Cake #6: Basket o' Flowers

Today was the finale of my Wilton Decorating Course Level II, and we finally combined all our work from the last weeks onto a single cake. This oval cake holds a variety of the royal icing flowers I've made this past month, as well as, the two blue birds I made with color-flow icing.

Tonight, we finished the course with the basket-weave technique along the sides and the rope borders along the top and bottom of the cake. Although the basket-weave technique was slightly more difficult than I had been led to believe, the addition of the borders, flowers, and birds distracts from any flaws which might exist in my weaving.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the way my cake turned out; I'm definitely looking forward to next week's start of Course III: Fondant & Tiered Cakes.

Icing Like A Flower Pro!

From Left to Right: Daffodils, Primroses, Pansies, Daisies, and Roses

As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently taking the Wilton Cake Decorating Course II. Since we're not actually baking cakes each week, we've had plenty of time to learn new flowers. Last week we learned the basic violets and apple blossoms. Although I had considerable trouble successfully making the flowers in class, with some practice at home I was finally able to master the petal technique, which served as a foundation for this week's lessons.

This week, we learned to make Victorian roses, daises, daffodils, pansies, and primroses. I was completely amazed at how quickly and easily I was able to master each of these flowers! I can't wait until next week when I get to make the grand finale cake with all these flowers...