Valentine's Day cupcakes, a little late

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Just found these pictures - the best of the Valentine's Day cupcakes my younger son and I made together:

Yes, I realize they're derivative.

In case you were wondering whether the whole Kelly Ripa / Cake Boss thing gave my cake decorating skills a big boost: uh, no. I had to make three batches of frosting to get one that came out right, and I never did get it stiff enough to pipe into elaborate swirls and stars, which was my original plan. The writing above is in white chocolate. Let's just say that these two were the best of the several dozen I tried writing on.

Ah well.

Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for ovarian cancer research: How you can help

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Ovarian cancer research is about to get a big boost from Kelly Ripa and Electrolux, and you and I are going to help at http://www.kelly-confidential.com. Watch the video below, then see the end of this post for details.

This week I was one of 15 lucky Foodbuzz food bloggers to participate in Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause, a cake decorating event with Buddy "the Cake Boss" Valastro, to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Electrolux, the very generous sponsor of this fantastic event, brought us all together in New York. 

We gathered the night before the Cake-Off at a private dinner with chef April Bloomfield at The Spotted Pig, a gastropub in the West Village. On the third floor, there's a private room with a demo kitchen, outfitted with Electrolux professional-grade appliances. So what was the first thing our food blogger group did when we got there? Whipped out our cameras, of course, and took pictures of all the food.

 

Chef Bloomfield and her crew made some delicious things that night, but my favorites were a rustic root vegetable soup and duck leg confit with cabbage:

 

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to the ABC studios for the broadcast of Live! with Regis and Kelly. It's been a long time since I was on a TV set, and I was struck by how much smaller the whole thing looked in real life. We didn't get on TV, but even so it was fun to be in the audience.

A few hours later, we met on the top floor of Chelsea Market, which houses several studios. The area for the Cake-Off was curtained off, but there were so many lights that it was positively glowing through the door opening. When we went inside we saw why: white set, gleaming stainless Electrolux appliances at one end, and more lights than I've ever seen in one room. It was like an operating room times 100. (In a good way, I mean.) When we went in, Kelly Ripa and Buddy "the Cake Boss" Valastro were posing for a group of photographers who were there to get publicity shots for online news sites and wire services.

Then it was time to get to work. We were divided into teams; my team included Jessie of Cakespy and Kelly of Evil Shenanigans. There were five cake themes. We were assigned the Snow Day cake, which was covered in blue fondant, dusted with coarse sparkling sugar, and decorated with embossed snowflakes cut out of white fondant. If you've never worked with fondant, here's a hint: It's edible Play-doh, and it's fun. You can roll it, cut shapes out of it, sculpt it, and then pop it in your mouth. Except you probably don't want to eat it straight, because it tastes like pure corn syrup. Sure is pretty, though.

Chris, one of the guys in Buddy's bake shop (in the black shirt, below), helped us with our fondant rolling and draping techniques - he was a sweetheart. While we worked, Kelly and Buddy wandered around, chatting and giving advice. Oh, and posing for pictures, of course.

I've decided that if I ever become a famous food personality (or, I guess, a famous anything), the part I will hate the most is posing for all the pictures. Buddy looks gorgeous, and pretty much the same, in every single one. How does he do that without looking totally plastic? I'm in awe.

Here's our team with our finished Snow Day cake:

And a close-up of our masterpiece:

All in all, a really spectacular day I'll remember for a long time. Meeting the other bloggers, chatting with Kelly Ripa and the Cake Boss, getting to know the Electrolux team - the whole experience was really special, and I feel lucky to have been part of it.

So now we're down to the important bit, raising money to beat ovarian cancer. I need you to do two things:

First, go to http://www.kelly-confidential.com and vote for our Snow Day cake. You can vote once a day until the end of February. Next, on the same site, click on the "Cakery" and send an e-cake to a friend. For every vote you cast and e-cake you send, Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. That's a really painless way to raise money for an important cause, don't you agree? What's more, you'll be entered into a drawing for a fantastic Electrolux induction range. I saw it in action. It's incredible: energy-efficient, easy to use, and beautiful to boot.

What are you waiting for? Go vote!

Note: Thanks to Electrolux for paying my way to New York, and to Foodbuzz for giving me the opportunity to participate in this fantastic event!

