Master Gardener Graduation - the icing on the cake!

It struck the fear of God in me when my husband offered to carry the cake out to the car. Now, you may call that an overreaction, but you just have to see this cake! I'm not saying my husband is clumsy, but my collection of chipped cups and plates has dramatically increased since I met him. I sure wasn't taking any chances...

My friend, Mareese, designed and made this cake for the Master Gardener class of 2011's graduation (i.e. my Master Gardener graduation - yay!).  I'm extremely proud to be able to say that I helped her. I'd like to think we had the perfect blend of expertise - hers, cake making, and mine, cake eating - oops  - I meant gardening. Well, I did make the wee melons (after Mareese blended the colors for me... so I suppose that means I just rolled it into a wee ball),

 

the miniscule hook-neck squash,

 

the perfect little pumpkins,

the tiny tomatoes (Mareese did the basket - I kept messing it up!)

and the itty-bitty carrots, which can actually be pulled whole out of the soil. Mareese did the carrot tops.

In fact, Mareese did all the green stuff, oh, and everything else - like actually baking the cake, the frosting, doing the piping, the basket and spade, and the soil - I wish my soil looked (and tasted) that good!

 

Not to mention that she tutored me in the art of dying the icing fondant stuff and give me tips on how to roll it out and mold it.  Her attention to detail is astonishing, from the tiny spade (notice the silver metal part) - sorry about the focus -  it was extremely hard to photograph, it's so tiny,!

to the ridges on the carrots.

And just look at the grass and the wooden pattern on the fence post.

It's all edible. If I wasn't such a cake fiend, (especially for icing - yum yum yum) I'd declare it too good to eat. Though, all of Mareese's cakes are like that. You think, how can I possibly eat this gorgeous creation? Until you take the first bite and then OMG! Her cakes are the best I've ever tasted, and lets just say, I've tasted quite a few cakes in my day. She truly is a baking wizard.

And judging by the reaction of the other Master Gardeners (did I mention that includes me now?) and the lack of cake leftover after the Graduation party, I can honesty say that I'm not the only fan of Mareese's cakes. Thanks Mareese xoxo - it tasted even better than it looked!

Byddi Lee