In 1972, Sara and I worked the night shift together at Cowell Student Health Center. One night she brought in a fancy birthday cake for one of our co-workers. I ask her where she had purchased the cake and she said, “I made it myself.”
“Wow, it’s beautiful!” I said. “It must be awfully hard to decorate a cake like that.”
“No, it’s easy. Would you like to learn how?” she asked.
I had always wanted to try decorating fancy cakes and pastry. My four children were ages 2 to 9 and we had a lot of birthday parties lined up.
“I’d love to,” I said.
Sara said, “If you know of a couple of friends who would like to learn too, I’d be happy to teach you all.” My friend Carol and her mother Alberta said they’d love to join the class. Three students and one teacher made a perfect group. We each took turns hosting the classes once a month at our homes.
Sara started us off by giving us a list of cake decorating supplies to gather for class, and teaching us how to bake a flat cake. In order to decorate it, you need a nice flat surface. After pouring the batter in the cake pan, you pound it on the counter until the bubbles pop.
The next step was to teach us how to make decorator icing using Crisco. The kids had not cared much for cake up to this time. But they loved that Crisco frosting and showed enthusiasm for cake once I started this class.
Since we were creating new cakes every week, we did have to find other outlets for our new edible art, so as not to sugar our families to death. We were sending cakes to work with our spouses, dropping them off at the senior center, giving them to the neighbors, and sharing with our co-workers.
We each arrived at our second class with a flat sheet cake and a batch of decorator icing, a pastry knife, color paste, and decorator bags and tips. Sara started us on borders.
Then, as the weeks progressed, we moved onto flowers and leaves. Once we mastered the borders and decorations, she introduced us to different cake designs, such as the basket cake, the doll cake, the book cake, and animal cakes.
As Easter approached, Sara asked if we would like to learn the art of panoramic sugar eggs. “Yes!” we exclaimed all together.
I hosted the egg class in my kitchen. We boiled the sugar substance and packed our egg molds. While the molds were drying, we created little bunnies, chicks, flowers and grass to create the panoramic scene. Once the scene was placed in the bottom half of the egg mold, we joined it to the top half with colored frosting and outside decorations.
Sara suggested we let the eggs sit at least over night to dry thoroughly before transporting them. I decided the best place to keep them safe from little fingers and curious pets was the oven. I opened the oven door, slid in the tray with our prized creations, closed the oven door, and promptly forgot them.
We had created the eggs in four hours on Saturday morning. As dinner approached, I decided I would preheat the oven for our evening meal. The pungent smell of burned sugar awakened the realization that I was in the process of melting four hours of creative work in my ill-chosen storage area. I am happy to say that I did not completely destroy our eggs. Yes, they were a little scorched, but salvageable. My classmates made me feel better when they laughed at my error in judgment and forgave me.
The birthday party cakes, and cakes shared with co-workers and other friends always seemed to be appreciated and made us all feel good about our efforts in this culinary art.
My greatest joy came when my sister-in-law, and a few years later my youngest daughter, asked if I would make their wedding cakes. I felt most honored to be asked and pleased at the reception the cakes received.
My cakes would never win professional awards, but they have won approval from my family and friends. And that is the highest honor I could ever ask for. I learned with my cake decorating experience that it is often the simplest things we learn and share that bring the greatest satisfaction.
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