Top 10 reasons why I like the Cake Boss

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I would really like to tell you all about today's Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause, which was loads of fun and is going to raise TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund with your help! However, I am so exhausted that falling into bed is about all I will be able to handle tonight. I'll post more details soon. For now, let me share with you the top 10 reasons why I think Buddy "the Cake Boss" Valastro is a total dude. And thanks, Rachel, for getting me hooked on the Top 10 genre.

10. He sat on the couch after the event and chatted with our group of starry-eyed food bloggers for a good half-hour with no indication whatsoever that he felt it to be an imposition.

9. He stood next to me in our group photo.

8. He brought his crew to help us with the cake decorating, and they were all dolls.

7. Even after the competition was over, he and his boys helped those of us who still wanted to practice our buttercream and fondant skills. (Notice the overturned bucket covered with buttercream borders in this photo of my teammates Jessie from Cakespy and Kelly from Evil Shenanigans.)

6. He admitted that he curses like a sailor in the shop (this New York native has a soft spot for rough-mouthed men - reminds me of my early days in magazine publishing, for some reason).

5. He can make buttercream roses like you've never seen before.

4. He signed the aprons Electrolux gave us to wear at the event, Cake Boss t-shirts, publicity shots, and I think even a few napkins. Ad infinitum, gladly and without complaint.

3. He posed for pictures with each of us individually, in our teams, as a large group, with many cameras. Ad infinitum, gladly and without complaint.

2. When one of the members of the Electrolux marketing team called her mother to tell her she was standing next to the Cake Boss, he took the phone and left a message on her mother's voice mail.

1. He autographed a picture for my kids.

Coundown to Kelly Ripa, day 1: Ellen's cupcake party

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One day to go until I'm decorating cakes with Kelly Ripa and Buddy "The Cake Boss" Valastro to raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund! Get ready to help me spread the word about the contest, because I'll need lots of mouthpieces out there rallying the troops to bring in the votes. Photos of the cakes we decorate at Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause tomorrow will be posted on the Kelly Confidential website, and for every vote cast, the wonderful and generous Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Can you imagine a better reason to bug your friends?

Today, my last Countdown post, is devoted to Ellen, one of my best friends from college, and the cupcake decorating parties she's thrown for her sons' birthdays. It's a great idea: Cover the table with newspaper, set out blank cupcakes, fill a bunch of zip-top bags with brightly colored frosting, add bowls of sprinkles and nuts and other decorations, and there you go - instant party. And at the end, you've got cupcakes! Can you tell which ones the grownups made?

Now I know what to propose for my kids' birthdays next year. In Los Angeles, however, we can do it all outside and hose down the patio when they're done!

 

 

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 1.5: Cakes by Gisele Perez

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Yes, I know I already posted my Countdown to Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause today. But I got these great photos from LA food blogger and caterer Gisele Perez, and I wanted to share them with you. I've had so much fun in this series looking at all the different cakes, cupcakes and other sweets my friends have made!

Says Gisele:

The photo above is a birthday cake I made for a friend last year. I used easy decorations - fresh flowers and sugar  molded instruments, sombreros etc. purchased from cake decorating store. [Erika says: Good tip for those of us who can master the basic icing steps but have neither the skills nor patience to mold fondant or gum paste.]

German Chocolate cakes (below) often don't have much decoration, but I always like to finish them off by icing the sides and adding a shell border. It makes for a beautiful presentation, and I think it helps to "sandwich" the cake together- German Chocolate can be delicate. I use Rose Levy Beranbaum's Milk Chocolate Buttercream (a truly luscious buttercream) to finish. It's one of those recipes which requires the buttercream to be at just the right temp to use, but it's definitely worth the trouble. I use Callebaut's Bittersweet and Milk Chocolate.


Because the traditional German chocolate cake recipe (included on the Baker's German Chocolate packing) makes a slightly crumbly cake, I always give the  sides of the cake a "crumb coating" of the buttercream, then let it set for a few minutes in the fridge before giving it a second coating.

   

Crumb coat on the sides of the cake

Second coat of frosting on the sides of the cake

The finished cake with its shell border

Beautiful, yes? These are cakes I definitely think I could handle. Thanks, Gisele!

