Little by Little....

                                  

My cake skills are improving--though I still have so much to learn.  I baked my third cake this week and also made some teal-colored fondant.  It's all becoming easier and so much fun!  Mistakes I made in the past, I'm careful not to repeat, and those that I'm encountering for the first time, I'm learning from.

This time my cake baked beautifully; it was easy to handle, yet still moist and tasty.

I used chocolate ganache filling between layers, but dammed it with too much buttercream on the edges.  Next time I'll know to cut a smaller hole in the pastry bag and use less.  The layers slid around a bit, but solidified once refrigerated.

After assembling the three layers, I crumb-coated the cake with buttercream and placed it in the fridge overnight.

I decided to use the rest of my chocolate fondant (from my previous cake) as the cover and decorate with pastel designs.  This time my fondant rolled out evenly and I covered my cake with ease. It went on smoothly without tears or bumps. 

Now for the fun! I decided on small daisy-like flowers and also paisley shapes that I made with a tiny leaf cutter. Initially I had a few butterflies on the cake as well but decided it looked better (cleaner) without them. 

On my list to learn next: How to make life-like flowers with gum-paste, how to make tiered cakes, how to use texture sheets, impression mats, stencils, lace molds, quilters, and crimpers, how to model figures, and much, much more!