Oy VElmo

In college and law school I was the champion of waiting until the last minute to write papers. I excelled at procrastination even when I tried my hardest to get stuff done ahead of time. Somehow I still did well on papers.  It was the ramblings of a sleepy panic. Oy vey.  When it comes to my baked goods, I have found that I am much more organized and I plan things out way better than I ever did with silly papers for school. Good planning is essential for decorated cookies because of the time they take to make and dry.

My sister's boyfriend's sister asked me to make a cake and cookies in the image of a happy red friend for her sweet baby girl's first birthday. It was a lot of work, but I am really happy with how it all came out.

The cookies were quite the endeavor.  Since I didn't have a cutter, I made a template for the little guy's head and then used a knife to cut it out. I gave myself an extra day to finish the cookies, so that I could get them done and focus solely on the cake. Well, something went awry in the night and when I checked on them in the morning, the little guy had black freckles in his happy red face. Waaah. Fortunately I had some extra cookie dough already prepared. I re-cut, remade the royal icing,  and redid the cookies with fingers crossed and a prayer to sweet jeebus. Then I baked the cake. I did this all in one night and frosted the cake in the wee morning hours.  The royal icing cooperated the second time around and we had happy red faces. I popped little red faces on the number 1 cookies and little present boxes too.  So cute. :)

As for the cake, it was a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and a layer of dark chocolate ganache in the middle. I made the topper out of my homemade fondant and popped on a few royal icing faces around the sides. I finished it off with some confetti sprinkles, for the festivity.

Everything was a success in the end. Hooray.

Even with planning, anything can happen. It felt like I was in Hellmo, and I couldn't wait for it to be Gonzo, but honestly it was a fun project.  I have learned that I should prepare myself for these challenges in this crazy baking adventure. The more you know. Knowledge is Power. Go Joe!