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.

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.