Ravishing Rosette Cake

So, I finally took the plunge and did a full-size cake.  Not a tiered cake - yet.  And I haven't attempted a fondant covering.  But I just wanted to get my feet wet a bit with a bigger cake.  I did a three layer carrot cake.  It was a box mix, but I do plan on coming up with some recipes of my own.

At first I just made the one box of cake mix, using two 9-inch round pans.  But - as soon as they were out of the pans, I knew I needed at least one more layer to achieve the look I was going for.  Alas, it was 8:45 p.m. on a Sunday night.  So - I decided to stack those and do a crumb coat.  Between the layers, before putting frosting, I made a simple syrup type mixture of brown sugar, water, honey, butter and cinnamon.  I brushed the tops of the layers with the mixture.  Then I spread frosting for filling and sprinkled finely crushed roasted pecans.

I made a cream cheese buttercream for the frosting, which was a bit tricky.  I initially made the standard buttercream recipe that I use and added one 8 oz tub of whipped cream cheese to it.  It just wasn't cream cheesy enough.  So, I added an additional 8 oz tub of the spreadable cream cheese (not the whipped because they were out.)  Well - it made the frosting waaay too soft.  I started trying to pipe my design and it wouldn't hold up at all.  Started sliding down the side.  So - after another trip to the grocery store for a 2 lb bag of powdered sugar, I was soon back in business.  I added another half bag of sugar to the frosting mixture and it set up quite nicely.

So - here are my results.

I piped giant rosettes all over the cake.  I used a large tip - #2004 (which, by the way, I haven't seen on Wilton's site.  It came in a decorating caddy kit I bought a few weeks ago.)  The tip is pretty big though - a giant closed star.  I'm quite pleased with the results.  I know that it's not perfect, but I think I'm getting there.