Day 38 - Cakes and Icing and Points, Oh My!

Have I ever told you that I'm considered officially crazy? No? Well, I am... at least by the ladies in my cake decorating classes. They think I'm first-rate bonkers.

This has been going on since Week 2 (back in April). To be precise, it was the week that the second class of Wilton Course 1 took place. We were working with the famous "buttercream" icing. This sweet concoction, while being tempting and yummy slathered on cake, is both deceiving with its ingredients and deadly to any weight loss effort. Let me explain...

First, the term "buttercream" is completely inaccurate. The only butter in the traditional buttercream icing is butter flavoring. It smells delicious, I'll admit, but has nothing to do with the pure creamy richness of real butter. Mmmm, butter... Now I want toast. Grrr! 

Add a little clear vanilla, a touch of water, and a full package of powdered sugar... yes, one whole bag of sugar... and you're almost there. 

The main base of this finger-licking, childhood dream-invoking substance is... vegetable shortening. Yes, shortening... Crisco... lard... greasy pure fat. 2 whole cups of the substance. This makes enough icing to fill the inside, ice the outside, and decorate a cake with some left over.

I know. Not fair. So good, yet so horrible and so very difficult to avoid. Many bakery cakes use this or a similar recipe, so birthday, graduation, retirement, and going away parties are even worse minefields that possibly previously thought. I mean, we know cake isn't healthy for us. We know frosting isn't great either. But just thinking about putting a big ol' scoop of sugared, flavored lard in our mouths can make a stomach turn. Blech!

Or so I keep telling myself...

It's icing! It's sooooo yummy! So sweet and delicious... and approximately 6 points a tablespoon.

6 points! Yikes! I can make a huge meal for less than that! A healthy, filling, satisfying, well-rounded meal full of fruit, veggies, lean protein, whole grains, and water or a zero calorie drink. Arg!

I knew that this journey wasn't going to be easy, but some moments are harder than others. This is one of those moments.

So, now you can see why, when I told the ladies in my classes that I was on Weight Watchers, they thought I was nuts for wanting to work with cakes and icing and all of the other goodies involved. "Too tempting," they said. "All things in moderation and a passion for the work" is what I stated back. I love decorating cakes, cupcakes, cookies... anything I can and now I can do it even better! 

I still eat cake, even with a little tiny bit of icing. I just do it sensibly; a small bite-size slice of cake with nearly all of the icing scraped off (still tastes just as delicious as a large slice) and I make sure I track the points in my tracker. No more hiding, ignoring, or lying about the eating or the tracking. I'm honest with myself and with others because I know that's the only way this journey can work for life... and I want this to work. I'm making this work!

I hope you'll forgive me for this, but I just love the way my latest cake turned out. A little show-n-tell if you will...

Lemon cake with lemon-flavored buttercream icing covered with purple fondant and 27 gum paste daisies (24 small & 3 large) and 3 gum paste leaves. The purple base the cake is sitting on is purple fondant with a flower inlay design. Cake trim is worked fondant and the strips the flowers are glued onto are a fondant-gum paste blend. Everything (except the cardboard under the cake) was handmade by me and is edible.

So, now I have this amazing cake just sitting on my dining room table (mostly out of sight) just begging me to eat it up. I'm ok with that. I know I'll have a few small slices while giving away pieces to everyone I know... maybe even people I don't know. Maybe anyone who drives by the house will suddenly find a plump piece of cake sitting on the seat next to them. I need to improve my pitching aim...

To me, baking is the purest blend of art and science. It's soooo me! Now that I have the skills, I will need to work on balancing my passion for being around sweets and my desire to live a healthy (and lower weight) life. I'm feeling pretty confident in finding that balance. :) 

Until next post, dear friends and readers, I wish you sweet dreams!

~H.