641.3513 (Carrots)

So the post isn't really about carrots, but carrot cake (with cream cheese frosting, of course). I'm sorry about the bad photography that follows - it was night and I was using my phone camera.

The above photos are of my first attempt at a sheet-style cake (12x18), which I made for a retirement party at my husband's workplace. He didn't have a design in mind, nor did his supervisor (who requested the cake), so they got something simple with a little bit of "whimsy". Anything 'white' on the cake is cream cheese frosting; anything colored is a simple buttercream - I wasn't sure how well cream cheese frosting would pipe or hold up.

Next time, I'll make more batter for a taller cake or stack two on top of each other. This time? It is what it is.

523.8 (Stars)

Last class of the Wilton III course is covering a cake with fondant and decorating it. Here's mine!

Fondant balls and star cutouts

I went with a simple yellow base with purple and white fondant cutouts and rolled balls. The technique is fairly simple - cover the cake with buttercream (enough to have a fairly smooth surface), roll enough 1/8" fondant to completely cover the cake plus an inch or two on each side. I played with the pearl powder to make the cake very shiny. You can see the effects of pearl power in the photo below.

Fondant ball border with pearl powder

Gum paste glue holds the stars on the cake and the balls on the base. It's a fantastic technique, but I HATE the taste of fondant. Blech. I'd prefer buttercream alone anyday.

641.86539071 (Cake Decoration, Education)

I started the Wilton III course this Friday. While most of class was pretty boring (rehashing gum paste and fondant use and doing a LOT of prep work for gum paste flowers), I did learn one useful skill that I immediately put to use: bow making.

50/50 Fondant and Gum Paste Bow on Buttercream Ruffle Cake

This was also my first attempt at the ruffle technique for frosting a cake and I have to say that I'm pretty happy. Much like the rosette technique though, it takes about 1-1/2 recipes of butter cream to complete it. This cake is HEAVY. The bow I made isn't the typical bow for a Wilton class, either. It's thinner, one less layer of loops, and is wavy edged. I hated the bow I made in class, so I decided that I'd try again to make something I liked. I'm happy with this one.

306.8742 (Father-child relationship)

While I didn't get to spend Father's Day with my Popsi-Cola yesterday, I did make some cupcakes for the party at my Aunt Jan's and Uncle Gary's in honor of my Pop's Pop (my Grandpa) and got to test my homemade lighting rig for the first time.

Check out that photo! Not even edited! Following the "How to Make an Inexpensive Light Tent - DIY" tutorial written by Darren Rowse on the Digital Photography School blog, I made my own lighting rig using an old U-Haul box, white tissue paper, packing tape, and some leftover scrapbook paper. It looks something like this:

Lighting rig all set up.

The lamps are  from the local Wal-Mart (about $5 a piece) and I'm using daylight florescent bulbs/lamps in both. The rig is small enough that the box stores in a closet and the lamps just hang out in my kitchen until I need them again.

Lamps chillin' out of the way on the counter.

The cupcakes are simple white cake (with yolks in... I was lazy) with fresh raspberry butter cream frosting (we had leftover raspberries in the fridge). The design is just a simple rosette on top. So to conclude this post, a few more cupcake photos and some pictures of me and my Pops. What can I say, I'm a daddy's girl at heart.

Mmmm... raspberry butter cream!

Yes, two liners. It stops any oily marks from the cake and make it more delicate.

It takes quite a man to be a good father. I'm pretty sure that I've got one of the best!

793.2 (Parties and entertainments)

I just hosted a bridal shower for my best friend and her future hubby, and with the help of my mother and the bride and groom's mothers, we turned a basement room of a local art museum into a cheery, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" themed shower space.

 I bought vases, beads, and tiny square mirrors at our local Dollar Tree to create 10 small centerpieces to decorate the tables using dyed daisies, carnations, and baby's breath.

I purchased "high quality" plastic silver ware and plates from Party City. I then baked and decorated sugar cookies, which I packaged in paper CD sleeves and tied with black and white bakers twine. Silver chargers (left over my my own wedding almost 3 years ago) were used to complete the place settings.

When we arrived at the museum, my moms (my actual mother and my "other mother", the bride's mother) discovered that the tables weren't the size we thought they were - we were expecting tables that sat 8 and these tables sat 6. We had to go out and buy some tablecloths last minute... and since Manitowoc (where we hosted the shower) doesn't have a Party City, we couldn't match the Tiffany's blue of the other tablecloths I purchased). It wasn't as pretty as I would have liked, but it worked.

And of course I made a cake and cupcakes for the party! How could I not!?! The cupcake tower is made out of aluminum covered soup cans and foam core board covered with craft paper and ribbon. It was cheap and easy and could hold almost 40 cupcakes.

The small orange and white cake had a blue ombre interior, which I didn't get a picture of before the cake was eaten and destroyed, and the cupcakes were chocolate with simple vanilla buttercream. I had a mixture of paper and foil liners on the cupcakes, as I was using the leftovers from other projects.

I made three floral "puffs" that I placed on chargers and mirrors at the center of the buffet table. They're a little hard to see in this photo (it's white against a white background) but they were very effective at making the buffet table look pretty. My black and white damask tablecloth that I usually use for summer picnics came in handy to cover the extra long buffet table.

