FAIL - Cake

I am no CAKE-BOSS but anyone who knows me, knows I love my cake, cookies, and candies. It's no wonder I've become a member of Weight Watchers.

With baking as one of my favorite past time hobbies, unfortunately my scale shows the results of my cooking efforts... But, that doesn't mean my cakes always turn out perfectly.

Quite the opposite. Some times I envision the most wonderful tasty temptations and they turn out...terribly.

Like my recent endeavor: trying to sculpt rice crispy treats into a little-sized replica of my brother-in-law: Bo. It didn't turn out the way I pictured it in my head and it looked nothing like Bo.

Oh well...it's the thought that counts...right?

I certainly hope so because this cake was not my best baking attempt. It was an absolute FAIL.

A flop, but I had to take it to the party anyway. I figured it was good for a laugh--or at least a smile.

Here are some of the pictures from my attempt to bake a themed bee-day surprise for my brother-in-law Bo.


You see, Bo has become a recent beekeeping enthusiast and, since it was his birthday, I made him a couple of cakes. One was a bee, the other was the hive, and the third was supposed to be a mini-me Bo.

F A I L

But, it was still fun putting the pieces together. It might not have turned out the way I'd hoped but I think Bo had a happy Bee-Day anyway :)

Here's how I made the cakes.

First I baked a regular cake and a couple cupcakes.

Of course, when I got up the next morning, only one cupcake was left. I'd been hoping to use two for the eyes of the bee, b...ut I cut the only one I had left in two and used half-moon eyes for my bee.

I frosted the cake with coconut - yellow - frosting and cut black fondant strips for his little stripes.

I covered his eyes in white fondant and cut out round pupils from black fondant.

Next, I shaped his stinger out of rice crispy treats and covered it with the left-over black fondant. Then, I cut out a couple of white fondant wings and put the pieces together.

I had to add antenna and transfer him to a prettier plate with pretty paper. It's easy to lift the cake, if you have wax paper beneath the cake while you decorate.

I made the hive out of my barbie doll cake pan, frosted in brown icing and wrapped it with black licorice.


I obviously need a crispy carving class. I had no idea how to do it. But I rolled the rice crispy treats in wax paper to shape the body parts.


Then I put them together and put Bo on a stick.


And I tried to shape the pieces to look like Bo but there must "bee" a few tricks I'm missing because it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I used frosting as the glue for my fondant to stick to the little-sized Bo but it didn't turn out so well. . . as you can see above.

The good thing about having a CAKE FAIL or a CAKE WRECK is it's not so bad eating my mistakes ;)

FOOD FINAL--FAIL: FROSTING DISASTER

It was a disaster. And, a food final FAIL. Well. . .almost. I actually passed the class but only by an inch.

One night my frosting was too thin then the next night my frosting was so thick my piping bags burst from the pressure. You can tell by looking at my day lilies: I worked all week and then went to cake class . . . tired. And of course my frosting had to be a total fail that week - with Friday as my final.

Okay, I know, a food final is no big deal in the scheme of life but when you've spent a boatload of time preparing frosting and flowers, it's hard to have things flop. But that's the way the cookie-Um, I mean, cake, crumbles.

Well, I muddled through as best I could and on Friday I finished my cake. It wasn't how I'd envisioned it but it was fun and oh well, it was the best I could do. I guess I'm going to have to accept the fact that I'll never be a match for Duff or the Cake Boss.

My teacher said my cake looked like an explosion - of flowers. Not a compliment. Plus she said no one would want to eat those colors. She says, "People prefer pastels."

I told her, "My kids will eat it." And they did - at least some of it.

Plus, here's a preview of what I hope to have on my blog this week: How to Make an Ice Cream Cake. This cake turned out much prettier - at least that's what I think.

Of course, my teacher also said, "No one wants to eat a blue cake."

I'm such a rebel ;)

And, Mackenzie came to the rescue with her ice cream skills. Mackenzie used to work for Baskin Robbins. So she got paid to learn how to make cakes - while I paid to learn how to make cakes. Shows you who's smarter.

So, if you're interested in learning how to make a cake for a hot day that will surely satisfy the senses, come back and watch my vlog (video-blog) with Mackenzie doing the ice cream culinary-licious work - later this week. I ran out of time to upload it to Youtube. But here's a small taste of what's to come:

Happy April Fool's Day-Duff and Buddy Better Watch Out

But this is NO joke.

I'm a true Wannabe: Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes


Have any of you watched Cake Boss or The Ace of Cakes? I love 'em - but I hate 'em too.

Those guys are a bunch of frauds. They make that cake decorating look so EZ-smeazy that even I thought I could do it. But, if you've followed my blog maybe you might have seen my fondant FAIL. That cake was an absolute disaster. But I'm not a quitter--especially when it comes to food, just look at me and you'll know that's true. So what did I do. . . ?

I signed up for my first-ever cake-decorating class through Joann Fabrics. I know - who would have thought that a fabric store would have cake decorating classes, but they have that and more: knitting, crocheting, sewing--okay you might have expected sewing classes at a fabric store but you get my point.

So for the next four-weeks, I'll be doing my homework, reading my course materials and climbing my way up from that fondant fail floor to a final fondant rematch.

Keep your fingers crossed. I'll keep you posted and we'll see if a little expert guidance--thanks to Joann--can help a wannabe Cake Boss or a new Ace of Cakes...heck, Duff and Buddy better watch out--this might be the start of a beautiful relationship between me and cake decorating.

And with a little luck--or maybe a whole lotta luck--I might just be on my way to becoming the new Queen of Cakes;)

What can I say, my Mom taught me to dream BIG.