Thursday, October 6, 2011

How I ended up doing surgery on a cake.

As some of you might know, last Friday was my mom-in-law's birthday. I had been waiting for the day to finally bake a cake and experiment a bit. And so I used this recipe that I found thanks to the amazing Ashley (if you like good food and travel, you will love her place). The plan was to decorate it using this tutorial by Marcela, showing us her talents. First of all, instead of making Strawberry shortcake cake, I modified the recipe until it became Raspberry-Strawberry-Cinammon Shortcake. Oh yes. Raspberry is my favorite fruit, so I added them to the mix of macerated fruit.
 And I also went on to add cinammon both in the dough for the sponge cake and in the icing. The cake itself turned out quite well.
 But when it came to decorating, disaster occurred. You see, I don't think before I do. I just do stuff. Because I think I have it all figured out in this crazy mind of mine. So, I knew perfectly well that when rolling the fondant I had to somehow manage to make an even circle. That's where trouble started, because I was only able to make some kind of square deformed oval.
 Still, I made my measurements and was convinced I had enough surface to cover my 8 inch cake + sides. I had it all ready and cheese-buttercreamed,
Ok, here the sides were still not ready
....when as I carefully put the fondant over it, I noticed that one side was missing quite a bit of fondant covering. I messed up. At this point the fondant was covered in buttercream on one side so I could not roll it again. You are also not supposed to pull or stretch anymore at this stage. I was not even sure I was allowed to take it off and try to place it again over the cake, this time evenly, and I didn't want to mess up any further. So I had to find a solution. I put a fondant patch on the missing spot. Faux-pas.  I know. Marcela, don't yell at me. And then my supposed-to-be lovely cake had a huge ugly scar on the side. At which moment I called the boy, almost in tears. I told him; "you know, I think the cake will taste delicious, but I effed up... it's not pretty, it has a patch". And then... I thought. Well, if I can close a cow after an abomasum torsion, then surely, I can fix this cake.
 And so, I started making fondant flowers, that were required in the tutorial, and Eureka... instead of following the lovely Marcela's instructions I started placing them in the same way I would place surgical staples or stitches.
(Source)
And then I continued with the pattern. And added the flower centers, and some greenery to resemble wild weeds. In the end, I liked it.
 And look, the flowers kind of  resemble Summer lilacs, or if you are into fancy names, Queen's gilliflowers:
(Source)
But what's most important mom-in-law loved it, and everyone said it was delicious.
 If you want to see the whole process, in photos,

8 comments:

  1. It looks adorable! Congratulations!
    And don't worry, accidents with fondant are the most normal thing! What really matters is that you used your creativity to solve it. Bravo!

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  2. Y que no se diga que no sabes cerrar una incisión! En una vaca, en una torta, en lo que sea!
    Goed zo!!!
    (voy a tener que acercarme por allá un día a ver si le doy el visto bueno a esos dulces)
    Saludos!

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  3. This is hilarious! It was a good thing this happened, you ended up with a gorgeous cake and a fun story to tell! :)

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  4. That cake is gorgeous! And I love how you bring the science in and connect it with baking. :)

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  5. @ Marcela, thanks. You know I wanted to call you or something, ask you questions... for instance, I don't know why it kind of brakes on the surface? Did I stretch to much or is it just dehydration ?

    @ Ley Jeje graciaaas , y claro que si, cuando quieras eres bienvenida, nos tenemos que organizar !

    @ Ines, oh yes, and it was fun and calm, I love baking, I love the smell of the kitchen while stuff is in the oven... and I want to learn so much.

    @ Anna, thanks so much :) and yeah... I guess you are used to thinking in a way and that's where your ideas come from...

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  6. I'll send you my phone number for next time!
    It brakes because of lack of moisture. You can put some shortening on the fondant to repair the "stretch marks" and softly bring it back together. I have heard it also depends of the brand of fondant. We cannot get it here, but everybody recommends Satin Ice Fondant, apparently that never happens with them. All I can get here is Regal Ice, and that one breaks too.

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  7. surgery or not, that cake looks lovely!!! so, look at the bright side... you got a happy cow and one happy in-laws!!! :) really, me encanto el look de tu torta! quedo muy bonita! lo unico que yo le hubiera quitado es el cinnamon pero eso es porque a mi, en particular, no me gusta! Saludos!

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  8. @ Marcela, thabks for the tips. I got the fondant from a local shop but I don`t think it has a brand.

    @ Nat, gracias, jaja y si quedaron todos super contentos. No te gusta la canela ? Yo soy super fanática, a todo le pongo !

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