Perry the Platypus

In my first week of the Wilton cake decorating class, we learned how to make frosting, how to tort and frost a cake, about different consistencies of frosting, and we practiced making stars.  The expectation after week one is that we'd bring in cakes, cupcakes, etc., along with our own mixed frosting for subsequent weeks...

Doing my homework before week 2 of the class, I learned the importance of remembering to cream the shortening before adding dry ingredients... but rather than start over, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.  What I found is that the frosting seemed a little dry in spots and so it cracked in unexpected ways as I created lines and zig-zags and every so often, a little clump of something - shortening or maybe powdered sugar - clogged my tip.  But it was mostly workable as I frosted my cake and learned how to trace a design with piping gel, transfer it to the cake, and then decorate.

If you couldn't guess from the title of today's blog entry, I chose Perry the Platypus.  When I showed the picture to the kids, Cathy's first question was "Where's Perry's hat?"  So it's important to point out that he's not Agent P, just a family pet.

But here it is... start to finish.

First step, frosting.  Best done with a large tip and #16 bag.

After the cakes were frosted, we set them aside long enough to 'crust over', or get a little hard.  Once the frosting is crusted, we were able to smooth the appearance.  

Parchment paper and a spatula smooths the finish.

I found a picture of Perry the Platypus on line for the cake... at class, we used piping gel and parchment paper to trace the design and then transfer it onto the cake.  One thing I will have to remember (even though it really didn't matter in this case) is that when the paper is facing up, the tracing will be in the opposite direction when transferred onto the cake.

Perry has eyes!  Well, the whites of eyes.

Blue frosting added

And now a tail, feet and the duck bill

The (almost) finished project!

I added a fancy dot border at the bottom of the cake.  Project officially complete!

At this point, I am pretty certain I will still spend countless hours making cakes for the kids, but I can see ways in which I can make them better, be that in actually squaring off the rounded tops of my cakes as I pull them out of the oven, in how I frost and fill, or how I decorate them.  Regardless, it was fun and the kids were so excited with the cake when I brought it home.  Cathy decided very briefly that she wanted Perry the Platypus for her birthday cake next year before electing to just have us pretend it was her birthday and sing to her now.

And then she asked for Dr. Doofenshmirtz instead.