Further on the concept

Whoops. How'd it get to be Thursday already? Not only that, but it's after 4 pm and I wanted to have that cake iced, carved into its proper shape, iced again, and ready to cover with fondant by now!

Oh well. At least I DID already:

take out the butter to soften (for the buttercream icing)
take the cake out of the freezer to thaw

Don't cringe when you read the words 'cake' and 'freezer' in the same sentence, please. Any carved cake worth its salt (or sugar) needs to be frozen overnight after baking in order to settle, stiffen up, densify, or just in general, get groovy and solid enough to be carved into the amazing shape you have planned for it. This minimal freezing gig does NOT affect the taste of the cake at all. Not my cakes, anyway.

So now I tear myself away from my beloved brand-new Home Office/Guest Room in which my computer now resides, and move to the kitchen wherein I shall make the buttercream, slice and fill and stack and ice the cake, and stick it all back in the freezer for a bit so it can be carved efficiently into the "secret shape". I'll make a batch of fondant while the cake is in the freezer. Then I'll start dinner, finish the laundry, serve dinner, clean up the kitchen, and go back to covering the cake in fondant, then decorating it appropriately.

I plan to have it totally finished by noon tomorrow. Eldest daughter will come by to take pictures in the early afternoon, I'll upload one of the best pics to the local Walgreens via Snapfish, pick it up a few minutes later, and put it into the extremely clever frame that will also be part of Mother-in-law's birthday present. Then I'll have to pack and pack and pack and pack it, then ship.

I might just have a nervous breakdown over all this, come to think of it.

Stay tuned.