Cake art.

I never fancied myself a cake artist. I mean, I made cakes with pictures and writing and stuff like that. But I never really thought that was my strength – I would describe myself as more of a baker than a cake decorator. But often the two go hand-in-hand, so I have learned a few cake decorating tips and tricks in my time.

However, I never really thought I was awesome at it. I was decent. I could decorate a cake that looked better then something an untrained or unpracticed individual could make, but I’m certainly no Cake Boss. The taste of the cake itself was always my game, with decorating coming second.

Then, one day I was forced to take a wedding cakes class. I was not pumped – in fact, I even complained to my mom that I didn’t even like wedding cakes and didn’t know why the school was making my learn this..grumble, grumble. However if I planned on graduating, I had to take the class. So, I did.

And I was wrong. The reason I didn’t like cake decorating was not because I didn’t like doing it or didn’t think it was worthwhile – it was solely based on fear – fear that I just couldn’t do it, so instead of trying I wrote it off as something not worth my time. How mature. But we all do it – fear makes us act in funny ways – ways we’d never imagine we’d act, especially as adults. I should have known better – as a kid, I loved play-doh. As a young adult, I loved polymer clay. Fondant and gum paste are so similar to those mediums, yet they’re even better because you can eat them after you sculpt them! And I had completely forgotten about my clay sculpting past.

sculpts like clay. tastes like sugar.

Secondly, I love fashion – I even took a handful of fashion design courses. How does this relate to cake decorating? Well, decorating a cake is like dressing it – choosing the right color combinations, the right placement of various accessories, how much to cover (or let show). So fashion + clay + baking = no more fear. 

I have created cake art. And it’s quite tasty. 🙂

eat your heart out, Roy Lichtenstein.

 

 

cupcakes in bloom.

I was commissioned to do cupcakes for a Japanese-themed birthday party over the weekend. They requested “cherry blossom cupcakes” which I’d never done before, but was confident I could do without any problems. They were not sure what flavor they wanted though, so I suggested “green tea.” I had made green tea cupcakes a few years ago for a Japanese dinner party I was attending at a friend’s house. I remembered them being good, so I figured they were worth another shot. The customer liked the suggestion, and requested half of them green tea, the other half red velvet. So I got to work.

red velvet with red blossoms

I did the red velvet first since I knew how they would turn out, having made red velvet numerous times. I made the “blossoms” red to match (how ingenious of me).

green tea with pink blossoms

I then moved on to the green tea. I used pink blossoms for these, because, have you ever seen a green cherry blossom? I didn’t think so. (Side Note – have you ever seen a live owl? Randomly  last night, I was thinking that I have never seen a live owl and I’d like to. –End Side Note) Now, I mentioned that I remembered these being “good” when I made them two years ago. What I didn’t remember was them being absolutely freakin’ delicious. In fact, I left extra batter in the bowl, just so I could eat it – raw. I wished I had made extras.  But, alas, I guess I’ll just have to go back and make them again. 😉

even taste great raw.

PS – as far as icing goes, I used a regular old buttercream because I wanted something that worked with both flavors. But last time I made the green tea cakes, I made a matcha buttercream, which I also remember being “good.” I suppose I’ll have to make it again, just to be sure…