As may be blindingly obvious, my artistic skills are practically zero. I like things that look pretty but there's a big gap between what I want something to look like and what I can actually get it to look like. So it was with some trepidation that I headed to Divertimenti on Saturday for a sugarcraft and cake decorating masterclass with the very talented Paula Macleod.
Each one of us was given an unassuming square sponge cake which we somehow had to transform into an Easter cake, complete with a bunny made of sugar. My confidence at this point was at its lowest point.
Paula took us through the cake decorating in stages. First we covered out sponges with a thin layer of buttercream to act as a glue before rolling out our marzipan to cover the cake. This was the first point at which it went a bit wrong as my marzipan ended up sticking to table and I had to start again. Paula, with endless patience, showed me what I had been doing wrong and my second attempt was slightly more successful.
The little hints and tips and we got along the way, such as how to fit the marzipan to the corners, were invaluable and meant that we had a good base on which to place our icing.
Similar to the technique with the marzipan, we rolled out our royal icing and then carefully let it full onto the cake before cupping the corners gently and cutting off the excess. I never thought in a million years that I'd be able to get a cake that looked like this!
As we were making a bunny to put on top of our cakes, I used some edible green spray to make my cake look (a bit) like grass before Paula showed us how to pipe buttercream shells around the base of the cake. This was the part I was really dreading as every time I have tried to pipe with buttercream, it has ended in disaster. I'm not going to say this was my greatest triumph but I did it and am hopeful that I'll improve with practice. Again, there were some really helpful 'insider' tips which made me feel more confident when armed with a plastic bag full of buttercream.
So far therefore it had more been about technique than artistic skill (thank god!) but, with out cake safely primed, we had to make the bunny to sit on the top. This was made out of sugarpaste coloured with food colouring. We were taken through the bunny-making process in stages - first the body, the tummy and the arms. So far, so good. Although my bunny refused to sit up straight and insisted on lying almost horizontal. I'm pretty sure he was drunk.
Next up were the feet which were slightly more fiddly as they involved using tiny bits of pink sugarpaste to make the paw marks.
Finally the head was made out of another ball of brown sugarpaste with a little pink nose, white whiskers, and ears. Some of the bunnies were very intricate with eyes, teeth and individual whiskers but I was going for a 'rustic' look and just stuck with the recognisable features. I'm probably biased but I think he's rather sweet.
My cake may not be up to Paula's level yet but I was incredibly proud of the end result. I've always thought that cake decorating and sugarcraft was something that I would never be able to do but this course has given me the confidence that it's not just for other people. At several points, I thought it was going to end in disaster but with Paula's expert advice, I managed to produce something which I thought was pretty okay. And that's high praise indeed!
