OT- Did another cake

Seeing Ive been funking, and havent been posting much I wanted to do a quick off topic post. After the baby shower cake, a girl from church called me (She tried my first practice cake) and asked if I wanted to do the Wilton cake Decorating classes with her... we started last week! Its so much fun! Well last night we had our second class.... and so I made a new cake, a rainbow one... it has "Kali" on it, for the name of the daughter of the lady I gave the cake too--- seeing we don't eat cake. I swear she is going to kill me, she is pregnant right now so very grateful of cake deliveries... but she is so gonna blame all the weight gain on me! LOL Keep in mind, this was the cake from hell-- it broke on me, and everything that could go wrong did... but I managed to salvage and make it look ok other than the darn crumbs in the buttercream!!!! Even after a crumb coat, the cake was too moist and the crumbs attacked me! http://imageevent.com/endkennels/personalphotos/cakes It's a some what dangerous hobby LOL, but Im having so much fun, and even before surgery I didnt eat cake-- I don't much like cake--- as long as I keep giving them away straight after making them im good.

The cake looks great! Good for you taking the classes. You did such an amazing job on the baby shower cake. Looks like a talent you have. Work at it, you can make some nice money on the side with this! Who knows maybe in the future we'll see you on the FOOD network in one of those $10,000 cake competitions!!! Keep at it, they're beautiful!

Darlene I was just curious I recently made a 3 level dr. suess style cake with fondant (my first fondant attempt and it came out pretty good)but did not use a crumb coat! What exactly is a crumb coat? Hailey 245/167/141

You don't really need a crumb coat when working with fondant. A crumb coat is just a thin layer of buttercream, that you put on before you do the final layer... that way the crumb coat catches any crumbs and so when you do the final buttercream coat it's nice and crumbless. If you use the icing tip to frost the cake, you don't need a crumb coat either. Fondant you put a thin layer of buttercream underneath so the fondant adhears, but your not gonna have crumb isues with a fondant covered cake.

Thanks Darlene I did the buttercream frosting before I put the fondant on but I didn't know it was called anything! I like the way the fondant looks but I didn't like the taste so much, I used the MMF recipe I found online! Can I ask you when draping the fondant on a round cake like yours how did you have the smooth finish, when I draped mine over I had extra that would cause creases on the sides! Am I making any sense? Hailey

I haven't done a fondant covered cake yet. Ive only done Buttercream with fondant decorations. I love the MMF recipe, it's so easy and makes really nice fondant. All my round cakes are buttercream so far... Im not gonna try a fondant covered cake just yet, I think I'll just wait for my Wilton Level III class.

You can get a smooth finish by going over it very lightly with even pressure with a fondant smoothing tool and cutting it very precisely. I gotta figure out how to post pics! As soon as I can I'll post the wedding cake I did.

Your cakes are very nice. I took the first Wilton class, and really enjoyed it. I haven't decorated a cake since surgery, cause I love LOVE cake and a good icing, so I haven't tried it again. However, I am wanting to get back into it. I guess if I stuck to the wilton icing recipe and used straight shortening, I might be ok, as I'm not a big fan of the flavor. However, if I use cream cheese or buttercream using butter, I might be in trouble! Congrats on the cakes! Kim

looks GOOD I love decorating cakes - it a fun hobbie. I did my brothers wedding cake TWICE b/c he was expecting home made butter cream frosting and hated the waltons fondunt I purchased LOL it is so fun to surprise people with cake you are such a sweetie hugs danni

I took those classes too. They were the most fun I'd had in a long time! I figured you would like them. I'm so glad you've posted. I've missed you surgery twin! If I remember correctly spice and carrot cakes and strawberry have always been the worst for me as far as crumbs in the icing go. But eventually you get used to the how much icing to use and then when to put on more and not lift off. Knowing you'll you'll probably be a pro in a week! Glad your having fun with it, All the ladies at my hubby's work were very happy when I took classes! They ate the benefits!