Peaches (and an Announcement)

Here are the peaches:


and here is the announcement:

My attempt at Peach Cupcakes was an EPIC FAIL.

(There is another announcement coming, but bear with me for the moment, k?)

I don't even understand what went so wrong with this cupcake.

I split the recipe in half, but I do that all the time so I don't blame that. I even rechecked my maths when things went south. I cross-checked the recipe on a couple of different blogs to make sure all the measurements agreed. They did.


But I knew something was not right when my batter was looking more peach soup than batter-with-peaches-folded-in.

Still I had faith... until I pulled those suckers out of the oven.


They were kind of bubbly and very much not cake.


Nevertheless, I dressed homegirl up like a true Southern Lady, and she really doesn't look half bad.


As far as taste goes, the verdict is still out for me. What I seem to have made is more of an eggy custard than a cake. Is it tasty? It is... if you like peach custards. However, a true cupcake, it is not. I would love to hear from anyone who has successfully made this cupcake in the form that God intended.

Now... for the real announcement...

I'm moving again.

I've accepted a position teaching writing at a school in Georgia, y'all.

(I want to leave the "y'all" for all the Southern reasons, but I shuddered a bit just typing it. If you ever notice the dreaded "y'all" showing up in my normal speech, please feel free to slap me. Even in public.)

So that's that. I'm moving very soon so there may or may not be posts happening over the next few weeks. But know that when I do get settled, I'll continue to bring you all the ridiculousness you've come to expect from this blog, but this time the posts will just come to you from Georgia.

And you better believe I'll be hunting down Paula Deen to guest blog.

Wilton Course II Finale

After many pounds of icing and probably more complaining than was necessary, I finished Wilton Course II and built this graduation cake.


Today, I learned how to do the basketweave and the rope border that goes around the top and bottom there.

That bird was made early in Course II with color flow icing; he's not my favorite, but he was a large part of the course so I had to include him to graduate legitimately. You'll not see him in the following pics. :)


Course II's main focus is flowers and borders. Each class we learned a few new flowers and a couple of borders. We used royal icing for these flowers, so they are nonperishable and they set up hard. (That's what... never mind.)


I used all the flowers I learned to do in the class on this cake. You can hopefully recognize Victorian roses, pansies, violets, apple blossoms, daisies, and primroses. The only flower I didn't include (only because I forgot) was the chrysanthemum.


Even though I complained about the homework (each class requires a different amount of icings in various colors and consistencies, some classes require cakes), the Wilton courses have both been fun and super helpful. I couldn't have done any of this when I started... so that should tell you a lot.

In conclusion, if you are thinking about taking a Wilton cake decorating class, stop thinking and just do.

[Incidentally, this is pretty much exactly what my classmate told me when I was nervous about starting the basketweave on my cake. So... I just started... and immediately did it wrong and had to have my instructor straighten me out. :)]

Day at the Beach: Cake Edition

Today I finished and dropped off my most complicated and nerve-wracking cake to date.

The client (please notice the badassery of my use of that word) was throwing a beach-themed staff appreciation party complete with mocktails, leis, and many inflatable beach... thingys. After much consideration and conversation, the client decided that the cake shouldn't have an inscription.

Hmm... Being quite new to cake decorating, I had to think long and hard about a cake that would look interestingly beachy without a written focal point.

And those of you who were curious about the 3D Wilton cake pans that I messed up yesterday will now have all your questions answered.


Ta Da!

It's a beach ball cake. A beach ball. On a beach. Or the ocean connected to that beach. Whatever.


I decided to get a little abstract with the swirly bits around the ball and the edge of the water. I like the whimsy they bring to the otherwise straightforward cake.

The clients were thrilled with the result. They thought the cake was adorable and that I should make a living out of such cakes. And they just about lost it when I told them that though the sheet cake is a basic yellow pound cake, the beach ball is made of a three-layer pina colada cake with crushed pineapple filling.

Everyone's happy.

Except for my family who got to watch the whole process without getting to eat the final product. :)


Anyone wanna go to the beach?

Reality TV Shows and the Cakes that Love Them

Let's just start this post with a little bit of honesty. Reality TV is fun to watch. It's easy to make fun of and it's pretty addicting. My family watches a fair amount of television, most of it of the reality persuasion.


One of my family's favorite reality TV shows is Big Brother. For us, it means summer and pizza and friends coming over. It also means trashy young people fighting to stay in a living arrangement that requires extrememly awkward physical challenges, weeks of restricted food allowances, hours of painful small talk, and scores of conspiracy theories.

Clearly, Thursday night's Big Brother 11 premiere demanded a cake.


I used the Big Brother occasion to try a recipe from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes. I haven't bought the book yet (I am working on it!), so I followed the recipe for Chocolate Sour Cream Cake and Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing according to Smitten Kitchen.


**Alert: it's a wonderfully simple one-bowl chocolate cake with a creamy rich peanut butter icing.**


These two make a really cute couple. They really bring out the best in each other.


But what's this? A ring o' cake?

Hahahaha... here begins my awkward first attempt at a carved cake. :) I wanted the Big Brother cake to be a hot tub since so much of the houseguests' time is spent either cannoodling or at least scheming in the hot tub out back.


I used cinnamon graham crackers to signal the wood paneling on the outside of the tub. And I frosted the ring o' cake so I would have room inside the cake for water.


