The Side Cake

I shared this cake on my Instagram and thought I'd share a closer look on here.

What we have here is what I like to call a "side cake". When I have a plan in mind for a piped buttercream cake, regardless of how creative my plan is for the design, I often feel a little tied down during the decorating process. I guess you could say I have some commitment issues when it comes to decorating cake. There have been many times when I've thought of an awesome idea and then during the decorating process get the urge to change up the plan, and then follow that urge, which can be great... but can also not be great. Ha. So when the time allows, I like to bake a second cake (or use a dummy) to be able to use it like scratch paper and just pipe away.

This particular cake sat aside my Otomi Embroidery cake. If you look at the two cakes side-by-side, you can probably get a much better understanding of why I love having a side cake. Details and a set plan can often make the decorating process seem a bit tedious, but having a surface to be able to pipe as I please, without any plan in mind, helps me stay inspired and motivated while I'm working.