Cake Decorating Fun

In college, Brad and I would spend hours watching Cake Boss. Well, Cake Boss and River Monster’s, can you guess who chose which one? 
 
I’ve always loved the idea of cake decorating, I even made my sister’s 16th birthday cake in the shape of a car and big 5-0 numbers for my parent’s joint 50th. So when it came time for my wedding almost two years ago, I decided that one way I could save money was by making my own cake!
 
Everyone thought I was a little crazy, but I was so excited about it. I made 7 practice cakes leading up to the big day and brought them into the office for taste testing and feedback. By the time my wedding rolled around, I swear I had perfected the chocolate chunk chocolate cake recipe with a blackberry vanilla cream filling and large floret finish. Here's a pic.

And since then, I haven’t made another cake! Whhatt! I decided that for Brad's birthday this year, I’ll make another cake,. It took me a while to figure out what to make but after a bit of pinterest searching. I saw this one and thought I'd do an adaptation of it. 

On our trip to southern Africa last year, Brad learned more about leopards and they quickly became his favorite animal. He has a statue on his desk of one, it's his phone background and he talks about them at least once a week so I decided to do a leopard cake. 
 
I’m pretty excited with how it turned out! What do you guys think?! I didn't have an exact guide for what to do. Just a picture of a unicorn, google images of leopards and some touch ups along the way., but I still got so much joy out of the process. At the end of it, the kitchen was a giant mess and yet, it still felt so good to have an idea of something in mind, spend a few hours on it, and see an end product. Was it perfect, no? Was it original, absolutely! 

it was such a great reminder for me and hopefully for all of you too that perfection isn't required to have a good outcome. You don't need tons of experience to take a first stab. After all, experience really only comes from doing over and over again. I'm excited to keep trying my icing techniques and sharing what I learn with you guys. To me cooking and cake decorating is a different kind of DIY, one done in the kitchen but requires just as much creaetivity and trial and error that I get from design, art projects and wood working.  

What is something you guys have been dreaming about trying. That you've said "It would be cool to "fill in the blank", but I wouldn't even know where to start? Put it in the comments. The first step to gaining that experience is saying it out loud and then it's amazing how the pieces come together overtime to give you that first chance. You got this. 

xoxo,
​Jessica