The Festive Cake Finale

Happy Almost Easter! And with Easter comes the end of my cake decorating class. How did the month fly by so quickly?! Jessica and I certainly learned a lot, and can now put our newly developed skills to the test! If all goes well and I have time, I would like to make a couple more cakes for the family party!

 

My cake and Jessica's cake.

Oh, how professional they look! Check out those roses!

 

Leading up to the class I was so upset, because I was poorly prepared. I had baked the cake at Jessica's house the night before, but after transporting it home I forgot to open the carrier to let it finish cooling. That made the cake super moist (good for eating), but also impossible to frost (bad for decorating). The cake broke when I turned it over, the frosting kept pulling off, and I screamed in frustration as yellow cake crumbs speckled the frosting. All because I forgot to take the cover off! Then, I underestimated how much frosting I would need, and had none left over to actually decorate it during class. Luckily Jessica came to my rescue by bringing extra frosting, and I had a little pink and purple left over from our cupcakes the week before. In the end, I gained many valuable lessons from this cake, and was so happy with the way it turned out I almost forgot about the crumbs in the frosting!

 

My colorful cake.

This week, our lesson was on roses and writing.

 

Who knew you put flowers on a cake using scissors?

 

 Rosebuds! (Or tulips, whichever you prefer.)

I made them up myself since we didn't cover them in my beginner class.

 

Jessica's beautiful cake. I love the vines.

 

Side view. Check out those perfect rosettes!

 

I hope everyone has a happy and blessed Easter! Enjoy your chocolate and jelly beans and don't forget to thank Jesus!

 

 

 

 



 

Picture of the Day (and Italy News)

YUM.

 

Good news, Readers! First of all, I feel very proud of myself for sticking with my 5K program! This week we bumped up the running to five-minute increments and although I covered ground at a snail's pace, I was still technically jogging. By the end of the week I will be halfway done (and possibly very sore).

 

Second, and even more exciting, is that I finished another post from Italy last night! I KNOW, RIGHT?! This one covers my second day in Florence, or at least the beginning of it; the entry was so long that I split it into parts. Remember, days 15-18 of my trip (Florence and Rome) were non-stop-so-much-to-do-and-so-little-time kinda days. There's also a lot of art talk, so prepare to be enlightened! You have been warned. ENJOY! Day 16: Florence, Part 2a 

 

P.S. At the gym today I saw Kelly, who I met in Italy! What a coincidence that I just wrote about the trip last night! It was great to see her again and say hi :)

Cupcakes and St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday was my third cake decorating class, in which Jessica and I decorated cupcakes! Our lesson was how to make basic flowers and shell patterns with buttercream frosting.

 

Here's what I did in class!

 



This cupcake is my favorite, even though other people don't agree. I love the tiny swirls! I also made a couple leaves under there.

 

Shells. It looks woven together, yes?

 

The spiky flower. I practiced on the parchment paper in the background, but I was too afraid to move it. Jessica successfully moved hers, though!

 

She even made two!

 

More of Jessica's

 





 

On Saturday night, I also brought cupcakes to Jessica's house so we could teach Amanda and Kat what we are learning in class. It was tons of fun, especially because we made lots of different colors! We got very creative . . .

Amanda and Kat made a panda wearing a psychedelic t-shirt.

 

Jessica made sheep!

 

I made a manatee for Amanda, because she loves them so much.

 

And I made this colorful one (which my family ate! I'm so upset. I was saving it for later!)

 

In other news, Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you all enjoyed some corned beef and cabbage and boiled bland veggies. I particularly enjoy that meal. And as a special St. Patrick's Day bonus, here are some pictures from the annual party!

 

 

Painting the whale blue

 

Just dance

 

 

 



Week 2 of Cake Decorating: Cakes

This week in cake decorating we tackled: cakes. Jess and I each decorated a 1-layer (delicious strawberry flavored) cake. We frosted them, traced and transferred designs, and then used different tips to decorate/fill it in. Here is what we made.

CUPCAKES! Mine is on the left, Jessica's is on the right. Jessica had to draw hers freehand because the frosting kept coming off. Looks pretty darn good to me!

 

 Mine.

 

Jessica's.

 

Mine.

 

Jessica's. Is it any wonder she wants to be a baker?!

 

 

 

 

Yum.

 

 

 

 

Next week we get to decorate cupcakes! I'm excited because not only are cupcakes adorable, but you get to make lots of separate designs, instead of trying to make one, big, symmetrical pattern and position it precisely in the middle of the cake (too many factors to mess up). See you next week!

