Fifteen: Voted Most Conceited Teapot (January 2nd, 2011)

Reminder: three posts including this one have gone up today, so scroll scroll scroll and catch up if you’re into that.

Why a teapot? Because, I don’t know. It seemed like a reasonable goal. Also I got Jack a teapot for Christmas, and he got me an espresso machine, which is not a teapot, but falls comfortably into the “things that assist in hot beverage consumption” category. If you are extremely perceptive, you will notice that in many of my pictures documenting cake construction, there is a chai latte from Starbucks some where in the background. I love them. But they are stupid expensive. With the espresso machine I can steam my own milk and use chai tea bags or chai concentrate, so I should save oh I don’t know…a million dollars a year? In chai? Is that reasonable?

Before I did anything, I whipped up a chai to drink whilst decorating. This involves steaming, pouring, and enjoying – as demonstrated through this accurate and informative sequence of photos.

This mug was a gift from my brother – did you know that Urban Outfitters puts moustaches on EVERYTHING? I learned this recently, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. But Urban also birthed my beloved cheeseburger wallet, so it can’t be all bad.

I fell back into my old buttercream ways because I thought that I wanted a more rounded look on this cake, but in retrospect, I think I should have gone with the ganoosh. So after shaping the cake, buttercreaming it, and covering it, I made the spout and handle. The handle is all fondant, the spout has rice krispie in it. That whole process went smoothly enough.

I decided to improvise a traditional lace pattern as best I could. Lace cakes get out of control. There are decorators that specialize exclusively in piping lace, and it is so intricate. YouTube it. Actually, don’t. Because then you’ll compare it to this teapot.

I brought the cake over to Pat’s along with baked brie supplies, which ended up working against me. No one really wanted to eat cake after pounding a wheel of brie and puff pastry. Look at the carnage. Is that not the most appetizing thing you have ever seen.

Pat’s mom, my biggest fan, loved the cake, and now I am her biggest fan. Football football football, brie brie cake. That’s pretty much how that evening went.