A's Birthday Cake

This post is way late, but better late than never.

Back in January a friend of mine asked if I would make a cake for her son's first birthday. I was delighted to give my skills a try. They had decided on a pirate themed party and I wanted the cake to follow the theme.

The first picture is the cake that all the guests got to eat.



The second picture is of A with his special cake. His mom had wanted him to have a smash cake. The smash cake ended up being really soft, so icing it was rather difficult. It ended up being cone instead of a square. To tie in the whole pirate theme I made it look like an island. Just so you know A wasn't unhappy about the cake, it was nap time.

Josh's Birthday Cake

Above are some pictures of the cake I made for Josh's birthday party on October 17th. My writing needs some work but this is the first cake that I've ever attempted to on. It was delicious.

Wilton Flowers and Cake Design - Class 4

This has concluded my cake decorating classes at Michael's. It feels weird to be done. Don't worry I'll keep practicing my techniques and maybe one day I'll open a bakery. In the mean time I'll continue to post some pictures and hope you will keep me in mind for all your cake needs.

The last class we learned the basket-weave technique. At first I just did the sides but felt like the top was lacking so I did the whole cake. I hadn't planned to put the flowers in quiet that placement but right as I was done with the top I accidentally put the side of my hand into the cake. I used the flowers to cover my boo boo. All in all I like how in looks and it tasted wonderful!

Wilton Flowers and Cake Design - Classes 2 and 3

Roses - My pink icing was too hard so I had to switch to the purple.

Daffodil - My yellow icing was too hard as well. Do they have purple daffodils in nature?

Primrose

Apple Blossoms - I also made some Violets (not pictures) that look just like this but in purple (obviously).

Rosebuds - These were my favorite to make

So I haven't quite figured out how to do the whole typing and posting of pictures on the blog. This is my 4th attempt to do so. I'm sorry to say that if this doesn't work there will be no words only pictures from now on.

For classes 2 and 3 we used royal icing to make flowers. You use royal icing instead of buttercream because the royal icing hardens quicker and better. You make royal icing by combining powder sugar, meringue powder, and water. I also added vanilla the first time. The taste is quiet different. I think it has a slight lemony taste. The second time I made it I added some almond extract and it taste way better but still not great.

Next week we are decorating the whole cake. Stay toned....

Wilton Flowers and Cake Design - Class 1

Last week was the first lesson of the final cake decorating class that Wilton offers at Michaels. This class is all about flowers. I have a different teacher (if you want to even us the word teacher) as well as new classmates. The teacher didn't instruct us or demonstrate any of the techniques. She mainly just sat there. At the end she had to demonstrate how to make royal icing and complained through the whole process. From now on I guess I better read the instruction book before class so I have some sort of an idea of what I'm doing.

The first class mostly dealt with gum paste and fondant. The other students in my class haven't taken the Fondant and Gum Paste class yet so they found it interesting. I found it boring. I looked through the instruction book and the only week we use fondant or gum paste is the first lesson and we only make two flowers. These could easily be added to the other class. I felt bad for the other students who had to waste their money on those supplies but I guess they can hang on to them for the next class.

We learned to make two flowers during class time - the button flower (on the left) and a pansy (on the right). They both need some improvement. After making the flowers we found out that you should use more than one color to make flowers.

Orange Cream Cupcakes

I just signed up for the final Wilton cake decorating class - Flowers and Cake Design. Classes start tomorrow Tuesday, August 10.

Once I got home from signing up, I was motivated to make some cupcakes. I came up with these all on my own (with some help from Josh). It's a vanilla cupcake and orange icing with a candied orange peel on top as a garnish. The cupcake recipe was from 500 Cupcakes that Meredith and Maggie got me last year for my birthday. I created the orange icing all on my own based on my mom's buttercream recipe. And I learned how to make candied orange peels from ehow.com

Who's coming to my cupcake shop now? Better yet who's going to be my silent investor.

Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Class 4

The last class for the Fondant and Gum Paste series has come and gone. The last class consisted of covering a cake with fondant then decorating it. We also learned to make a few borders. I'm really pleased with how this cake turned out.

This was the first time Josh and I have tasted fondant. I ended up liking it but Josh was not a fan. It kinda tasted like marshmallows. I did make the fondant a little too thick so I'll try to make it with a thinner layer of fondant and more icing under the fondant next time.

This was a chocolate cake with my mom's buttercream recipe. I also added some sprinkles to the filling in between the layers.

The last class that Michael's offers is Flowers and Cake Design. This class starts this coming Tuesday evening. I haven't signed up yet. For some reason I don't know if I want to take the class but I better hurry up and make a decision.