Progress

After seeing one of my earliest cakes I thought I would jump to one of the most recent. It shows a lot of the progress I have made in cake making. The cake is Chocolate with Mint buttercream filling. I coloured the buttercream the same colour as the fondant that covers the cake as well so that when it was cut the cake was a contrast of chocolate and green as well. It looked very nice. This cake actually took a lot of planning and learning for me to put together. One problem I had was how to do the quilting on the cake. I knew the concept of how I should do it but I wasn't sure if I could get the quilting to look the same size. I then realized that it really didn't matter and gave some interest if the quilting looked different on each layer. Then the process was quite simple. I placed each cake on a cake dividing mat and mad a mark every 2 inches on the top and the bottom of each layer. Then I used the side of my spatula to connect a dot on the bottom with a dot 2 spaces over. I pressed the side in creating a line. Then I did the same thing the other direction to create the quilting effect. If it was a square cake the quilting can be done on the top of the cake as well using the same idea. I had considered putting the little silver eatable balls at the spots where the quilting lines intersected but I'm glad I didn't. I think it would have been to "busy". The other problem that took a little work to figure out was making the tulips. I found a few lists of instructions on line and also a Wilton method in their Gum paste flower kit. I did a cross between the two. At a later date I will possibly go threw the process in making each flower. For now I'll just say it was long and involved but I felt well worth it. The flowers turned out far more realistic than silk and were eatable (except for the wire inside). The leaves also looked very realistic and when you are making them yourself you have the option of making them to your colour and size preference. I think it shows how time and effort can make a beautiful outcome and you can come up with a solution to any problem you have.

Happy Icing!