Cake Batter & Crumbs

Wilton Classs - Week 4 Graduation Day

Last night was our final Wilton decorating class in Course 1. We spent the first hour learning how to finish creating roses. These were slow going at first as my icing kept tipping over at the base. I had to secure my rose bases with a line of icing at the bottom. The humidity here in central Pennsylvania made icing difficult to get to the right consistency. Anyway, after several attempts, I finally had something that resembled a rose! I learned that if I tilt the tip away from me, the petal will fan out nicely and look more natural.


I took this picture at class. My first few are at the top left and then they follow down to the better ones after I got the hang of it.

We ended class by learning to make bows, sweet peas, and leaves.


By the end of class my hand was so sore from squeezing the icing bag. I don't know how professional cake decorators do it. My knuckles were actually swollen! I'm sure over time you develop better hand strength, but I could barely squeeze the bag towards the end of the 2 hours.


At the end of class we received a certificate done in nice calligraphy. Overall I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot about different icing and decorating techniques. I'd love to take class 2, but living an hour away from the store puts a lot of stress into the week. We're possibly going to look into some Saturday classes later on, but for now at least... it's back to our regularly scheduled program.

Wilton Class - Week 3 Flowers & Cupcakes

Last night was our third class in cake decorating. We went over shell borders, figure piping (little faces, animals, and clowns which actually turned out kind of cute), star flowers, and swirl flowers.

I found that the shells were actually harder than I was expecting. I couldn't get the "tails" to form well, so I have to practice those. Likewise, the swirl flowers were kind of tricky for me too. My icing keeps raising up, which could partly have been due to having too thin icing. I'm going to make some icing and practice these over the weekend. I think the properly done swirl flowers look really pretty, so I want to be able to make them well.



We're going to Knoebels on Saturday, which is an amusement park here in central Pennsylvania, so Sunday will be devoted to practicing my flowers & shells! Also, if I see any cake stores along the way I'm making the guys pull over!

Our instructor also showed us how to put swirl icing on top of cupcakes. I already learned how to do this by making a swirled ring around the outside of the cupcake and then creating another swirl in the middle. Our instructor just made one large continuous swirl from outside through the middle. I think it really just matters how big the tip is. Last night we used 2D tips; I've also used the 1M tips. I think the swirls look really sweet, especially with sprinkles. Unfortunately, I didn't have any last night.


One class to go. She said we'd be having a graduation next week... not sure what exactly that means.. but we'll find out!

Wilton Class - Week 2 1st Cake

Last night was our second Wilton class. We were required to bring in a baked and frosted cake to decorate. I brought a 2-layer spice cake and frosted it with yellow icing.    

Getting everything ready was a huge task. My mom and I live around 45 minutes away from the Michaels where the cake decorating class is taught. But, I work in the same city as the Michaels, so I had to get everything ready the night before to have it there in time for my class after work. I ended up going through 3 batches of icing because we had to take in different amounts of each stiff, medium, and thin consistency icing. The recipe we had to use didn’t make enough for all of those in one batch, plus I had to ice my cake. Wednesday night the kitchen was a disaster area. I had powdered sugar everywhere along with globs of icing all over everything. I’m a VERY messy baker/cook, but I’m trying to get better at it.

   

In class we practiced making stars, zig-zags, dots, writing, and the base for roses. After about an hour and a half of practicing, she left us go to decorate our cakes. Then the feeling of being overwhelmed set in. I stared at my cake and had no clue what to do. This is always a problem for me! I really liked the way the zig-zags looked as a border, so I decided to go with that. It’s a little harder actually decorating the cake versus the practice board. But as our instructor said, every cake will have a back to hide mistakes!

   

I’m really pleased with how the colors turned out. The pink really shows up against the light lemony yellow background. Since we were really limited in what we can do at this point, I decided to try writing on top. This time I used the larger disposable bag to pipe on the icing for writing. After using both the parchment and disposable bag, I learned that I have a much more control when using the parchment since I can hold it more easily in my hands. From now on, it’s parchment for writing all the way!

   

Next week we’re allowed to bring in cupcakes. I’m soooo excited about this because I absolutely love them. I think we’ll be learning another flower and some other border options.

Cake Decorating Class

Last night my mom and I attended the first session of our Wilton Course 1 classes at our nearest Michaels craft store. The course is divided into 4 classes throughout the month and teaches the basics in cake decorating. My mom and I are newbies when it comes to decorating. We purchased a lot of the equipment but were never sure quite how to use it properly.   

By the end of the course we should be able to create basic shells, stars, flowers, dots, leaves, sweet peas, and the ultra intimidating rose. Our instructor guaranteed that we’ll be able to do all of this… obviously she’s never met my mom or me!

   

The way the class works, is each week we are required to bring a cake to class that we’ve baked and frosted. At class we’ll learn techniques to decorate it and then get to take our cake home with us.

   

Mom and I are really excited to be doing this and I’ll post my progress pictures throughout the month. Our class last night was all introduction, but we already learned so much like icing consistencies, how to level cakes and properly frost them. Today I’m excited to go through my cake supplies and take inventory of what I have and what I someday hope to purchase.

   

Tomorrow I’ll be baking and attempting to decorate a cake for my mom’s official birthday party that we’re having on Saturday. I guess it will be a good way to see what my decorating level is now and compare that to what Ill be able to do at the end of my course.