First of all, I watched a new episode of “Ace of Cakes” last night. AMAZING! These guys are incredible. They made the cake for the Harry Potter premiere and it was incredible. It looked just like the castle in the movies. There were so many techniques: fondant – rolling and covering; sculpting cake; pouring hot sugar for the lake; creating a technique for more realistic trees and landscape; airbrushing. There are so many techniques used in cake decorating and I’m fascinated by them.

I secretly wish I was in pastry arts. My friend Kyle worked for 3 years as a pastry chef in Los Angeles before attending college and sometimes I wish I could go back in time to study and do pastry arts before I went to college. Things I wonder about:
- How do people create techniques? What is the “recipe” for learning this process?
- What is the difference between different kinds of icings and frostings and when is the best time to use them?
- How do you create a good cake recipe?
- What is the proper way to roll fondant?
- When do you use fondant and when do you use gum paste for molding?
- When there is a lot of weight to cake, when do you use rods to keep it up and when do you just use something like modeling chocolate?

Callison states: “There is therefore a continuous interaction between questioning and exploration as they drive and refine each other.”  and “At a more informed level, questions become more focused.”  Questioning and exploration has led me to see that my topic is too broad.  I’ve decided just to research cake decorating. Pastry Arts is such a HUGE topic and I could write a whole book about different techniques in baking cookies, cakes, pies, etc. I think cake decorating is specific enough to maintain a focus, but not so specific that there will be little information about it.

I have a feeling this project is going to inspire me to try decorating cakes on my own and I wish I could share them with the class! But if you live in Carmel, stop on by.