P is for porcupine~

Have you ever been doing a project that was going so wrong, but you HAD to finish.... YOU JUST HAD to FINISH no matter what!?

Even though you thought you were going to DIE before you got through it?

Ugh.

This should have been FUN. Normally I would look forward to each step, yearning to see the outcome.

Not this time.

Hmmm... they look cute and innocent enough don't they?

Nova and his preschool class are learning about the letter "P" this week. Tomorrow is my day to bring snacks. So after being inspired by the critters in Over The Hedge, I thought how cute would that be to make porcupine cupcakes?

It'll be a CINCH thought I..... one of the quickest cake decorating projects ever.....

Just use a grass tip...

...and paint a few lines on the inside of the piping bag with brown food coloring so the quils would be variegated....

...Slap a face on 'em, and voila!

Hmpf.

Thank goodness these are for children, who will not care what they look like.... and actually, they're not too bad. But they are FAR from my vision.

I HATE making icing. I have dabbled in cake decorating for years thanks to my mom, but haven't made much icing. Mom always made it. I helped do a wedding cake in Home EC in highschool for a pretend wedding... but the teacher made the icing.

I don't know what I did, or didn't do. But I could not get the icing to perform for me. Perhaps it is just the grass tip, which I hope I NEVER have to use again. GRASS TIP SUCKS!!

At any rate, I wanted to break down and cry after doing about 2 cup cakes. And I had 10 more to do. (Thank goodness it's a small class!)

I seriously thought I was gonna lose it while working on the last one.

I'd rather birth 12 babies naturally!

My hands were shaking... It took over an HOUR, when I should've been able to knock these out in about 5-10 minutes! BLHAHAHAHHH!

I was dreading doing the icing beforehand and even asked the Walmart bakery if they sold their decorating icing in a tub. No luck. Phooey.

Anyhoo.... here they are. They're cute. They're edible. That's all that matters.

In this pic you can kinda see the variegation on the top ones (click to enlarge)

... the food coloring just did not "paint" on the vinyl bags, it beaded up. I thought I remembered the Wilton pro food colors to be more pasty, not slimy. So, would have to use parchment bags for that I suppose. Good thing I made chocolate cakes so they have *some* other color showing through!

OK.... after spilling my guts and crying on your shoulders here.... I think all I really needed was a large grass tip. Which... you will not find, in a little one horse town such as the one I live in. Ahh well, maybe next time.