An Amazing Day

A few weeks back, I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer with the Partners of the Americas, a wonderful organization that allows professionals from Latin America and the Carribean to partner with their counterparts in North America (and vice versa).  It creates an amazing opportunity for those involved to learn so much from each other.  I've hardly been able to wait to share these photos with you (thank you, David, for these beautiful memories).

These beautiful ladies visited us from Honduras.  Two of them are teachers and spent their time partnering and learning from teachers and schools here in the Atlanta area (and I had the lucky opportunity to share in a day of that too!).  The other beautiful woman (seated) is a baker/cake artist from Honduras!  Their ambassador tried and tried to get a bakery in Atlanta area to welcome them in for a day of learning but all of the bakeries turned them away; I know these bakeries are busy but, seriously, how rude!  All I can say is they missed out!  I'm so glad I got the honor of partnering with them that day.

I can't explain what it's like to meet someone from another part of the world who shares your passions and love of "caking" but who does it with so much less than what is available to us in the U.S.  Making custom cakes isn't cheap but do you know how expensive it is to buy some cake supplies in Honduras?  It's overwhelming to me and I learned so much from this sweet lady. 

We baked a "secret" family pound cake recipe together, did our best to communicate in our different languages, ate some yummy pizza, and then finished up by decorating (and eating!) the cake we made.  The best part of the day for me was showing Dulce, the baker, how to make fondant from scratch so she can make it in Honduras.  Fondant is expensive to buy in the U.S. but usually so cost prohibitive in Honduras to the point where most bakeries there don't offer it.  I always make my fondant from scratch because, to me, it tastes so much better than store-bought stuff and it cuts down hugely on the costs of my cakes.  Since this day, I was beyond excited to learn that she has been using my recipe and creating new things at her bakery in Honduras!  I couldn't find a better way than photos to express what happened that day so here's the day in photos....

A little inspiration from my kitchen

The two cake ladies

Measuring and mixing

Love the sound of this thing

Sharing my fondant recipe

Making the fondant

Is the cake ready yet?

Dying and kneading the fondant

I was in awe over Dulce's lightning fast crumb-coating speed.

Eyes watching closely as the fondant gets smoothed

Making the sugar roses

The final creation

Can we just eat it like this???

Cutting the cake, moments before enjoying it!

What an amazing day and an amazing opportunity. 

Mini Tote Bag Cake

What better way to celebrate being in the thick of a HOT, HOT summer than with a beachy tote bag cake? 

And, since we're in the (beautiful, peachy, amazing) South, it's monogrammed, y'all!

This cake is peanut butter pound cake with chocolate ganache.  Ummm... can you say peanut butter cup?  So stinkin' good.

Happy Summer to all of you.  I hope your Summer is filled with lots of fun (and beach trips with cute tote bags). 

Daisy Flower Pot Cake

Where to begin?  You know how sometimes you have a bad day at work?  And, sometimes, your co-workers do too and you can commiserate together?  Well, I had a bad day at work and I have no co-workers so please feel free to comment below if this has ever happened to any of you bakers out there....

I had my first ever cake disaster today.  I hope that I will never have to type the words "cake disaster" ever, ever again.  Ugh, what a BAD day. 

I've been working on this daisy flower pot cake for days...

                                                         (before the disaster)

perfecting the edible flowers, baking the cake and shaping it like a flower pot, crumbling oreos for the filling.... Sooooo, when I got it all put together late last night for delivery early this morning, I was quite happy to be done with it.  And when I woke up this morning and checked on it (cakes settle, you know), it was still looking good.  Actually, it looked good through photos and looked good when I put it in the car and.... looked good until I backed out of the parking space.  Ugh.  I was going like 5 MPH and the pot started to come apart!!!  I didn't even have a chance to hit a bump!!!!  So, I went back in and fixed it....

I had only about 6 miles to go for delivery so I was hopeful.  Then I made a VERY, VERY slow turn.... and this darn cake fell over... it fell over twice on my way to the delivery!!!  PANIC MODE.  I pulled over twice and fixed it best I could.  I had extra edible flowers, just in case.  It looked OK until I got it to the delivery spot and it just started tipping... just sort of...sagging....  I delivered it with near tears in my eyes.  I feel terrible still.  Thankfully, the person it was meant for was not there and I didn't have to take any payment for it... didn't want it!!!  So, K, I'm so very sorry.  Here's some pictures of what the cake for your girlfriend should have looked like and actually looked like this morning, before delivery.  Ugh.

Entirely edible fondant and modeling chocolate flower

I knew there was a reason I'd never seen a cake like this before... too much weight in the flowers + a cake shaped like a cone= no structural integrity.  Next time.... next time?  I will know better.  Now I must go try to get rid of this terrible headache. 

Please, bakers out there, share your disaster stories in the comments below.  I need some encouragement. 

*** Update:  Got a call from the person who ordered the cake... the cake was put in real flower pot for support.  Wish I'd thought of that but I guess panic does crazy things to my ability to use logic.  I'm so glad you liked it, K.  I hope she does too.  And, by the way, that is one of the sweetest ideas ever (no pun intended).