More Adventures In Cake Decorating

I finished Wilton III! I know this may not seem like a big deal to you, but this was my third attempt at this class. It is a huge deal for me. My lily nail flowers suck, but whatever. I’m loving the gum paste flowers better than the butter cream versions. I think I may take the advanced class one day. It’s a little pricey.

Anyhoo, here’s how I got to the above cake. Well ... it’s not a real cake; it’s Styrofoam covered in fondant. Start with a mat an your fondant.

Knead in a little Gum-Text or another type of gum and your icing color. Let me say now that none of my colors turned out the way I wanted them. I worked it out with a ribbon to pull everything together.

After kneading, roll the fondant out very thin. Work quickly. (This will be an ongoing theme.)

Next, use the smallest flower cutter and cut several shapes.

Take two or three and roll them into a teardrop shape. Make sure the others are covered with plastic wrap. (This is another theme.)

Dip a toothpick into shortening and insert into the base of the teardrop.

You can stick the whole thing into a Styrofoam cup to harden.

Now that we’ve made the rose bases, let’s move to the petals. Using the large flower cutter, cut out three petals.

Grab one and cover the other two. Using a small spatula, cut a five small slits into each petal. Do this on your thin foam.

Using the ball tool, soften the edges of the petals. Move the petal to the thick foam and use the ball tool to cup the center of the petal.

There are no pics of the next few steps, but shape the first blossom around the base. Brush on clear vanilla to get the fondant to adhere to itself. Move on to the second petal. Once it's shaped, form it around the rosebud.

After your third petal, you have a beautiful bloomed rose!

Get fancy and make some in a second color. I used too much Gum-Text and my flowers dried ashen.

Keep going until you have enough flowers for your cake.

Now. There are no pics of me covering the Styrofoam/cake in fondant. Color the fondant, roll it thin and drape over the cake. Work quickly. Very quickly. Press the sides down first and remove and buckling. Trim the excess and smooth the top with a fondant smoother.

You can use buttercream to stick the flowers to the fondant. I piled mine on the top sans buttercream. (I was going to throw the Styrofoam away and reuse the flowers.) Now, because my colors did not turn out the way I wanted them to and because I was not going to pipe any trim, I used ribbon to finish the cake.

Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Tools of the trade:

• Wilton Fondant/Gum Paste Tool Set
• Wilton Fondant Foam Set
• Wilton Flower Making Set
• Wilton Fondant Smoother
• Wilton Brush Set

Faux Fours

I know it's still winter, but stores have Easter merchandise on display, there was a Serious Eats post about spring, it was 45 degrees in Chicago recently ... I got caught up. I wanted lemon cake. I like lemon bars and lemon meringue pie, but I have never wanted or made lemon cake. The promise of spring to come has altered my taste buds.

For a few weeks, I've also wanted to make petit fours (just so I could use pourable fondant). They also help with the portion control thing. It would give me a chance to brush up on my cake decorating skills since I have Wilton III soon. This will complete my second trip through the Wilton series. I still can't make a proper rose. I digress. Now that I think about it, I never liked petit fours either. The fondant was always so gross. Cakewalk in Chicago has the best tasting fondant, Satin Ice. Fondant will never taste as good as buttercream, but Satin Ice is pretty decent.

I didn't want just any old petit fours; I wanted properly-made and artistically-inspired petit fours. There was only one resource up for the task, Pretty Party Cakes by Peggy Porschen. I love this book! I may not be able to deliver on the artistically-inspired part, but I could give it a shot.

For the cake, I used Cook's Illustrated's yellow butter cake. I use a combo of 2% milk and buttermilk, used lemon and almond extracts and added lemon zest. For reasons that allude me, I decided to bake the cake in two quarter-sheet pans. Okay. I chose those because I thought I could get away without torting. I woke up from a nap and headed into the kitchen, my judgement wasn't clear.

I hoped these were even.

These didn't brown as well as I would have liked, but they are done. Perhaps I should have trimmed the parchment more?

How tall are petit fours??! Should I tort these or just stack them on top of each other? Never again will I wake up from a nap and bake. I decided to stack the two layers. In hindsight, this was a bad idea because what did I now have? A sheet cake.

Time to brush the bottom layer with the sugar syrup. This is a lemon syrup.

Now it's time for the buttercream. I have to say that this is one of the best buttercreams I've ever made! Powdered sugar, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and a pinch of salt. It was so bright. The lemon really cut the butter's heaviness. I gave the bottom layer a nice thick coating.

Next, I put the lemon curd on the bottom layer.

If you're following along at home, place the second layer (bottom up) on top of the first. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Next is the marzipan. Marzipan is made from ground almonds. Roll it out to match the size of the cake.

