Lesson 6: Inspiration is everywhere.
I probably have something approaching 20 books on cake now, everything from recipe books to little books of decorating tips and tricks. I have books that are aimed at the home baker and books that assume you've had at least some pastry training. I have books that provide step by step instructions and books that are more about the art of the cake. Each of them informs how I approach cake and how I approach decorating. Some of my favorites are Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, Sky High: Irresistable Triple Layer Cakes, the Ace of Cakes book, and Hello, Cupcake! and What's New Cupcake?.
However, you don't have to have a book on cake to be inspired. One of my favorite sites is Cake Wrecks, partly to laugh at the wrecks, but mostly to look at the Sunday Sweets and take inspiration from them. There are tons of other forums on the web, too, filled with people posting about their cake experiments. Heck, there's my perennial head-banging effort in threadcakes -- cakes inspired by t-shirts.
You can also find inspiration in the every day -- maybe there's a photo in a magazine you like, or a pattern on wallpaper, or that funky building you pass every day on your commute. It's always worth trying to recreate what you see, even if it doesn't turn out, because you might just learn something new.
Where do you find inspiration for your cakes?
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