Older and wiser?

I'm behind my blogging again. What's new, right? This is the second cake I've done this year in my new kitchen (the first out didn't turn out well). Having a new functional kitchen can really perk things up. Before this, I was always complaining to hubby of the lack of space to work. Now I can bake a cake from start till end all in the kitchen.



Enough of sidetracking. I did this cake three days ago for my very own birthday. As per all previous "birthday cake experiences", minimum planning (or shall I say, no planning?) was put into this. A day before the actual day, I was still wondering what cake to bake and how to decorate it. There wasn't enough time for me to make a batch of fondant or gum paste to experiment with, so I had to settle for cream.



Although I have a weakness for chocolate cake, I thought it will be a good change to do a non-choco cake, both taste and experience wise. I decided to try my hands on a yam layered cake, remembering the one I tasted from Angie The Choice many years back. I cannot recall how exactly it tasted by now, but I do remember I could taste the real yam in it.

This cake wasn't too difficult to bake and assemble. It was a vanilla sponge with layers of yam fillings. The cake turn out to my liking, though the yam can probably be mashed a little finer. I don't really mind since I love the chunks of yam in between.



The part that really kills is the decoration. I decided to make it into a face, just like those from Angie, except that mine doesn't look like any from Angie at all. To put it nicely, you can say, mine has its own distinct characteristics. To put it honestly, it just doesn't look as pro...lol...



As usual, my frosting and piping sucks. I'm contemplating whether I should go take the Wilton class, in hope to achieve my dream perfect frosting (but the course fee is not cheap). I can never get a smooth surface like those store bought cakes. The darker colors like brown and red didn't turn out well. As I had mostly liquid coloring, I had to add quite a bit to achieve my desired color. This resulted in a watery frosting consistency which created problem not only in piping, but the color also smudged into the peach color (face) after a while. Lesson learnt, it's still better to stick to paste coloring when it comes to frosting.

So, that's it. I'm officially one year older, hopefully getting wiser too. When you're at my kind of age, you tend to forget your exact age at times...lol...

Mood: