Oh wow. My first try at a cake "on my own" without my instructor's help. I went out on a limb and tried to do roses without instruction (we had not yet gone over them)...wow. I've come a long way, I believe.
I practiced smoothing my frosting here too so that the buttercream has the "fondant" effect going for it.
This was one of my first cakes. It was one I did in my Wilton class. The things I learned from this cake were how to apply the correct pressure to frost a cake, how the consistency needs to be in order to apply that frosting, how to make a slick, glassy and watery look on my cakes. I also took my first stab at drawing on cakes.