Over winter break we didn't do too much. We just relaxed and enjoyed staying in when it was cold outside. Christmas went by in a blur and so did New Years. Eb and I had one of the best New Years ever at Christine and Jeremy's, it was so relaxing and low-maintenance. I was worried about Leslee (my step-mom) all during the break, but enjoyed the time off to go and see her at the hospital when I could.
To pass the time when we'd get home (usually from Wal-mart) around midnight until we went to bed (around 4am) we made cakes. Every few months Eb gets a hair-brained idea and wants to do something new, and this time it was cakes. He decided on it, I think, because I showed him pictures of Tammie Coe's website and the wedding cake I want her to make for us. He sees things (that cost a lot of money) and then decides he can do them too (so they don't have to cost a lot of money). Now, he isn't making our wedding cake (don't get excited), but he did want to learn how she made cakes using fondant. So, we started making cakes.
All of our cakes are Betty Crocker cake mixes, we do not make them from scratch (we aren't that fancy). But, we do customize our own designs when using the fondant. If you've never heard of it, here's a definition: Fondant is a paste used to embellish cakes. It is usually made from sugar and water and then is sculpted to make designs on cakes. Eb tried making his own (see our first cake picture) and that tasted yummy, but was VERY hard to work with. He followed a recipe online and it turned out ok. Making his second fondant, he used marshmallows and it tasted better, but fell apart when trying to mold with it (no pics of that one). Then, he decided to just buy white fondant (at Wal-mart) and try working with that instead.
Boxed fondant (the cheap stuff) is edible, but kind of tastes like plastic to me. It's not very good, so we use vanilla extract when working with it to increase its yummy factor. It still tastes like plastic to me and I never eat it - but it looks great on a cake!!! We read last night that you can put butter flavoring in it to make it taste more like frosting so we might try that next time.
The fondant comes in white and costs about $6. It comes with enough to cover AND decorate a 9 inch round cake. It is white, so you have to add food coloring and cut shapes out all on your own. It also says on the box it comes with little flavor, so I guess you have to add to it to make it taste better. We fold it over a cake that is already made and frosted, just for a visual effect. The frosting is for eating, the fondant is mainly just for looking at (unless we can find a way to make it taste more like frosting!).
So, here are the cakes we made over winter break. They go in order from first to most recent, so you can see how good we've gotten at it. We were actually out last night for Kelly's (Eb's sister) 21st birthday and were asked if we made cakes. Eb and I got to thinking that this just might be another option (like ebay) for us to make some extra cash in our spare time. Imight just make up some business cards on the Mac and pass them out next time someone asks us about a cake!
And, if you're having a birthday this year, get ready because your present will probably be a cake!
Here they are, the first cake isn't that great - but we are getting better. The first and second were just for fun, the third was for Christine and Jeremy's New Years party, the fourth was for Kelly's Murder Mystery Birthday party and the 6th was for Kelly's actual birthday. (I have better pics of it when it was first made, but after being kept in the car all day the frosting melted and it caused everything to sag.) Tell us what you think!
As Marie Antoinette would say, "Let them eat cake!"
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