Calla Lily Cake

I have been taking a wonderful fondant and gum paste class with a great instructor Zoe! Some of her work can been seen here http://redvelvet.shutterfly.com/
This was my final for the class and I think it turned out really well, but you can be the judge of that!

The cake is a white cake with an orange glaze and torted with an orange butter cream. Then I covered it with fondant, and the flowers are made out of a mixture of fondant and gum paste.

my palate!

The start of the side work (I love leaves in fondant or butter cream!)

I decided I needed more of them further up on the cake so it wasn't so empty

This was the start of the spray, I thought the leaves helped the flow

Here it is placed but not finished yet

A little closer view

the finished product!

and again!

Baked Asparagus

This is a pretty simple side dish with tasty results. I also do a grilled asparagus but the baked version is great when you have other things in the kitchen to take care of. As with any asparagus recipe always clip the tough ends off. If I am unsure where the toughness starts I will do a knife test, which is pressing my knife softly into the stalk if the knife starts to go through with little to no effort that is the good part if the knife meets resistance i know that is part of the tough part!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of asparagus

• 2 to 3 tbsp olive oil

• salt and pepper

Directions:

Cut washed asparagus into about finger length bits discarding the tough ends (they are great in compost). Put preped asparagus into prep bowl.

Add the olive oil and salt and pepper, bake at 350 for about 15 to 18 minutes. Testing fork will come out tender when it is done!

ready for the oven!