I'm going to start off by saying that this adventure was a total failure and I will not be repeating it any time soon.
It all started with the fact that I'm cheap like borscht (actually with the price of farmers market veggies lately, borscht isn't all that cheap anymore but whatever, you get the point). I'm obsessed with getting deals and clipping coupons, to the point where I will lament for hours if I find something at a cheaper price than I bought it or I forgot to use my coupon. I think it would drive any spouse up the bend but fortunately Dave is as cheap as I am so we both live happily in our frugal empire.
Since I'm so cheap (and partly due to sentimental reasons), I decided that I wanted to make Isla's birthday cake this year for her first birthday. I figured I've watched enough cake shows on the Food Network that I could easily do something simple myself. We're planning on having a low key BBQ for our family and some close friends so I figured that even if I was a bit of an amateur in the cake decorating business (I'm a good baker but I never bother to decorate), they would be fairly forgiving of any small flaws. The theme of the party is garden party so I looked on-line and found a lovely picture of a rectangle cake with flowers on it made out of candies. It sounded perfect for me since I'm a total newbie to any kind of icing (we just don't eat icing in our house) and the less icing the better.
Dave, in his ultimate wisdom, convinced me to try baking and decorating a cake in advance to make sure that we wouldn't have any last minute disasters; so this past Friday, while Isla was asleep for her afternoon nap, I pulled out my new rectangle cake pan and set to work.
I think we will be buying a cake for Isla's birthday. :o) The cake part turned out fine and both the icing and the cake taste delicious but that's all I can really say that's postive about my efforts. Apparently icing a cake is much harder than I thought and my efforts look pathetic. I then decided to get creative with my never used icing applicator (that I've had for at least 5 years) and do some decorating. Despite my initial faith in my artistic abilities (my dad is a wonderful artist and I figured there had to be some genetic material passed on to me), I can't even write in a straight line.
Fortunately for us, I made this attempt several weeks before the actual date of the party so I have plenty of time to order something from the professionals. Dave and I also have a lovely huge cake to enjoy this weekend along with our farmer's market goodies so I'm not complaining about that either. Now, without any further introduction, here is a photo of my lovely effort:
Location: My kitchen
Cost: $5 for a new rectangular cake pan, $2 for food colouring, about $10 for all the ingredients for the cake and icing.
Gear for Isla: Forunately she was sleeping for this effort so she was spared my colourful language as I decorated the cake and I didn't need any gear for her.
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