The Adventures in Cake Decorating Continue!

I really love baking!

Matthew gave me the Ultimate Tool Caddy for our first anniversary. It's so pretty! (Yup, I'm a dork.) My mom gave me the course 1 student kit. And I 

have purchased a few... additional items, lol. I now have two spatulas, small straight and large curved, the box of 12 paste colors, a large coupler, and two extra tips (1M for cupcake swirls and the triple star tip). 

We were instructed to bring one cake to class on Tuesday. For the second class, we had the choice of doing either a simple round cake, a simple square cake, or a character cake. Of course, I chose the character cake. Matthew, Nathan, my mom, and I went shopping for pans at Hobby Lobby (since I had a 40% off coupon). We found the same dinosaur pan Matthew had when he was little, and we decided it would be perfect for when Nathan gets bigger.

In the past, I was afraid to make a shaped cake; I have had trouble getting even simple cakes out of their pans in one piece. I actually tried the Wilton Cake Release and it was awesome! Only one small part of the cake stuck to the pan (the part around the dinosaur's teeth), but it came out fairly smoothly. I'm actually impressed. The thing that still has me confused is how to keep the edge of the tail from overbaking, since it is the shallowest part of the cake. 

For the cake itself, I made my Mother-in-law's Silver White Cake. I haven't tasted it yet, but Matthew tells me it smells right and looks right, so hopefully I didn't screw anything up. I might post the recipe on here, if she say's it's ok. (I don't want to give away any family recipes!)

For class, we were instructed to make two batches of icing; one medium consistency and one thin consistency. The class frosting is amazingly thick! And now I know the recipe supermarkets use for their frosting. Next time, now that I know what the textures should be, I think I will try my own butter cream recipe. (In addition, I tried the Wilton Clear Vanilla Extract. That is the only product of theirs I have ever hated. It was just gross. Then again, for imitation Vanilla, it wasn't that bad.)

I can't wait to decorate my cake tomorrow night! Stay tuned for photos!