A Gum Paste Rose for Valentine's Day

This is a gum paste rose on a chocolate-chocolate cake for Valentine's Day. I made the rose in the second class of my Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste class.

I left the side naked, as I liked the look. I was partially inspired by the Tomboy cakes from the Miette cookbook (associate link). They are just beautiful, and mine aren't nearly as pretty. I went a little heavier on the frosting in between the layers, to try for the same total amount of frosting, but didn't get it quite even.

I emailed all the women in my church, trying to find someone who had an event I could make the final cake for. I found an event (which I can not yet discuss), and in the process, I found people who wanted cakes for other occasions. I will have a busy month :-)

I'm most enjoying the process of trying to find my voice in cake design. I make what I believe are called Dessert Cakes, as contrasted to Theme Cakes or Wedding Cakes. My first priority is flavor. This does compromise the appearance, as my very soft cakes cannot be carved or support fondant. Both of these techniques require a finer-textured, firm cake. And lots of buttercream icing would violate the flavor balance of my cakes. My husband reminds me to keep my focus as I look at the many beautiful cakes on Cake Central, books, and blogs.

When I did my taxes this year, I declared my profession as home-maker, but I'm starting to tell people as I'm introduced to them that I'm a baker and blogger. This is so, so much fun!

Posted with Blogsy