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 2: Cakes by Paula

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Two days to go until my adventure with Kelly Ripa and Electrolux, decorating cakes with Buddy "the Cake Boss" Valastro to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund! Our group of 15 Foodbuzz food bloggers found out a few days ago that we'll be at the taping of Live! with Regis and Kelly on Tuesday morning (that's February 9, 2010). Who knows if we'll be on camera, but even so you might want to tune in. I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't mention the event, which is happening later that day, and at least point the cameras in our direction for a few seconds. Guess all the shopping for makeup was worth it! 

Today's post is truly inspiring to me. Get ready for some of the most spectacular cakes you have ever seen from a non-professional baker. If I can make anything a tenth as beautiful and creative at the Cake-Off for a Cause, we will win for sure. These cakes were made by Paula K.B., another friend I've known since grade school. She was always super artistic - I once took a ceramics class in her mom's basement, and I remember standing there looking at the pieces she'd done, mouth hanging open. She's also a superb photographer. But lately she's been turning some of her artistic energy to cake decorating. Okay, ready? Make sure you're sitting down.

 

   

 

 

 

  

 

And here are Paula's notes about the cakes:

These are some of the mini (6-inch) cakes I made for the "summer birthday" kids in Emily's class last year. As you can see, I try to personalize them, so the kids feel a little bit special, especially after having to share their party with a handful of other kids. The cakes are yellow or chocolate. I try to get the "likes" from the moms beforehand! (I love when they give me a half a dozen things they like, thinking they are getting their own sheet cake or something!)

The larger cake was a challenge, but I think it came out great. It was fondant, and I loved working with it. It was like working with clay! I made it for a friend of Ben's for her 13th birthday. They ended up using it at her bat mitzvah. That was pretty cool!


Believe it or not, the icing is store-bought frosting, plain vanilla. I use the Wilton Icing Colors to decorate. There are so many colors to begin with, and they mix like paint (which as an artist I love) so you can pretty much get whatever color you're looking for.


The big cake is fondant, of course layered over buttercream. The cake layers are yellow and chocolate. The balls are fondant...I think I was crazy to do it that way! It was sooo time-consuming, but it looked so much better that way, much more "finished." As you can see, it is not that easy to roll that many and get them all to look exactly the same, but I guess that's part of the homemade charm! I have a set of mini cookie cutters that I did the hearts with...also incredibly time-consuming. I originally started out with polka dots, but it was too plain. Switched to the hearts, and it all fell into place. I also picked up a neat trick: I put powdered sugar on the board when I am working so it doesn't stick. I think it helps with the flavor also!

So - are you blown away? I think I know what Paula's next career will be....

Top 10 reasons the next Kelly Ripa Cake-Off for a Cause should be in Los Angeles (Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 3)

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Three days to go until Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause, where I'll be one of 15 food bloggers decorating cakes with Kelly Ripa and Buddy "Cake Boss" Valastro himself, all to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:



I'm actually flying to New York a few days early to see my mom and my darling niece and nephew. Except that there's a huge snowstorm in the east - have you heard? So when I actually get to New York today, or even if, is, ahem, up in the air.

So, today's post. Remember the top 10 list from a few days ago on what not to say to Kelly Ripa, penned by my hilarious friend Rachel, who blogs at Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen and The Not-Quite-Daily Dispatch? She's at it again, and she's angling for Kelly Ripa's next cake decorating contest to move west. Kelly, are you listening?

Top 10 reasons the next Kelly Ripa Cake-Off for a Cause should be in Los Angeles instead of New York

10.  Kelly Ripa looks much better in a bathing suit than she does in a parka.

9.  Everyone knows that Los Angelenos are more friendly than New Yorkers and are therefore much more likely to share their cake with their neighbors (as soon as they go over and finally meet them).

8.  It's much more difficult to transport a decorated cake on the subway than it is in a car stuck in traffic.

7.  In Los Angeles there's no danger that falling snow will cause delicate cake decorations to bleed.

6.  Mayor Bloomberg has been conducting a clandestine cake bakery sting operation in New York that will soon put all of the cake bakers in the five boroughs behind bars. Carmine "Junior" Persico was heard to say "Let them eat cake" just before they took him into custody.

5.  No one eats in Los Angeles, so there's no danger that anyone will have their cake and eat it too.

4.  Rehab Malibu is the location of the world's premier cake addiction facility. All forms of insurance accepted.

3.  Access Hollywood has agreed to highlight whichever cake decorator most successfully replicates the outfit Lady Gaga wore to the 2010 Grammy awards in frosting.

