Sunday, January 12, 2014

New Year, Fresh Start!

Things I love about January:

All the Christmas crap is down and put away (lol)
I start thinking about gardening
I get to plan my vacations for the year
SUMMER is coming! (Okay... we'll start with spring... lol)

I have some goals for cakes as well... there is one particular cake I have been dying to do since October, but the chance to do it fell through. Another opportunity has presented itself and I am so excited! It's going to be a huge hit on my Facebook page... and with good reason... it will take a lot of work and time but the result will be soooo worth it.

I also have something in the works for Valentine's Day.... I know, I know. We aren't even halfway through January yet, but if my experience in retail has taught me anything, it's to always look ahead at the next season or holiday. Stay tuned for that!

The chocolate rosette cake was such a hit on New Years' Eve that I made one in pink to bring to work. Bringing treats like this to work usually results in a sale or two and this time was no different. I work with people who have a serious sweet tooth, and that's awesome!



 
This 6 inch chocolate cake with peanut butter filling was the talk of the lunchroom! I love the fact that I don't need to dirty ice the cake first, and I love practicing the rosette technique. The trick is to make sure your buttercream isn't too dry.. make sure it's moist and flows well from the icing bag. Otherwise you will do what I did with the chocolate one, and scrape it all off, fix the buttercream, and start over. But when it works, it's so pretty and elegant, and it's really not that difficult!
 
 
YouTube is an amazing resource for me. I often browse Pinterest and have certain cakes catch my eye. Then I figure out what technique they use and search for a tutorial on YouTube. So there, you now know my secret. But it's an awesome way for me to learn, and I don't think cake decorators can ever really stop learning. There is always something new!
 
And then there is Thomas. My oldest son was fixated on Thomas the Train when he was young.. and boy, do I ever regret not learning how to do my own cakes way back then. He would have freaked out over this cake!
 

 

This cake was done with a Wilton 3D train cake pan, rented from Bulk Barn. If you didn't already know, you can rent cake pans from there for $2/day, with a $20 deposit. It is so convenient to do this because I already have more than enough cake pans, the last thing I need is more!

I baked the chocolate cake mix in the pan, let it cool and froze the two halves. When I was ready to decorate the cake, I just pulled up a picture of a Thomas cake, mixed my icing colours and went to work. I used fondant for the face, windows and number one. I put Thomas near the back of the cake board to make room for the greeting, since there really was no room ON Thomas to do so. So I pulled out my favourite tool... Tappits!

The cake was a huge hit, and one special little boy was very happy. I loved seeing the picture of him blowing out a candle on top of the cake, it truly warmed my heart!

Well.. more cake adventures to look forward to! Stay tuned to my Facebook page and feel free to share my pictures with your friends :)

Stay sweet!
 


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