MandiCrocker

AMERICAN IDOL CAKE

Hey all! :) So during the day I work at a university bookstore. On weekends I work at Susina Bakery (a French Italian bakery). I work A LOT. Have I mentioned this 1200 times? Oops. Hee hee. :) But alas, that is not the point of this blog! My point is that my boss at the bookstore commissioned me (I like to use that phrase, it makes me sound fancy!) to do an American Idol themed red velvet cake. YAY!!!

So I started with a little red velvet & cream cheesiness... (Cheesiness? Cheesy-ness? Cheezynass? Je ne sais pas how to spell).

Red Velvet. NUM.

She had a whole design & pretty much said, "This is what I want! An American flag & the AI logo! Can you do this??" I pee my pants & hyperventilate. "Puh-shuh! American flag, American Idol Logo- of course... That's like- no biggie!" I say. Then I rush out of the room & vomit into the mixed paper recycle bin. *sigh*

I always get nervous & pee my pants. Although I LOVE a challenge, it's that rush and insecurity of 'Can-I-Do-This!?'...'You-Never-Went-To-Pastry-School, Amanda!'... 'You-Are-A-Fraud!'

And I only work with buttercream. Fondant tastes like poodely oodely to me, so I pipe everything. And if that's the case I'm going to make, I need to get better at my piping. And I should get better with fondant because although it's the flavor sensation of play-doh, it is very pretty and creative!

Ryan: Let's see what the judges have to say. Paula?"

Paula: "You know, Mandi... you just... I... I-- stop it, Simon! First of all, your apron is beautiful. And you have come- Simon, I'm trying to talk here! You're acting like a six year old that doesn't have his ice cream! You've come so far in this competition and you are NOT a fraud. You really just pulled it off and you know... I just... I love strawberries. Great job!" *Paula cries.*


Randy: "Yo, yo, yo, Dawg... You knocked it out, dawg. I'm not crazy about the piping but you used your pastry bag toward the end and that was slammin', dawg, aiight? I used to work with Martha Stewart and I've chopped a few strawberries with Rachael Ray so..."


Simon: "Your piping just doesn't cut it. In this competition, we're not looking for the county fair blue ribbon. We're looking for real, certified chefs that know how to manipulate a baked good. All I can say is that tonight's performance was like watching a cake decorator at Vons unthaw frozen cheesecake."

*sigh* Freakin' Simon. :)

P.S. Hey! If anybody watches American Idol, my sissy Darci (Darci Farci Ding Dong) does a review every week. Check her out! Working Musician's Review Or feel free to take a listen to her- She's an INCREDIBLE singer and just put out a new CD: Darci RULES! YEAH, SHE DOES!!!