Rachel's Bread Co.

My original title for this post was going to be "Yeast Infection". I also tossed around the idea of "I've Got A Yeast Infection." But I could already hear the voice of my mom saying, "Oh Rachel, I don't like that." So I chickened and went with the safe title.

Anyways. Like I mentioned before, the Resident Taste Tester got me a pizza stone for my birthday. She also got me this book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

I'm not going to lie to you, yeast scares me. I mean, anything that is going to double in size and then needs to be punched down is a little intimidating to me.
My only previous experience with yeast was some bread dough that I had left in the oven to rise. I'll never know if it worked or not because a roommate came home and turned the oven on to make some cookies. FYI - a plastic bowl with bread dough in it will melt in a pre-heating oven. Just a helpful little tip for my friends.

Anyways. This little guy is my first ever loaf of bread! Isn't he cute? Yes, I see that he's a little lopsided and uneven. But so are babies when they're born. The point is, I made bread and I'm darn proud of it!


And then I cut it.

And here I am like a proud mama, cutting her... bread? I don't know. I just remember saying, "I made bread! And it even looks like bread, and it smells like bread, and I'm going to eat it!"


And then I ate it! I put some of the blackberry jam that I made on it. It was delightful! My whole apartment smelled like freshly baked bread!

The best part: it was so incredibly easy! The book is based on the concept of mixing a large batch of dough once, and then using portions of it when you want it. There's a lot of rising time involved, but the actual hands-on part of it is very minimal. I've since been practicing my shaping and stretching of the dough to get it more even, but the overall idea is very simple.

The bottom line is that there will definitely be more bread coming in the near future!

On a completely different topic, I've officially left the glamorous life of a staff accountant for a public accounting firm. This past Monday, the 15th, I started my new life in private accounting as a Senior Tax Analyst. Doesn't the title sound sexy? I feel more important already!

To say that I'm excited about this is an understatement, but I'm looking forward to it as being an overall healthy move for me. As an added bonus, the accounting staff is roughly 6 times bigger than my previous office, so I'll have a way bigger audience to bake for!

Why I Like My Boyfriend

Well, there are many reasons why I like my boyfriend. But pretty darn close to the top of list is his cooking. Get this: he knows how to cook and he likes to cook. And he doesn't just make the same old boring things for me. He comes up with crazy ideas and we try them out.

Take Exhibit A: A grilled cheese bacon cheeseburger.

Oh yeah! It's like the KFC Double Down of grilled cheese and burgers! Let's examine the evidence a little closer in Exhibit B:

Ok, so we have a grilled cheese sandwich. Followed by a moist and flavorful all beef patty. Topped with bacon and more melted cheese. Finished off by, wait, what's that you say? Yes, another grilled cheese!

Clearly this was a day where I fell off the diet wagon.

A Discussion on Bacon

Can we chat for a second about bacon? I think that we should. I feel like this is an important topic that we really need to discuss.


Bacon is amazing!


That's all. I mean, seriously, what more could I tell you about it? It's good stuff.

Oh! You wanted me to tell you what to do with it? Gotcha. Well friends, I like to put it in chocolate chip cookies!


Do you see that? Yup! That's what we in the biz like to call a "bacon chocolate chip cookie." Let's take a closer look at this.

Uh huh. Those big chunks of goodness are none other than crispy pieces of bacon. I just cooked about 5 or 6 slices of thick bacon and then crumbled it into my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Pillsbury Best Desserts

5-6 slices of bacon
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Cook bacon until crisp. Cool and crumble into pieces.
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Fold in chocolate chips and bacon pieces.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablesppoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Be careful not to overbake them.
   

That's How I Roll!

They see me rollin'
They hatin'
Patrollin' trying to catch me riding dirty!

Ok, just one more, I swear.

A little rock and roll!

Do you get it yet?

I'm in a fondant class!

Cause we roll out the fondant!?

Well I thought it was funny.

Anyhow, my adventures in cake continue with my awesome teacher, The Gum Paste Lady, and my new cake making friend, The "Other" Martha (which was her choice of nickname).

So for our first class, we learned how to cover a round cake and make gum paste daisies and leaves. Maybe it was having the Gum Paste Lady standing next to me while I was putting the fondant on, but it really wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.

Or maybe it was just beginner's luck and my next cake will be a cracking mess of a cake worthy of Kerry Vincent judgment. But seriously, much love and shout-outs go to the Biggest Little Cake Shoppe. Without them, I couldn't have made my own birthday cake!

