c'mon get happy: the final chapter of cake class

September was our last month of cake class, as we finished the Fondant & Gum Paste course at Michael's. As usual, our instructor was really great and let us do whatever we wanted for our final cake instead of something cheesy from the book.

During one of the classes, a remark was made about one of the fondant cutters looking like a partridge or baby chick. There is still debate about who came up with this first, but since this is my blog, I win. I said it first. It looked like a partridge. So I made a Partridge Family Cake.

Not my finest work, but it sufficed. It was cookies and cream cake and was enjoyed by Amber's esteemed colleagues (though apparently no one likes to be the first one to cut a cake covered in fondant, so Amber had to step up and take care of business).

If you're interested in cake decorating, take these classes. It will really give you the basics you need to attempt the designs in your head. :)





P.S.: Don't forget you can still vote for my cupcake using the widget to the left! Voting ends Friday!

why I'm not going into the wedding cake business anytime soon

Our third Wilton Method class came to an end this week. The final cake was made from two double layer cakes. We could use pillars or stack them, and all of us chose to stack them. We'll save the pillars for another time.

We got to choose any design we wanted for our final cakes. I wanted to do a fondant covered cake and use an imprint mat to put a "graceful vines" pattern on the entire thing. The plan was to then pipe red buttercream frosting on top of the pattern, add a dot border around both layers in the same buttercream, and cover the entire top in red fondant roses with bright green leaves.

It didn't exactly turn out that way. The "graceful vines" didn't transfer to the fondant, so I had to just wing it when it came to the vines and flowers. Looks more like squiggles and stars. And I ruined my buttercream by overwhipping and adding too much color, so I had to use tubes of Wilton's pre-colored decorator frosting. And the heat and my exhaustion killed the idea of me making more than 5 flowers (or Mr. MacGregor's cabbages again). After about 18 total hours, this is what I came up with.


A better look at the top...


Now I know why people charge so much for wedding cakes. They are labor intensive in a way you don't understand until you're elbow deep in buttercream that has wilted and your fondant won't roll.

I will let Mark post his own photos of his cake on his blog, but you have to see the great cakes made by the other people in our class. They were so creative.

Marsha's incredible royal icing flowers and cornelli lace:


Amanda's dinosaur:


Claire's brush embroidery:


One more class left - Fondant and Gum Paste.

Stay tuned...

Wilton Method course 2 comes to an end...

I just finished the second Wilton course, which focused on flowers and the basket weave pattern for icing the sides of a cake. After having quite a bit of difficult throughout the course trying to get my roses to not look like Mr. McGregor's prize cabbages and making daisies with petals that looked full as opposed to knocking on death's door, this is what I came up with for the final project. The flowers are daisies, apple blossoms, and violets, and the birds are made from color flow.

I start course 3 next week. Stay tuned!

Wilton Method 1 comes to an end...

Last night was our last Wilton Method 1 class. We even have certificates to prove it.

The task of the night was to learn to make sweet pea flowers and leaves as well as to finish roses. I chose garden colors because their tones were muted and fluorescent pink hurts my eyes. I made the icing for the roses too stiff, which is why the petals are broken and ragged on the tops. As much as the perfectionist in me was upset that my roses weren't smooth like others', I thought it let them pass as antique roses. With the addition of the Austen quote from Pride & Prejudice (it refers to Jane Bennett, or Bingley at that point), it all came together.


Closeup of the roses


and of the piping...


Next week starts the Wilton Method 2 class. It's mostly flowers. Hopefully I can get my icing kinks worked out by then or it's going to be all Austen/antique, all the time.

a student of the Wilton method

Mark and I are taking a cake decorating class at a local Michael's, specifically Wilton Method 1. We have to make a cake each week for class and decorate it using techniques we learn. We are allowed to make any type of cake with any recipe that we would like, but to my great chagrin, we must use the Wilton buttercream recipe.

To call it buttercream gets on my last literary nerve, since it uses Crisco as a base instead of butter. This is to allow it to sit out for weeks at a time (even though cake only stays fresh for a few days) and to give it a thicker consistency to give piping and decorating clean lines and good support. I think it tastes awful, and so does Mark, even though his "buttercream" recipe is similar to the class recipe. For more on the "buttercream wars," see his blog.

Anyhow, I've made two cakes thus far and both went to Amber's work the day after. The second was made specifically for them.

The first was practicing the star fill-in technique, as well as piping letters.


The second uses flowers. The rest of the class made a clown cake, but clowns are an abomination and I am horrified by them. Thus, I stayed with flowers so as not to have nightmares.



I am relatively satisfied with them, but it's hard to care about a confectionary creation when you aren't even tempted to sneak some icing.