Brush the cake with melted jam. I'm using citron preserves.

Cover with marzipan.

Here's where it all started to fall apart. I left my cake in the refrigerator overnight, which I think was okay. When I took it out, I let it sit for too long before trying to cut it. So yeah, I had sliding layers. Never mind that I was tying to use a cookie cutter on a sheet cake. ... I was in this predicament because I woke up and headed to the kitchen. Then I started doing chores. Yes I have learned my lesson: I will no longer wake up and try to cook.

These remnants made a great snack days later!

Moving on to the fondant. Place the fondant in a microwave safe bowl. Cover with hot water. Let it sit until the fondant is soft, about 15 minutes. Pour off the water. Add lemon juice and glucose. Microwave until runny.

Now that the fondant is melted, you should be able to dip the cakes into the melted fondant using a candy fork. Notice I said should. My too-tall cakes fell apart. The loss. The shame! The inhumanity of it all. These were still tasty, even though you had to eat them with a fork! I'll have to try again soon, when I have a whole day to devote to making them.

Tools of the trade:

• KitchenAid Stand Mixer
• French Rolling Pin
• Pastry Mat
• All-Clad 1-Qt Saucepan
• Oxo Pastry Brush
• Wilton Large Offset Spatula
• Ateco Candy Fork

Christmas Morning

It's 3:47 Christmas morning. My pound cake has been in the oven for a little over 30 minutes and I think I'm sleep walking or sleep blogging. The cake is a do-over. When the efficient, energetic me got in yesterday after two rounds at Target, a trip to the bank and Home Depot after a 5 a.m. rise to make dressing and sweet potato pie after having stood on my feet for four hours welcoming Christmas shoppers the night before -- I set the oven to 200 degrees. ( How's that for Faulkneresque?) Two hours later, I wondered why I didn't smell cake throughout the house. After adjusting the temp, it still didn't come out right. Since it was for someone else's Christmas dinner, I had to make it again.

This is the most requested thing I make. It's not baked crack like Cakeman Raven's red velvet cake in Brooklyn, but it is the best damn pound cake I've ever had. It is unbelievably moist with this crust that just gets better the next day. I thought about getting the new Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt pan for it, but it would ruin the crust to serve it upside down. I might get the pan anyway. Who am I kidding? Of course I'm getting the pan. I haven't made a Bundt cake since high school.

I digress. People have tried to recreate my pound cake because I won't give out the recipe. The funny thing is, I'm not even a big pound cake fan. Give me a cake with some icing. I only bake this cake for others.

I sit here now half dazed, not quite sleepy enough to go back to bed and not awake enough to really cook anything else. The last time I tried to cook in this state, I got a little too careless with my knife skills. I know the next items on the docket should be the red velvet cupcakes and dinner rolls, but they will have to wait. I think I'll watch A Christmas Story.

I haven't completely figured out my own Christmas menu. I have a Cornish hen and lots of fresh veggies: Brussels sprouts, potatoes, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, beets and butternut squash. I'm not quite sure about what I want to eat or how to prepare it.

Back to the cake:

I cream the butter and sugar forever. I use the time to gather the other ingredients and prep the pan.



Each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next one.



This is a no-holds-barred pound cake. Look at how thick the batter is! I've seen recipes that have called for cake flour instead of AP. If you want a lighter cake, make a different type. This is one tradition I will not break.



The batter is four pounds! It won't move unless you move it.



Look at the top.


Heaven in your mouth!
Tools of the trade:

• KitchenAid Stand Mixer
• NordicWare Angel Food Pan

Cake Decorating Success!!

I did it! I decorated a cake! It even has flowers! This was truly a labor of love and it took lots of practice outside of class. I struggle with the rose and the mum. I didn't even attempt the primrose, but I don't think it will be that hard. I'll add some leaves next time. Overall, not too shabby for Wilton II.

This is the second time I've taken the Wilton series. The first time I took it in Cleveland, it just didn't take. My current teacher, Lori, is fabulous. She's really patient and explains things in an easy to understand manner. It also helps that the class is offered at her store, so she's knowledgeable about supplies and can just walk over to a shelf, pick something up and use it as a teaching aid. If you want to learn cake decorating in Chicago, I highly recommend Cake Walk Chicago!

Advertures In Cake Decorating

I finished the Wilton Course I class tonight, It's the second time I've taken it and it seems to have clicked this time. I can make a pretty decent rose! My sweet peas were cute too. I remember being so frustrated the first time I took the courses.

I just have to try to practice. The problem is I tend to eat the mistakes. I will try to do better!

It's amazing how much pleasure I got from making flowers with icing, even if I didn't get to eat them. They weren't perfect, but the still showed I have potential.