Who doesn’t love cake??? Rhetorical question… of course there are people out there who don’t like cake, or pretend not to like cake. Chances are, those people are not the ones reading a blog about CAKE!
My love of cake started at a very young age. Don’t worry, I am not going to tell you a cake story from my childhood. I'm just saying that there has never been a time in my life, that I can remember, that I didn’t enjoy a good piece of cake. That being said, my love for baking and decorating cakes is a much more recent development. Now I am going to tell you a cake story from my adulthood…
A few years ago, I was tasked with bringing a dessert to a family function at my boyfriend’s father’s house. We were gathering to watch a Baltimore Ravens football game. I am a big football fan, so this was my kind of event. However, despite living within viewing distance of the Baltimore Ravens stadium for the better part of my 20s, I was, and always will be, a Washington Redskins fan. I made this clear to my boyfriend’s family early on, and they begrudgingly accepted my allegiances, but not without a little good-natured ribbing from his father. Since he found ways to bring up the lackluster performance of my team on almost any occasion, I decided that I would just fuel the fire and wear my Washington Redskins jersey to watch the Baltimore Ravens game that day. I knew that this would garner some stares, so I decided to tip the scales in my favor by giving my dessert a Baltimore Ravens theme.
I had been doing some Pinterest research on different cake mediums, and the one that I kept revisiting was “fondant”. It seemed like a fairly versatile and edible product to work with. So I decided to give it a whirl. I found a recipe to make my own marshmallow fondant, and I got to work. I realized quickly that I was in wayyyy over my head. Working with marshmallow is hard! But once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. I made little mini chocolate cakes and covered them in chocolate icing. Then I mixed several different fondant colors and covered the cakes in green fondant. I put white lines on them to look like the lines on a football field. Then I made little yellow goalposts and “Angry Birds” that looked like little purple Ravens. I rolled fondant into little footballs and even added the laces to them. I worked late into the evening the night before the party. I spent entirely too much time and effort on that one dessert, and by the time I went to bed, my backed ached, my eyes were bloodshot, and my hands were dyed 10 different colors, but my dessert looked fabulous!
Everyone loved the little Ravens cakes. I timed it perfectly. Removing my jacket to reveal my Redskins jersey and lifting the top off my handy cake carrier simultaneously. The reaction to my jersey was overshadowed by the reaction to my cakes. And when I saw how much everyone loved the fondant decorations, I knew I had found a new hobby.
Since that fateful day, I have since married into that family, who I love very dearly, and I have continued to hone my fondant skills.
My love of cake started at a very young age. Don’t worry, I am not going to tell you a cake story from my childhood. I'm just saying that there has never been a time in my life, that I can remember, that I didn’t enjoy a good piece of cake. That being said, my love for baking and decorating cakes is a much more recent development. Now I am going to tell you a cake story from my adulthood…
A few years ago, I was tasked with bringing a dessert to a family function at my boyfriend’s father’s house. We were gathering to watch a Baltimore Ravens football game. I am a big football fan, so this was my kind of event. However, despite living within viewing distance of the Baltimore Ravens stadium for the better part of my 20s, I was, and always will be, a Washington Redskins fan. I made this clear to my boyfriend’s family early on, and they begrudgingly accepted my allegiances, but not without a little good-natured ribbing from his father. Since he found ways to bring up the lackluster performance of my team on almost any occasion, I decided that I would just fuel the fire and wear my Washington Redskins jersey to watch the Baltimore Ravens game that day. I knew that this would garner some stares, so I decided to tip the scales in my favor by giving my dessert a Baltimore Ravens theme.
I had been doing some Pinterest research on different cake mediums, and the one that I kept revisiting was “fondant”. It seemed like a fairly versatile and edible product to work with. So I decided to give it a whirl. I found a recipe to make my own marshmallow fondant, and I got to work. I realized quickly that I was in wayyyy over my head. Working with marshmallow is hard! But once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. I made little mini chocolate cakes and covered them in chocolate icing. Then I mixed several different fondant colors and covered the cakes in green fondant. I put white lines on them to look like the lines on a football field. Then I made little yellow goalposts and “Angry Birds” that looked like little purple Ravens. I rolled fondant into little footballs and even added the laces to them. I worked late into the evening the night before the party. I spent entirely too much time and effort on that one dessert, and by the time I went to bed, my backed ached, my eyes were bloodshot, and my hands were dyed 10 different colors, but my dessert looked fabulous!
Everyone loved the little Ravens cakes. I timed it perfectly. Removing my jacket to reveal my Redskins jersey and lifting the top off my handy cake carrier simultaneously. The reaction to my jersey was overshadowed by the reaction to my cakes. And when I saw how much everyone loved the fondant decorations, I knew I had found a new hobby.
Since that fateful day, I have since married into that family, who I love very dearly, and I have continued to hone my fondant skills.