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Sunday, March 18, 2012

Baking Tangent: Cake Decorating

My mother used to decorate wedding cakes professionally, so we were raised watching her artistry at work.  She would have homemaking days in the summer dedicated to cake decorating.  I can't say that I carry that tradition on religiously every summer (my boy's interest is declining), but we do have a little hands-on pastry-bag time.  One year my son decorated his entire birthday cake, and my daughter always wants to try her hand at some edible art.
Recently I was asked to make a birthday cake for my husband's grandfather. When I finished, I had 2 pastry bags half full of frosting. I decided to let my daughter have a little cake decorating practice time.
 My favorite way is to wrap the underside (convex) side of a dinner plate with plastic wrap and let her have at it.

When she's filled that one up, unwrap and toss the frosting, rewrap, and away you go!

She's gradually getting a bit better at holding the pastry bag, making stars and writing. She uses up the frosting, and I'm happy with the easy clean-up.

2 comments:

  1. You're a genius. I would have just put the frosting in the fridge and eaten it over the next two days :) How fun for her to get to practice it. My girls would love this.

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  2. My bags of frosting used to end up in a back corner of the fridge until they'd mold. . . Now it's a once and done type deal.

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