Yesterday i went to an 18th birthday/graduation/going away party for a young friend of mine. she's off on a 52 day canoe trip through the Northwest Territories up to the Arctic Circle. I spent much of the last 3 days making her this cake:
i was pleased with the end result and i wasn't.
I have to say right off that i had a feeling that doing anything with a figure wouldn't feel 'like me'- I was right! also, i had such a hard time doing the figure- I wasn't happy with it and felt that it was too cartoon-y. (while i totally appreciate the style, it's just not me- i just can't get into it, with the exception for kids' cakes-however some people rock it!)) i wanted it to feel more sophisticated and between the cartoon-y figure and the amatuerish execution of other parts, it didn't feel all that successful to me.
why am I sharing it then? well, i was really pleased with how the river (piping gel- recipe here) and the rocks turned out. and i also learned a lot in the process. and I guess i have a tendency to be hard on myself- the other people at the party liked it
what i learned making this cake:
- making figures is really hard and i'm not very good at it
- i should buy fondant instead of making it because it's sort of a pain and takes a long time
- my homemade fondant is kind of floppy
- cake decorating is actually not something i can easily do while looking after the kids
- the kids start to spiral into misery (well, okay just not such charming behaviour) when my attention is elsewhere
- i won't be starting a cake business any time soon (see the last two points, above)
Don't get me wrong- i'm not done with cakes! i'm just figuring out where they fit in to my life!