2.  Contestants on this season’s The Bachelor promise to pre-enact their wedding-cake-cutting ceremony using the official cake of the Kelly Ripa Cake-Off for a Cause.

1. You can award cake decorators extra points for constructing a cake that will survive an earthquake.

Photos from Just a Bite Desserts (Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 4)

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I am so tired from all the preparations for my trip to New York to decorate cakes with Kelly Ripa and the Cake Boss (not to mention my job, my family and the occasional bit of exercise) that I'm not going to write much today. But I wanted to show you these photos from Just a Bite Desserts, a new baking company on Long Island started by partners Paula Rosenthal and Janis Lieberman. I've known Paula since kindergarten, and it just occurred to me that a few days back I wrote about Craig, another hometown friend who's fixated on cake - isn't that funny? Is there something about Long Island and cake?

Anyway, Just a Bite's philosophy of dessert is very close to mine: Taste is as important as appearance; small bites are better than big hunks of cake; abundance is better than scarcity. I really love the way they decorate their desserts - not over the top, not frilly, just pretty and colorful and festive. I asked them a few questions about their new business.

So why cake - and why now? 

Just a Bite: Our premise is to make delicious-tasting desserts and treats that can be eaten in one or two bites. Nowadays, everyone is rushed for time and generally health- and fitness-conscious, but people still like their desserts. In small sizes, just a bite, they can have their cake and eat it too without sacrificing taste and with no time to waste! :)

What's your approach to cake - is it more about how it looks or how it tastes? 

Just a Bite: Our desserts are all about looks AND taste. We recently did some field research and discovered that a lot of local, homemade-style bakers are offering cute items in food stores that make you want to buy them because of their looks, but once you taste them you'll never buy again! It was a very eye-opening and fattening experience!

What's been the biggest challenge as you build your business? 

Just a Bite: Our challenge right now is to find a commercial kitchen space within close proximity to where we live. We live in suburbia and traffic is horrendous. In order to properly balance our families and our professional lives, we need to stay local, so we're spreading the word. If anyone has a kitchen they'd like to rent out part-time, feel free to contact us!

Is your family sick of cake yet?

Just a Bite: Are you kidding? Food is bliss in our houses! Our families consist of foodies only too willing to taste test all of our desserts. And they're not afraid of telling us what they think! We've gotten quite a few interesting comments. It's a good thing they're family! :) Our kids gather their friends and have them taste test too. Thus, we are covering all ages and getting great feedback.

What do you do with all the "experiments" as you're testing recipes? 

Just a Bite (Paula): I've made several parties in the past few months that had a tremendously bountiful dessert tables. At the end, I gave everyone tin trays and Ziploc bags so that they would take things home. I'm also known for bringing desserts to my kindergartner's sports class. They're intended for the kids to eat but I've gotten emails and phone calls from the mothers telling me how much they loved whatever it was I brought in that day. It's nice to know we are baking things that are appealing to all demographics!

What's your personal favorite? 

Just a Bite (Paula): My personal favorite are Janis's secret recipe Caramel Chocolate Brownies. They are loaded with caramel, chocolate chips and walnuts and are sinfully sensational! She makes them in bite-sized squares, but one is never enough.

Erika here again. Okay, I'm only a teeny bit jealous that Paula and Janis get to spend all day baking delicious treats like the ones pictured above. Maybe more than a teeny bit. I'm so happy for them - hard work ahead, for sure, but doesn't it sound like fun? Visit the Just a Bite Desserts blog to keep up to date on their business as they launch it and make it grow, and for lots more delicious pictures. Thanks Paula and Janis!

Top 10 things NOT to say to Kelly Ripa (Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 6)

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Rachel saves day 6!

I was watching my older son's basketball game at school this afternoon with my friend Rachel Kaganoff Stern, whose son also plays on the team. Rachel, who writes the amazing blogs Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen (food) and The Not Quite Daily Dispatch (travel), asked: So what's today's Kelly Ripa post?

I said: I got nada. I'm on empty. Blank page. I was supposed to go practice piping frosting with Clemence from Gourmandise Desserts, but she burned her hand and was too injured to get together this morning. A few friends have promised cake photos, but so far - nothing.

And then Rachel, who is one of the wittiest women I know, said: Have you done a Top 10 list yet? And proceeded to rattle off some great one-liners in the key of "Top 10 things not to say to Kelly Ripa when you first meet her."

And I said: Rachel, I love you.

