Cake Decorating Class #4 - Final

My last 'Decorating Basics' class was yesterday.  It was a pretty intense class, including learning the Ribbon Rose (here's a picture of the best one I managed), as well as learning to do writing, and decorating our final class project cakes.

I had prepped a bunch of drop flowers ahead of time, letting them dry for 24 hours to get them hard enough to move to the cake.

I hadn't planned to write anything on the cake - I was sending it to work with Arvid, so I didn't really want to write 'Happy Birthday'.  So when I was making th icing, I just coloured the stuff I was going to use for icing any green, just for practicing.  Then I decided I should write 'Happy Friday', but I felt really rushed to finish my cake in class (I spent a rediculous amount of time on the roses), so I didn't take the time to prep a better colour for writing.  I wish I had - I think the green of the writing is just too bright.  Oh well, I'll know for next time.

I think, on the whole, it turned out really nicely.  I sent it to work with Arvid, and he said it was a hit (but what free and unexpected cake isn't).  Here are a few more pictures.  Enjoy.

Cake Decorating Class - #3

 

This week's cake decorating class was cupcakes - and I had so much fun with them. We filled our cupcakes (I used puréed cherry pie filling), then decorated them.





 We also learned drop flowers and leaves, which I had tried on my own before, but couldn't figure out.  It turns out they're really easy and I just needed to know a few tricks.  I like them a lot, so I'm going to use them on my final cake next week.


My favourite cupcake happened by mistake (so many good things started out that way!).  I was running out of white icing and had a couple of cupcakes left to do, so I added the extra pink icing I had to the bag and just kept piping.  I ended up with the pink and white swirl you see to the left.  I like it so much, I think I'll do it on purpose next time!

Cake Decorating Class - #2

I'm taking a Wilton cake decorating class! It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but it just didn't happen until now.

I'm really enjoying it.  Yesterday we made our first cakes (the first week was cookies).  I was surprised at how easily the techniques came to me - I thought I'd have trouble with anything but stars.  It's amazing what I difference using the right icing consistency can make!

Here is a picture of the finished product.

It's the first time I've torted a cake (cut it in half and filled it with something).  I'm really happy that I bought the cake leveler, which made the torting cut very easy.

I'm excited for next week - we're filling cupcakes and learning drop flowers - yay!


PS: I realize there's no Cake Decorating Class #1 post, but I forgot to take pictures last week, so it would have been a pretty boring post.

So, all of a sudden...

So, all of a sudden, Bryn likes grapes.  She's always hated them.  When I started her on solid foods, they (canned ones at that point) were the only thing she would spit out!  And now, today, she can't get enough of them.  She sees them on my lunch plate and keeps signing 'more, more', pointing at them. Cool!