Yes, I am aware that it is February and no, I am not late on this. In addition to being Valentine's Day, February 14 is also Chinese New Year this year and brings with it the year of the Tiger. I myself am a Horse but you didn't ask my sign, so let's move on, shall we? Here in Honolulu the festivities have already begun. Yesterday the husband and I went to Chinatown to watch the parade and to feed the lions hong pao (minus the envelopes) for good luck. We also saw a spectacular dragon who was 150 ft long that I had never seen before. Sorry, no pics. I was too busy watching all of the lions.
What does this have to do with food? I had to attempt a cake for the occasion. If you know me then you know that my caking skills leave a lot to be desired but hey, I'm still trying! In my attempts to teach myself to cake, I purchased Confetti Cakes by Elisa Strauss. Elisa was the mastermind behind Charlotte's wedding cake on Sex in the City and in her first book, she features a Chinese Take Out Box cake. Seems simple enough in theory. How hard is it carve a take-out box and cover it? Answer: harder than you think. Here are my clumsy attempts:
You are supposed to see the seams of the box but I obviously didn't cut my pieces to the correct length. The overlay on the sides and top of the box are gum-paste over fondant and I hand painted the pagoda and the wording with gel color thinned with vodka. Definitely not my best work, but I do have high hope for Valentine's Day. Hmmm, maybe I should rename this blog "Clumsy Cakes?"
The inside was good though - yellow cake with a praline buttercream with a crumb coat of cream cheese frosting. Don't ask where I came up with that combo. I just went with what was around. Now back to the cookies drying on the counter. Hopefully they work out better than this cake!
BTW, never let it be said that I don't show you the screws up I make along that way! =o) Oh, and no one tell Elisa about this. I think she'd sent me a cease and desist letter post haste!
No comments:
Post a Comment