Saturday, December 1, 2007

Cake


Mom decorated cakes when I was little, but I never learned how. I tried, but I wasn't very good at it controlling the flow of the icing out of the bag. It was too frustrating.

But something made me want to try. Or perhaps I should say someone. Tomorrow is Samantha's birthday party. I decided to make her cake rather than buy one. Very scary thought. I went to the store and bought a cake decorating set that came with some tips, couplers, bags and icing color. I also picked up a beginner's guide that included pictures and directions for several basic cakes.

I've baked many cakes, but somehow I never made the icing. I guess it's because the stuff in the tub is so much easier. Mom always made her own from scratch. There were points during the process when I wondered whether I was doing it right. The directions said to mix in all the powdered sugar into the shortening before adding the water, so that's what I did. It went from a stiff paste to a wet gloopy mess. I don't remember mom's icing ever looking like that. I kept beating it and eventually it turned light and fluffy.

For my first cake, I don't think it looks too bad. What do you think? As you can see, I'm a bit of a minimalist. I could have kept going with the flowers, but I reached this point and the little voice in my head said that the cake was done. I did a white zigzag with pink dots at the base of the cake. The top edge has white stars. The little pink drop flowers have a white center and green stem.

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