Eagle

My first sheet cake :o)

After my epic fail with the strawberry filling last week to say I was scared. I got some fantastic advice on how to fix it for the future so here's to hoping!

Baking the sheet cake was nerve racking, I went small amounts when setting the timer and checked it at regular intervals. Once it was baked I had to get creative for cooling because I thought of buying a special pan for baking BUT didn't get a sheet cake cooling rack...Oooops! I looped the legs of 2 cooling rack I had together and it worked just fine. However the larger rack is on my wish list of supplies.

Leveling and torte a cake of this size was awkward. I wasn't sure which way to put it on the table or where to position myself to get the best angle. Finally get that 'sweet' spot and cut through it like all other cakes. No new challenges. However, actually lifting the pieces apart without breaking them was a whole different challenge. I recruited husband help for this!! Together we got the top and bottom safely apart and

Now to fill, butterflies start.

I put the cut cake in the fridge to completely cool. Once I felt it was ready I took it out and laid down a THICK buttercream dam. I moved around the cake much slower then I have in the past. I gently pressed the dam into the cake to ensure that it was attached, back in the fridge it went. I left it there for a bit so the buttercream would harden. Once it felt firm, I took it out and added the raspberry filling (YUMMY!! by the way) back in the fridge it went. This time to ensure the buttercream stayed firm and to harden the raspberry filling some. Once again, it was firm enough for my comfort level and out it came.Top layer on. So far so good. Frosting. Still good.

I let the cake sit for a bit, I wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be any problems before I finished decorating it.

For the Eagle I used the piping gel transfer technique, this gave me a guide when laying the feathers for the body. I then used the head and beak as a template to make those pieces.

All and all I was VERY pleased with this project!