Tylose Gumpaste

So, after my slightly failed attempt at fondant, I decided to make a few modifications to preparation and try making gumpaste. Mostly because its a whole lot cheaper, but also because I have to conquer it. :) I got a recipe from www.designmeacake.com and decided to try it. I ordered the tylose and also bought the brand confectioners sugar and sifted it before I mixed it today. Its refrigerating as we speak. I know this is going to sound silly, but this is way, way too much fun! :) I'll write tomorrow to say how it handles....from the looks of it after just the initial mixing, it looks just like the wilton ready made, a bit grainy . . . but Edna said that it will be less grainy after it rests.

See you tomorrow! :)

Night Three, Wilton Class Two

So, last night I decided I do indeed like Royal Icing, it just takes some getting used to. I like that you can smooth royal icing with cornstarch and manipulate it a little . . . which you can't do with butter cream. Also, I think after the first night and a little practice, these flowers looked better so I felt more like they looked real rather than fake and piped. I might even use a few of these on the cake in August . . .

The first was a violet. These were very simple and awfully cute I think . . .

Second was the daffodil. If you can see the petals are piped and then gently squeezed to a point. I thought they came out adorably. :) And aside from the use of the tip 1 (very very hard to squeeze) I really really like this flower!

But my absolute favorite was the lily. I made several and hope to make several more. The white was perfect because I can just use color mist to make them into whatever color I need for the cake in August.

So next week is our final cake. My instructor is graciously allowing me to try the fondant basket weave instead of the butter cream basket weave, on the cake so that I can give it a shot before August (Thank you Mary!) and then fill it full of flowers we made in this course. This will give me a shot at designing the cake and making sure the fondant will work. I'm really excited.....and hopefully I will have lots of pictures to show you my attempt. :)

Marshmallow Fondant

Okay, so I tried making my own fondant since the stuff is so expensive and tastes horrible. I did today and I think it looks great . . . I have to try to roll it out and everything this weekend sometime (since it needs to rest overnight) and see how I really like it. But for those of you who want to try it, here's a link to the recipe that was recommended to me.

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/1949/marshmallow-fondant-mmf

I found it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, so as long as you have about a half hour I would give it a shot. I'm still thinking it might be a bit easier to order my own fondant for the august cake, but I will see how this handles first.

*UPDATE*

Ok, so it rolls out and handles great, but I got a bunch of little hard powdered sugar pieces in it. I think I need to sift it next time. But to be on the safe side, I think I'll go with Satin Ice for the August cake. I'll try marshmallow fondant for Kay's birthday cake maybe. :)

Oh and it tastes GREAT!!

Night Two, Wilton Class Two

Three Flowers . . .

This is the apple blossom. Let me tell you, the yellow dots with a #1 tip, very hard! :)

This is a primrose . . .

And this is the famous Wilton Rose . . .

It was my first experience with royal icing . . . and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I want to see them when they are completely dry . . . I feel like the gumpaste looks more professional, but its entirely possible that I'm just too much of an amateur on royal icing. So sad, I suppose more practice is needed! (evil cackle!!)

And I am so thankful for my instructor Mary. The poor woman, I bombard her with questions, but she always has an answer or suggestion . . . I love it! She completely goes above and beyond what the course calls for, I am so thankful for her!

Basket Cake

Found the link to the tutorial I think I will use for my basket cake.

http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/2009/05

It is beautiful and much easier than what I was thinking . . . what do you think?

Night 1 of Wilton's "Flowers and Cake Design" Class

Tonight was mostly a review, but I left with three flowers . . .

The first was a button flower. Its a cutter from Wilton, attached to each other with gumpaste glue.



If you look closely you can see the grooves the cutter puts in the flowers. . . different huh? I'm not sure how I feel about them . . . more for a kids' cake I would think.



If you are wondering about the cutter, here is the link to the wilton cutter.

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=93495A6C-423B-522D-FB0EE360B635BD6D&killnav=1

They are fairly easy and when you do them out of gumpaste/fondant mix, you could have these flowers forever! :)

And this one is very pretty. Its a pansy. And I learned a new method to make a two-toned flower. Very cool!!



Next week is royal icing and I think four or five flours. Its my first time mixing royal icing (or working with it at all), which is very cool . . also, the flowers look beautiful, I can't wait!! :)

Success!

First with the cinnamon rolls . . .



Then with the rose. This is the second stage, because the first stage or "rosebud" picture was lost.



The third stage . . .



This is the fourth and final stage. Beautiful isn't it?? A little pearl dust and ... perfection! :)



Then the carnations (this is the best one)



The box of half-done and finished carnations . . .



All the flowers need calyxes added but they are in essence, complete. I feel very accomplished for 2 hours of work! :) I'd say it was an all around successful and busy day, wouldn't you??

A busy day . . .

Today I have to travel to a Michael's 30 minutes away just to get the right ingredients for my class tomorrow night. I'm not going to complain because I get to use my 50% off coupon and its a possibility that I can stop by cake-making heaven (candyland crafts) on the way back . . . although if I have any sense, I will just drive by since I could spend all our money there! :) Then grocery shopping and perfecting the family cinnamon roll recipe . . . apparently if you make them in a glass pan it takes more time to cook. That or the amount of flour or its possible that I didn't roll them out enough as well . . . we'll have to see what works.

Then, once the little one goes to bed . . . its gumpaste rose and possibly carnation time, depending on the amount of energy I have left. Pictures will follow.

Anyone used Satin Ice fondant versus the Wilton??

A New Beginning . . .

So with all the baking I'm doing lately, I've decided to start a blog about it. It gives me a place to get all my excitement out and hopefully get some feedback from people on cake design / recipes / just about everything!

Let me introduce myself . . . my name is Sarah and I am a fledgling baker / confectionery artist. I've been decorating cakes since I was 13 and have recently begun to perfect the art of pastry / bread baking. The goal is to eventually open a made-to-order bakery which offers pastries, cookies, cakes, granola bars . . . which are all allergy sensitive and specifically peanut-free. (Inspired by my little allergic-to-peanuts daughter).

Right now I'm working on a cake for my great grandmother's birthday. I am still brainstorming ideas for creating a basket out of fondant . . . I am weighing the options of actually weaving it by hand versus using the basket weave fondant roller which is a bit expensive for what I am trying to do.

I am also attempting to make several different types of gumpaste and royal icing flowers. Currently I am working on my carnations from gumpaste, and I'm going to attempt a gumpaste rose this evening. This Tuesday I start the wilton cake class dedicated to cake design and flowers, so maybe that will change my ideas about the cake . . . but I will keep you posted!!