Cake decorating classes....I loves those mices to pieces!!!

Well for the third and fourth week classes we've been working on a male and female mouse bride and groom and I have to say these were great great fun...I went for a funky retro look and I've managed to get quite good at making all the little details and adding colour now!!

My lady mouse did sustain damage on the way back...and i very nearly binned her!!..but i decided to persevere with her and I'm so glad i did...so I'm much better at patching and making good sugar models now as well!!

How cute are they!!

I'm so proud of these!!

Cake decorating classes....presents galore...

Well on my second cake decorating class we moved on slightly from the elephant....to something slightly more tricky...- A horse, laden with pressies. This had much more detail on it and was alot more fiddly. But was really good fun, and started to make me think how each thing breaks down into smaller pieces.

This is what he looked like at the end of my lesson...a bit bare!

And this is what he looked like after a night in and some 

patience!!!

Nick's Birthday Cake

Well Nick asked for a black forest gateaux and thats what he got!

I made 3 layers of very nice sponge...filled it with marcepone cream and cherries- and then attempted to decorate it.

I made my very own modelling chocolate for the first time!!! well done me- it was fairly easy...but needs quite a lot of getting used to working with it as its quite tough when it's first set- Dave was very useful at this and softened it up for me. :-)...I would have been well stumped without :-)- mental note not to put in refridgerator next time!

Caking in the Making!- Modelling chocolate, cake assembly and chocolate cherries mmmmm.....

It wasn't perfect, the modelling chocolate didn't quite have the finish I hoped for- but i disguised it with some gold lustre and a bit of bling does wonders!!!

My first cake decorating lesson

So it was all a bit crazy....I made a cake...turned out I didn't need one so I ate it...apparently we only need one the last week. bizarre..!

But anyway the lesson was excellent...we strated to learn how to sugar model things, learnt some basic tool skills, mixing colours and general handling of model paste....of which we practiced by making an elephant with a mouse on its back! Brilliant..this is shown below.

Apparently next week we are learning to to make a horse! I'm very very excited....

Overall the lesson was brilliant the the tutor Heather is really enthusiastic and really easy to learn from so I'm really glad I went.

My First Class & Nicks Birthday Cake.........

 Right so today has been a bad cake day....I think I have tried to do too much too soon!!

All I had to to do was bake a cake for my first decorating lesson tomorrow ( which I'm v excited about), however firstly I got a bit distracted and managed to overcook it- not good and the first time I've ever done this! So this cake is now being eaten by Dave...who is funnily enough not complaining. Annoyingly it was a white chocolate mud cake and tasted amazing- just way too crispy on the outside!.

So at 8.15 I placed another cake ( just a normal vanilla) in the oven which is being watched with hawk eyes now !
I was also planning and starting work on Nick's birthday cake which is requested as a black forest gateaux- a posh one! The plan is to have a really light chocolate sponge...stacked with cherries and cream in layers, with cherries on top and modelling chocolate around the edge. There are 2 challenges with this- the first was the cake recipe ( Eric Lanard) had no flour or rising agents- just egg white, which is a bit scary. Secondly the modelling chocolate- I have decided to have a go at making this myself......eeekk

Well I made the cake today- well I tried.... it looks good tastes good....but is way too thin ( I suspect I over worked the egg whites ( sorry mum - after all you taught me lol) So this cake is entirely usable however just needs another one to go with it!

This aside I accepted some while ago I was going to make mistakes- this is inevitably how I am going to learn....I'm sure all will be well!! In the meantime I'm extremely excited about my first lesson tomorrow and can't wait to get modelling- I just hope my ceramics background helps me!

Watch this space for my creations!!

My first cake.....

Firstly...I am playing catch up slightly so forgive the very close posts.

Well I did get requested to do a birthday cake- by my boss- for his wife!- no pressure then.
So found some pictures, had a chat and agreed a design....and off I went.

However within the design in I had added ( for asethetic reasons) a chocolate collar around the edge...which can go horribly wrong....too warm and it smears as you wrap it around the cake and too cold and it breaks...plus i'd never done it before- what was i thinking!

Well I finished it and handed it over today and I did it!
The cake was a planet cake recipe ( from my faithful book) which was quite possibly the most amazing cake I have ever tasted- ( It domed when I cooked it- it was only fare to eat the waste :-) )
I managed to do the chocolate collar to my suprise. I handmade a whole host of handmade truffles for the top.Then I added a nice decoration i bought for the finishing touch!

I have to say I was slightly amazed at this point, I had managed to master the art of ganaching ( under icing) - which makes the cakes very level shape, and a chocolate collar, and some nice decorating tips ribbon etc all from a book! I'm feeling quite optimistic about it now...I might turn out to be good at it after all!


So I handed the cake over, and he thought it was fabulous! ( which is always good) I only hope the taste feedback is as flattering!


Watch this space.....

Where to start?

Right well....I really didn't know where to begin..so I started at my most basic....I bought a cake decorating book from WH Smith...

It gave me some ideas, and I even thought that I could really have a good go at most of it....but some of it was a bit twee and it didn't really inspire me.

Then I discovered 2 books/ people that got me interested- Planet Cake ( Australian company) and Eric Lanard....Their books are amazing and made me really excited about all the things I wanted to create....so off I went to buy equipment...lots of it ranging from turntables to palette knives and icing bags...then I realised I didn't really know how to use them!

So I spent some time on google- as you do and found a lady who ran cake decorating classes and workshops called Heather Sweet at Sweet art- So I enrolled- my first lesson in on 6/10/10- how exciting!

In the meantime I decided to put word out the collegues, familiy & friends that I was learning and if anyone wanted any birthday/ celebration cakes I would do them so free........while I was learning. In the meantime I read and I waited........