Is there ever such a thing as too much of a good thing? I have been churning out cakes and more cakes the whole week, I spend my waking hours (even skipping gym(!)) at our kitchen island ( I absolutely ADORE our island btw) kneading, cutting and moulding fondant. Not to say its a bad thing, but because I'm running a one man show here, I hardly have time for other types of baking. Breads, tarts, Pierre Herme's Plasir is high on my to try list, cookies, pastries etc. I love making fondant cakes, i really do. But fondant cakes are more inclined towards cake decorating, not really baking. And I do enjoy the baking aspect very much. I haven't baked a decent cake since July. OOoooOOo..... I still remember what i made! It was a Poire D'Eve. It was a 5 layer cake, consisting of a Feuillantine base, salted caramel mousse, vanilla pear bavarian cream and pear glaze at the top. Oh, truly decadent but so friggin delish. Which brings me to the whole point of this blog in the first place. I started this blog with the intention of having some form of digital record for the things i churn out in the kitchen, but it seems that so far, i have yet to post a single recipe and all that has been up here on this blog are just orders for fondant cakes.
Do I make it sound like a bad thing? I hope not. I love baking and cooking just as much as I love cake decorating, and I'm thanking my lucky stars for having wonderfully supportive friends who have been helping my get orders. But i guess what i need to do is to learn to manage my time better, work at a faster pace, so i can incorporate real baking in as well. Ah well, Sunday is my chance! We'll be having a belated (for J) and early (for P) birthday celebration this weekend. So I'm thinking of a mango passionfruit mousse cake. Can't wait!
Anyways, today I finished the fairy/elf engagement cake! I have to admit, I was at my wits end last night. I had written out a schedule for cake orders, and according to it, i was supposed to complete the cake by this morning so i could start on another BIG (literally) order for Saturday (more on that later). But by 9pm, I was still seated at my island counter, staring at the ganached cake, a blank canvas waiting for me to work on. I had no clue how I was going to go about decorating it. I rolled out the fondant, covered the cake with it, was not happy, so I peeled it off and restarted. By 1030pm, the ganached cake was STILL staring at me. I resigned myself as having a creative (not that i have much of that in the first place) block, and crawled into bed, mind on overdrive, but eyes pleading to close.
So this morning, the whole process re-enacted all over again, I think it must have gone on about 4 more times. I was almost in tears, resigning myself as the worst, least creative cake decorator on the face of this earth. I had my tail between my legs, and was about to throw in the towel. So with about an hour left on the clock before I had to take M for her piano exam, and a "to-hell-with-it" attitude, i rolled out my fondant, covered the cake, decorated it and 45 minutes later, i took and step back, and was beaming. I was really really pleased. The design of the cake isn't anything fancy schmancy, in fact it was extremely simple, but i thought it looked good. Well, at least good enough for me.
Next up, my first HUGE cake, literally in size. Shan't reveal what it is yet! Till the next!
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