Boulangerie de Becky et Robyn

So. My sister-in-law Robyn and I decided that we do far too little with eachother given that we live right next door to eachother. I decided that means we need to bake together :) I'm really into food and cooking and culinary arts, but I've never gotten as deeply into BAKING as I've wanted to. I can make baked products taste good, I've just never tried making them look good. I figured we'd start at the basics of cake decorating. Seems very '90s mom to me, given that most cakes nowadays are made of fondant and you don't use a whole lot of "stars" and "flowers" made of frosting, but I still wanted to. I think there's a certain level of nostalgia and simplicity that comes with using frosting tips and frosting bags made out of wax paper that just can't be beat.

We went to the craft store with a gift card from Joan from my work, and picked up book 1 of a 5 book series that guides you through decorating cakes. We practiced our stars and leaves a few other techniques, and here's our finished product that implements just the things we learned from book 1. Haha :) I just have to laugh at our amateurism. It was nice to practice with someone who is as ... not good ... as I am.

Here's the inside. We sort of took the lazy way out and just gobbed on some dollops between the layers instead of spreading it neatly. We also ran out of frosting to actually decorate the cake with since we used a lot practicing.

Here's me and the cake.


Okay, I have no idea why I'm facing the shame that comes with this, but I thought I'd share my first attempt at making a rose made of frosting. It's the big green blob.

Sigh. At least they always say you get better with practice. I was sort of hoping I'd be innately good, so I could just up and start my own cake business or something to make a million dollars and be set for life. C'est la vie.

Thanks, Robyn, for spending the night with me and helping me pass the time while Trevor was working late! I'll definitely keep practicing. Next we want to try some cupcakes...