Christmas in June!

So my best friend from high school has been doing some cleaning out of stuff that she no longer uses... and being aware of my new interest in cake decorating she asked if I wanted her stuff! Of course I did! Well, wasn't I surprised to see HOW MUCH she was giving me!

-Cake pans - Ice Cream Cone, Snowman, Christmas Tree, Easter Bunny, Cross, Train, and Heart!
-Decorating Bags - Parchment triangles and Disposable Bags
-29 piece deluxe tip set! (w/ a couple extra tips and extra #9 flower nail!)
-Tupperware Decorator comb
-Decorator brush set
-9 large bottles of Icing Colors
-Script Message press set
-Block letter make any message set
-4oz Meringue powder
-Wilton's 2003 yearbook (and a couple of other small idea books...)
-Extra couplers and a #789 cake icer tip!

Anyone who's taking the Wilton classes like I am (or just likes to decorate!) knows how much this stuff is going to come in handy! WOW! Thanks, Jodi!

3-D Cupcake Pan Giveaway!

Ever wanted Wilton's 3-D cupcake pan - check out cakespace.blogspot.com! Maybe you could win one!


(Contest ends June 30, 2008)

Wilton Cake Course II, Class 2

Last night we learned how to make some new flowers w/ royal icing and also how to use color flow icing. I'm having tons of fun in this class and I really love the things we just learned! It amazes me what you can make out of icing! I also love the fact that these flowers can be made ahead of time! (It's been very rewarding and exciting to see how much I've learned and how quickly. Not too mention that fact that each time I learn something new, I don't feel quite as bad about all the supplies I've bought and want to buy! :-) I think my husband also feels that way! :-) I think he's been pretty impressed w/ what I've learned to do in such a short time!)

The first thing we did last night was work w/ color flow icing... I'm not completely thrilled w/ the birds, although I do think they came out better than I was expecting... I had ready a butterfly pattern also... I've seen pictures online of cakes w/ the birds and also w/ the butterflies and I think butterflies look way cuter! :-) I was so nervous about working w/ color flow since the book (and our instructor) warned us to be careful since it can dry out quickly. I'm relieved to say I didn't have any problems w/ this! We outlined our designs w/ a tip #2 and then used a parchment bag w/ a tiny tip cut off to fill them! I also have TONS of leftover color flow icing... maybe I'll make a few backups in case some break...

My best bird (I need to buy the edible markers to make the eye and color the beak...)


My butterflies...


Next we moved on to royal icing... we brought 4 colors to class - yellow, green, pink and purple... and made apple blossoms, violet leaves, and violets... I was able to make 7 or 8 of each in class and then I made some more at home last night (At the suggestion of my instructor, I dried some of my leaves on the opposite side of the flower former to have them curved in different ways..._ I still don't know what flowers I want to include on my final cake... So I'm trying to make sure I have extras of everything. (After all, they'll keep for a while - I can make cupcakes or a small cake w/ my leftovers!)

Flowers/leaves I made in class...


Closeup of flowers/leaves I made in class...


Flowers/leaves I made at home....


Next week we make more royal icing flowers! (victorian roses, daisies, daffodils, pansies, and primroses...)

Wilton Cake Course II, Class 1

Last night was my first class of Wilton 2 "Flowers and Borders".

We reviewed some basics of course 1 (how to make a parchment bag, the shell etc.). Then we moved on to learning a couple of new buttercream decorations - the Reverse Shell, the Rosette and the Rosebud (none of which were too difficult once the instructor showed them to us).

Next our instructor showed us how to make Royal Icing (the best way I've heard Royal Icing described is that it takes like "dots" candy - you know the candy dots that are on paper - it really does!). She gave us some and we learned to make Chrysanthemums! She let us take the leftover home (which was quite a bit... since there are only two of us in the class...). I was glad that she did - I made 5 mums in class and they didn't come out too good... I made tons more at home last night and I was getting better. I still have some icing left and as long as it didn't dry out, I'm hoping to make some more this morning to practice (hopefully I'll get better, they don't look too bad, but they don't look like the ones in the book...).



Part of our homework was to cut out all the flower nail templates in the back of the book (there is a template for all the different flowers we're going to work on). Our instructor let us use hers in class and gave us a great idea - she cuts hers out and puts clear tape or laminating paper on top, then she puts a magnet on the back so the flower template will stay on the flower nail! Then all you do is rub a little shortening on the top of the flower template and lay your waxed paper on it and it sticks! It really works nicely!

Can't wait for next week! - color flow... and more royal icing flowers (apple blossom, violet leaf, and violet)

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(Contest ends June 22, 2008)

Free KitchenAid Stand Mixer Giveaway

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Check it out at http://mywoodenspoon.com (and click the link for **CURRENT GIVEAWAYS**)

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(Contest ends June 17, 2008)

Wilton Cake Course I, Class 4

Tonight I "graduated"! Yeah!

For my final cake, I made chocolate cake (see previous post) and used a cherry jelly for a filling. My husband and I prefer the plain jelly vs. adding the Jello to the jam... it was WAY TOO sweet w/ the Jello... although, the Jello did make the filling a little firmer... (btw, if you use the plain jelly - make sure to eat it w/in a few days as the jelly "juice" will start to make the cake a little soggy...)

I decided to make peach roses w/ a darker peach bow... I mixed orange and lemon yellow to get my peach... instead of actually buying peach icing color... My icing for my roses was a little bit too stiff and the petals are a little jagged... I like how they turned out, though - sometimes real roses can have "jagged" edges. I also didn't have room to write on my cake (I made a 8 inch cake instead of buying a 10 pan as suggested in the course book...)

(btw... I was playing around w/ my leftover icing in preparation for my first Wilton 2 class next week - I added some pink and it made the peach much prettier!)

(I did my leaves w/ a tip #352 borrowed from my instructor... It was way easier for me than the leaf tip that came w/ the kit! When I used the tip that came w/ the kit, I couldn't get the ends of my leaves to come out right... at least not consistently... the tips kept breaking off!)

(I also learned how to finish the shell border... I didn't have a problem w/ the bottom row since I was alternating shells/sweet peas... but the top was just shells... it was a lot simpler to finish off then I thought... I just had to judge if I needed one or two shells to finish - and the last shell was just kind of "fudged" into my first shell... If you look closely you can see two smaller shells near the top of my rose spray... but it's kind of hard to pick out...)


A close up of my roses...


Next week, I start Wilton 2... Royal Icing and new types of flowers! (oh, and a break from cake... I only have to make one cake for the final class of Wilton 2!)