Class Number 3 and a Road Trip

So as I’m writing this blog, I’m in the car riding back from Springfield with my sister. We had a Change of Command ceremony for my Uncle Dad. Its always fun being with family. These past few weeks have been crazy! Not only am I working my way through these courses, but I’m also moving. Add that to my sister going through finals and lots of other drama and you have one stressed out CC! Anyway, the cake for week 3 was really interesting. As I started making it, my sister came into the kitchen with her ipod. Apparently my loud music is way too much for her to hear when she is studying. (Sorry sister!) But what I did realize is how much the music motivate me. And for anyone that knows me, you know that I absolutely should not be surprised by this. It was just fun to have music blasting and be in my own little cake world.

This cake was not that different from the others as far as decorating is concerned. I am finding that I’m turning into more of a perfectionist than I had expected to be. (Which again, isn’t that surprising.) The one thing that is different about this cake is that I used almond extract instead of vanilla. Mmm! It was incredible. I think it will be my new favorite. But I have had thoughts about maybe making a coconut frosting. The dirty ice almost ripped my cake apart from the very beginning though. (For those of you that don’t know, dirty ice is the same thing as a crumb coat. It’s a VERY light coating of icing that traps the crumbs in a thin layer of icing. So that way when you put on the final coat of icing, it doesn’t have little crumbs floating around.) I did end up being smarter than the cake. I used lots of corn syrup to thin out my icing and then it didn’t rip it apart.  I have to say that this particular cake has been my favorite so far.  Even without all the decorations on it.



The actual class was a little easier than I had anticipated.  We learned how to make little faces.  Something like Mickey Mouse.  And then we moved on to the famous rose.  The foundation of the rose is not difficult at all!  However, when it came time to putting the petals on....well that was another story!  (I have been so eager to learn this that I thought it would come naturally to me.  It clearly did not!)  In the picture below, the rose in the top right corner was my first rose.  It isn't so pretty!  They did gradually get better though.



We eventually moved on to figure piping.  I didn't expect to enjoy this part.  But as my cake was slowly coming together, I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment.  Before I knew it, I had 3 clowns, a shell border and polka dots to accent the side of my cake.





Over the next few days, I practiced my roses again.  I figured that I had the icing and that I wanted to be a little better at them for the next weeks class.  They are turning out nicely!  I did attempt a few times to see what it would be like to pipe them directly on the surface of my practice board.  That didn't go over so well!  I suppose I need a little more practice in the rose department!





Well I'm off to make another cake.  This post was actually a 2 day process.  (Kinda like my cakes!)  Tonight will be my last class of Course 1.  I did sign up for the next course.  It is called "Flowers and Cake Design".  It sounds super fun!  Oh a side note....so far my pants are still fitting!  Ha ha!