Bake Me A Cake...Course 3

Wilton's Course 3 - Fondant and Tiered Cakes was the next class I took.

It gave me basic skills in working with fondant that seems to be all the rage on the cake shows currently on TV. I discovered that I do not care for the taste of fondant, at least the Wilton brand (sorry Wilton). But it is fun to work with.

Course 3 started off with some new tricks with buttercream icing...Cornelli Lace, Sotas, a bead border and a ruffled border with garland. We also did some brush embroidery work where you pipe out an outline and then using a small paint brush, pull some of the icing in towards the center of the flower outline. I think in the right applications, this would be very pretty on a cake.

We also learned how to do drop strings on a cake using buttercream. One important thing was if you were transporting a cake and it called for drop strings, do it once the cake arrived where it needed to be. The drop strings are very fragile and would likely break during transport.

Then we moved on to fondant. This class required a cake that had a crumb (very thin) coat of icing. We covered our cakes with fondant and added cutout decorations and a large bow that we made.

My First Fondant Cake

That cake was just okay. Nothing spectacular. But for my first fondant cake, I did alright.

We also learned some additional flowers in this course made out of Royal icing using a lily nail former. Oh, this was FUN! We made Easter lilies, poinsettias, petunias and morning glories. It is amazing what you can do with icing.

Royal Icing Flowers
(from top center - yellow petunia, blue morning glory, pink poinsettia, white Easter lily)

Our final cake for this course would be a stacked or tiered cake. Stacked cakes are where the layers sit right on top of each other. Tiered cakes have separators or pillars in between each layer.

We learned the proper construction techniques for each method. For stacked cakes, wooden dowel rods the same height as the bottom layer are placed inside the cake to support the top layer. A cake board circle the same size as the top layer is under this layer and helps to stabilize the cake construction.

I chose to do a stacked cake for my final class. The design was to be of our choosing so I decided to go with buttercream icing and fondant decorations.

Course 3 Final - Stacked Cake

Again, my co-workers enjoyed eating this cake the next day. They are getting VERY spoiled. :-)

While I was taking this course, the opportunity came up to do a cake outside of what was required for class. This cake was enjoyed by my Relay for Life team. We were going to auction it off, but the team chipped in and bought the cake before it even reached the auction table. We ate the cake during the Relay for Life event. A little extra sugar was good for energy while walking lots of laps. Actually, I think we had a bunch of cake fiends on the team.

This cake was a combination of buttercream icing and fondant decorations.

Relay for Life Cake

Next up, Wilton introduces a new set of courses and I've signed up for Flowers and Cake Design.

Skywatch Thursday #47 - One More Relay Picture

This was a spur of the moment shot while I was out walking during the Relay last Friday evening. It was the only sunset one I got. I was busy facepainting for most of the daylight hours.

I was surprised by the sun's rays in it and decided to use it for Skywatch.

I played with the cropping to take out Patti's forehead in the lower right corner, but there's something about the picture that I didn't care for. I can't put my finger on it though. I'll let you decide which one you like.

Sunset at the Relay - Uncropped

Cropped Photo

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Relay Fun

Pictures from the Relay for Life -

American Legions Riders kicking off the Opening Ceremony

This year's theme for the Relay was "Don't Clown Around With Cancer". One of Seattle's most beloved characters, J.P. Patches, (who is a cancer Survivor) was part of the Opening Ceremony.

J. P. Patches

First Lap for Everyone

Members of the Soles Who Care team -

Tim & My Co-Captain Patti

Karl

Don & Debi

Leslie & Mark W.

Jim & Jeline

Kerry C, Don & Tim

Rob

Tim & Mike P.

Patti doing facepainting

Each hour of the Relay had a theme. Pajama Lap where you wore your PJ's, Glow Lap (in which Karl won 1st place all decked out with glow sticks but I didn't get a picture!, Clown Lap and so on. One of the best "costumes" I saw was during the Backwards lap where you reverse direction on the track and you wear your clothes backwards. This lady did an outstanding job on hers. It took us a lap to finally figure out her costume once we saw the back of her.

