Carved up

Trying to camouflage itself on my granite

Yes mom, it is what you think it is

At least they’re clean

As detailed as I could make it

After carving the first piece

The bachelorette’s piece

I will know my rendering of a twig and berries is especially perfect if I get flagged as inappropriate…

This bachelorette cake was a replica of one I found on Flikr from another lady who, just like me, had attempted her first sexy cake.

I dare say that the cake was nearly a disaster – I sat in front of the oven inhaling the glorious scent of apples and cinnamon, watching the cakes rise but then, to my horror – right near the end of their cooking time they all sank deep in the center. It happened in a matter of seconds. I screamed “Nooooooo” but they couldn’t hear me surely because the oven door was closed.

So yes, I salvaged the cakes, piecing bits and pieces together, no pun intended. I made the buttercream cheesecake flavoured and carefully applied it to all the little nooks and crannies. Having way too much fun in the process.

The cake tasted positively amazing – and good thing – because it’s going to be the bride’s wedding cake flavour.

It is very moist – and I think my problem with it sinking was that I ran out of that pesky hard to find apple butter and substituted 1/4 cup of my mom’s home made apple sauce for the 1/4 cup of apple butter that I was missing in my jar (used it for a chicken the day before … oops).

The cake is a Martha Stewart recipe and I cannot figure out why it calls for a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil – I think I could easily omit that and replace it with the apple sauce and go with the full quantity of apple butter called for. Shredding the apples was probably not easy on the cake rising either – next time I will do what the recipe says and grate them.

This cake doesn’t need to be refrigerated – in fact the 24 hours it sat out under its fondant icing made the flavours develop very nicely – although it did almost taste like a carrot cake.

Lessons Learned :

– Mix a little bit of colour with shortening and paint it on … objects… to get a nice shiny tone and highlight

– That icing pen you thought was empty only needed refrigeration

– Follow the recipe, this is baking, not cooking

– Cuban male dancers don’t like to watch a pecker being cut off a cake