Cake Decorating, Part III

I'm finishing this series with (bad) pictures and conclusions of my experience with cake decorating. Let's first start with the mistakes I made with my first cake and end with some links to some great cake decorating sites.

OOPS!
MY MISTAKES:

• I wasn't prepared.
  1. I cooked eggs for my daughter's breakfast and forgot I needed them for the cake. So I had to rush out to the store.
  2. I didn't read the Buttercream Icing recipe early enough and didn't have enough butter to use 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening. I used one stick of butter, one stick of margarine and the rest shortening.
• I didn't read the recipe completely.
  1. The icing was too thick because I didn't add enough water.
  2. It was so thick that I had almost a 2 inch layer of icing in the middle of the cake.
• I didn't know how to properly ice a cake. I've avoided it for so long that I forgot how to do it. (Using parchment paper to smooth out the icing really works!)
• To not knowing my oven tilted to the left. (Another good reason to slice off the tops of your cakes.)
• I am very sorry about the "pictures" of my cakes. Learn from me: don't use a fixed focus camera (white washes out and you should stand about 4 feet from the cake). Also putting photos up on the Internet doesn't enhance them; it just makes them look worse.

This is my first cake. Unfortunately, you really can't see it. (My dad and my daughter came out better.) It's base iced with white and decorated in a celery green. I used lots of stars to cover-up the imperfections of my icing job.

This is my second cake. I used a cookie cutter in the shape of the United States for an outline in the center of the cake. I filled in the lines with stars. I put a pink drop flower where Atlanta goes. In fact all the pink you see are drop flowers. The top and bottom blue borders are shells.

This is my graduation cake. The cake is iced in a light mauve colored icing. My rose (yes, I made a rose) is a dark mauve and so are the sweet peas. The bow, the top star border and the bottom shell border are in blue. There are also green stems and leaves. Believe it or not, the cake actually says "The Mining Company".

MY CONCLUSIONS

1. Yes, I enjoyed the class.
2. I learned so much on the first night that the rest of the course was just the "icing on the cake". ;)
3. Learning to use the tips and bags will help in decorating my other desserts as well as regular food.
4. Practicing on real cakes took the fear out of icing a cake.
5. I doubt I'll ever buy a birthday cake again. Making a cake for someone is a special gift.
6. After the first of the year, I'll be taking The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating Course II "Icing Flowers and More" and Course III "Fancy Lace and Tiered Cakes". Be sure to look for those features.

Cake Decorating Part I, Part II, Part III

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