Coming At Us With the Ponytail out of the Backwards Hat

The Reverse Side - Check Out Her Shirt!

Mike M., Mark S. & Jeline during the Hawaiian Lap (Mike took 3rd Place!)

10 PM brought the Luminaria Lighting Ceremony. Everyone stood in front of the luminaria that ringed the track and voices were lowered. One by one the luminaria were lit with battery-powered candles. During that time, the names in honor or in memory of their fight with cancer were read out. It was a very moving part of the Relay. I heard my dad's name called and said a prayer in his memory.

Pop's Luminaria

Reflecting on the Lives Touched by Cancer

Luminaria Encircling the Infield of the Track

"Hope" Spelled Out in Lights on the Opposite side of the Main Stadium

At 7 a.m., it was Zumba time. This was my first exposure to Zumba which is a form of exercise and dance moves set to Latin music. It was a blast and I think I'll find a weekly class and start Zumba-ing. What a workout it was, especially after being awake all night and walking a good portion of it.

Sally & Kerry M. Getting into the Zumba Groove

Closing Ceremonies began at 10 a.m. and the Final Lap was around 10:45. Then we packed up the campsite so we could go home. Another Relay completed.

Thanks to Patti who was a huge help again as Co-Captain and also to Jeline who stayed awake for the entire time and logged 17 miles! Our team raised over $2,000 this year towards the fight against cancer.

What Does 29+15+2+1 Equal?

Here's your answer.

29 Consecutive hours awake since yesterday morning (including those at work)
15 Miles (24 kms) walked
2 Awesome days of weather
+1 Blister
------------------------------------------------------
BEST RELAY FOR LIFE SO FAR!!

I am one tired pup at the moment so I'm going to go take a nap. Then I'll download pics from the Relay and select some to upload.

Later. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Relay Day!

Today is the day. The Relay For Life is finally here. Opening ceremonies are at 7:00 PM tonight. I'll be taking lots of pics to share over the weekend. My walking shoes are on and I'm ready!

Relay for Life Yard Sale

Yesterday our team, Soles Who Care, held their 2nd annual Relay for Life yard sale.

We brought our stuff over to Tim & Patti's Friday evening to sort and price it all. Of course, there were some purchases among the team members. We always have fun together.

Jim, Jeline & Cassie sorting items

Karl's new hairdo? (Somebody bought these dredlocks!)

Yesterday morning, the day dawned bright and beautiful. Mother Nature heard our call for good weather and delivered. The weather was perfect, just like last year.

We set up in the driveway and shortly after 8:00 a.m. our first customer arrived. After that, it was a steady stream of people shopping and donating to a good cause.

We were smart about our location for the yard sale. Every year, the Camano Arts Association has a tour of various studios around Camano Island. Tim and Patti's house is on a street that has two studios on the tour. It is normally a quiet residential street, but we took advantage of the extra traffic and people visiting the studios to lure them into our yard sale. It worked!

Sign at the end of the driveway

Morning shoppers

More Yard Sale Shoppers

Towards the end of the day, we had sold a good many of the items. The driveway was looking empty compared to the morning.

Not much left

We had many people give extra donations towards the event. Overall, our team raised over $550 for the American Cancer Society. The total was less than last year, but then again, we didn't have as many higher priced items. We are still very satisfied with our efforts.

A few of the remaining items are being given to another Relay team for their yard sale next weekend. Hopefully they can sell these things and raise additional monies for the ACS. Some other things are being donated to the local Senior Center thrift store and unfortunately, some are destined for the dump. But not much.

Less than 3 weeks to go until the Relay!! We are getting excited.

Skywatch Friday #43 - Is that Blue Sky?

It's been a week of rain, rain and MORE rain, to the point we've reached the normal rainfall total for the month of May and it's only May 7th.

This afternoon brought some clearing skies...somewhat. Still plenty of big clouds heading towards the mountains though.

Here's what it looked like just an hour or so ago.



The forecast for this Saturday is NO RAIN which is really important to me. Our Relay for Life team is having a garage sale to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Last year our team raised over $600! So please Mother Nature, keep the rain away.

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