Friday, July 17, 2009

Photostory Friday: Let Them Eat Cake

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek



I know I've been rather scarce of late, but I have an excellent reason. (aside from just being way too busy for my own good) I've started taking Wilton cake decorating classes at our local Michaels. I've always wanted to do this, and with classes 50% off this month I just could pass it up. Here is my first cake that we did in class on Wednesday.
I brought it to work on Thursday and it was devoured rather quickly. It was a white cake with strawberry pie filling and extra almondy flavored frosting. And I do mean extra almond. See, that can happen when a certain girl (me) misreads a recipe. Teaspoon and tablespoon are two very different measurements, in case you were wondering. It still tasted delicious, just extra almondy. Almond extract reminds me of Christmas, so I love the flavor and scent. Here's a picture of the filling before I layered the cake.
I was up till 12:30 icing this and getting all my class buttercream prepped, but it was so much fun! The next day we found out that one of our guys was leaving today because he got a job to pen a screenplay for a major motion picture. Totally random, but really exciting. I immediately decided I wanted to practice my new cake skills. I knew I wanted to do a film reel and found some great ideas online. I was thinking about a few other things, and the bf suggested a screenplay sheet cake. It all turned out really well. I came home from class around 8:30 and worked until about 2 am. I finished everything up last night and got to bed by about 11:30. Later than planned but much earlier than the previous nights. (I'm still in need of sleep though)
The screenplay turned out pretty well...that was the first one they cut into. Dave was very surprised and very thankful that I'd taken the time to do this. The bf helped me carry them over to their office. They were all really excited to see two cakes. The film reel is still my favorite, I'm thrilled with how it came out.
Both cakes are devil's food with colored vanilla icing. The black circles on the film reel are colored chocolate icing (started as vanilla). The "film" is fruit-by-the-foot. I got the idea to use that from one of the websites I found when looking for ideas to help me out. The best part is that I made both cakes using just the things that we have learned in our first two classes. Everyone really enjoyed them, both visually and tastily. (shut up, I'm tired and allowed to make up words if I want) And Dave was really excited, which was the best part. I would really love to design and make cakes as a business someday, and I already have people at work commenting about it. So much fun, I'm so glad I finally decided to do this. I will definitely post more pictures as I make more cakes! I'm slowly building a portfolio. Three cakes already in about as many days. I'm ready for a good long nap!

Today's Photostory Friday brought to you with inspiration from the lovely ladies below. Check it out and play along!
PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek




20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stop by my blog and get your five words for your meme. I'm looking forward to see what you do with them!

Jeanne Elle said...

Those are awesome!!! The only cakes I've decorated have been for my kids, and the decorations involved simple pitures made with smarties. Pretty basic stuff. You did a fabulous job :)

Gigi Ann said...

I guess we can now call you "the-girl-with-the-cakes"

The cakes look great and sound yummy!

Jaina said...

Preston-Thanks! Will do. :)

Jeanne-Thank you! I'm sure they looked wonderful too :)

Gramma Ann-Haha, that's true. :) Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Good job! I let the kids I nanny for help me bake (I love it) and I find their little 'oopsies' end up making things taste so much better than the regular!

Jaina said...

Yaya-Thank you! I bet they're a ball to bake with :)

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

Wow - you are just brilliant! I've made attempts at cake decorating but don't seem to have a steady enough hand for it.

Jaina said...

Kym-Wow, thank you! I've been having to use my left hand to help steady the right a lot of times. Piping is definitely a great hand workout, my physical therapist should have had me doing that when I was recovering from tendonitis in my pinky! Hope you're having a great weekend!

Shellie said...

I've always wanted to take those classes. I just learned from their catalogs so I'm not too professional or anything. Those cakes turned out great. Keep 'em coming!

Jaina said...

Shellie-Thank you! I'm so glad I was able to take it this month. I really hope they keep discounting it so I can take the other three classes. I'd love to see pictures of your cakes if you have them. Thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

Those look amazing! I've always wanted to take a cake decorating class, but I haven't found the time. After seeing what you've done, I might just make some time.

Jaina said...

LifeRehab-Thanks! I hope you do, it's so much fun. It's 2 hours for class one evening a week, and then just the time spent baking and making frosting and stuff ahead of time. (which can take quite a few hours, but it's totally worth it)

Anonymous said...

Those are adorable! I love the film reel cake!!

Jaina said...

April-Thank you! Me too, it's definitely my favorite!

Anonymous said...

WOW! Those cakes are amazing!!! Hannah and I took that class at Michael's a few years ago. Our cakes don't even come close to looking like that. Your a good student. I mean they look so professional. I bet they tasted wonderful! You have so many talents.
XXXXXX

Jaina said...

Cheryl-Wow, thank you! What a lovely compliment. Aren't the classes fun? I'm sure your cakes turned out lovely. I have to say, the first cake with the rainbow was quite delicious. The second and third I had bits of each part, but didn't actually eat a slice of the finished product. (I had tastes of the leveled top I cut off as well as taste testing the frosting before use) Everyone said they were pretty tasty. :)

BusyDad said...

I will just help myself to some of that really really almondy cake if that's ok. Since it is my birthday and all... (thanks for your birthday wishes over at Mr Lady's!)

Jaina said...

Jim-Oh by all means, I hope you like it! Now if I could only figure out how to make one and ship it to you in Chicago and have it all be in one piece. Happy Birthday!

EatPlayLove said...

I love decorating cakes, but have never taken a class. You should check out my cake creations label (on left side of my blog) to see some cakes I've built in the past!

Jaina said...

Denise-I love your creations! They're so creative. :) I really like the berry one, what a neat idea! They're all great though. I hope to see more of your creations soon!