Re: Cake Decorating
Femme.. you are soooo right.. crisco is messy and the icing is way too sweet.. told ya it's time consuming but forgot to mention that icing is always tooo sweet and too much than actually required (usually you have to double the recipe meaning 8 cups of sugar, such a waste :D).. I never tasted my own cakes though, I used to give it to ppl living in shelter and/or my neighbors just because of the icing.
Honestly, I wanted to learn the techniques only and our inctructor was a pro so it was worth the effort.. now in Pakistan I usually make my own icing using heavy cream and canned fruits for filling. It's much better than the icing I learned there.
I always used that icing for filling but I guess fruit is a better substitue, go for it.
Clown cake was our second cake.. the first one was rainbow cake with writing on top.
ps: you can also make 6 cupcakes instead for clown cake lesson...that would contain less frosting. :-)