Cake Decorating Struggles

Yesterday was my first cake decorating class! But before I show you any pictures let me just say, I was not as good as I expected to be, haha. It was definitely challenging and I no longer see myself sculpting confectionery masterpieces by the end of the month. As part of the class Jessica and I had to buy a kit with lots of decorating tools, which was actually really cool. Now, when we try to fill cupcakes with ganache we actually have a tool to make it easier! We also got 2 reusable bags (for the frosting/icing) with 12 tips and 4 sets of "couplers" which hold the tip on the outside of the bag so you can change shapes in the middle of decorating! So cool! (There were lots of other things too, I was just really excited about the couplers.)

Since this was the first week, we experimented a lot with the different tips; first on a plastic sheet, and then on cookies.

These were the best designs I could make.

I think I've got the stars down.

And this was the worst. It soon turned into my "test" cookie when I tried a new tip.

Note my attempts to make grass on the left, and leaves on the right. I made the center blob using a tool made for roses. Yes, I was really trying.

 

Even writing was a lot harder than I thought it would be, especially the fancy cursive.

 

Our instructor also showed us how to level a cake, frost, and transfer designs in piping gel. Next week we have to bring home-made frosting and a 1-layer cake to decorate. Then we try our hand at cupcakes, and a double-layer cake for the grand finale! 

 

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I also went running today! Go Me! I had to bundle up with mittens and a hooded sweatshirt because it was so cold, but I stuck with the program, doing a 20 minute combination of jogging and walking. I could have pushed myself to run longer, but I'm supposed to stick to the plan and not jump ahead. Tomorrow I'll bump it up a little bit when I run the "week 2" program with a coach at school.

 

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I also started reading a new book on my kindle, called "Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?" It's fantastic. Written by a mother-daughter team (a baby-boomer and a millennial), it explores the possibility of a new life stage called "emerging adulthood" and why 18-29 year-olds don't quite feel "grown up." Once I got past the disclaimers and technical talk in the intro, it really sums up how I'm feeling at this point in my life! The whole first chapter is full of great examples, but here are a few points that stuck with me:

 

"We're presented with too many choices and maybe a little too much freedom as well . . . It causes us to be mildly dissatisfied with just about everything we do, not because what we do isn't great, but because we feel we could always do more." 

 

"The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts"--either by being reckless and impulsive, or by turning into "the ultimate energy saver: do nothing. Instead of agonizing over decisions, avoid any choice." (mostly a quote from John Tierney in the New York Times Magazine)

 

"How many choices are too many? The maximum seems to be about six. More than that . . . [and you get] sloppy, expedient decision-making. . . . As if in self-defense, you start making choices almost randomly." "Offer people three alternatives and only 21% will make their selections using "elimination strategy," which is not a whole lot different from eenie-meenie-miney-moe. . . . Give people 9 options, and they essentially give up; 77% of them will revert to choosing whatever they land on at "moe.""

 

If you are a twenty-something like me, or have a twenty-something, you will probably find this book really interesting. I can't wait to read the rest of it.

 

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Shout out to my poor kitty, who fell in the washing machine and was trapped for hours yesterday! I think she has a new lease on life. She definitely purrs a lot more than she used to.

Small Steps to a Healthier Me!

Hello all,
Today is March 1, 2013, and this month I plan to make some improvements to my life!

(1) To kick it all off, I started a "Couch to 5K" program which will have me running 3+ miles at the end of eight weeks! Today was the first group practice. We started out slow (only about 20 minutes of a walk/jog combination), but I feel so proud of myself for going. Enrolling was a huge accomplishment instead of just acknowledging that I need to be more active. And I'll be ready for the 5K just in time to run in the beautiful summer weather (with some friends)! (I would like to say that eating better is also on my list of improvements, but St. Patrick's Day and Easter fall in March, so I definitely won't be counting calories.)

(2) I'm also going to start volunteering, although I haven't figured out where, yet. For the past few months I've been attending job seekers' meetings where people come to give advice on resumes, interviews, and keeping a positive attitude. I'm really looking forward to this week's topic about about skill-based volunteering, and hope that it will give me a better idea of where I would like to help. At last week's meeting we watched an inspiring video called "Lemonade," about making lemonade when life gives you a pink slip. I guess that makes pink lemonade, right? Although I'm just starting my career and haven't been laid off, I was still inspired to think about what kind of life I want for myself and how a fulfilling career can contribute to my happiness.

(3) This isn't really an improvement to my health, because it involves eating lots of delicious baked goods, but it will contribute to my happiness: This weekend I'm starting a cake decorating class with Jessica! We'll complete the lessons just in time for Easter! How perfect, haha. I'm really looking forward to being artsy with frosting and sugar. YUM! Maybe you'll get to try one of my delicious creations. Ooh ooh ooh! I should post pictures of what Jessica and I make! Yah, I think I'll do that!!!


P.S. I haven't forgotten about Italy updates! I know lots of maintenance needs to be done (restoring old pictures, posting pictures of Rome, the final days of Italy), and I WILL get to it, even if it takes all year.