The Journey Begins

Hello! Welcome to an experiment in cake decorating!

A quick bit of background:
I'm a metalsmith! I graduated with a studio art degree from Humboldt State University in 2007 and have been nurturing my jewelry business ever since. I still have very high hopes that one day designing and creating jewelry will be a full time job, but in the mean time, I have a day job at a pizza place. Now don't get me wrong, pizza is GREAT. I mean, I really love pizza! But, I would love to have a more creative "day job". Knowing this, my sweet husband suggested that I give cake decorating a try. So, I've decided to attempt baking, decorating, and blogging a cake a week for the next year to see what I think. I am notorious for jumping in without really thinking, so this will be a good way to test the waters, and really, who doesn't want more cake in their lives!? I know some people who work at a certain pizza place who are going to be very happy little taste testers!

I've come up with a few goals for this project:
1. Perfect a vanilla and a chocolate cake recipe to use as my "standards"
2. Master (haha) butter cream and ganache
3. Make some pretty cakes!

The best part about this project is that I am starting right after my birthday, so, if all goes well, I should have one rockin' birthday cake next year. 

For my first cake for this project (I've made maybe two cakes from scratch in the past and about a zillion box cakes) I chose a food network white cake recipe and topped it off with a Wilton's butter cream frosting mix that I purchased at Michael's (cheating a bit I know, but I found my vanilla on it's side and nearly empty in the cabinet, so really I had no choice!). Then I whipped up some royal icing (flavored with almond extract) for the piping.

Lesson 1:
Taking the time to fill the pans evenly IS important.

Just out of the oven!

Lesson 2:
My super awesome kitchen aid mixer does NOT mix well. I go through this every holiday season when I make cookies and it always drives me NUTS! The well around the dimple at the bottom of the bowl is always full of flour or butter or whatever at the end. No matter how well I think I've scraped it, I am always a little perturbed!

This is the result of the butter not getting incorporated correctly:

A giant flaw in the bottom of my Cake!

Oh well, that will be an extra buttery piece!

I was a little worried that the cakes would stick, since I didn't have any parchment paper, but I greased and floured the pans (they were my grandmother's) and they came out great.

 

Lesson 3:
More frosting is better! The Wilton mix from Micheal's barely did the job.  Also, it's more difficult than one would think to get frosting absolutely smooth.

Frosted!

Lesson 4:
Cakes are messy business! Since I only have two bags and I wanted three colors for piping, I had to clean one out midway through the process. Frosting is sticky!

All Finished!

For the most part I am pretty happy with this first cake! It was fun to make and even though my piping skills are lacking, I think I would be comfortable giving this to someone as a gift. The cake itself had good flavor, but was a bit dense. The Wilton's frosting was delicious! The almond flavored Royal Icing... not so much, but then I don't really like anything flavored with almond extract...

Thanks for reading! I'm off to cut another slice :)