How the Buttercream Duchess Got Her Name

TRUE Cup Cakes Decorated by The Buttercream Duchess

I’ll tell you how. I was not born The Buttercream Duchess. This title was definitely earned.

I am a woman of a ”particular age” who has been known to dabble in domestic excess. I freely admit that I like pomp and I like circumstance. For example, I am the woman with 43 pairs of lead crystal candlesticks that get mixed and matched for holiday dinners. The candlelight can set a mood like nothing else.  I like the sparkle and I am trained with a fire extinguisher. The collection grew over several years. It became a game to find the sparkly object at the home discount retailer,  to pay no more than $10 for any single piece of sparkle and then the hunt was on to find its mate. I stopped when I realized I had too many. Now I joyously share them with young brides accompanied by a box of candles.

I have my grandmothers’ silver, my mother’s crystal, table linens from every adult female relative and cloth napkins that I am not afraid to use. And, because I waited tables through high school and college, I can fold those napkins with the best. I confess that I rarely iron the linen tablecloths. I will put them on and spritz them with cool water and smooth out the wrinkles. If I stretch them over the table the night before they will be beautifully crisp and dry when I set the table. And If I’m lucky there will be no cat fur in evidence.  

But, back to the Buttercream Duchess…It all started with a gingerbread house and a dream. My daughter, Natalie, was turning 6 and, in that crazy way I have of being excessive and cheap at the same time, I had a vision which became a plan. Imagine a diningroom filled with 16 gingerbread houses that I had baked obsessively in the two weeks preceeding her birthday. The houses are standing assembled but naked. Imagine a candy buffet with everything from necco wafers to jellied fruits and spearmint leaves. Imagine several anxious mothers holding piping bags of medium consistency royal frosting with #16 star tips and the 16 little girls so hard at work that they weren’t even eating the candy they were touching. It was magnificent…but I had the good sense to never do  it again!

I still bake gingerbread for family for the holidays. I also bake extra houses and coax several boys from the neighborhood over to decorate houses to give to their families or to a charity.  It’s our little secret. They were 17 years old this Christmas and they still came.  SSHHHH!!!!

And then those spectacular cake shows started on the cable channels. There I was with meringue powder in my fridge,  piping bags, a few frosting tips and and a spectacularly talented friend who teaches Wilton Method Cake Decorating. It was my new year’s resolution for 2009 to learn something new. I thought I would at least gain an appreciation for what I was watching other people do and maybe I would learn how to make a rose out of frosting. That was 18 months ago.

10 classes (I took the courses twice) and a treasure trove of supplies bought with 50% coupons from A.C.Moore and I am lovingly baking for friends and family. I play in sugar and butter. It is very freeing creating art that isn’t going to get dusty, it’s going to get eaten! Cake decorating captures my love of occasion, the joy and satisfaction of an intensely creative moment, and it tastes good. Here’s a link to some of my fun: Enjoy the Photo Album.

I’ll be sharing some of my zany creative hostessing moments from time to time. Let me know what you think.

Fondly,

The Buttercream Duchess