Strike A Pose - Model(ing) Chocolate

Short - and sweet - post about my recent decorating workshop adventure.

If the point hasn't been made abundantly clear yet, I have a love affair with all things cake.  I get my passion for the kitchen from my mother, and her mother before her, etc. My ever patient mom put up with many years of me doing unspeakably ugly things to cakes. Like dying them green - which turns pukey brown in the oven - or "baking" in the microwave. A few years ago my mom, my brother's girlfriend, my bestie, and I, took a cake decorating class together at Hobby Lobby which is what sparked my career as a part time cake decorating instructor. Being a bit of a Wilton Brands fangirl, I was more than pleased to discover a workshop starting in early 2012 for modeling chocolate. When it came time for holiday gift buying it was a no brainer to purchase a slot for my mom, and one for myself to keep her company. Couldn't have her getting lonely. ;)

The finished "cake."

Fast-forward to last weekend and we found ourselves heavily immersed in white chocolate "dough." The class was more than a little chaotic - as it turns out this was the first ever run through - so timing was off, the instructor was all over the place, and the chocolate was starting to dry out. No matter, it was a lot of fun and we learned some fun new techniques in the process. 

Sadly I forgot my camera at home so I wasn't able to take scene by scenes as we crafted the different blossoms, but luckily our display cakes made it home in one piece and we were able to snap some pictures then.

Oriental Lily.

In addition to learning the "recipe" for modeling chocolate, we also learned to make:

• Loopy bows
• Tie Bows
• Cymbidiums
• Phalaenopsis (Moth) Orchids
• Oriental Lillies
• Calla Lillies
• American Roses
• Leaves
• Pressed Pearl Strands

American Rose

Some of the pieces were prettier than others, but that's par for the course when learning a new medium. I had a  particularly difficult time because I come from a background in gum paste, which appears to be a similar medium, but is quite different in practice. I kept thinning my petals too much, which resulted  in saggage. Sad droopy flowers needed to be remade once or twice. I am NOT a fun person to be around when I get frustrated with myself. Apologies were owed to my poor mother for my dark mood while making the stamen of the (stupid f***ing) moth orchid. In the end I sorted it out by agreeing that I was not going to reach perfection on it that day, and sticking that flower where I didn't have to look at it. You know, the way an rational adult would handle the situation.

Cymbidium

Despite the misgivings we had from all the little snags, I am in love with modeling chocolate and can't wait for an excuse to work on a cake project with this fun new grown up Play D'oh.  I had a nice day, and (I hope) my mom did too.