Cake wreck? Not today!!

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this cake decorating thing. Of course I still have to have Crystal come over and hold my hand while I'm doing it but I'm getting more confident. I've volunteered to make a couple of cakes so far this year and haven't been too disappointed with the results. The latest attempt was for a baby shower for my friend Becky. 

Challenge number one...she likes carrot cake (as do I) but it's not the best choice for achieving a well mastered look. For one, it's very moist so it falls apart easily, and two, it requires cream cheese icing which melts pretty much as soon as it is removed from the fridge. That brings us to challenge number two...cream cheese icing melts!! This is where the hand holding came into play. I called Crystal to help me after I iced the entire cake with icing that was too thin. I spent quite a lot of time perfecting the shade of blue that I wanted and must have whipped it a few too many times. As soon as I got around to icing the top of the cake, the sides had slipped off. Anyone who knows me well knows that this really stressed me out. I wanted a perfect cake, mind you this is only the second cake to do primarily on my own, and the too thin icing really got me. Crystal calmly, of course, explained how to thicken it up a bit, and it worked, as if I had any doubt. 

Challenge number three...we all know that Crystal is a whiz when it comes to cake baking and decorating. Did I mention that already? However, I will say after a long week and a long Friday at work she was just a little off her game. (You know I love ya Crystal!!) She suggested adding a softened stick of unsalted butter to the icing to thicken it up, but forgot to whip it first. The butter was added right into the cool icing, and yes, we couldn't get the lumps out. I iced the cake with lumpy icing (she felt terrible). At that point I really didn't care as long as the cake had icing on it, so our fix was to put the white dots, which were already part of the plan, just a bit closer together to hide the lumps. It worked very well. 

Challenge number four...I live 30 minutes away from where I was going with the cake, I live in Oklahoma, it's June and it's HOT, which brings us back to challenge number two...cream cheese icing melts!! Solution: crank the A.C. and wear something warm. Brilliant (Crystal's idea of course)!! The cake turned out very well. I was pleased, and according to some of the ladies at the shower, they're planning to put me close the top of a short list of "volunteers" for church events.