Confession of a clumsy cake decorator

Looking at the chocolate tart we made in class 2 weeks ago makes me happy. It has been a solid 2 weeks when I last brought something edible home from school. These 2 weeks have been spent on gumpaste flowers, wedding cakes and fondant. In fact, there may be a 3-tiers fondant covered dummy cakes following me home tomorrow. It will be decorated with the gumpaste flowers that we spent almost a week to make. Another inedible creation before we conclude the 2 weeks wedding cake chapter of my pastry course.

I know I don't sound too enthusiastic about wedding cakes. As a matter of fact, I would happily spend extra time on cakes, tarts, breads and petit fours. Sitting down the whole afternoon to make flowers only makes me tired and exhausted at the end of the day. Luckily, we have a really great instructor. Chef Laura makes the wedding cake classes so much more bearable. Her demo and clear instructions help even the most clumsy cake decorator like myself to perform the task at hand confidently. I am happy with how things turn out. Admittedly, I didn't set a high expectation on my decorating skill. My piping and flowers still suck compared to many of my classmates. I was totally in awe, seeing some of their creations. As for myself, I see obvious improvement in my piping and frosting, and that's all that matters to me in this stage! I only wish we have more time to practice. Although deep down in my heart, I couldn't wait to start the tart classes!

Instead of torturing you with my gumpaste flowers pictures, here's the picture of pate a choux we made awhile ago. When filled with hazelnut pastry cream, they are a real treat.

I also wanted to show you the coconut passion cake we made in cake class, which is one of my favorite. The various components like coconut mousse, passion fruit mousse, candied pineapple and coconut dacquiose are flavors that I can identify with, growing up in a tropical country.

I decided to show you a snapshot of my buttercream wedding cake even though it's far from perfect. I didn't have a clear idea on how to decorate it, so I simply piped with the techniques and patterns I learned. Please try not to laugh too hard. It's already the smoothest frosting I have ever done in my short baking life. I wish I could show you some of the pretty buttercream cakes my classmates have done! But I promised not to post them on my blog. If you go to my flickr, you can see some of their wedding cakes!