"This is a big deal!"
Surprisingly, the cake itself turned out fine. It wasn't until I got to the decorations that things went wrong. You see, the original post said to use melted chocolate for the cave and tree trunk. I figured I had chocolate chips at home. They would work.
So wrong.
On the first attempt, I used the microwave and burned the chips. On the second attempt, I added milk and came up with a fairly decent cave. Great! Now, on to the tree. On the third attempt, I added too much milk. And on the fourth attempt, I tried the oven instead of the microwave and once again burned the chips. At that point, I gave up and used icing for the tree.
Ah, the icing. Unfortunately, the icing tubes I bought were too big for the decorating tips I had. That's where the creativity and sticky tack came in. Use your imagination here as there is no photographic evidence. But as for the actual cake, here it is:
Despite a few setbacks, I think it turned out pretty decent. It only leans to the left a little, but hey, the Island of Sodor is full of mountains, and mountains are anything but level. Right?
6 comments:
I really like it. Do you do commissions, with an international helicopter delivery service? No? shame. :)
I think you did an outstanding job.
Melting chocolate chips is tricky because they have a fairly quick transition from "not yet melted" to "melted" to "burned." You almost have to stop them about 2/3-melted and stir slowly to finish melting the rest.
And once they're melted and beginning to set, they do so fairly quickly.
I think switching to frosting was a great idea. That's the beauty of creating these kinds of things. And while I can cook, I'm lousy at decorating although I have a friend who's a Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef so I have plenty to feel jealous of - such as when she brought over Belgian chocolate truffles she had "whipped up" and my own more modest truffles sat forlorn and mostly untouched :)
So having seen plenty of nicely decorated things (that I can't do), I will say that you creation is definitely one of those things and you have every reason to feel proud of it.
LOL, you've done a cracking job. Part of the problem is figuring out solutions. So far I worked out how to make a fort, how to make a Thomas the Tank Engine Train, A Pirate ship (I had two idea's for this, a mini armada where every kid gets a ship and a big one that required masts etc.) I have a lot of fun working out how to execute and my Mum's pretty good at decorating, so it could well be a split job if we ever do it.
LOL I'd have to figure out how to shave about 2 hours off of decorating time first. Then, ya know, have access to a helicopter. =)
Thank you very much. Next time, I'll have to experiment with baker's chocolate. See if that's any better.
Sounds awesome! I have to say my mom did help me with this one. While I was failing with the chocolate chips, she colored the icing and spread that on. The decorations were all me though.
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