Adventures in Cake Decorating – Part 1

 

Earlier this week, when I was telling some coworkers that I have a passion for baking, it occurred to me that it seemed odd I’ve gravitated towards baking. I HATED science classes growing up, in particular chemistry, which most people would tell you is the backbone of baking.

I also am really bad at art. I remember thinking when I was little that I wanted to be an artist or an architect when I grew up, and then one day, fortunately, I realized I was terrible at drawing, painting and anything else artistic. So instead I went the obvious route, and became an accountant.

Despite the lack of natural skills, I love all things baking. My decorating abilities are still about as bad as my childhood drawings however. That’s what has led me to take an intensive Cake Decorating course from the Decorette Shop.

Over seven weeks, we will learn to master frosting flowers and decorate four cakes; the final one being a wedding cake!

This past week, for our first cake, we created a baby carriage cake. Conveniently I was going to a baby shower just a few days later, so it was the perfect cake to make. While I am a tried-and-true Duck, being the super nice friend that I am, I even made the cake Washington Huskies colors for the new parents.

First up, we took our 9×11″ cake and cut it into the shape of a baby carriage.

Next up, we did a crumb coating of frosting. What is a crumb coating? It is a thin base layer of frosting that glues all of the little crumbs to the cake so they don’t peek through in your final decorated cake.

Once that layer dried, we got to start on the good stuff. We decorated the bonnet of the basket with little stars. Clearly my consistency needs some work.

After that came the long tedious process of make a lattice basketweave.

After three hours in class, and about another hour at home, my cake is finally ready to go! While it definitely isn’t the most amazing cake I’ve ever seen, I’d say for an accountant who hasn’t ever decorated any cakes, it looks pretty good! 🙂

Looking forward to sharing future cakes and decorating adventures! This week: Flowers.

Fingers crossed they look like something you’d actually see in a garden…