The great Maine decorating experiment

The great Maine decorating experiment
Janine Talbot, Columnist

Last week a new toy came in the mail for me that turned out to be both entertaining and challenging. I had ordered cake decorating bags and tips more than two months ago but delivery was annoyingly delayed. Within a couple of days of their arrival, I was picking out a cake mix to start practicing. I’ll work my way up to a scratch cake, right now I just want to be able to make flowers and stars that are recognizable.

Thinking ahead for a change, I opted for baking cupcakes instead of a cake (red velvet), figuring it might be better for my first decorating foray to stick with small templates instead of what might turn into one big blob.

The package came with two sizes of bags, one with a small opening and one large, and several tips to use. As soon as the cupcakes cooled I was at it, changing tips and trying both bags, practicing florets and lines, ribbons and writing. I wish I had such a good excuse for bad penmanship in my school days. “I’m sorry, teacher, my decorating tip was leaking.”

 

If you’re wondering why now, after my kids have grown up and moved away, I decided to try my hand at cake decorating, blame it on binge watching The Great British Baking Show. It wasn’t the competition that pulled me in, it was the politeness. There is something about this show that is strangely calming.

Since watching these bakers craft their amazing, original baked goods, some little voice inside me has insisted that I could pull off Priya’s Banana and Chocolate Cake or Michael’s Lemon and Rosemary Biscuit Bars. Inspired by their creativity and possibly suffering from a touch of insanity, I began to seek out some of the ingredients the bakers relied on. I now have a jar of lemon curd, three packets of yeast, an enviable supply of almonds and cardamom, and enough confectioners sugar and marshmallows to cover York County with fondant.

When will I actually use these things? Hey, I know how to make frosting stars and somewhat acceptable ribbons now, so the actual baking can’t be far off.

There are a few things I discovered while practicing my soon-to-be-sought-after decorating skills. For instance, there is no such thing as “neatly” placing batter into a decorating bag. This was news to me because they make it look so effortless in all the baking shows. My stuffing spatula, however, vehemently disagreed with my plan of swooping a slab of frosting into a bag with no repercussions. There were repercussions everywhere – on the counter, on the floor, and on me.

I stepped away from the kitchen to post a couple of cupcake pictures on social media, and to wash batter off my toes. It was within those few minutes that I discovered another thing: my cat likes frosting. Two of the cupcakes ended up in the trash thanks to some covert feline taste testing.

Decorating was a fun experience that gave me incentive to try more new things. Maybe next weekend I’ll break out the lemon curd.