Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Cake by Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn, my youngest daughter (4 minutes younger than her twin), loves to bake. Some Christmas presents included, a cake decorating kit, cake cookbook and a dessert cookbook. Erin found a cake in one of the books and wanted Kaitlyn to make her birthday cake. Kaitlyn made some cupcakes a few days before and practiced her skills. This was the first time ever to use decorating tips and the bag. Erin plays basketball and picked a cake that resembles a basketball. The first cake was a double layer chocolate cake. I think she did a great job and she enjoyed it very much plus she was very proud (as she should be). The only tip she has trouble with is the one for writing/lettering. I think the one that came with her kit is just too thin and it takes too much pressure on the bag to get icing through at a steady stream. With this in mind, Kaitlyn just wrote 18 on the cake. Not Erin's basketball number but her age!

So check it out - side view:




Top view:


Any cake decorators out there? I am sure Kaitlyn would appreciate tips, hints and websites for ideas.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:40 AM

    K did a wonderful job on the cake. She should be proud!
    Donna W
    Edmonton, Alberta

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  2. She did a great job on her first birthday cake! She should be really proud of herself.

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  3. Anonymous11:53 AM

    Good job on the cake! If she keeps it up she will soon be in high demand from all her friends for every special occasion.

    My mom was a cake decorator when I was growing up. She even made my wedding cake. It was beautiful! And I have done some cake decorating myself, although not recently. Just a tip for the writing... You are right that because the opening is smaller it takes more pressure, so it will help if you thin the icing you want to write with just a little.

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  4. Anonymous1:54 PM

    Lori,
    Tell K she should be very proud. It's not an easy skill to learn all on your own and she's done a great job already. Mastering the icing bag takes lots of practice to get things to work the way you want. It's worth it to sacrifice a couple of containers of frosting to use to practice on some waxed paper. She can reuse the icing and just work on her skills over and over. If the icing gets too runny from the warmth of her hand, just pop it in the fridge right in the bag and take a break and you can start over again. Before starting make sure you stick the waxed paper down to whatever surface that it's on. I used to just use a dab of icing at each corner. You can even just dampen the surface before you smooth the waxed paper now. That way it won't slide around when you are trying to get your decorations to stick. Parchment paper works as well.
    The other hint I'd offer is to keep the icing bag closer to the surface when making the stars/flowers tube. That avoids that "hershey kiss - pointed" look that often happens when you hold the tip too high from the surface.
    Have you ever seen the valentine cake made from one round cake and one square one? It's really fun to decorate and you don't need fancy pans to do it. With valentines day coming up it would be great fun. I do one every year if I have children around the house. And of course I use a pink mix - strawberry chip or something like that. There are lots of imaginative shapes you can make with regular pans. I once did an R2D2 cake for my nephew for his birthday (he's 41 now) and his wife says he still talks about that cake that he had and how it was his best birthday cake ever. You never know what a great memory you might be making when you decorate a special cake. Be sure to show us all her masterpieces. She's already got a real talent for making fabulous original designs.

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