Guess what I've been up to.

So I decided it was time to move forward with something I've been wanting to try for awhile - cake decorating!

With that in mind, I signed up for a class at Michael's, Cake 1, which started last week but only today did we actually get hands on and start doing some actual decorating.

Where I proved that I am insane.

We had three choices for cakes for tonight: a character cake, which our instructor told us could take over 2 hours to do; an 8 inch round which would be turned into a rainbow cake and would require 5 colors and pipping gel and transfers; or an 8 inch round and cookie cutters with our choice of colors.

You'd think I would have picked the easier one, the same cake 10 of the other 11 people chose, but no, I went my own way and picked something closer to a character cake, a topsy turvy cake, with a pan borrowed from a friend.

I didn't manage to finish my cake in the class, but it didn't take me as long as the 2 hour minimum suggested. Actually I started finishing it in the last 4 minutes of the Senator's game and finished before the puck was dropped for the Vancouver game.

And here it is!

I admit, my hands hurt some, and the cake isn't completely what I wanted, but I am fairly satisfied with the results, especially considering it is my first cake and the shape is odd.

And I learned that I can pip icing very well with my left hand, almost better than my right. Probably because I do it slower and pay more attention to it. This is a skill I will be quite happy to have in the future!

I learned today that I could take the fondant and gum paste course without the other two cake classes as a prerequisite. I'd like to take the other 2 courses but suspect I will have to wait until the fall as soccer season for two little boys is about to start, as well as their usual activities.

More pictures after next week's class!