Lesson learned

So, I discovered this weekend that chocolate fondant and I are not friends. I've deleted it's number from my cell phone. I attempted to make a cake for a family celebration for the birthdays of Kevin's father and sister. Since I had already made Andrea a super girly cake, I decided to butch it up a little and use "boy" colors, which I apparently believe to be brown. So I landed on chocolate fondant and it was shockingly harder to work with than the vanilla that I had triumphed over last week. It's much stiffer and shows every little mistake. It's also very difficult to remove all the confectioner's sugar that one employs while rolling it out. I guess one successful go round does not a cake genius make.

Ok, so here's the long shot of the cake. See all the bumps and cracks and nonsense? Some of those bumps are problems with the fondant and some are because I had trouble making sure that all four layers were even, but rest assured, they are all problems. No joke, I almost threw it away and bought a grocery store cake.

Here's another shot. All those lines that look like paintbrush lines are me attempting to wipe all the confectioners sugar off the cake. Poor choice. Apparently when you put water on chocolate fondant, it makes it shiny. Forever. Next time, I will wait til I'm done and take a small dry brush to the whole cake and brush off any excess. (Oh, and because I know you are all simply DYING to know, that ceramic cupcake in the background holds my splenda packets. And no, I know, I couldn't be any cuter.)

Oh yeah, I covered each dot with pearlescent luster dust, because seriously, those of you who know Marc Crowley know that he just SCREAMS sparkle.

All in all, it was a good learning experience with an only ok end result. The best part, Kevin's aunt has asked me to make a cake for a baby shower she is throwing. A real cake, for, like, real people! I guess I have to figure out how to actually make a presentable cake for 20 hungry guests and one very pregnant woman. At least if it comes out terribly I'll be nowhere nearby when she's holding that knife...I'll be testing a few ideas in the next weeks so keep checking!

I guess I have a blog now...

I have always wished I was one of those people who could create beautiful artwork out of household objects or could make a gorgeous prom dress out of two pillow cases and handful of safety pins. The truth is, unfortunately, that I was blessed with neither the creative or artistic skill to be able to do much with my hands besides high five the person who made a clock out of an old plate.

This past Halloween, however, I decided I wanted to try something a little more creative. Ok fine, I completely stole the idea from the amazing dessert artist on Bakerella.com, so I guess this is more of an attempt at the execution of someone else's creativity. Anyway, whatever, I made these:

Get it?? It's Halloween and they are desserts dressed up as dinner! Totally cute, right? Each slider is a vanilla cupcake cut in half with a brownie inside and ketchup, mustard, and lettuce made of frosting. The steak fries are sugar cookies. I can't stand how cute they are!

I got so may compliments on these sliders that I thought, aha! This could be my thing. I could be the adorable friend that makes fabulous desserts and also has great shoes! So I decided to see what else I could make.

My spaghetti and meatballs cupcakes were for my friend Elyse's birthday. The butterflies were for my boyfriend, Kevin's, mother, Ellen's, 60th birthday party. (I feel all those commas are incorrect, but seriously, how do you punctuate that sentence?!) They are both from the book Hello, Cupcake! Again, not so creative, but cut me some slack, I'm new at this!

The meatballs are Ferrero Rocher hazelnut candies in strawberry jam. The noodles are frosting and the parmesan cheese is grated white chocolate. Hilarious!

This past weekend I decided to try fondant for the first time. Ack! Saying to myself, "hmmm, I think I'll try fondant this weekend..." is akin to saying to myself, "hmmm, I think I'll try skateboarding to San Diego this weekend..." It was slightly daunting to say the least. I mean, fondant is like, the real thing. And people always talk about how difficult it is to work with and blah, blah, blah. I woke up at 4 in the morning in a cold sweat on the fateful day, having dreamt that I covered all 4 of my cats in fondant and all anyone could say was that they thought it would be smoother.

I am happy to report, however, there was nothing to be afraid of! I think it's pretty ok, especially for my first try. AND, I didn't even steal the idea from anyone! If you could see me, I'd be curtseying.

I am proud to say that everything on this cake was made by me and is edible. (Well, not the ribbon, duh). This cake was for Kevin's sister, Andrea's, surprise birthday party. The inside is Funfetti cake and strawberry frosting. Does it get better than that??

Still basking in the glow of my fondant success, I dragged myself out of bed this morning to make cupcakes for the "big game." Does it read that the sprinkles are fans in the stands? I didn't think so. Not my best work.

The footballs are made of sugar and came from my new favorite place, ABC baking supplies. My general feeling about the end result? Meh. Ah well, there's always next weekend.