Cake: the Final Frontier

Whitney M.

Fondant Challenge

I married a software engineer.

He’s an xkcd-reading, MMORPG-playing, knows-pi-to-27-places kinda guy.

So when his birthday came around this year, my cake challenge was obvious. Of course his birthday cake had to be geeky. I very nearly made him a TARDIS, but in the end decided on a simpler design: the Star Trek insignia.*

Boy, am I glad I did.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from these cake challenges is that a good cake design takes time to execute. The more complex the design, the longer you’ll spend in the zone, oblivious to the world around but totally focused on building your cake.

This month, time was not on my side. The birthday in question was on the day after Thanksgiving, and I needed to have it done by lunchtime. So, I went with the simpler design and...ta-daa!!...finished it five minutes after birthday guests arrived. Well, they were early.

What I Learned

• Shaped cakes are actually pretty easy if you use a stencil.
• You know how I said last month that fondant’s really not so difficult? A full recipe of fondant, rolled out into a great big sheet and draped over a shaped cake, is a different animal altogether. It was fine, but definitely not a quick and easy process.
• You can get spray food coloring in silver and gold! I kept checking the label to make sure it really was edible. The metallic effect was impressively convincing.
• Presentation matters. I couldn’t just put this on a regular cake plate, now could I? The background you see is a piece of starry fabric wrapped around a cutting board.

That’s it for November’s cake challenge! For December, you’ll get to see some cakes I’m making as Christmas gifts...shhh.

*It’s the one from Next Generation, in case you’re a normal person and can’t tell the insignias apart.

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