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October 21, 2009
Last night was my third Wilton class., which is all about the Wilton rose. The Wilton rose is actually pretty easy…once you get someone to demonstrate it to you. Earlier this year I studied YouTube videos and the Wilton course books to learn the rose to put on my parent’s anniversary cake, and it didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. Oh, and I’m sorry the rose are in white - I know they’re kind of hard to see! I didn’t even think about it until I started to take photos of them. The yellow frosting is leftover from my sister’s Belle cake.
We also learned how to do the shell border, which is the border used on 99% of the cakes out there. It was also very simple - a lot easier than when I tried to do it for Hubby’s penguin cake in January. We learned figure piping, which I don’t have a picture of, but is what you would use to make the clown cake.
And I can’t forget about the drop flowers. These are SO cute and SO, SO easy! I made these for Stacey’s cow cake I made, and they are too adorable!
Next week is the final course.We’ll be learning leaves, stems, sweet peas, and bows. I’ll actually color my roses for next week’s class so y’all can see the detail in them!
October 20, 2009
There’s this website, thecakeslicebakers.blogspot.com, that I’ve been stalking for months. It’s the home of the Cake Slice Bakers - a group that picks a cookbook and bakes from it once a month for a year. For the past year, they have been baking from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes. When I first discovered it this past spring, there was a note on the sidebar that said that they would not be accepting new bakers until August, since they were already halfway through their book.
I checked their website every single day in August, waiting for an announcement about the next round of baking. Then I did the same in September. Was I missing something? I couldn’t find any contact info anywhere on the site, so finally I found another blogger who was participating and begged her to let me in on the secret! Turns out it IS a secret! I got pointed into the right direction, got registered, and now have access to the super-secret blog that can only be accessed by members. ;)
I’m not sure how long they accept new members for, but if you’re interested in joining, drop me a line and I’ll teach you the secret handshake!
I was SO excited to find out that they are baking from Nancie McDermott’s “Southern Cakes” book this time round. I’ve had the book for a little over a year and have baked the Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake from it and have been eyeballing over the past few months, determined to explore it a little more!
Continue reading Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake - Cake Slice Bakers >>
October 14, 2009
Last night was my second class from Wilton Course 1. This class built on the basics learned in the first class. The “what to bring” section of Class 2 says to bring an “8 in. round cake iced with thin consistency light blue Class Buttercream Icing on a 10 in. Fanci-Foil Wrap-covered cake circle (or on a 10 in. Show ‘N Serve Cake Board). ” Whew!
Remember when I said last week that Sari was laid back? Instead of having to bring an iced cake that meets the specs, she said that we could just frost a cake board, or even the back of the cake pan if we wanted. Thank God. I ended up frosting directly onto a cake board. This made it a LOT easier, especially coming straight from work. It also didn’t help that my cake carrier was out of commission, holding leftover gumpaste swan cake at my parent’s house (more on that cake later!).
In Class 2, we learned how to decorate with the star tip, write with the round tip, and do a piping gel transfer. The piping gel transfer is really easy and I can see it coming in very handy in the future. It really opens up a whole world of cakes that I wouldn’t otherwise even attempt! We turned what we learned into the Rainbow Cake. So cute! Next class we’ll learn flowers and figures, the Wilton rose, shell border, and drop flowers. I can’t wait!
October 7, 2009
I’ve been interested in taking a formal decorating class for awhile now, but never felt that I had enough time. Now that Hubby is going back to night-school, that leaves me with a couple of free nights every week. After a couple of weeks of watching movies on the couch every Monday and Wednesday evening, I decided to go ahead and dive in head first to the Wilton Method (not that watching movies every Monday and Wednesday is a bad thing, since I get to catch up on all the chick-flicks I’ve been missing out on!).
The Jo-Ann’s near my house was offering the course for only $22.50 (saweeeeet!), so I signed right up and now have plans every Tuesday evening for the month of October. Although, this still doesn’t help with my Monday/Wednesday movie night problem.
 Sari with Toba Garrett, Ron Ben-Israel, and Bronwyn Weber My first class was last night. Our instructor is Sari McIntyre (pictured above) with Sari’s Flair. Sari took up cake decorating and sugarcraft about 6 years ago, and has travelled the country, learning from the likes of Bronwyn Weber (!), Ron Ben-Israel (!!), and even Toba Garrett (!!!!!). I swear, I start drooling every time I open up Toba Garrett’s website. Oh, if only I could afford to take one of her private classes…
Anywho, the first class was interesting. We went over a lot of the basics, although I did learn a few great little tips from Sari (more on those later). I love that Sari isn’t a “Wilton Nazi”, like some other Wilton instructors I’ve read about on other blogs. She’s pretty laid back, encouraging, and is all about having fun and making it your cake. Other Wilton instructors I’ve read about won’t even let you choose different icing colors than what’s in the book! All in all, it should be a great class. Next week we make our first cake - the “Rainbow Cake”. I’ll keep you posted!
September 27, 2009
The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vol-au-Vents based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.
I have to admit that I was a little terrified when I saw what Steph had chosen for this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. I’d been doing fine and dandy with the cookies, cakes, and tarts I’ve tried since I’ve joined, but this looked like a real challenge!
I mean, c’mon…seriously…pastry??? People go to school to become pastry chefs. Doesn’t this require a degree or something? And puff pastry no less! Doesn’t this mean days of slaving away in the kitchen, turning and folding the pastry over and over in order to get those hundreds of tiny layers?? I’ve never made pastry before. Shouldn’t I sign up for a class or something before embarking on this guaranteed disaster at home?
I actually did talk to Hubby about skipping this month’s challenge, with excuses like “there’s so much going on at work this month” and “aren’t all our weekends already filled up with plans?” and even “I can’t do this challenge because we don’t have a food processor!”. He saw through all of my excuses, and reminded me that the reason I joined Daring Bakers was to actually be daring and challenged. Oh. Yeah. About that…
I put it off for as long as I could, and finally decided to bite the bullet. Turned out I had nothing to worry about. The puff pastry was surprisingly easy! Yeah, you read that right, E-A-S-Y. No more excuse for store-bought puff pastry sheets. These little babies put Pillsbury to shame. So rich and buttery, light and flaky. Mmm…I think I’ll go have another…
Continue reading Puff Pastry Dough: Vol-au-Vents - Daring Bakers >>
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