Buttercream and Beginnings

As I'm increasingly content in this new phase in my life, I'm enjoying investing in new opportunities. Namely, I'm enjoying having a schedule and being able to do and learn things I've always wanted to do and learn. I'm working out and spending time in the Word daily, and cooking almost every day. And, beginning last night, Laura and I are taking a cake decorating class at Cake Decor! I'm somewhat familiar with buttercream icing techniques because of my mom, but it's different doing it yourself, and very different getting it perfectly right instead of passable. Our first class we practiced with all our instructor's icing tips, and we all worked on the same cake. Next week, we're bringing in our own cake and icing and decorating our own cake. I think I'll do much better then than with everyone watching me.

In preparation, this afternoon I whipped up half a batch of buttercream icing and pulled out all my tips and some wax paper and practiced, practiced, practiced!

 Here's my final product of about an hour playing around on the wax paper. I think the poofy borders are so awful, so I was trying to be creative with other cake borders. I have plenty of time to learn. And you can see how covered in icing the tips are! I made a huge mess, but, like the Cat in the Hat, I always clean up my play things. And hopefully, I'll be able to decorate a good-looking cake in a matter of weeks! I'll keep you updated as I go!