Pastry Chef Amanda Gets Brave!

For some reason, I've recently become excited about the idea of cake decorating. I love watching Ace of Cakes and seeing all the awesome things they come up with as well as other cake shows on Food Network. I also love wedding cakes and seeing the different things brides come up with to go with their wedding themes. Since I've been working on improving my cooking skills lately, and particularly since I made the delicious cupcakes and buttercream from scratch a few months back, I've been wondering if I could decorate cakes.

At the craft store they have cake decorating classes and every time I'm in there buying crafts for the kids I take one of the fliers. I've been intending to sign up for months now, but the classes are always on weeknights during times I'm still working :(

So this past week I decided to start checking things out online. On Youtube I discovered a ton of cake decorating instructional videos (YAY Youtube!) and started watching and learning. Then it was off to the craft store to get a few of the basic tools.

Yesterday, because it was Memorial Day I had most of the day off and decided it was the perfect opportunity to make my first cake decorating attempt! Not wanting to completely overwhelm myself on the first go, I decided to use a box cake mix instead of making my own. I did however make the amazing from scratch buttercream!

I wanted to attempt a tiered cake for some reason (I probably shouldn't set my sights so high in the beginning! Probably should have started with a tiny little 6 inch round! LOL) but obviously I don't need mountains of cake in my house for just little me! So I went with the smallest layers (which still ends up being way more cake than I need for myself but oh well!)

I baked the cakes (yellow cake mix, my fav!). I leveled off the layers. I filled the layers with raspberry (YUM!). I made the buttercream. I colored the buttercream, I frosted both layers and let them set. I assembled the layers successfully with reinforcements. And finally, I decorated the whole thing! I did a patriotic theme for Memorial Day. The idea was that I thought I could share the cake with my employers who were having a bbq with a few friends....but the process took ALL DAY! By the time I was done it was about 10 pm! HAHA But I must say I was VERY pleased with the finished product! I think its pretty amazing for a first attempt! What do you think???





Tonight I froze the top layer and started in on the bottom layer. It tasted really good so that was awesome! Now I just need to figure out who to give the leftovers too because there is a TON of cake here!!!!!! Anyone around who wants a piece...come on over!!!!

XOXOXOXOX
Love To You All