Truthfully, I can't even remember what kind of cake this was. I'm fairly certain that it was a plain yellow cake with plain old canned frosting. It's easy enough that I can throw a cake together when I get home from work. I'll get more creative when work slows down.

Not too shabby for my first fondant cake! I know you've been seeing a lot of cakes lately, but that's really all I have time for these days. But I've got plenty of cool stuff on the way for you!

The Great Pizza Stone Fiasco

The following exchange occurred between the Resident Taste Tester and myself after a commercial for Pizza Hut:

RTT: I love pizza.

Me: I bought us a pizza stone and peel! It should be coming next week.

RTT: No!

Me: Yes?

RTT: No!!

Me: Yes?!

RTT: No!!!

Me: Seriously, yes!

RTT: I bought you a pizza stone and peel for your birthday. I'm just waiting for the stone to arrive next week.

Me: No!

RTT: Yes!

Me: No!!

RTT: Yes!!

Moral of the story: I'll be reviewing Amazon's return policy this week when I send the ones I bought back! Also, apparently my roommate and I don't like to use complete sentences when repeatedly saying "yes" and "no" can be used instead.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Happy belated birthday post! Well, I'm officially over the hill now that I'm the big 24. In fact, I just told my financial advisor that I'm just waiting on him to give me the ok for retirement. His laugh leads me to believe that he thinks I'm only kidding. Ron, I'm not.

For my big 24th, my darling Quantity Control Expert threw me a fabulous pizza potluck party! I was surrounded my some of the best people I know: people that come over bearing food and drink for my party!

The QCE had the brilliant idea of buying pizza dough and having people bring over different toppings to throw on the pizzas. We had sausage and chicken and artichokes and pine nuts and sauces and cheese and veggies of all kinds! The man-tern (man intern) lent us his pizza stone and peel, which turned out pizza so well that I felt the need to get my own afterwards. But those pizzas definitely went much smoother with the Designated Bowl Licker's pizza making expertise!

I was so busy in the kitchen, I hardly got to see the pizzas before they were snatched up! This one had pesto sauce, chicken, peppers, onions, pine nuts, and artichokes, and that's just what I can easily identify. Plus, the man-tern recommended that we mix up olive oil with minced garlic and Parmesan cheese, and then brush it onto the crust straight out of the oven. Oh dear lord, was that ever tasty!

Here's my Director of Food Output, hard at work on a slice of pizza! Sadly, my Director will be working remotely since he's moving to fabulous New York City for work. This just means more care packages!

My fellow food friend Mike brought over a trout dip that was amazing! He also introduce us to an incredibly simple but fabulous appetizer: fresh radishes dipped in butter and sprinkled with fleur de sel. This guy is so awesome, he even left the rest of the appetizers for the QCE and I to munch at work the next day!

There was so much food! We made five pizzas with all sorts of different toppings. There was salad and appetizers and all sorts of wines and beers that my dear friends brought!

And, of course, there was cake! The QCE pointed out no one could make a cake that lived up to my standards, so I should therefore make my own cake. Since I took the day off work, I had plenty of time to make my very first birthday cake!

You may be thinking how weird it is to make your own cake. But I figured that if I'm going to screw up someone's birthday cake, I should probably do it on my own cake instead of someone else's! Maybe I should say practice. I should practice on my own instead of someone else's!

But I was really happy with how it turned out. It was really clean and not covered in crumbs like they usually end up. And, bonus, I had tons of fun slacking off from work and making a cake!

Oh no! Cake on fire!!!!

And look at how much better that writing is!

Blowing out the candles and making a wish that 24 is even better than 23!

My Royal Icing Final Exam

For five weeks, I spent my Thursday nights at the Biggest Little Cake Shoppe learning how to make royal icing flowers. I showed you my first attempts at flowers and how poorly they started. But I am actually rather proud to show you the end product of those five weeks.

That's right friends, I made that cake. All by myself.

I know there's still plenty for me to work on and lots of things I need to practice, but look at how much better it is from my very first cake!

There's basket weave on that cake! A little crooked and a little runny at times due to my experimenting with canned frosting, but at least it wasn't more of that buttercream stuff.



My favorite flowers are the yellow ones above and the purple heather below. But those purple flowers are god-awful time consuming to make. I kept trying to count how many stars went into one flowers, but I kept going cross-eyed.

These Boots Are Made for Walkin'

Well dear friends. I thought long and hard about lying to you. Taking the cowardly way out and telling you that I wanted to blog about rodeo food and its heart-clogging goodness.

