Tips on Making an Easy Piano Cake and a Bit About Sweet Inde

Michael suggested that I begin to write about my baking adventures...that makes sense I suppose since we are starting a nonprofit bakery. In writing about baking, I will also update you about Sweet Inde!
So..Michael hosted our friend Paul's birthday party yesterday. Paul is a pianist, so Michael suggested that I bake a cake and find some kind of a piano and music themed sculpture to place on top of the cake. I failed on finding a piano sculpture, so I googled "piano cake". I found so many pictures, but it seemed that all of them used fondant..and that seemed like too much work for a PhD student to do during finals week. So, I thought, "why not just use white and dark chocolate for the piano keys?" I bought two types of dark and white chocolate bars, Ghiradelli and Lindt. I learned that Lindt chocolate is smoother for shaping into piano keys. I cut long thin pieces of the white chocolate for the white piano keys and cut 1/2 size pieces of black chocolate for the smaller black piano keys. I used a chocolate frosting for the cake on two round cakes. I frosted one of the cakes for the bottom half of the cake, then cut the top round cake in half and placed it on the frosted round cake. I prepared the piano keys and used frosting to hold the white and black keys together. I then placed the prepared piano keys on the bottom cake layer (as seen in the picture). Easy as pie! It's simple, but quite elegant and appreciated by the birthday boy! So, I learned that baking "fancy" cakes does not need to be as complicated as fondant! ;0)

A bit about Sweet Inde.. I learned today that the logistical issues of starting a nonprofit are quite complicated. We need an attorney to consult with as we prepare our application. We must also become an organized "corporation" in the state of Arizona (which can take a month) before applying for 501(c)3 status. It's exhausting. If you read this and you know an attorney who might be able to support Sweet Inde in this process for pro-bono or a reduced rate, please contact us. Thank you!