Cheese cake frosting and doing it afraid

 I baked a cake today.

Nothing new about this. I bake cakes all the time. Mostly carrot cakes. The most yummy, moist, decadent carrot cakes you've had. 

The children's school had an Arts Night, and there was to be a bake sale. My contribution was to make a carrot cake. It was the easiest thing to do, plus I could do it in my sleep!

So, I got baking. Cake was all baked. I decided to do a cheesecake frosting. This was different. 

In the last three years that I have been baking carrot cakes, they have always been naked cakes. No frosting, no covering, just plain cakes. I figured the kids already got lots of sugar from God knows what and didn't want to add anything else to it. 

The last time I covered a cake was during Ryan's 3rd birthday, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We looked the other way as the red-velvet cake was imperfectly perfect. I used whipped cream, and sprinkles. Did I mention it was my first attempt at making red-velvet? It was my first and best attempt so far! Because it was for us by us, we didn't even give the frosting a second thought. we were too excited to make our own red-velvet and dig in!

This time was different though. I was presenting the cake to school, and for sale too! After making the frosting, I set up the cake, frosting, and all other things I would need on the table and dialed my mum. Haha, mum to the rescue!

She walked me through the process, and in no time, I was dancing and giggling away! We settled on a rough swirl, and decided it was too stark. I got some food color and added it to the frosting, it was a beautiful shade of peach, and we agreed to make some concentric swirls in different spots. I must add here, my hands were shaking, it was the most imperfect circle ever, but the peach color was a good contrast for the stark white, and we decided it was perfect!

With more practice on a tray, my hands got steadier, and the swirls were smoother.

I baked a cake and covered it!

Lessons I learned:

1. Do it afraid anyway. No matter how difficult a task seems, just start. You'd most likely figure it out along the way. 
2. Have a great support system. My mama cheered me on and told me I could do it. This made me willing to try. All you need is a little nudge.
3. Focus on the big picture. I saw the imperfect swirls, but I decided to forge ahead regardless. I mean, it was too late to change my mind anyway. 
4. Never give up. I'm sure you get this by now.