Sweetness

I have spent days scouring and calling food specialty stores in the city of Atlanta. Cook's Warehouse, William-Sonoma, various farmer's markets and grocery stores, even Restaurant Depot. Not ONE of those places carried the cake decorating equipment I needed. I went to Michael's, and what happened?? TWO LARGE AISLES OF EVERYTHING ANYONE COULD EVER WANT TO BAKE WITH. Frustrating, but ultimately worth it.

I am not a baker, nor a pastry chef. With good reason. I can make the actual product all right, but when it comes to decorating... Well, patience has always been the virtue that kicked my ass. I recruited my younger brother to help me knead fondant, and we proceeded to spend about two hours sweating and stretching and pulling that awful-smelling sugar brick until it was workable. Covering and stacking the layers, I then got to play with color dust! Color dust can be brushed onto pastries to give them extra flair, and a little 'wow' factor. I was using it to make my beast of a cake shimmer!

The whole mess turned out better than I expected! I mean, next year I won't be bothering with it (massive alcoholic jello mold, anyone?), but I'm glad I pulled it off. Happy birthday to me!