If I am going to be honest, I would have to say this was the first cake I was embarrassed to deliver. I tried homemade marshmallow fondant for the 4th and final time. ok- I might try it again if a client specifically asks for it and they understand it's imperfections, but I am going back to Wilton. Secondly, I tried my new silicone pearl mold. That was AWESOME. The only problem is you have to make sure there are no creases in the gum paste as they do not come out in the mold, so next time I will be able to do much better. The mold saves SO much time. It was really exciting. I also had my first success with the Cricut Cake Machine. The butterflies are from the Cricut. I had a terrible time with my previous attempts, but I found a dude on youtube that sugggested chilling the sheet for 30 minutes before running it through. 30 wasn't enough for me, but 40 worked great. 45 was too much. This was also my first time working with gum paste. I didn't realize how quickly it set. I had all my pieces on a sheet of wax paper and when I went back to finish the edges and tweak them to perfection they were already hard and set in place! After a moment of pure horror, I realized there was nothing I could do. If I tried to fix them they would break. This was also my first time to make gum paste flowers, although I made the easiest flower possible, so I don't give myself too much credit there.
So I tried many new techniques and mediums and learned so much. Unfortunately this cake definitely looked like an experiment. But it means I am a better decorator and my future cakes will benefit from this adventure.
