The Tallest Thing I've Ever Baked (or To Infinity and Beyond!)

After a month of anticipation (on my part, but possibly also on yours), I was finally able to take a tiered cake class. It was being offered by Give Me Some Sugar as a Do-It-Yourself wedding cake class. Not a bride-to-be, I came up with a clever cover story so I could fit in among all the betrothed (pretending to make my brother's wedding cake). Fortunately, it was all for naught. My other classmates were a 12 year-old boy working on a school project, and two already-married women with children. None of us had made a tiered cake before, so we had our work cut out for us.

It was a two day class. I'd never made a multi-tiered cake before, and I'm really excited to try again soon. This is a chocolate cake with Italian buttercream icing and fondant covering and decorations. The silver stripes were my first time working with luster dust, and I haven't decided what I think about it. So far it seems to work a little better in smaller areas. I don't know if I'd want to paint stripes again with it any time soon. Hard to make it all consistent. As my instructor Betsy said to me at the beginning of day two, "Well, I know you're anal about the details."

She is correct!

Anyway, it was great to learn how to dowel a cake, how to make bows from fondant, and even though the jury is still out on luster dust, I'm glad I could give it a try. I'm extremely pleased with the results.