Medium Specificity

Right from the start, I knew after looking at the description for this assignment I wanted to focus on cake decorating.  And after reading McCloud’s comic “Show and Tell,” I knew I wanted my project to stand on its own with little or no words at all. I immediately thought of a space ship.  It is similar to what a kid my bring to show and tell and fit perfectly with my train of thought.  During our workshop we talked about all the different elements of cake decorating.  One stuck out to me: cake decorating is always becoming bigger and more extensive pulling in different types of materials and art styles into one.  My thoughts went to the show Cake Boss where they are continually adding new mechanics and art into their cakes. For my project, I wanted to stretch myself.  For most of the cakes I have done, they have been simple rectangle or circle birthday cakes.  However, I wanted to try something new.  I wanted to make a sculpture cake.  This went perfect with my idea of making a spaceship.  Not only is the cake world becoming bigger and better, so is my skills as a cake decorator.  The space ship is symbolic of cake decorating in the world and in my own life reaching new heights, pushing the limits of what you can do with cake. However, after stacking my eight layers of cake and carving it into a spaceship, it decided to come falling down.  And after a couple hours of trying to figure out a way to fix it, I was left with only crumbles of cake.  As it was getting late, I debated on whether to make a completely new cake, but decided against it.  Instead, my roommate gave me the idea of making a huge cake ball.  So I got my crumbs and frosting, smooshed it into a ball and covered it with chocolate.  I did a little piping on the top to make it more appealing to the eye because I think piping is such an important element to cake decorating.  However, I think the most fundamental element of cake decorating is the ability to think on your feet.  Cake can be temperamental and you do not always have time to rebake and make an entire cake.  Usually a final product is still being demanded, so you must use what you have and make the best out of it. This is what I was forced to do with my project. Overall, I'm not exactly happy with how it turned out, but I have a finished product.