Last night was the final night of the Cake Decorating class number 1. We spent the whole class working on roses as the centerpiece for our cake, so we had to bring in a cake that was complete and ready for the centerpiece.
I had a really hard time deciding what I was going to do with the cake. I wanted to use chocolate icing, possibly to make black, and or red icing, though it’s a hard color to make with the taste still edible.
I looked at so many cakes photos last week, and I still couldn’t decide on colors or design.
I ended up doodling cake panels* in small group class** and came up with a design I liked.
* I made a diamond-shaped cake, so I was thinking of the sides as identical panels.
** I promise I was paying attention. I focus better when doodling. And I apparently come up with better cake designs that way. I did my Wonderland cake sketch during a sermon on the back of my notes.
Picture time!
panel sketches
Pre-roses Cake
with roses
Things I learned:
Cake Boss/Duff brand buttercream icings are not the same consistency as homemade/wilton brand. I had to add a TON of sugar to thicken it.
Maybe it was because I carved the diamond down from a larger size on one layer, but I had an AWFUL time with crumbs. I don’t think I’m crumb coating correctly.
I do like multiple colors in one bag. I love the colors my roses turned. Yellow with a bit of red.
Overall design, I think this was better without the roses, or with much smaller ones.
rampant 
I’m sure you do that thing where you apply a thin layer of frosting first? Then let it set a while? Before adding the rest? My mom always does that… she’s pretty good with cakes.
That cake is BEAUTIFUL. The colors…. they completely drew me in. It’s like a Tim Burton cake, haha! But more enchanting, I think, because Tim Burton gets cliche. It’s lovely.
thank you. Yeah, that’s crumb coating. I’m hoping it was because I cut it down. Or I need to let it sit a lot longer.
;-) i think it’s a bit more cheerful than Tim Burton. I should try one though.
I had a hard time with the diamond shape. I wanted crisp corners, so the sweat-peas would curl around them, but the cake wasn’t cooperating, so it’s not as swooping (not sure if THAT’s grammatically correct, but whatevs.) as I wanted originally. Although the original concept may call for a larger cake.