Let Them Eat Cake

I have a new hobby. I know, I know. I have too many. But this one benefits multitudes of people with one of my favorite things next to cupcakes...CAKE!

I have been cutting my icing teeth on decorating cupcakes since I watched my sister in law, Julie, make them during my other sil's wedding weekend two years ago. I bought a few basic tips and have been known to whip out little beauties like these and these when the fancy stikes me. I would in no way call myself an expert, but I enjoy the creating and, of course, the eating process of a good cupcake now and then. 

With our Relief Society birthday thing a ma jig coming up, our R.S. Presidency offered a class in cake decorating with the intent of teaching some basics in the hope that the sisters who attended would bring in decorated cakes to celebrate the occasion. Who would I be if I didn't bite off more than I could chew at least forty or fifty times a month? You guessed it. Not me. So my sister and I and our toddlers (and an extra one just to shake things up) spent the day last Thursday decorating cakes.

I went with a Devil's Food cake mix by Duncan Hines, because while I may be nutty enough to attempt to decorate the stupid thing, there was NO way I was going to make one from scratch to boot! I did two nine inch round cakes and split both in half to make a four layer concoction of rich, velvety chocolate. Mmmmm.

The best part? For filling I could have used the buttercream (that I made from scratch cause it just tastes better), but again, who would I be? So I used a little trick Julie told me about and went for a filling of....wait for it....hot fudge. You know, like the stuff you put on a sundae. In fact that is the aisle you buy it in. I wish I had a picture of the inside...but I don't.

I went for a simplistic design in brown and pink because I pretty much never get to see any pink around my house for birthdays. The brown was not chocolate but just brown coloring.  Again, I wish I had taken pictures of that frosting during the process of trying to color it brown. It looked soooo unappealing for so long that I almost cried. Let's just say that when I went to do a few practice runs with a simple round tip I almost had a heart attack when Jennifer and I stood back and realized that little "polka dots" made with a plain round tip resemble very closely something that you wouldn't put in your mouth...unless you were a dog (I hear they do that sort of thing).  So I moved on to the shell tip and breathed a huge sigh of relief when the frosting came out looking like, well, shells.          

All in all I deem the experience a success. Think of all the money I will save with my newfound skill! Next time I might even attempt to do a flower or two...I wonder if Kade would mind flowers on his birthday cake?