Trial and Error

Sometimes when I make a cake I'm just not sure what it's going to look like when it's finished.

There are several contributing factors.
1. There are times that I have a great idea and I cross my fingers and hope for the best.

2. Other times I have no idea how I'm going to do some element of a cake until I'm half done with it.

3. Then there are the times that I know something will fail miserably but I know I have to try it anyway so that I can do better at it the next time.

This cake was a combination of all three.

1. First, I wanted to frost a cake without fondant and see how smooth I could get it. I wanted sharp corners and a not-quite-fondant look.

It turned out better than I thought it would. It has a rough plaster look, like the walls in a Tuscan villa (haha). I think there is definitly a market for this method.

2. Then, I knew that I wanted fondant flowers trailing up one corner and across the top. I wanted them to be more 3D than I usually do, but I wasn't quite sure the best way to get the right effect.

I tried several methods of "curling" my flowers and finally came up with something that worked best. I wasn't sure if they would stick to the frosting the way they stick to fondant, but so far so good.

3. Lastly, I needed to work on my piping skills. I figured I better try roses. Wow.

Wow again. Monumental failure. The more I made, the worse they got. I guess I need to try the Wilton frosting recipe. Don't get me wrong, I love my frosting recipe and won't be changing it anytime soon. But for piping purposes, it's probably best to start with the right medium.

So anyway, with the first 2 features, this had the potential of being a really cute cake. However, because this was for my own personal eating, I shot for the moon ...

... and missed. Oh well.