So here's her list. If you think these are funny, go read Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen and The Not Quite Daily Dispatch. You won't be disappointed.

Top 10 things not to say to Kelly Ripa when you first meet her at the Electrolux cake decorating event next week

1. I love my new Miele dishwasher.

2. I’ve always wanted to meet Regis Filbert. Did they name the nuts after him?

3. How do you like being married to Frank Gifford? Do you get really good seats for the Super Bowl?

4. You and that Antonio Banderas make one cute couple.

5. I loved you on General Hospital.

6. I get very anxious around celebrities. I took two Valium, a Xanax, and an Ativan 15 minutes ago and I’m sure they’ll kick in any minute.

7. By the way, I forgot to mention that I’m allergic to gluten, eggs, dairy and wheat. As long as the cakes don’t have any of those ingredients I’m certain I won’t go into immediate anaphylactic shock.

8. It didn’t say not to, so I brought along my mother, my Aunt Vera, my 11 children, and our pet weasel, Fred. Oh heck, where’s Fred? I just had him a second ago.

9. When do I get my free appliances? I’ve got my cousin’s pick-up idling out back.

10. You can see my 10 best cake decorating successes at www.cakewrecks.com.

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 7: Chocolate cake fail

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One week. Seven days. In exactly one week I will be in New York, decorating cakes with Kelly Ripa and 14 stellar food bloggers on behalf of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Foodbuzz and Electrolux have a great few days planned for us. Meantime, I'm here at home in southern California, obsessing about cake and trying hard not to get sick. Yes, of course: My husband and both kids are sick, just when I absolutely have to stay healthy. I'm taking my vitamins, washing my hands and giving air hugs - that's about all I can do at this point, other than pray.

After that great cake lesson with Clemence of Gourmandise Desserts, I figured I was ready to try my very own cake. So yesterday I made this:

Unfortunately, I discovered that I was not ready to solo.

I realize that you may be looking at the cake above and thinking, "What's she talking about? Looks perfectly tasty to me." Ah, but looks can deceive.

The cake itself was an experiment. I wanted to make a chocolate yogurt cake, so I adapted my favorite yogurt cake recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini by substituting 1/4 cup cocoa powder for the same amount of the flour. I also added the zest of a Cara Cara navel orange (highly fragrant) and used triple sec instead of the rum the original recipe calls for. I think the cake, on its own, would have been okay. But I overbaked it. So it was dry. Pretty, though:

Thanks to Clemence, I knew enough to let it cool all the way through. And I had no trouble splitting it into two layers. But I forgot to even out the top. Ah well, I figured, I'll just turn it upside down and put the cut side up. But the top layer was domed enough to make a big gap between the top and bottom layers.

And then there was the frosting. I wasn't brave enough to try the Swiss buttercream Clemence had made; somehow, the raw egg thing made me nervous, even though Clemence assured me that the sugar syrup cooked the eggs thoroughly. But the whipped ganache, that was something I thought I could manage.

Wrong.

I made a ganache with my normal ratio of one pound of chocolate (Trader Joe's 72 percent Pound Plus bar) to one cup of cream; to accent the orange flavor, I infused the hot cream with the zest of another lovely Cara Cara navel before I poured it over the chocolate. I let it cool. I put it in the mixer with the whisk attachment and turned it on. But instead of becoming a light, fluffy, mousse-like puff like Clemence's, mine was an oily, curdled mess.

No, I didn't take a picture of it. I was too busy crying.

I pulled the mixture off the mixer, stuck the bowl over some simmering water, and melted it again until it was smooth. I left it to cool again, longer this time. And when I whipped it the second time, I did it at a lower speed. It worked, more or less. Still never got as mousse-like as Clemence's. But it was spreadable. So I spread it over the bottom layer, then over the top and sides of the cake. Unfortunately, because of the upside-down domed top, there were some big gaps on the sides, which I filled in with frosting. You can see the effect of that in the slice I cut:

See the notch of pure ganache? That's where the cake layers didn't come together and I used the frosting to hide it.

Here's the problem with whipped ganache, or any ganache for that matter: At room temperature, it's pretty much solid. Either I should have added more cream when I first made it, or I didn't whip it long enough, or something, but this was basically like cake surrounded by truffles. Not what I was going for.

So, lessons learned: Add a little more oil to the cake batter to keep it moist. Make buttercream instead of ganache. And level the top of the cake, assuming your memory is better than mine.

