What She Shovels

I have finished my first cake decorating class and even got my cheezy diploma. Last night Anne and I went to the first class of the second course and we’re the only two in the class. This course focuses on royal icing “sculptures” which I’m liking less than buttercream thus far. By the end of the 4 weeks, I should be proficient in myriad flower types and the infamous basket weave.
For the first course, we brought a cake every week and I schlepped them off to Mike’s office every Friday. This time around, we only have one cake at the end where we glob on all of the royal icing flowers we’ve made in the previous weeks. Mike’s office has, however, taken up a collection to keep the weekly cakes coming. I’ve been experimenting with several recipes and thus far have made:
- White cake (from The Cake Bible; it was ok) with lemon curd filling
- Devil’s food cake (from the back of the cake flour box; So. Good.) with chocolate ganache filling and peppermint icing
- White cake (from Cook’s Illustrated’s Baking Illustrated; Mmmm, good.) with lemon curd filling
Today’s cake will be a carrot cake from the last cookbook. I haven’t made it myself yet, but I hear great things about it. Photos to come, but I have carrots to grate.