But then I thought, "No, I will not tell you lies."

So dear friends, here's the truth: I wanted to show you my boots.

Don't get me wrong, the Kick-Ass Fries at the top were amazing and put me in a pork coma reminiscent of last year's Rib Cook-Off fiasco. And I'm pretty sure that plate of fries, pork, cheese, and barbeque sauce weighed as much as my head. But I would be lying to you if I told you that's why I'm writing this blog.

I love these boots! I bought them in Nashville from a rather effeminate man who let me try on at least 10 pairs of boots. And I spent way too much money on a pair of shoes that I'll only wear here and there.

But I love them! They make me smile and feel more fun and brighten my day! All from a pair of shoes. I know, silly. But so much fun!

Eating and Drinking My Way Through Nashville!

Oh Nashville! You were so ungodly hot and humid. Except for the occasional breeze, I'm pretty sure that is what hell feels like.

But Nashville! You were so much fun! So full of music and culture and people who were gracious enough to point us in the right direction when we looked like stranded tourists. And the food and drinks! Dear Lord, the food and drinks we had there! I tried my darnedest, but could not find a piece of bacon that I didn't fully enjoy!

So, since we don't see enough of each other in the average 10 hours a day that we work together, the Quantity Control Expert and I went on vacation together to fabulous Nashville, Tennessee for the CMA Music Festival! A week of country music and more country artists than I could count!

When we weren't listening to country music, the QCE and I were eating. And then eating some more. Followed by dessert.

Here are a few highlights of what we ate!

As soon as we were checked into the hotel, it was time for dinner. Our first meal in Nashville definitely set a high bar for the rest of our meals, but we were not disappointed. At Bricktops, we started the meal with tasty watermelon margaritas, deviled eggs, and carpaccio. But when I say deviled eggs, I don't just mean a regular old deviled egg. I mean a deviled egg with, are you ready for this?, sugared bacon! A thick cut of savory bacon, baked with brown sugar so it's sweet and carmely. All on top of a deviled egg. Oh Nashville, you rock.

And here's the margherita flatbread we had for dinner. A thin, crispy flatbread crust with incredibly fresh tomatoes and basil. Tasty!!

The following night, we found ourselfs across the street from Bricktops at a tapas places called Rumba. I absolutely love eating at tapas restaraunts for the experience that goes with it. It's not like a regular restaraunt where you order your food and then eat it. It's about the socializing with your party and trying smaller portions of many more foods and then, of course, ordering more food!

Rumba introduced me to sweet-tea vodka, which I'd never heard of before but have since heard about everywhere. I would highly recommend the Sweet Tea Caipiroska, but be warned that these potent little drinks go down rather quickly!

This place is known for their satay, which we couldn't pass up. But we also tried spring rolled quesadillas, which combined Mexican with Asian flavors and techniques. Amazing!

But the part of this trip that I will never forget, the part where I announced that I could officially die a happy person, were the Chivitos. These burger sliders which were in fact the moistest and most flavorful burgers I have ever eaten. Hands down. I have no idea what they do, and probably don't want to know, but my mouth starts watering every time I think of those sliders.

Another hit with us was the BCBG Flatbread. Blue cheese, bacon, grapes, and honey on a flatbread. If you're a fan of sweet and savory together, this was great. The sweetness from the grapes and honey offset the "funk" of the blue cheese, as our waitress called it.

I have to confess that we went all the way to Nashville and ate gyros twice. From a dinky little place near the river front with questionable health ratings. But these were so good!

Still noshing on my gyros!

I learned that no trip to the South is complete without stopping at a Pancake Pantry. From our hotel, we were told that the Pancake Pantry was around the corner, walking distance away. So, troopers that we are, we started the death march of heat and humidity to the Pancake Pantry. Thirty minutes later, we arrived. To find the 45 minute wait.

The death march and wait were well worth it though! I do applogize for showing you my half-eaten stack of pancakes, but I past the point of rational thought by the time we were actually served that I forget until about here that I should take a picture.

But these pancakes, the apricot-lemon delight, were heavenly. The tartness of the lemons and the sweetness of the apricots, all on top of fluffy pancakes! This renewed my faith in Nashville after the death march!

I fully intend to return to Nashville at some point. You'll find me bouncing between Rumba and Pancake Pantry, probably about six sizes bigger than I am now! But next time I might try to hit up Nashville when it's not 90 degrees and 110% humidity!

Good Old Fashioned Bachelorette Party!

