My first (paid) baking gig!
Almost a year ago was my first time baking for people I might not know, when I made Black and White cookies for an art opening. Usually when I bake I bring it to school, improv shows, or friends houses because I love sharing sweets. A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I had recommendations where to buy a birthday cake for her roommate’s party and of course I offered to do it. Since she was willing to buy a cake from a real bakery, she wanted to pay me for my services and thus became my first “real” baking gig. Now I’ve only made a cake once before, which was during my baking class, so I still didn’t really know what I was doing. I was in the kitchen all day yesterday and had a couple of hiccups.
My task was to make a small cake for Vanessa (the birthday girl) and 2 dozen cupcakes. The only stipulation is Vanessa didn’t want chocolate on her cake, she was also in charge of buying the cupcake liners.
I made a mini yellow/funfetti layer cake, and I overfilled the pans so the middle took a really long time to bake and the outside over-baked and the top made a huge dome and I had a lot of cutting to do to make the cake usable. But at least I had a lot left make my roommate test with frosting (my nose is stuffy so my taste buds are off).
Also, I was a little stressed because I lost a lot of the cake, and I didn’t have a cake stand and was having a “what do I think I’m doing? I can’t possibly do this” moment, so the layers didn’t come out as beautifully as planned.
The wonderful thing about making a cake, is that frosting fixes a lot of it. You cover it, and make it pretty, and it all tastes the same. I made a simple buttercream frosting, that reminded me a lot of the kind you buy from a grocery store. It was harder than what I usually make for cupcakes, but was excellent for decorating. I couldn’t make purple, or pink or red because I didn’t have any red food coloring, so I decided to go with turquoise. Viola!
It was my first time doing lettering, and I really liked the line quality. I have some work to do on other decorations.
