper hand.
On the other hand, I will never *not* love cake - especially beautiful cakes, like the ones you created! Very inspirational.

posted on April 21st, 2008 at 2:05 pm

20 On April 21st, 2008, DaniFae

I love the second cake. I swear there was some sort of genetic split in my family, my mom makes pretty cakes that taste fantastic, my brother, a professional pastry chef, makes beautiful cakes, that taste horrific, I make great tasting cakes, that look like they got hit by a truck. So I’m kinda jealous.

posted on April 21st, 2008 at 2:29 pm

21 On April 21st, 2008, Jeanne