Assorted Cakes

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to update my blog more often (ie more than once every 2 months). I figured why wait until January? I'm getting started on my goals early this time of year. Plus, posting on the blog seems a lot easier than getting on the treadmill....

It's hard to believe that pastry school ended 3 months ago. It's something that I wanted for so long, and had so much fun doing, but it ended much too quickly. I've missed learning something new each class, but I've tried my best to continue making new things. Fortunately, my ever supportive friends love sweets, and I've had no shortage of orders. 

One of my favorites thus far has been the Ghostbusters cake. A friend had a Ghostbusters themed birthday and gave me complete freedom with the cake. After going through at least a dozen ideas, I decided on the classic Ghostbusters logo.

I had a few issues with getting the fondant just right on this one -- the frosting underneath was not completely even and smooth, and it showed! I also had a few temperature issues once the cake was covered. The top shelf of my fridge seems to be too cold and the fondant was sweating like crazy. 

I had a surprise party to attend the same day as the Ghostbusters birthday, and decided to make a cake as my gift to the birthday girl. She's a fan of mint and chocolate, so I made a chocolate cake with a Junior Mint filling -- Junior Mints mixed in to vanilla buttercream (amazing). The design was simple, a white cake with a black band and black fondant roses.

The surprise cake came out beautifully, but I started to panic as the Ghostbusters cake developed more issues.  In addition to the sweating, the unevenness of the icing below the fondant caused a massive air bubble in the back of the cake. Despite my efforts to pop the bubble and release the air, it wouldn't go away. Instead, it rotated around to the front of the cake. I made an executive decision to swap cakes. I removed the flowers from the surprise cake and gently transferred the Ghostbusters logo over. The Junior Mint cake went to the Ghostbusters party and the birthday girl got a box of cupcakes from Blissful Bites. 

I was frustrated after the Ghostbusters fiasco. My previous fondant experiences were all successful, but this one was such a disaster that I decided to take a break from completely covered cakes. I received a last minute order for a Softball themed birthday cake, and was all to happy to keep it simple. 

The cake itself was chocolate, with a chocolate raspberry cream cheese filling. The text saying "I'm getting fat off this cake" makes me think it went over well! I crumb-coated with the chocolate raspberry but did the final coat with a vaniall buttercream. The softball diamond, plates, bat, and ball are all made with fondant and the dirt is crushed up nuts.  Simple, cute, and the birthday girl loved it!

It was easy in school when things went wrong -- just start over. The ingredients were always there and it was always just another learning experience. It's been a lot more frustrating when things go wrong since -- the ingredients are expensive and not always on hand, and paying customers aren't really interested in a learning experience. I have a feeling there are many disasters waiting for me down the road, all I can do is take it one cake at a time.