Packed my bags for my long, snow-free winter vacation in Mexico with my Hubby. Packed 4 BASIC piping decorating tips, 2 couplers and piping bags, so that I would be able to decorate John's birthday brownies in February. That's it. That's all I took. I NEVER, ever, in my wildest imagination, anticipated that I would do any more cake decorating than that. However, word got out, and I had cake orders! TWELVE CAKES! In Mexico! So, for your understanding, let me illustrate just how preposterously rediculous this seemingly benign undertaking was. We lived in a Casita, which is a one room, brick home containing the kitchen, dining table and 2 chairs, an overstuffed chair and a bed. There were 2 small bookcases; one served as 4 shelves for our clothes, and the other was our pantry. The bathroom was outside, attached to the casita. The entire casita was the approximate size of a large bedroom. This is where we lived. The kitchen... Sink, refrigerator and a gas range. The range is roughly half the size of my standard range at home, and is probably suitable for small spaces, like a boat or a travel trailer. The temperature range for the oven was numbered: 1-2-3-4. I needed 350 degrees F, and I had 1-2-3-4 to choose from! The capacity of the oven accommodated only 1 pan at a time. Are you starting to understand the challenges? Now for the next set of challenges... Ingredients. Trying to make a quality cake with sub-quality ingredients... Ugh. Gritty powdered sugar, strange butter... There were MANY ingredient challenges.
I DID have some saving graces, however! My friend had an old Kitchen-Aid that I was able to use. What a game changer that was! Another friend had some American ingredients, and a beautiful cake stand that was leant to me...
So, 2.75 months in Mexico left me with lessons learned, and cakes to show off!
Photos coming soon...
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