Daisy, Daisy…
1 Jul
My third and final project for my Cake Decorating class this semester was to create an 8-inch fondant-covered cake, with gum paste flowers and leaves. A few of us decided to tackle tiered cakes as well, adding a 6-inch cake to the top.
I chose daisies because they are my favorite flower, my birth flower… and I have no shame in quoting You’ve Got Mail when I call them “the friendliest flower.” The concept of this cake came to me pretty quickly after choosing my flowers, and I’m pretty happy with the design, even if the execution needs a little work.
I used chocolate buttermilk cake recipe that my chef-instructor developed herself while working at a popular local bakehouse, Zingerman’s. It’s sort of a super-secret deal, and she said she’d only recently given the recipe to her brother after he’d nearly convinced her that she may die any day now without having passed the recipe on to the family. So, I cannot divulge the recipe, but I will say that it was fantastic, paired with a chocolate butter cream filling.
The fondant and the royal icing were made in class from scratch, so the only purchased component here was the gum paste used for the flowers. Hopefully the whole process won’t seem quite so laborious once I get a little more practice in.
The instructor for this class is looking into starting an Advanced Cake Design course, which I would be very interested in taking, even if I finish my program before it comes to light.
