Tuesday was day 2 of my cake classes, which as I mentioned the other day are the first I have ever taken! I chose to take these specifically for the sake of learning how to use fondant to cover an entire cake. Nothing beats the taste of buttercream, but the appearance of fondant and the neat things that you can create using a gum paste/ fondant mixed is just not surpassed in the realm of cake decorating. So I set out to learn a bit on this with the hopes that with my own experimenting over the next few years I can create some neat things. Of course the opportunities have to arise, but they will come.

My cake from class #2

Class on night #2 was for a tiered cake and we learned some of the more advanced techniques and approaches that you could take in decorating these. Ruffles, scroll work, swags, roses, all sorts of fun things. The quilting pattern in particular is much more difficult than it looks, but I love how it appears with the pillowy- quilted look. As I created my cake I was not too thrilled with it, and I could feel myself getting frustrated with myself. One of the decorators teaching the class kept coming over and inspecting it with me, saying that he really liked it and thought it was a beautifully done scroll work with quilting. It just didn’t seem “finished” to me; I finally came to the conclusions that I would craft a rose to place on the front with a few leaves and add a rope of frosting around the top, and hopefully I would feel better about it.

In the end when I was not standing on top of my cake so to speak, I came to terms with it. Definitely not one of my favorites, however it was also a cake where I was testing out a few new things, it was not going anywhere and thus it was okay. It helped to know how much the instructor decorators liked it. Sometimes the thought process and frustration that can occur in decorating a cake can be therapeutic; especially in a situation like mine where I am in a week with a fairly nerve wracking appointment.  It is always a good release, regardless of whether I like the cake or not.

It also helped that one of the decorators and I (during Monday nights class) were talking about gum paste flowers and somehow it came up that I had made a cake with them and she wanted to see it. I showed her after and she immediately showed it to the other decorator as they both agreed that it was a fantastic buttercream cake and looked truly professional. I am a perfectionist, type A person and extremely critical of what I do, so to hear this from two professional decorators was truly something that made my day, if not the week.

Prior to Tuesday’s cake class I met up with a friend for breakfast and then another good friend for coffee later. Both were great despite how tired I was and how much pain my hips were in from Monday nights cake class. The person I met up with for breakfast is one that I see at least a few times each month, which is always a great time and the friend that I met for coffee, was one that I had not seen since September but had been in constant communication with. It was fantastic to see her and we talked for several hours just catching up over everything.

Now it is early Thursday morning and here I am writing this blog post really so that I can share with you the cake that I am not even that happy with, but came to terms with! My hips are angry and in a lot of pain after two days of cake classes and a long drive back to VT. Not exactly the best time for them to be acting up! Today though, is going to be… hmmm… an interesting day, to say the least. My Aunt, Harley and I are going down for my appointment with my surgeon today. It is not until later in the afternoon but we are going to leave with time to go to lunch on the waterfront and then head to the hospital. My nerves are pretty high, as there are several pieces of news that I am crossing my fingers we get today.

Well, for now I am off, not feeling well regarding this afternoon and praying for answers, and I will update you all when I feel ready and get the chance, but in the mean time enjoy the cake pictures!

 Days Till Surgery: 5

Surgery Day: April 24^th, 2012… pending