Cake Day.

Today has been a cake decorating day. I started by watching some YouTube videos on how to cover a cake with fondant icing. It didn't look that hard but then it never does. I made a large batch of butter icing to stick the Red Velvet layers together and to cover the whole cake. This one is 3 layers high which I think is going to be a bit too high to cut easily but I'll see what Sally thinks. This time I spread some cherry jam between the layers as well to counteract the sweetness of the butter icing. Then it was time to cover it all with the fondant icing. Unfortunately I rolled the icing a bit too thin and ended up with a couple of tears when I smoothed it out. Normally that wouldn't have mattered but not for my demo cake. Luckily I have more of the fondant so after putting the cake in the freezer for a while I was able to peel/ prise off the fondant which I can use later on something that doesn't need to be so perfect. I made a half batch of butter icing and tidied up the cake which is now back in the fridge. I'll have another go at the fondant tomorrow.  

We've had a few showers today but the sun was shining when I took a walk before starting on the cakes. The sedums were covered with all sorts of bees and a few butterflies.  

 This Red Admiral stayed still for quite a while. I guess the cold is getting to the butterflies.

This unidentified moth was also visiting the sedums but didn't stay still long enough for me to get a clear shot.

In between battling with the big cake  I decorated cup cakes with butter cream, fondant or ganache. Some to take with us this weekend and some for Peter's work. The plain white ones are red velvet and will have a red rose with a black stem and leaf. I quite like the cut out outer cases for the wedding  or maybe Sally will prefer the silver cup cake cases which still haven't arrived.