Tutorial : Naked White Cake with Chocolate Strawberry Ganache & Tri-Colored Russian Piping

It started out with an observation...


I don't really have any hobbies.


"You should get one!" Kade says, proud owner of several (hundred) hobbies.

"Well we don't have a lot of money, so I need to find out what I like to do that doesn't cost a lot. Like decorating cakes."

"Yeah you're super good at that!"

"Well, not super, but I have enjoyed it. Maybe I'll try, like actually try this time."


Basically the only thing I did right with this cake was to pick up a simple white boxed cake mix. After I had pulled it from the oven and tipped the pans upside down - I got cocky. They came out flawlessly, not a crumb stuck to the pan.

"I CAN DO ANYTHING!" I must've screamed subconsciously. I didn't have a recipe or any type of plan. I was just doing it on the fly! I am wonder woman! I am beauty I am grace!

So as I was beating my Classic White Frosting, which is actually pretty good in my opinion, I thought, "Hey I should try making ganache for the first time ever!" And because I had done so awesomely getting the cake out of the pans, I thought, "Heck, why not add some pureed strawberries for chocolate strawberry ganache??" So I did.

Obviously it was super runny because I had to put my own spin on the recipe before even learning how to do it right the first time. (But it still tastes good and I'm eating drinking the leftovers as we speak. It's basically like a thick strawberry hot chocolate)

Then I remembered my mom had given me some Russian piping tips for Christmas. And even though I knew that I hadn't even perfected normal piping yet, I pulled them out. I saw it had a tri-tip. Naturally because I had never used Russian piping tips before I thought, "go big or go home!" and mixed food coloring into three little bowls of frosting.

Now, I had the good sense to level each of the two cakes. Then I cut them each in half. Because when you're a brand new beginner, you might as well start with four layers.

I put a ring of frosting on each layer, filled it in with ganache. I crumb coated it and stuck it in the fridge - because duh...

I wait and wait and wait and pull the cake out ten minutes later because it seemed like enough time. I tried frosting the sides and for some strange reason, it wasn't working out. So I opted for the "naked cake" look that's so popular these days. I decided two popular styles are better than one, so I drizzled the ganache over the top for a "drip" look. Of course, it was still as runny as ever.

"Hey maybe the russian piping flowers will make it look better" I said to myself, as I filled the bag with green, yellow and orange frosting. But I just plopped them all into one bag, because how was I to know there was another way to carefully separate the colors for an actual tri-colored flower? "It'll work out" I tell myself.

As I piped, my flowers turned from orange, to orangeish yellow, to yellow, to yellowish green, to green, to hideous.

And as I looked at my masterpiece, and then around my kitchen filled with dirty dishes and spills and powdered sugar literally everywhere the eye could see, I realized...

That's why I don't have a hobby.

I have some serious issues. First, I have no patience for learning things I don't already know. Second, I tend to think that I will have no problem adding to, changing, or leaving out parts of the rules as I like. Oh, also, I hate making unnecessary additional messes for myself to have to clean up. Oh, also, I have young kids that love to "help" and don't love to leave me in peace for ten seconds.

So... we'll see if cake baking/decorating will continue to be a hobby of mine. Don't hold your breath.

Now, to try the next hobby! Gotta figure out what it could be...