Decorating Classes

As you know, I've been mostly working with fondant as my cake medium. I've wanted to work more with regular icing and see how that goes, so I've been taking the Wilton classes that Michael's Arts & crafts stores hold. I started with Class # 1. We're dealing with standard decorating.

The basics: How to make icing, how to fill bags, how to make shells and lines, letters, flowers and leaves. It's kind-of challenging. I tend to get frustrated because by the time I think I have something down, class is over.

Tonight, I decided to try making roses. The teacher has a trick of starting the bases of the roses with a Hershey Kiss. It's fun.

The icing was a bit thin, so the roses kept drooping, but I think, all in all, I did a good job on these.

Baby Shower Cake - Pea Pod

I was searching Google Images for Baby Shower cakes ideas. I found some cute Flikr pictures from Simply-Sweets.com for a Pea Pod Baby cake, so I decided to give it a go.

I made the pea pod out of gum paste a few days early, so it could harden.




Isabel helped me cut out baby-themed shaped from the same gum paste. These would be used on cupcakes I decided to make to complement the cake.


Aaaaak! An Arm!!

Immediately after taking this picture...I touched his eye and made a mess of it. Argh!

Last night I made the cake and the cupcakes. I wanted them to be completely cooled before I started to decorate them.

Yum!! Homemade chocolate icing (semi-sweet chocolate squares, butter, confectioners sugar, milk and vanilla extract).

I dumped the a.c. in my house so the kitchen would be cool. I did not want to have the fondant be sticky and gross, like the last cake attempt I made. :(

Speedy!

Isabel helps me smooth the fondant over the cake.

I placed the "pea in the pod" on the cake, along with the leaves and vine.

Here are the cupcakes (no big deal) and the cake. The baby shower is tomorrow. It is for a co-worker of David's. The shower is a surprise. She does not know of it, nor does she know I am making the cake and cupcakes as a gift to her. Due to a conflict with a class I am taking (more on that later), I will be late to the party. David and Isabel will be taking these items to the party and I will meet them there about 45 minutes late.