It's actually summer here in Reno! I finally put my ice scraper away a few weeks ago, after being teased with the promise of summer and then slapped in the face with yet another snow storm. I don't really appreciate Reno's weather humor when I'm scraping ice off my car windows in early June.

But what a crazy summer it's been so far! I'm so far behind in posting all my latest adventures, as it was less than graciously pointed out to me by the Quantity Control Expert and the Director of Food Output (who is in fact the founder of the one and only Beer Saturday event). But I'm working on getting caught up, so stay tuned for lots more bloggage to come soon!

My friend Misty got married last night to a great guy. They had their wedding at a working ranch and really made it reflect them as a couple. It was down to earth and showed how creative they both are. Congrats to both of you guys, and I can't wait to see what's next for you!

But more importantly, there was a Bachelorette Party. A three day, two night kind of party so crazy and wild it had to be moved out of town and up to beautiful Truckee! I mean, we're talking about a ridiculous amount of female accountants gathered together to eat and drink!

Ok, maybe not quite that crazy. I mean, we're talking about a bunch of accountants here.

But eat and drink we did!

Everyone had kitchen duty for a meal over the weekend, and good Lord was there some good food going in that kitchen! The Quantity Control Expert and I showed up Friday night just in time for these fabulous tacos.


And then the cocktails started flowing! Misty brought Cranberry Granita to make Alton Brown's Cranberry Cosmos, which were delicious and potent, as seen in Lea's glass below.

But then the blender was brought out and the QCE and I learned of something that can only be described as Summer in a Glass.

This innocent looking concoction was in fact so good, it prompted the QCE and I to rationalize packing a blender to Nashville solely for the ability to drink these in Nashville.

What is this fabulous drink, you might ask? Well dear friends, it's simply limeade (or you can use frozen limeade concentrate), fresh mint, vodka, and ice. It's refreshingly light and minty and reminds you of sunny Saturdays sitting by the pool even when Reno is still in the 60s and there's still snow on Peavine. We may have enjoyed more than one of those, but that's all I'm saying since my mom reads this and this is a family friendly place.

And then the cakes were brought out. Nothing I made, but two lovely ladies had made cakes. The first was a tasty strawberry cake with real strawberry filling. I'm slightly concerned by Misty's knife in this picture...

So remember what I said a second ago about family friendly? Well. Scratch that for a second. Or maybe a few seconds.

I thought the chocolate sprinkles were a nice touch.

The QCE and I being the thoughtful friends that we are decided to give Misty a gift that she could use on her wedding night. Surely there are some guys who find this attractive.

Just so you know that we aren't the worst friends ever, there was a Macy's gift certificate in there too!

On Saturday, with the QCE's assistance, I served up rather tasty breakfast burritos with eggs, sausage, and hash browns. Sorry, too busy cooking to take any pics.

Then we headed out for an awesome hike through Truckee. It was actually warm and sunny out, which my skin noted as the first time it's seen the sun since last summer. FYI: put sunscreen on your neck too.

We made a stop at JAX at the Tracks for lunch, a diner that was featured on the Food Network. We made Misty wear her veil, which got her the VIP treatment from the staff. They filled her Bachelorette Cup up with Electric Lemonade!

The rest of the afternoon was spent in hot tubs and then making more drinks, including Summer in a Glass, back at the house. There was some Twister action going on until early morning... Also, I learned that Twister is way more fun if you completely ignore what the spinner says and just give directions based on what would be the weirdest combination. Just remember to keep spinning the spinner so it looks like you're playing it right!

We had a great time at the party and were sad to have to leave early Sunday morning. But on the plus side, we left early to start getting ready for our Nashville trip! More on that soon!

Congrats again to Misty and Arlo and thanks for all the dinners at your place that I've been to! You two are awesome!

I'm Addicted to the White Stuff

"Hi, my name is Rachel and I have a problem."

They say the first step is recognizing that you have a problem. I fully recognize that I am addicted to the white stuff.

I thought I could just experiment with it. You know, have a little fun, enjoy myself, and then walk away from it. But I can't just walk away from it.

I am addicted to frosting.

It started innocently enough. I went to a buttercream frosting class and got my first taste of the stuff. And when the class ended, I found myself signing up for the next one. It's true, I have enablers.

Yes friends, I signed up for Royal Icing Flowers. Six more weeks of the white powdery stuff.



The first class had a rocky start while I was getting the hang of coordinating piping the flowers while turning the flower nail and moving the bag, all at the same time. But then it got a little easier.

