Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The mail fairy...

The mail fairy arrived today (finallyyyyy), leaving some great presents in my mailbox. Anyway, Deon had ordered me some cake baking and decorating supplies, because he knew that learning to decorate cakes was next on my "to learn" list.

So today, I squealed when I opened my post office box to find a little card indicating that I had a parcel. Within the boxes (which I ripped open when I got back to my office) were two round springform pans, a huge toolbox filled with all kinds of decorating tools, and a tub of pink fondant icing, for my first good cake.


My "tacklebox" of decorating tools!

Of course, as soon as I got home, I had to start baking, so that I could start decorating. I baked an 8" round cake of some flavour that was lying around in the cupboard.



Then, I leveled the top using a magical tool that is extremely handy.



I decided to experiment and make my own fondant icing for my first attempt at decorating a cake. The recipe includes marshmallows, icing sugar and a bit of patience. It ends up like a playdough.



Then I had to ice the cake using some buttercream icing which I also whipped up with the help of the Pink Beauty. I used some of the dyes that came in my toolkit to create a nice golden yellow colour. The icing keeps the cake moist before putting on the layer of fondant.



I dyed the fondant purple, rolled it out into a big sheet, and placed it over the cake. I smoothed it using the fondant smoothing tool that was also in the toolkit, and trimmed around the edges.



Finally, I practiced my icing techniques, and wrote a little message to the thoughtful gift-giver. There is some basket weave around the edges, rope around the top, and some horrible lettering on the top. I must work on steadying my hand and making my icing a bit thicker.



Emily's Bakeshop is officially open!

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