R2D2 Cake Round 2!

Way back (about a year and a half ago...) when I first decided to try my hand at decorating cakes, one of my cousin's asked me to make an R2D2 Cake for her son's birthday party...  The picture below is my first attempt at the lovable little droid :)

Everyone at that birthday party was impressed with this attempt... but all I could see were the glaring flaws.  Now, this was maybe the 2nd or 3rd cake that I had ever decorated, so looking back it's not so bad for a first attempt.  But I was never quite proud to display it on my website. 

Well, to my extreme pleasure, I've had a second request for this cake and jumped at the chance to redeem myself (if only in my own mind, lol!).  I am much happier with the result of this latest attempt!

 

Hooray for improvement!  This just goes to show how far you can come with practice.  Some of the improvements I made (beyond the generally neater work):

• I cut out the panels from fondant, instead of feebly trying to outline them with royal icing.  Piping a straight line on the vertical side of a cake is NOT one of my strong suits, haha!  Plus, I think the cut outs give it a more "realistic" look.   
• I also, have learned how to properly smooth icing on a round shape, so R2D2 did not come out so "cone-headed" this time! 
• Another thing that I've learned (the "hard" way) is to properly measure for good spacing and placement.  Instead of just winging it.  It's hard to fight the urge to jump right in with decorating, but doing the preliminary work of measuring makes the job so much easier, and it just looks better!
• Use a ruler!  Not only to do your measuring, but to cut straight lines, lol!  I know this should be a "duh" kind of thing... but as you can clearly see on the first cake, I thought I could eyeball it... well, I cannot!  So I always have my trusty straight edge nearby :)
• And one final thing, that has made all the difference in the world in my cake decorating... always have Tylose Powder in my decorating kit.  When I am working on fondant embellishments, I always knead a little in... it helps stiffen up the fondant so it isn't so stretchy.  so when you are lifting a fondant ribbon, square or any shape you have cut out... it doesn't loose it's shape and sharpness... 

The problem with being self-taught, is there is no one to tell you these things that are now completely obvious to me!  Little things like using a ruler to measure and cut straight lines... well duh, how else are you going to keep your work clean and neat?!  So, if you take anything away from this post (besides maybe inspiration for your own R2D2 Cake)... let it be to slow down and take a few minutes to lay out your design and remember the simple stuff!

Happy Caking :)