All Roads Lead to Cake

Lately, that has been true for me. I've been practicing for my brother's wedding cake and taking as many opportunities as I can to make and decorate cakes. Most recently that has involved actually piping the flowers for that cake and making some mini cakes to practice my piping skills on. I think I still need more practice, but it is getting there. (The really cute piped designs are by my roommate, Julie--who is quickly surpassing my piping skills. Oh, and these two pics are courtesy of her too. Thanks, Julie!)
These mini cakes were all sponge and filled/iced with different flavors, including lemon, mint chocolate and cream cheese. My personal favorite was the coffee one. They turned out a little on the sweet side (read, everyone was bouncing off the walls after two bites), but with a few modifications I would do it again. I also made the fondant myself, which was fun and actually quite easy. Although, it has also reinforced my desire to make fondant free cakes. I mean, really, who needs a layer of sugar over your layer of icing? Unless it is fruitcake, in which case, a little layer of marzipan and then a fondant layer are just the thing!


I've also been doing some prep work for the actual wedding cake. I piped about 800 of these little suckers. There are three sizes, ranging from about a 1/2 inch to close to one inch in diameter. I think it would have gone faster if I hadn't chosen to watch shows while I did it. :D Cake shows, of course.

Royal icing definitely has its perks. You can keep what you create pretty much forever. Very handy for working ahead.
I also made some of the flowers in red. And then I hand painted about half of the flowers with petal dust (edible sparklies), just for variation and fun.
Yes, it was time consuming. But fun. :D


PS. More wedding previews to come in the next week. ;)