Today was an easy day of frosting cakes and piping. Well, kind of easy. It was a nice day because we could focus on those two things. However, frosting cakes and piping can be really challenging. This is something I want to get good at. I’m not good right now, but I’m going to practice. I brought home tubs of extra buttercream to practice with this weekend.
I practiced shells over and over again. That’s all I did for forty-five minutes today.
I spent a lot of time on frosting my cakes, too. We started out with frosting the cake with a “crumb coat.” The thin layer of frosting in the crumb coat seals in all of the crumbs. We refrigerated the cakes for a while and then frosted with a final coat. It drove me crazy! I wanted everything to be perfectly smooth, and I could never get it the way I wanted.
By the way, each cake is three layers. Something else I need to practice: slicing cakes into layers. I’ve always struggled with this.
I didn’t get to decorate my cake as much as I wanted to because we ran out of time. I did pipe a shell border, a rosette border on top, and some lines on the side.
Not too bad, right? Not great, but it could be worse! So if you need someone to make you a wedding cake…. I’m your woman.
It’s a nice day for a white wedding… cake.
You'll get it. Piping is hard. But having a box full of little tips that make icing pretty really helps. But I bet you've already found that out. LOL... and I love your bag full of buttercream :)
ReplyDeleteHaha thank you! Are you a cake decorator, Nikki?
DeleteLove these posts,thanks for sharing your days and the photos as well as some awesome recipes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Tess!
DeleteI had to laugh at the picture of the buttercream in your bag that you took home for practice. How much of it ended up smeared on cookies and eaten? (That's what I'd do with my much less-than-perfect piping.) Good for you for practicing, though, I just don't have the patience for it.
ReplyDeleteOh I know! The buttercream tasted delicious. I was eating it in class! Shhh.
DeleteGreat job on the piping! I used to do cakes for Dairy Queen, so I got pretty good at piping. It was fun!
ReplyDeleteI bet you are! I want to see your skillz.
DeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteLast weekend, my niece and I made 4 different types of chocolate chip cookies to see which we liked best. We shipped out tasters to all the family, too. We made Thomas Keller's recipe, David Lebovitz's recipe, Cook's Illustrated's recipe and your recipe. In a landslide, your recipe was the favorite! Everyone loved it!
:)
LeeAnn
Hi LeeAnn, whoop! That's good news! That makes me so happy! Thanks for trying the recipe! Wow, I can't believe I beat out Thomas Keller and David Lebovitz.
DeleteGreat job with that cake, Emily!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Emily Maggi!
DeleteWedding cakes, how fun! I'm horrible at piping and try to avoid it, but yours already looks professional! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm horrible at it too! I think we can get it if we just practice!
DeleteLovely cake!! So fun :)
ReplyDeleteI want.your bookbag full of buttercream. Just curious,what is an average day for you with school and all? You seem so busy! PS how do ya stay sk slim with all the baked goods around haha
ReplyDeleteWell, it's not so bad right now. When I had that job and internship it was crazy. It was so bad that I had to quit the job. I just couldn't handle it. I have to make school my number one priority! My internship ended, so now I've been staging with a company that I really, really want to work for after I graduate.
DeleteAs far as staying slim, well... as long as I fit into my pants, I'm good! Haha. I've been eating a ton of dessert. I think (hopefully) I'm burning it off by walking, and by standing on my feet all day in class.