The pic below shows my gradual improvement in the first flower that we made, the wild rose. As you can see, I didn't quite grasp the concept of connecting the flower in the center. And then I kept moving the center in the next couple of flowers. But by Take 5, I actually had a keeper of a wild rose flower.

We learned five flowers in this first class, all of them using the same basic petal movement.

In the pic below: Top row: three primroses and one wild rose. Middle row: four apple blossoms, Bottom row: two daffodils, two pansies.

I apologize for the quality of photos, but my poor camera is old and on its way out. I'm in the market for a new one, so hopefully better photos to come soon!

The daffodils have really cute details that the photos don't show, but they are pretty darn good! These were definitely my favorite flowers of the night, although the apple blossoms were tiny and fun to make as well.

So yes dear friends, I have a problem. I hope you'll continue to support me as I work through this issue over the following weeks. If you need me, I'll be the girl at the grocery store with the cart full of powdered sugar.

My Epiphany and Some Cookies

I had a sudden epiphany today.

On any given day, I have more ingredients to make cookies than a sandwich.

I mean seriously, a sandwich is bread and some form of filling. It can be as easy as peanut butter or some turkey. So bare minimum, 2 ingredients.

Cookies, though, have a whole list of ingredients. Butter, sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder, salt, vanilla. I have a whole shelf in our pantry that the Resident Taste Tester has graciously given to me to house my baking supplies, and it has spilled onto other shelves at this point.

Can you tell that I'm hungry and have nothing to eat? I could have cookies mixed up right now, but I have no bread to make myself a sandwich. Sad but true fact about me.

So I made cookies. I made Buttery Jam Cookies, but I used black rasperry jam because the RTT told me to.

The recipe says that it makes 45 cookies, but I only got about 27-ish. There would have been one more, but I ate the cookie dough for it. Another sad but true fact about me. Anyways, I read some other reviews for this recipe, and it seems that several other people had the quantity issue that I had. Maybe I just like big cookies. Hey, size matters.

These are very tasty cookies and can be adapted to whatever jam you have on hand. I'm kinda curious what peanut butter would taste like, but that will have to wait until next time.

Buttery Jam Cookies

From Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp. whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup apricot jam
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place two racks in the oven, one in the upper third of the oven and one in the lower third of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar (on high speed) for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat on high speed for an additional minute. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and beat on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the jam and beat on low speed for 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients, with the mixer on low speed, just until they’re mixed in. The dough will be extremely thick and stiff.

With a an ice cream scoop or a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto baking sheets, forming cookies that are about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in size.
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the trays from top rack to bottom rack halfway through.

Once baked, let the cookies sit on the pan for a minute or two and then remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Napa's Backyard

We're all friends here, right? So can I tell you about what I did last night and how fabulous it was?

I have no recipes to share with you right now, and nothing tasty came out of my kitchen yesterday. But I would still love to tell you about my Friday.



Last night, the Resident Taste Tester and I went to Napa's Backyard - The Backyard Brawl at the Grand Sierra. It was a foodie's heaven:

• A cooking competition with some of the best chefs from around the country preparing amazing food for me to taste!
• 50 wineries with over 200 wines to pair with the amazing food!
• As if that wasn't enough, it was a great excuse for the RTT and I to get all dressed up and go out!

We're jeans and t-shirts girls usually, but we clean up nicely.

As the RTT and I failed at planning ahead, we had to wait in a ridiculously long line at the Brawl to buy our tickets. When we finally got to the front of the line and were next to buy tickets, a woman came out of the ballroom and asked us if we needed tickets and then handed us 2 tickets! She said she worked for the hotel and had extras to give away. She saved us each $60 and kicked off the evening with a great start!

Now, let's talk about the food. Of course, I forgot to try to steal one of the menu books from the VIP section so I can't tell you who made what, but I can tell you what was tasty!

One of the Charlie Palmer booths had short ribs and a fava bean spread that literally just melted in your mouth.

Another booth had a BLT, but the "L" was lettuce ice cream. The ice cream was slightly salty, which you wouldn't expect from the lettuce, but the combination of the warm sandwich and the cold ice cream was wonderful.

One of the vendors had honey glazed prawns that they threw on a plate without any garnish. I had low expectations from just looking at them, but they were perfectly sweet and crunchy.

Tahoe Creamery brought a Chardonnay ice cream that I will be attempting to recreate sometime very soon. It was light and sweet and so refreshing compared to some of the heavy plates and meats we tried.

There was duck and ham and crab cakes and steak. We had stuffed mushrooms, polenta cakes, and perfectly green asparagus.

