The Surprise That Started It All

On a bright spring day in May of 2011, I got a call from a friend's husband (affectionately dubbed my "Friend-In-Law," or F.I.L. for short.).  He had the great idea to throw her a small surprise baby shower in their home and wanted to know if I would be willing to help pull it off.  We just had a few crinkles in the plan -

1. This friend is IMPOSSIBLE to surprise.  If she gets any whiff of a surprise in the works, she will HOUND you until she has worn you down into telling her.  Her shocked face is quite talented, though.  I have to give her props for that!
2. The parents-to-be and several friends had a variety of dietary restrictions.  The biggest problem: The mother-to-be loved sweets but could not eat gluten and her dairy intake was limited.

The 2nd point was our biggest issue (we did end up surprising her and it was great to see her genuine reaction!).  Mind you, this was almost 6 years ago, before gluten and dairy allergies were common household conversation topics.  Gluten-free cakes were hard to find at local bakeries and those that offered them were too far away or too pricey for our meager party budget.  The menu was on my plate (no pun intended!) for the party, so I had to come up with an inexpensive and tasty solution.

So, like any normal person, I turned to the internet to search for options on what I could bake that my sugar-loving, gluten intolerant, very deserving friend would be able to enjoy at her own shower.  And then I found it: Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Cake Mix.  That decided it for me - I was going to make the best baby shower cake for my future nephew that I could.

Of course, store-bought icing wouldn't suffice for this epic shower cake.  It needed to have fondant and homemade (dairy-free) icing.  The catch?  I had never worked with fondant before and heard nasty things about the flavor of the prepackaged fondant in the stores.  So, I researched recipes, techniques, timelines, design ideas.  I read tip after tip from different websites and blogs.  Things were quite a bit scarcer 6 years ago, but I was determined and kept digging. (This might be a good time to also point out that I had only ever done boxed 9x13 cakes before, but I wasn't going to let that stop me! This would be a bakery-worthy cake if it was the last thing I did!).

In my research, I came across a recipe for Marshmallow Fondant and decided I could 100% Do. This. Thing.

I'm going to be honest here, and maybe this was a fluke, but I don't remember the process being that difficult for a beginner.  I remember my arms being sore from all the kneading, and powdered sugar being all over my poor Mom's kitchen, not to mention the rest of the food that was in the works for the day!  I remember being a little frustrated that the design wasn't coming out EXACTLY like I wanted (Honesty time: That is more than often the case for me.  I get an idea in my head of exactly how I want something to look and I get so frustrated when it doesn't turn out JUST how I planned.  I don't think I'm alone in this one, though!)

And ladies and gents, I pulled it off.  I don't know how the cake turned out so well for a beginner other than God having pity on my party-planning self and knowing that this cake was the start of a growing passion for baking and my future therapy.  I could go back and kick myself for not taking more pictures of the FIRST cake I ever decorated.  I have TWO pictures of the cake that my F.I.L. took as he was snapping shots of the food on the table.  Ready for this?

  

Just so you're not completely disappointed at the lack of pictures, here are a couple more of the other items on the menu for the day.

 

Mini cucumbers on gluten free bread with dill dip.

Fruit salad tucked in a baby carriage. (Because who doesn't want to eat fruit out of a stroller?)

But back to the cake.  You were expecting a huge elaborate cake, weren't you?  All that build up and I give you a little square alphabet block.  Sorry, folks!

HOWEVER - this cake was the beginning for me.

This cake made me realize more of what I was capable of.  I very much wish it I had taken more pictures of this little cornerstone in my baking career.  I also wish I hadn't waited 2 years after making this cake before I returned to experimenting with decorating.  You live and you learn!  Now I take an overkill of pictures of projects and set goals for myself so that I stay in the kitchen baking and learning.

So...take the pictures.  Research the crap out of that project because, chances are, YOU can do it.  And....don't be a slacker like me and wait 2 years after your first attempt to get back at it!