Dayton. Yeah... Dayton.

Hey Jakey,

We went to Dayton today, on a whim. We left daddy and your sister at home, presumably to put some air in your tricycle tires and maybe get a coffee, but after we left Starbux, we turned left and just kept driving. Out of the Valley, into Carson, hung a right onto 50, "The Loneliest Highway in America," past the whorehouses, the pick 'n pulls, the miles and miles of self-storage, and somehow, we found ourselves in Dayton.

The temps today plummeted all the way down to the frigid high 80s, so what better excuse to go hiking in the high desert?

Actually, I was just pulling over somewhere, anywhere, so we could get out of the car and finish our mini-corndogs from Der Wienerschnitzel (We soooooo hardly ever get to the Der Wienerschnitzel side of town! We HAD to indulge!).

So we wound up at Dayton State Park and after grudgingly paying a $4 vehicle fee, we parked, snarfed our junk food and found some cool trails.



You used the toilet once at Der Weiner place and once at the park, and came home dry as a bone! Whoo-hoo! Way to go!

Got home and went back to work on my practice cake.

I've been charged with making a cake for your Auntie L's wedding at the end of October, so this weekend I started the first of my practice cakes. This cake is just a choco cake from a recipe on the back of a Hershey's Cocoa container, with choco buttercream and no fancy filler.



This first run, I just wanted to see if the recipe for fondant that I found online actually works (it does), see if it tastes okay (like marshmallows, yum! Much tastier and cheaper than that Wilton crap) and to take notes on what works and what doesn't. I've never worked with it before, and it seemed like a daunting task.

Lessons Learned, Round One:

1) Keep the fondant moister. I stretched it a bit too much in one spot and tore an irreparable hole.

2) When making fondant embellishments, roll the fondant thinner.

3) My two layers were too short. Three layers per tier will be ideal.

4) Frost with the buttercream right before applying the fondant. I put it on last night, the surface dried, and today when I laid the fondant on, it didn't stick as well as it could've.

5) More buttercream beneath the fondant. At least 1/4 inch. That'll give me more leeway to futz with the fondant and shape it and give it sharper edges.

6) Food-service gloves! After I kneaded the coloring into the fondant, I was left with blue- and red-streaked hands.

7) Bigger cake board. Better rolling pin.

8) The buttercream tasted *okay*. Will try and find something a bit tastier than this recipe I just used.

Tomorrow I'll practice some rudimentary piped decorations on it, and then take it into the office Tuesday and see what they think.

Auntie L can keep track of my progress here. I'm getting my fondant and buttercream recipes and excellent, detailed instructions at this great site: Peggy's Baking Corner. Check it out, L, if you get a chance, and you can get an idea of what I'm working with. And think about what colors you want!

All right, kids. You've been waking up and going back to sleep for hours now. Stay asleep, dammit! Love you!