Sadcakes!

So, newsflash: This class is much more academically rigorous than my previous classes. WHAT?! The quizzes are not multiple choice? It's very taxing. We have a math problem set due tomorrow, which is a huge chunk of our grade. I think it's safe to say that I'm the only person who completed it by setting up formulas in Excel to automatically calculate the answers. (Yes! Putting my work background to good use!)

Today we made lots of little petit fours - Harlequins, Japonais, Raspberry Ribbons, and Arrachides. Here are some photos:

Arrachide: Filled with peanut butter and dipped in dark chocolate.

Harlequin: filled with raspberry.

Japonais: hazelnut and almond cookie filled

with mocha buttercream and topped with a coffee bean. I die.

We also practiced decorating butter cookies with Royal Icing, also called Flood Icing... because it floods all over the place unless you make a sort of frosting dam around the edges. People made miniature Hello Kitty heads, full-body robots, skeletons, and Jackson Pollock-eque abstract cookies with swirly, heavenly frosting.

And how did I outdo such professional creations, you ask?

Yes, it was me who made those... not the third grader down the street. Whenever I draw happy faces, I have a strange urge to throw a frowny face in there every once in a while - because, let's face it... there's always one cookie who is going to be in a bad mood. Indrina calls them Sadcakes and I think they are her favorite kind of cakes.

Also, you can't tell this in the photo, but I spilled a drop of red food coloring on one of my Happycakes and tried to cover it up with his chocolate eye. I was only about 80% successful, so now, with his bloodshot eye, I just call him Crackheadcake.