WHY IS THE RUM GONE?
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BECAUSE ITS IN THE CAKE!
(And I may have had a little too...shhh)
This is my 6th attempt at the wonderful world of homemade cake creations. I still have a lot of room for improvement but practice makes perfect...or somewhat perfect right?
My Aunt Cathy had her birthday the day after Thanksgiving and like every year we had a turkey gathering at my grandparents house so I decided Cathy needed her own cake. Apart from Thanksgiving. So I asked her what her favorite Johnny Depp (her on screen love) movie was. She replied with From Hell. I don't know how many of you have seen that movie, but a cake themed around Jack the Ripper just didn't sound like a great cake to bring to Grandma's on Thanksgiving. So I emailed Cathy again asking for her three favorite Johnny Depp movies were and Pirates of the Caribbean was one of them. I thought, "oh boy, I get to paint sexy Captain Jack Sparrow on a cake."
I have recently been watching numerous tutorials on cake making and decorating. I have found some very detailed ones by Laura Poopie with Krazy Kool Cakes on you tube. She explains things step by step and in great detail. Here is a link to one of her tutorials in case you'd like to check them out.
The making of the rum cake...correction, CHOCOLATE rum cake was fun and delicious! It was kind of a process and it took me an hour to mix, melt chocolate etc. but the kitchen smelled divine and I may or may not have licked the spatula several times containing the chocolate/rum batter! I just happened to come across a recipe that looked good and gave it a go. This was my first time baking a cake from scratch and it came out beautifully. Thanks Steve on food.com it was a complete hit at the gathering.
Leveling, stacking and icing the cake went pretty smooth. It would have gone better if I had the right tools but I'll get them and the next cake will be better! "A hero is only as good as his weapon." - Phil from Hercules
Now when I got to the fondant part...grumble...snarl...shot of rum...more grumbling...one more shot of rum. I have not perfected the right ratio of homemade fondant (marsh mellows and powdered sugar) so if ANYONE HAS ANY SECRETS and wants to let me know, that would be fabulous! I really just need to play around with it some more like a mad scientist in the kitchen. But oh man it was giving me trouble.
Once I finally got the fondant on the cake (insert choice curse words here) and "smoothed" it all out I was good to go for the fun part. The painting!!!
All I did was take gel food coloring and vodka and used them exactly like you would water colors by putting a dab of color in a bowl and dilute the color with vodka until I got my desired hue. And of course a clean, brand new pack of paint brushes.
And with a wee bit of creativity, Cathy's Captain Jack Sparrow rum cake was born!
"Drink up me 'earties yo ho"