My colleagues still polished it off. After all, chocolate cake is chocolate cake. But next time - better.

Countdown to Kelly Ripa, day 8: Cake decorating with Clemence, part 2

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Eight days until cake decorating with Kelly Ripa on behalf of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. One word: Yikes. 

When we left off yesterday in the description of my early morning cake decorating lesson with Clemence Gossett of Gourmandise Desserts, all the pieces were ready to go: cakes split into layers, Swiss buttercream whipped, ganache filling light and fluffy.

The next thing we did was clear the counter and turntable of crumbs. Crumbs, says Clemence, are the enemy of icing. We spread the whipped chocolate ganache between the layers, leaving a wide rim so the chocolate wouldn't ooze out the sides when the layers were put together and pressed down.

Spreading the whipped chocolate ganache on the cake layers

We started the crumb coat, the thin layer of buttercream that provides a smooth foundation for the fondant, by slapping a big dollop of buttercream on top of the cake, then working it down and around the sides. Start with more frosting than you think you need, counsels Clemence; it's easier to take away the extra than to work with too little, which will tear the cake.

Top, putting on the first crumb coat; bottom, the finished first crumb coat

The cake and its crumb coat went into the freezer to firm up. One problem I see with doing this in my own kitchen is that if you think I have room in my freezer for a cake on a turntable, you are sadly mistaken. My freezer is full of many delicious things, but it is indeed full. On a good day, maybe I'd be able to make room in the refrigerator. I'll have to think this through.

When the cake emerged about five minutes later, the crumb coat was stiff to the touch. We then put on a second crumb coat - not strictly necessary, but a nice-to-have if you really want the fondant to lie smoothly. Clemence showed me how to square up the top edge of the cake with buttercream so the fondant will drape well. Back into the freezer went the cake for another short stay.

Putting on the second crumb coat

While the cake was setting up in the freezer, Clemence took out the fondant, which I'd purchased at a nearby baking supply store. It looks like pure white Play-Doh. We sprinkled the counter with cornstarch and kneaded it a bit to soften it. Then Clemence put a drop of purple gel food coloring on half of it and kneaded it again to distribute the color - see that beautiful lilac color? Kindly, Clemence did all the food coloring work, as I had to head straight to the office and didn't think showing up with purple hands would make a great impression on my colleagues.

Top, adding color to half the fondant; bottom, rolling the fondant with cornstarch

We rolled out the fondant just the way you'd work with pie crust, turning it every now and again to make sure it wasn't sticking. The only difference is that you don't turn the fondant over, because you don't want the top to be covered in cornstarch. Then we picked up the rolled-out fondant on the rolling pin and draped it over the cake. Using our palms, we kind of cupped and smoothed the fondant along the sides of the cake, working out any pleats that wanted to form by nudging the icing this way and that. It doesn't sound like it would work, but it does, because the warmth of your hand shapes the fondant and helps it stretch and lie flat.

Top, using our palms to nudge the fondant into place; bottom, one cake covered with fondant

When the cake was well covered, we cut off the extra with a small sharp knife. Clemence cut some circles out of the scraps to use as decorations. She showed me how to mold a circle into the shape of a calla lily, with a tiny rolled-up log as the inside. I made two of the three lilies that ended up on top of the purple cake; I'm sure you can tell which was Clemence's and which were mine, but that's okay.

   

Top, fondant cut-outs; middle, shaping calla lilies; bottom, fondant flowers on the finished cake

For the other cake, Clemence got out her luster dust and mixed it with a little almond extract - it must be alcohol, and vodka is better because it's flavorless, but the almond scent was kind of nice, actually. She started painting on top of the cake in a doodly swirly way. This is where my lack of artistic skills really shows. I couldn't think of what to paint at all. So I followed the pattern she'd started, using both the pink and the gold, and I think it ended up looking very nice.

So there you have it - two finished cakes, decorated in under two hours. I arrived at work covered in cornstarch, with the cakes, which were devoured by my grateful colleagues in less than 10 minutes. My office really loves this blog series and all the cake decorating practice that's gone with it. I think they'll be pretty sorry when I go back to zucchini.

Tremendous thanks to Clemence for taking me under her wing. If you're in Los Angeles and have a few hours, sign up for one of her wonderful baking classes. Your friends and family will thank you.