newest cake

My friend Jeremy's birthday is on Thursday, and his wife Melissa threw him a surprise party on Saturday. I wanted to make him a cake, and since Jeremy is truly the best guitarist I have ever met in person, her suggestion to make him a guitar cake seemed perfectly reasonable.



It was a challenge, as usual, working with a really small space, sub par tools, and not really knowing what I'm doing. But I did notice that the little techniques I picked up when working as a cake decorator at the cafe really helped a shit ton. Icing, for example, and knowing how to drape and knead and properly handle the fondant. Keeping the iced cake super cold helped a lot too, keeping the mess at a minimum and the fondant sturdier. I made my own fondant again this time, for purely financial reasons---the stuff is expensive. I had the ingredients on hand, and so I made a night of it and made it a couple of days beforehand. I really recommend doing the cake thing in parts, especially since cake and frosting making take so much time. It keeps well when wrapped and refrigerated properly, and the assembly is really what you want to focus on, not getting your sink and counter cluttered with all the B.S you accumulate when baking.



You can see my "cake face" perfectly in these photos, the expression I make when concentrating on being as coordinated as possible. You can also see the crumb coated cake.



I'm pretty happy with it, and Jeremy liked it a lot, so I consider it a success.

I will leave you with these pictures of my cat Leona after a much needed bath: