Duck Cake

My next self-taught lesson at cake making was the duck cake. After the baseball cake, a few friends and family members wanted me to do cakes for them. I had a few baby showers in a row that I was asked to do cakes for so I began to Google images of baby shower cakes. I fell in love with this cute baby shower cake that was a duck sitting in a bath tub. I bought the duck cake pan and began the process of learning to make a great cake duck! My first duck about pushed me over the edge! I made FIVE of them before I was pleased with the end result!! The instructions that come with the duck pan are very straightforward and make it seem so simple. Believe me... it takes a little more effort than just setting the pan in the oven and letting it bake! Lindsay still talks about all of those ducks sitting around my kitchen. I would offer cake ducks to anyone that came through the door of our house because I had so many of them!!

The duck cake was the first cake that I made my own buttercream icing for. I haven't bought a can of store bought icing since then! Homemade buttercream just tastes SOOO good! The duck cake was also the first "real" cake that I used fondant on. I made a "fake" cake for a special event one time that was Styrofoam covered in fondant, but I'd never used it when it was meant to be eaten. Once again, I used the Wilton store-bought fondant from a box to shape my soap and bubbles. I loved the way that the fondant looked and these small details really made the cake cute, but that boxed fondant is DISGUSTING!  I can't believe people actually use that stuff to cover cakes. That experience left a "bad taste" in my mouth for fondant (pun completely intended!). I was turned off after that and it would be awhile before I would work with it again. Overall, I was pleased with how the duck cake turned out. I don't have pictures of all three of the ducks. I only photographed one because they all looked pretty much the same!