I have been wanting to make a
Rose Bouquet Cake but I keep putting it off, finding reasons not to do it. It’s
the “rose” part that I get intimidated in. The intricate details of the petals,
how labor-intensive it is, and to actually make 20-30 pcs., in different sizes.
Aysus!
Here’s a photo of the Rose
Bouquet Cake in one of my bake books:
So you see, this project is not
as easy as the other ones I previously made.
A friend kept on encouraging me
to try new designs, and to conquer this monster fear. I told her I will get it
done once I finished taking the Gum Paste Class at the culinary school where I
usually take classes. We were hoping that I take it this month but turns out,
they’re not offering it. So I said, “Maybe next month.”
I got new bake books from
Singapore and was too excited to start on new projects when I was reminded by
the book I am currently reading (The
Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin). One of the things that can evoke
happiness is to tackle a nagging task.
So tackle the nagging rose bouquet cake.
Get it done and over with before you move on to dreaming, I mean, making new
ones...
Today, I had an extra 4-inch
Choco Decadent Cake sitting around the kitchen that immediately I decided,
“Let’s do this!” I will just have to settle on the rosettes I did from the
Garden Cupcakes I made:
And the quest begins...
I covered the cake with green
fondant so that in any case I messed up the stems, it won’t be as noticeable.
Next comes the stems. Rolling them was kinda tricky. A consistent stem
diameter should be achieved. I initially used a chocolate lollipop mold but
since it was taking so much time, I just rolled away like there’s no tomorrow!
I made sixty 4-inch stems.
For the rosettes, I combined
Christmas Red and Burgundy gel color. It’s easy to make. Just make rectangles,
fold and roll with the overlapped portion at the top. I made 55 rosettes.
I started covering the cake with
the stems. Make sure that the stems have the same length. And since I didn’t
level the cake, I had to cut the stems at the start of the cake dome.
Using royal icing tinted with
green as glue, I started covering the
cake with my red rosettes starting from the ends of the stem.
Beginning the second row until
the topmost portion, they should be placed in between 2 rosettes.
See how the green royal icing made the difference instead of
using just white?
Since the rosettes I made were of different sizes, there
were spaces that needed smaller ones. And I ran out of fondant that I had to
prepare new ones. I used a different brand of gel that I got a different
colored rosette. Learning: check availability of materials you will use before
embarking on a project. Good thing it was on top of the bunch that the color
difference didn’t matter much.
After
5 hours, here’s my finished product:
Way far from the one in my bake book, but garnered a lot of
likes on my FB account. More than enough that I get to practice making some
more this coming week..
And yes, this project brought me that satisfaction that I
can do things if I get myself to focus, and believe that I can do it. Yes, it
wasn’t as pretty as I hoped for, but pretty enough to make me feel better, and
get that boost I needed when it comes to my decorating/design skills.
And I got 2 check marks today: tackle a nagging task; go to
sleep happy. This is definitely the day’s highlight!
