Sometimes things just don't work out the way you hoped...

I'm feeling a little discouraged. Once in awhile that happens after I've made something that doesn't look the way I wanted it to. I'm a bit of a perfectionist. This can make cake and cookie decorating a little frustrating. I look at a cake I've finished and I can see all the little things that are wrong with it before I see how pretty it is or how cute it looks. I need to work on that. Chef Duff said something the other day on an episode of "Ace of cakes" that I really liked. He said that cake decorating is a lot of smoke in mirrors. If someone puts their thumb in the cake, you put a flower there to cover it up. This made me feel a lot better. If he has to hide imperfections too... then I'm not doing too bad.

Now, on to the little projects that had me feeling a little down. First, I wanted to make some cookies to send with my mom who was flying to Edmonton to help celebrate my nieces first birthday. I was gonna make her some big pink crown cookies that she could give to her guests and some big pink flower cookies that she could share at her party. Then we read about the new luggage limits that west jet has set and realized there just wasn't room for a big box of cookies, so I made some mini flowers and little number 1's. This wasn't too upsetting. I can get over a change of plans when it's caused by something that I can't control. What had me feeling discouraged was my number 1 cookie cutter. It didn't look like I had remembered it. Turns out I had remembered someone else's cookie cutter. I baked the mini flowers and 1's anyways, hoping I could make them look better with some icing. Here's the end result:

I know the cookies look cute... and I am happy with the flowers though they're not as detailed as I had planned. It turns out I need more piping practice. I know I'll improve with time and experience but I am one of those silly people who expects more from myself on the first, second or fifty sixth try.

 I'm bothered by the number 1's. They were so small I couldn't fit Brooklyn's name on them the way I had wanted to. Wow. Seems kind of silly to be so concerned about a cookie that I've already heard Brooklyn sucked the icing off of. I'll work on it. I'll learn to accept that I'm not yet the cake (or cookie) boss.  

On to the next discouraging project. I have wanted to make a mini cake for quite some time now. Yesterday was the day. I baked a cake on a cookie sheet. Then used one of my heart cookie cutters to cut a few mini heart cakes. Filled them with chocolate icing and then covered them with dark cocoa candy melts. I don't have much experience with candy melts but when I saw the pictures of other mini cakes they seem to cover mini cakes witha nice smooth finish. This wasn't the case with my mini cake. It wasn't smooth. Just that fact alone irked me. I didn't even bother decorating it. Instead, my girls and I ate it. You see, Elizabeth (my 4 year old) had a play date yesterday afternoon. When her friends mom came to pick her up, she said she could tell I had been baking because it smelled good in the house. I showed her what I had done and what I had used. She mentioned that she'd tasted some colored candy melts before and they tasted like poison. Or maybe she said they tasted toxic. I can't quite remember. Either way I figured I better taste this mini cake before I bother putting anymore time into it. I was mad at it anyway so it may as well be eaten. I conluded that while the chcolate candy melts didn't taste bad, they also didn't taste great. Who knows... there's a good chance I'll try this again and if it looks smooth, I'll think it tastes better too. 

 

I have big baking plans for the next few days so here's hoping things turn out the way I want. Or that I learn to accept that I'm not perfect so my baking doesn't have to be.

Either way, after getting all that out, I'm feeling hopeful. Each project is a fresh start.

~Rachel

2011 is off to a good start!

Wow... it's a new year with new opportunities to create some fabulous cakes, beautiful cupcakes and maybe a few cute cookies. With this new year and the suggestion from someone who has a popular blog I thought I'd give it another try. I've always been self conscious about having people read what I write so previous blogs have not gotten too far. After a post or two, I lose interest and the blog is left alone and fairly empty. Let's see how this one does :)

Where to start? How about I tell you about a wonderful opportunity I had last week? Well, after creating a couple of beautiful cupcake bouquets for a baby shower,  Bobbi-jo (the lady who requested the bouquets) showed them to Paula and Paula loved them! She loved them so much that she asked me to make one for her table that would be set up at the bridal show in Courtenay! Why does Paula have a table at a bridal show? Because she owns the fabulous party and event store "Balloons 'N' More Party Shop" here in Willow Point! I've ordered balloons from her a few times and when I've needed a last minute cake board, I've gone to her store for those too! All the times I'd been in her store I never told her what I did or any of that so it was a happy surprise when I received an e-mail from her with the bouquet request. After meeting with her it was decided that I could make a bouquet or a wedding themed cake... whatever I felt like doing was fine with her. I love creative freedom! So, I went home, told my hubby the great news and started planning what Iwould make.  While I thought about the style of cake (Paula had suggested that my topsy turvy cakes were cute) and wether or not I wanted to make a cupcake bouquet I figured I could make both... why not, right? I had time to make them both before Saturday when I'd be leaving for Vancouver to see the Flames beat the Canucks. I could deliver them friday afternoon (the bridal show was on Sunday) get a good nights sleep and head to Vancouver in the morning for a fun night away with my hubby! I was set! But then my brain started thinking... what about those wedding cookie cutters you have in the drawer? What about that great idea you have for an individual cookie box for wedding favors? Let's make some of those and see if they turn out as pretty as we think they will. That's when I decided to make a topsy turvey cake, a cupcake bouquet and some wedding themed cookies. Here's how they turned out:

In case you're thinking "why didn't she put flowers on the top?" I left the top open to show that there's room for a cake topper should it be needed. And I love that the cake board is covered with fondant to match the cake. I'm happy that this is something that I can now confidently do.

I love the colors in the cupcake bouquet. I used twice as much tissue paper as I had in the ones for the baby shower bouquets to try and make it look leafier. (I'm not sure if that's a word, but you know what I mean)I'm so happy with the results, though I will admit I get a little frustrated when a little buttercream gets on the tissue paper. I know it's gonna happen, but it's that little buttercream that leaves me feeling it's just not quite as perfect as it could be. 

COOKIES! I had a hard time deciding how to decorate both the wedding dresses and the wedding cakes so I googled both to find some inspiration. I think the top left dress is my favorite, and then the two that have a little ribbon hanging down are next on my list.

And for these ones... I like the top middle one and then the two bottom corner cakes the best. I LOVE how they look after I've luster dusted them too:) I really like shiney, sparkly things.

The first individual cookie box. I of course loved it when I first finished it, but then my hubby said "why is the bow in the middle? It's covering up the cookie!"

Point taken. So here's the next box I made. I love it even more than the first one!

And then I wrapped a few cookies in these little bags just to show that there are other options for cookie wrapping.

Okay. That's it for my first post. I can't believe how long this all took. I've been sitting in front of the computer for just over an hour now. Hopefully the next one won't take as long now that I've figured out how to add pictures and move them around.  

 Let me know what you think!

~Rachel