Monogram Monday

My oven received a workout yesterday. First the scones, second the lasagne and third the birthday cake for one of my buddies at work, Michelle. I don't know what possessed me -- everything was made from scratch! The weekend started productive and continued until midnight last night when I put the finishing touches on the cake.

Creativity allows you flexibility to adapt quickly which makes me very thankful for mine. The cake was supposed to have zebra-like stripes on the edges, but I couldn't get the proper shade of black with the kind of icing I made. It required a special candy colorant to achieve the desired color. Out came the plain piping tip to drop white dots along the perimeter of the bottom and top of the cake. The top part was mainly to hide where the hot pink icing met the white color.

Without the zebra stripes, I couldn't do my original design on top. Armed with a piping bag filled with dark chocolate, I dropped a monogram design, frame and swirls onto acetate (clear plastic). A few drops of coloring in bowls of melted white candy coating produced the colors I filled the negative space created. Once all the chocolate hardened, I peeled the plaque off the acetate and flipped the whole thing flat side up on the cake.



A little vodka and gold petal dust allowed me to use a brush to paint golden accents on the plaque.



Here is the birthday girl indulging me in a pose with her cake!



The cake was enjoyed by many. Chocolate butter cake was filled with whipped heavy cream and crushed Oreo cookies. The whole thing was covered in a special buttercream frosting that was light and not too sweet. The cake, filling and frosting recipes came from The Whimsical Bakehouse.



Yum!

Monogram Monday