Special Occasion cakes

This past week, we worked on Special Occasion cakes! We used a three layer sponge cake, with German buttercream for the filling. And, the best part? Italian buttercream on top! (I love me some buttercream.) One of the cakes was cut into an 8x8 square, and the other cake was cut into a heart! We piped shells along the borders and combed the sides of the square cake.

It was exciting to get the opportunity to decorate the cake however we wanted! I think everyone just ended up doing Valentine's Day themed cakes. We used coloured marzipan for the decorations- it's really hard to make a rose out of marzipan, as opposed to fondant. I made the mistake of leaving it exposed to just a bit of air- as soon as that happens, the marzipan cracks and doesn't look as pretty. Marzipan also gets quite sticky when you work with it too much. I think everything turned out just fine, though! I wanted my cakes to look a bit plain, as I can go overboard with decorating anything.

The first cake!

Marzipan roses on the second cake!

In class, most people know me as the person that will save anything from being tossed. This usually means a packed to the rafters freezer. A few extra cakes were made yesterday, so I took one home! Today, I had some buttercream and chocolate decorations left over, so I took those home too.

This is what happened instead of homework! I had to use a rubber scraper instead of an offset spatula, so I had to spend a lot of time smoothing down the buttercream. I'm still trying to think of something to write on the top of the cake. I'm pretty excited about it- I haven't decided if I should bring it to a family dinner, or if I should eat it all myself!

Homework cake!

On another note: I think it's time I splurge on a cake plate. And a cake lifter, for that matter.

What's your favorite type of cake? And icing, for that matter?