I used Wilton recipe icing for the water, writing, and other decorative elements. I filled the hot tub with blue water, a dark blue Big Brother logo, and white hot tub bubbles. That done, I piped the houseguests names around the edge of the tub and finished her off with a reverse shell border.


So is it ridiculous? Is it a bit much? Sure. And probably.

But it was tasty! (And it made watching Big Brother mostly bearable.)

Wilton Course 1 Finale

I'm just running through the graduations these days. My four week Wilton cake decorating course finished today with a bang.

Like every other week, I was required to bring my own cake in to decorate. But... yesterday I made bread pudding and I half-prepped some sticky buns for my brother's birthday and... I was just tired of baking.

So I...


dumped out a yellow cake mix


poured a can of soda over it


watched it do its science fair thing for a minute and then mixed it up. The cakes (two 8" round) baked for thirty minutes exactly and after turning them out, I walked away for the evening.

I iced the two layer cake at around 11pm with a tub and a half of cream cheese icing. I'm not trying to win any prizes here... I'm just trying to half-assedly do my homework. :)

I got up this morning at 7:35am to...


make this mess


and these roses. They are still a little cabbage-y with their jagged edges, but I'm getting there. I think I need to tend to my tip a little.

I thought I gave myself enough time this morning to get going and get everything together and ready, but I came to a conclusion. No matter what time I get up and begin the prep, I will always be just on time to class. At least I'm that.

And... an hour later... I left Michael's with this beauty!


What my cake lacks in homemade baking/icing it makes up for in classy Wilton-method decoration. This design is called the bouquet something-or-other, but I'm sure you don't really need to know that.


And while I'm okay with my roses, I am in love with my sweet peas. Those are the little flowers around the bottom of the cake. They are so easy to make and they work every time. Such fun.

And just in case you are wondering, I signed up for Course 2 today. Me and my classmates got a super sweet deal and ended up getting Course 2 for a whopping $12.50! CanNOT refuse that.

Course 2 is all about flowers and borders, so you can look forward to seeing more of my awkward practice this July.

A Hello Kitty Birthday

A while back, I filled out the 8 Things meme and listed kid birthday party cupcakes on my list of wishes. Well... somebody paid attention and my wish was fulfilled this week.

My friend Gianna is turning 3 and her mom asked me to whip up some cupcakes for the occasion.

And what did Cutie pic for her 3rd birthday party theme?


Hello Kitty!

In talking with the birthday girl's mom, we decided to do a bunch of cupcakes and one mini cake that Gianna could eat, share, look at, smash, throw, etc. I loved that idea because a mini cake would allow me to write a traditional birthday message - that just seemed necessary, I guess.

So I thought through several decoration options, and I got excited about little white cupcakes with offset bows and a cake with Hello Kitty on it. But... then... I struck that, reversed it, and came up with...


Hello Kitty cupcakes


and one cake with an offset bow.

For the cake, I played it safe and consulted Anne Byrn's Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor again. :) [I want to make an "Anne Byrn is my Homegirl" t-shirt. Have I mentioned that?] Anyway... I made the cake from her White-on-White cupcake recipe.


I made two batches and divided each batch in half. I took the four bowls of batter and dyed them the green, blue, pink, and white of the party decorations.


I dropped the batters in randomly by spoonfulls until the cupcakes were about 2/3 full. Then I lightly swirled the batter in each cup with a toothpick. That little swirl makes the batter look a little less Partridge Family bus and a little more tie-dyed and random.

I did the same thing on a larger scale in the 6" mini layer pans.

Sadly... the cake baked up more pastel than I intended so it was more the idea of the party colors than the actual colors themselves. No big deal really. Technicolor cake is a little bit frightening anyway. :)


Ooops... sorry Kitty.

I'm pleased to report that the cupcakes were a big hit. The cake was soft and a little bit rich and the icing (Wilton method, obvi) was professional bakery delicious.


I'm told the party-goers enjoyed them and that there was no leftover cake beyond the first day.


Most importantly, this birthday girl thinks I "did a good job." :)

Zombie Love Cake

Q: How do the undead declare their love?

A: Just like the rest of us.


With well chosen words... on a cake.


With hearts around the side.

This is my idea of practice with lettering and stenciling. I guess I'm not your average Wilton pupil.

The quote was taken from Return of the Living Dead.

Q: Why are zombies so often wearing ties?

Strawberry Lemon Cake!

Thank you for helping me decide what to do for class today. You all ended up choosing the Strawberry Cake + Lemon filling, the cake that came to me in a dream.

I'm serious. It did.


And a dream it is.

I used Anne Byrn's recipe for Strawberry Cake. The cake did not disappoint.

I "filled" the cake using the Wilton method that involves torting a single 8" cake, running a bead of frosting around the outer edge of the bottom layer and then spreading a filling to the frosted bit.


As promised, I used lemon curd. Lovely, lovely lemon curd.

Flavorwise, this cake reminds me of Trix cereal in the best way. Citrus and sweetness to the max! The cake is ultra moist because of all the strawberries and such inside. Adding lemon curd to that just makes the whole thing more like a pudding of sorts. It's fantastic. I think the flavors work really well together.

(My mom didn't love the lemon and for her I left the lemon out of the second 1/2 of the cake that is in the works at present. I think you'll like what I have in store for the decoration on that one.)


So... armed with a frosted cake (sans cake carrier) and legit decorator's tackle box, I went to class this morning to decorate this cake the right way. And you can tell me how I did.


By the way, Happy Monday!