All in all, it was a successful shower with delicious food and good company! One less activity to cross off my list before the wedding in June... now if only the table runners and bridesmaid clutches would sew themselves...

741.642 (Children's Books)

UW-Madison hosts an annual Edible Book Festival where groups or individuals make representations of books out of edible materials. A few of my colleagues at Memorial were directly responsible for putting the festival together and I decided that I should probably create an entry for the festival.

I had a tricky time choosing a book to work with - I was torn between two different books - but my students at the elementary schools where I work and my fellow SLIS grads helped me decide to go with my favorite picture book of all time: "We Are In a Book!" by Mo Willems.

I decided to go a little punny with my cake and change the phrase "We Are In a Book" that is shouted by Elephant and Piggie to "We Are On a Cake" and my little punny turn-o'-phrase ended up winning me a prize! I won the "Funniest/Punniest Cake" award and took 2nd place in the People's Choice vote!

My cake also became famous, getting coverage on Eating in Madison A to Z and I was quoted in a UW Library News & Events article written by a fellow SLISer! Oooh, and a Flickr set of all the entries! Without further ado, the cake!

641.568 (Cooking for special occasions)

A SUPER special occasion just happened - and that would be my husband's 30th birthday! My parents stopped down to celebrate with us and in order to better celebrate his birthday, I baked a cake and decorated it with my FAVORITE, SUPER SIMPLE type of decoration - the rosette!

6" layer cake (white) with buttercream icing

Having seen the technique a thousand and a half times on Pinterest, I decided it was time to try the all rosette cake cover for myself.

Ombre technique inside and out the cake

To stack, frost, and completely cover the 6" cake in rosettes took about 10-15 minutes and produces a BEAUTIFUL cake. I used the ombre technique in green (since it's my husband's favorite color) to make the inside just as pretty as the out. There's a thin layer of buttercream between each of the cake layers as well.

Green ombre using buttercream

I am completely in love with this cake technique and will DEFINITELY be using it again in the future!

635.3 (Edible leaves, flowers, stems)

So this post might not be about actual edible flowers, but it is about flowers piped with frosting, which is edible.

Royal Icing "Primroses"

The types of flowers I make most often are those made out of royal icing. The beauty of royal icing is that, like a well preserved book, the icing flower will last forever if stored properly. Royal icing flowers harden up and since they are made of only water, meringue powder, and powdered sugar, if kept in an airtight container in a cool place, they will last for years.

Royal Icing Violets, Roses, Lilies, and Daffodils

One batch of royal icing will make dozens of flowers. My Wilton instructor suggests making more flowers than you need for your project and simply store the rest for "quick cakes", and I'm apt to agree. Having a container of pre-made flowers in the cupboard is nice when you have to suddenly decorate cupcakes or need a "special" piece for a cake.

The down-side to royal icing flowers (if there is one) is that they are a little "crunchy" if not placed on buttercream long enough for them to soften. I personally like the crunch of royal icing, but not everyone does. Many royal icing flowers can be make with a stiff buttercream icing as well.

Petal technique on cupcake in buttercream icing

Petals made with a LARGE petal tip and a slightly stiff buttercream can cover a cupcake, giving it a very feminine appearance. Large "Wilton" roses can be piped onto a cupcake using the same petal tip, as seen at center bottom below:

Petal technique on cupcakes, including a buttercream rose.

I use a Wilton tip# 125 to cover cupcakes with petals, and a Wilton tip# 104 for my more "normal" sized roses and petaled flowers.

Piped flowers are only one type of floral technique I use on cakes and cupcakes. More types of flowers to come soon... perhaps even an ode to my favorite "floral" technique, the simple and under appreciated rosette.

641.86539 (Cake decoration)

Happy Wednesday!

It all began Summer 2012, when I took a Wilton cake decorating course at the Michael's Arts and Crafts near my home. There, I learned the decadent ways of cake and buttercream, learned to sculpt frosting into flowers, roll and press fondant, and wield a bag of royal icing with a supple dexterity... okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch.

For my very first post, I decided to show the world where I started - in class! Having a day job as an educator and a librarian, I have quite a bit of love for learning just about anything, so knowing that I love cake like a fat kid loves...well...cake, I thought that a Wilton class was right up my alley.

Sculpted gumpaste flowers

Like everything that takes practice and determination, I spent a good part of my summer (approximately 8 weeks) feeding my "practice" to summer camp colleagues at Wednesday morning meetings (hence the "Happy Wednesday" cake above). They provided feedback on my cake/frosting combinations and saved me from having to either eat all the cake myself, or, god forbid, trash it.

Rosette swirl with buttercream

The goal of this blog is to simply write and post and get into the habit of actually documenting my habit because unlike my sewing habit and crafting habit, the products of a baking habit don't stick around - they get eaten. Talk about a "transient beauty"!

Final cake for Wilton II. Vanilla cake and frosting with royal icing flowers.

So here is to the "foundations" of my education -- the first products of my cake decorating classes -- the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly (why I used this startling green, pink, orange, yellow, and violet color combination on this cake, I will never know). Blog posts from here on out will either be themed or educational, with a good smattering of library/education posts here and there. Posts will be here and there (as I'm working on my MLS - Masters of Library Science), but I continue to bake, so posts will continue to happen. Let's bake!

Basket weave piping technique on side of cake.