Cake Season

We have a lot of family and friends with birthdays in November and December. When you add in Thanksgiving and Christmas it makes for a really busy 6-8 weeks. And a lot of cake!

I've make two more since the zebra striped sweet 16 cake.

This zoo cake for my nephew.

And a high heel cake for my sister.

Both cakes had lots of firsts for me:

It's the first time I've make two decorated cakes at once. (Something I don't think I would do again! Towards the end time was running short and my piping wasn't as neat as I would have liked.)

I'd never sculpted figures out of gumpaste and fondant before.

Or made a high heel. (I wish I had a picture that showed the actual heel of the shoe- that was the hardest part!)

It was also the first time I'd made gumpaste flowers.

Which I was particularly excited about because I've long coveted the amazing sugar flowers you see on cake shows, and really wanted to try my hand at making some. 

They took a while to get right, but I think the end result was worth it.  I can't wait to try more. (Roses next, definitely roses!)

Although my nephew liked his cake, he ended up redesigning the gumpaste figures. And he took a more picasso, Dr. Frankenstein style approach than I did.

I loved that he dug right in. I know some people say it's a shame to spend all that time on something that just gets "destroyed" (i.e. cut into and eaten). But that's one of the things I love most about cakes. Everything is technically edible and only around for that moment. They're ephemeral, and special. If I wanted something to be around forever I'd just put a few plastic toys on a cake and be done with it.

Plus while he got to work reassembled the figures I noticed how deliberate and precise he was with the construction. We may have a future artist/decorator on our hands. The next time I make a cake, I think I'll have to recruit him!