November 2013- Week 4

ORGANIZATION SKILLS

This week was very, very effective. I began to really start decorating my cakes with the tools I have. I managed to get the top two tiers of my Alice in Wonderland themed cake done, which I am very satisfied about. 

COMMUNICATION WITH SUPERVISOR

I didn’t communicate with my supervisor at all. 

INFORMATION

This week, I bought more fondant to cover and decorate my cakes. Then, with the decorations I made earlier, I began to decorate my top tier of my Alice in Wonderland themed cake. I firstly mixed the colors to get a baby blue color out of the fondant, then I rolled the fondant out, leaving it dry for at least 5 minutes before covering the cake. Covering the cake was definitely a challenge for me. I used a large pipe to roll instead of using a rolling pin to make sure everything is even. When I first tried to cover the cake, the fondant broke out. Yes, I panicked and I didn't exactly know what to do. Though however, I soon realised that I rolled the fondant too thin, making it so stretchable that it would just break. I re-did my fondant, rolling it a little bit thicker, and it worked fine. With the stitching tool, I made a cross pattern out of the top tier, and placed my Alice silhouette by applying a thin layer of Crisco. I am very pleased with this top tier. Yes, it's not perfect. There are cracks, fingerprints, and other flaws but I am very satisfied with it. The second tier took me three hours to finish. I covered the cake with not so thin layer of fondant, not wanting to repeat the first tier's mistake. The process went smooth, until the next challenge, the wax paper transfer. I took my chevron template out, and did exactly what Jessicakes has demonstrated in her Craftsy class video. I cut my red fondant pieces into stripes, let it sit for a while, and placed them on top of a Crisco-covered wax paper which had the template underneath. I cleaned the edges with a sharp knife and cutter, then applied more Crisco to the fondant pieces, then stuck them onto the cake. I pressed the chevron pieces a little bit, and removed the wax paper. Some problems I encountered were that first, the fondant wasn't sticking to the wax paper. I later figured that a generous amount of Crisco was needed to make it stick. Then, the fondant was too dry, and yes I had to roll it over again. I left it out too long until it cracked. But nevertheless, I was extremely happy with the result. I also baked a chocolate sponge cake with double chocolate frosting that I decorated myself. I was pretty happy with it, until the moment it melted in my car. And so, I had to fix the frosting at home.

Chocolate sponge with double chocolate frosting

Top two tiers of Alice in Wonderland themed cake