Reno's own Wine and Cheese Board totally kept up with the big boys with their pulled pork sandwiches with mango-tequila cole slaw. The RTT, who absolutely hates sweet with savory, actually said it was good before she found out there was mango in it.

The tasty little cup below was delicious, and we almost missed out on it as we snagged some of the last few cups before they ran out. The bottom was warm spiced pear with a sweet cream and nuts on top. There was just enough of a kick in the pears to have a little heat, but it was offset by the cool cream. Oh so good!!

Spice pear awesome-ness, oh so good

By far, the best item we tasted all night was the strawberry rhubarb panna cotta. It was the only thing we both ate that we desperately wanted seconds of. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the booth, they were all out. I've seen the Barefoot Contessa make panna cotta many times, but this was the first time I've been inspired enough to want to try it myself!



We missed the voting, probably because we were too busy trying to eat to worry about getting our votes in. But hands-down, the panna cotta was our favorite!

I wish I knew more about wine to tell you about the different ones we tried. But I truthfully couldn't name a single wine that I drank. I know I enjoyed all the ones I tasted though!

By the end of the night, the RTT and I were so full and completely happy. I got all the things I enjoy last night: food, wine, dressing up, and an evening out with the RTT. Last night was an epic win!!

My Adventures in Cake

Well my friends, it's time to talk about cake.

Not just any cake though. It's my showcase of cake decorating skills. Or maybe the lack thereof.

A few things before we start this party:

1. I am an accountant. I sit at a desk and play with numbers all day. Creativity and artistic skills are not my forte.
2. I had pretty much zero cake decorating skills prior to this class. (Follow-up note: I still have pretty limited skills now.)
3. Be nice. The first one isn't pretty. I know it's not. To be fair, it does get better.

Now, back to class! I took a six week buttercream class at The Biggest Little Cake Shoppe. The first class was to get our supplies and a basic overview of the class, so there was no actual cake involved. We learned how to mix the basic frosting recipe and thin it down to the right consistency, and our teacher showed us how to frost the cake.

Class 2 is where things got interesting. We brought our cakes in unfrosted and leveled it, filled it, frosted it, and smoothed it. Then we learned dots, stars, and a little zig-zag border.

So, mine was not all that smooth. It was rather crummy, in both the covered in crumbs and kinda crappy way. Large portions of the cake had stuck to the pan when I tried to get it out, so the fact that it's as round as it is here is actually pretty amazing. There was an awful lot of frosting re-creation.

FYI: Mo is the nickname of my pregnant manager's unborn kid. When you only have pink food coloring and limited creativity, that's all that comes to you.

Check out the crackage and my totally uneven star border! That's talent baby.

That's right friends. This blog isn't always pretty. Sometimes you have to take a little of the ugly in between all those fabulous cookies I serve you.

Moving on: Class 3! We learned how to write on our practice boards.

A little frosting shout-out to my beloved blog.

We also learned how to stamp with cookie-cutters and then fill it with stars. We learned a couple of other borders, but I went with the star border.

I had a much better cake base this time. It was almost completely round!

I went with the tulip outline and star filling. I'm quite pleased with this cake!

I'm also quite pleased with this happy yellow color!

And then we get to Class 4. I have no pictures of this sad cake. I wouldn't let the Resident Taste Tester eat it. In fact, I wouldn't even let the Stead Board of Taste Testers eat it.

Now before you judge me, I made that cake on April 15th. Yeah, that April 15th. I was working like crazy and threw together a crappy little cake that didn't rise in the oven. And I was so tired at class that I just didn't care. Plus, I could not get the hang of rosebuds and sweet peas. So it was an ugly little cake that you'll never get to see. You'll live.

Unfortunately, I missed Class 5, which I was really sad about since I missed basket weaving. I know, distressing. But I had the BAP Spring Banquet where I got an award for my CPA exam score. Fair trade-off.

But now we get to Class 6, our final. I know this has been long, but you have to check out my masterpiece! We learned how to make roses! After my frustrations with sweet peas and rosebuds, I was really nervous about the roses. But they ended up being much easier than I expected. I still need some practice, but they were pretty darn good for a first try.

Semi-blurry shot of my rose garden. Not too shabby, huh?

Per the Quantity Control Expert: "You could sell this for money if I wasn't about to eat it."

So overall, I enjoyed my cake class. Yeah, I still need a lot of practice and fine-tuning, but it was tons of fun and gave me a good stress reliever for the end of busy season. I'm signed up for the royal icing flower class starting next week, so be ready for that excitement!!