I know it seems like I do  nothing most of the time, but this is, in fact, untrue. The truth of the matter is, despite the amount of time I spend on the interwebs every day, I am super-neglectful of my own web presence. Maybe the web version of me is shy. Who knows?

Regardless… here’s a tres leches cake I made for a 2 year old’s birthday. For those who don’t know, tres leches is incredibly moist (three milks!!) and therefore unstackable. Hence, the ridiculous amount of sugar paste figures.

the thanksgiving cake! and yes, it’s alllll cake (and/or sugar). also, for those of you who are actually concerned with how things taste and whatnot, it was a chocolate cake with peanut butter (yes, peanut butter) buttercream. sweet ninja babies, it was delicious!

Oh, hi. I’ve been ignoring you a bit, haven’t I? No hard feelings I hope. No? Good. So, I’ve been working on my slightly more professional, hopefully money-generating cake endeavors recently, and thus not spending much time in the blogosphere (that’s a thing, right?). Here’s a cake I did for halloween (yes, I realize that was 1000 years and/or a lifetime ago).

Stay tuned for Thanksgiving cake photos (hint: it’s shaped like a cornucopia!).

So, my super-fantastic cake class is over (sad face) but I have an adorably ironic cake to show for it. Amidst a slew of baby shower-inspired cakes that were churned out by my fellow fondant-goers, my hipster cake stood out like a sore thumb (do sore thumbs really stick out that much). For those of you that don’t know what a hipster is (shame on you), I suggest you google it, then this little sugar-coated gem will make perfect sense.

i wonder what ben & jerry’s did before i started massacring their cakes with my doodles…

Experiments in fondant.

I’ve never made fondant, rolled fondant or even tasted fondant before (it tastes like marshmallows and diabetes) so there’s a pretty good chance this one’s going to end in a fail. Before I even started, I needed to hunt down some glycerin (no, not the kind you use to make soap). My glorified bodega of a grocery store clearly didn’t have it, so it was google to the rescue. Turns out there’s an amazing baking supply shop in Chelsea called NY Cake & Baking Distributor (which will henceforth be referred to as Heaven).

Glycerin in hand, I began the tedious process of making fondant from scratch. By the end of mixing, I felt like my arm was about to leap from it’s socket (it didn’t, but I’m going to reinstate my plea for a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer). I won’t bore you with the details of making fondant, but you basically mix heaps of powdered sugar (we’re talking pounds here) with gelatin until it starts to form a ball. Also of note, it’s best not to make fondant on humid days (which is impossible in NYC) so the sugar lump needs to be refrigerated over night.

Rolling out the fondant is easier than expected, provided you have enough powdered sugar coating every available surface (yes, more sugar and yes, it goes everywhere). I had more left over than anticipated, so I had leftovers for decoration. Since my roomie’s leaving this week to go to Texas for the summer, I decided on a Texas theme. One star. A lone star. Get it? Get it?

Anyway, the cake’s a bit wonky but for a first attempt I’m gonna take the win. Baker: 5, Pastry: 1.