The summer is almost over and I still have a few projects left to do in the course book. I have a total of three cake mixes in the cupboard and plenty of ingredients for frosting. I broke it down earlier into 4 projects:
1) Sugar cookies
2) Cupcakes
3) Final Cake 1
4) Final Cake 2
Yes, I realize it's counter-intuitive to have two cakes labeled "Final," but There's only one in the book, and, well, I want to do two! :)
I've researched some tricks to solve a few of the problems I've been having. For the drippy filling problem, I've read that if you heat up the jam and add a box of the same flavored jello to it, the filling works better. The website didn't give much more direction than that, but I'm assuming you fill a cake while the jam mix is still warm (they said to spread it on one layer of jam at a time, so it's probably still warm and needs to cool before the next layer), but wait until it cools a bit to fill cupcakes. Again, I'm only assuming, so we'll see what works and what doesn't. It'll be an adventure!! :D
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Whaat? Three New Posts in One Day??!
Yes. Here is yet another post of what I did today :) Busy day for decorating!!
The blue ghost on the Pac Man cake was going to be a pull-apart cake, thus composed of cupcakes iced as one entity. Since I ran out of room on the Pac Man cake board for the poor little ghost guy, I had to find another use for the left over cupcakes. I just practiced one of the lessons in the Wilton book :) These are the result:
The one on the top left was my first one...they progressively got better ^_^ The next step is to use tip #233 to make a shaggy mum flower. This one turned out the best:
Oh yeah, before I iced them, I filled the cupcakes with Red Raspberry Jam with tip # 230. The picture on the directions show that you don't need a coupler. I learned (the hard way, of course) that you DEFINITELY DO! Since you have to put pressure on the tip to get it into the cupcake, the tip will slide back up into the bag and your filling will go everywhere except where it's supposed to :P So, please, for the love of a cleaner counter top, use a coupler. Also, I used my hand mixer to make the jam more liquid. I might try not doing that next time as the liquefied jam just slides out the tip and onto the floor/counter/dog/everywhere.
Today has been a good day :) Lots of experience points. I may just level up soon!! ;) Until next time.
The blue ghost on the Pac Man cake was going to be a pull-apart cake, thus composed of cupcakes iced as one entity. Since I ran out of room on the Pac Man cake board for the poor little ghost guy, I had to find another use for the left over cupcakes. I just practiced one of the lessons in the Wilton book :) These are the result:
The one on the top left was my first one...they progressively got better ^_^ The next step is to use tip #233 to make a shaggy mum flower. This one turned out the best:
Oh yeah, before I iced them, I filled the cupcakes with Red Raspberry Jam with tip # 230. The picture on the directions show that you don't need a coupler. I learned (the hard way, of course) that you DEFINITELY DO! Since you have to put pressure on the tip to get it into the cupcake, the tip will slide back up into the bag and your filling will go everywhere except where it's supposed to :P So, please, for the love of a cleaner counter top, use a coupler. Also, I used my hand mixer to make the jam more liquid. I might try not doing that next time as the liquefied jam just slides out the tip and onto the floor/counter/dog/everywhere.
Today has been a good day :) Lots of experience points. I may just level up soon!! ;) Until next time.
Pac Man Cake!
And here's the second cake for the cake walk at church tomorrow :)
Wakkawakkawakka...
I was going to have him chase a blue ghost, but there wasn't enough room on the cardboard for it. Oh well, I still like it :) Here's what I did with the leftover cake after cutting out his mouth:
It was a heart for my hubby :) He was sad that he didn't get to eat these cakes, so I figured I could at least do this much for now :)
I learned a few neat things with these last 2 cakes. First, buttercream made with real butter tastes WAY better!! I found this recipe on the back of the Hello Kitty pan:
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
First, you cream the butter and Crisco, then add the vanilla. Then add the sugar 1 cup at a time, beating on medium or low. Blend in the milk on medium then beat the heck out of it until it's fluffy :) The only downside is that it's not pure white. It's more of an off-white. But if you're going to color it anyway, might as well use the tastier recipe!!
Secondly, I've been having problems with my coloring separating from the icing, but it wasn't too bad this time. To avoid that, I used a hand mixer with a whisk attachment to blend the coloring in, plus I add a little bit of powdered sugar to kind of soak up the coloring and help blend it better. I guess it works!
Lastly, even though 1lb is 3 3/4 cups, I usually end up using about 4 anyways. Otherwise it's too greasy :P
Well, that's all for today!
Wakkawakkawakka...
I was going to have him chase a blue ghost, but there wasn't enough room on the cardboard for it. Oh well, I still like it :) Here's what I did with the leftover cake after cutting out his mouth:
It was a heart for my hubby :) He was sad that he didn't get to eat these cakes, so I figured I could at least do this much for now :)
I learned a few neat things with these last 2 cakes. First, buttercream made with real butter tastes WAY better!! I found this recipe on the back of the Hello Kitty pan:
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
First, you cream the butter and Crisco, then add the vanilla. Then add the sugar 1 cup at a time, beating on medium or low. Blend in the milk on medium then beat the heck out of it until it's fluffy :) The only downside is that it's not pure white. It's more of an off-white. But if you're going to color it anyway, might as well use the tastier recipe!!
Secondly, I've been having problems with my coloring separating from the icing, but it wasn't too bad this time. To avoid that, I used a hand mixer with a whisk attachment to blend the coloring in, plus I add a little bit of powdered sugar to kind of soak up the coloring and help blend it better. I guess it works!
Lastly, even though 1lb is 3 3/4 cups, I usually end up using about 4 anyways. Otherwise it's too greasy :P
Well, that's all for today!
Hello Kitty Cake!
Here's the latest creation!!
It's for the cakewalk at the Family Fun Fest my church is putting on tomorrow :) Next up is the Pac-Man cake!!! I've already baked it and now it just needs to be decorated. Stay tuned :)
It's for the cakewalk at the Family Fun Fest my church is putting on tomorrow :) Next up is the Pac-Man cake!!! I've already baked it and now it just needs to be decorated. Stay tuned :)
Thursday, July 8, 2010
First Cake: Not Bad, Not Great
Well here's my first cake of the course :)
To be quite honest, I sort of...winged it. And it shows a bit. First off, I don't have a scale to measure "1 lb" of powdered sugar, so I kind of guessed. I didn't think of googling it until after I had made the frosting (to anyone who's curious, 1 lb = 3 3/4 cups when it comes to powdered sugar). The frosting turned out ok-ish, but it could have been better. I also winged it on the filling. We'll see how that turned out when I test it on...I mean feed it to my friends :) For the filling I creamed a little bit of shortening with Irish Cream Coffeemate. Then I added powdered sugar and cocoa powder until it looked right. I ended up using the leftover for the cupcake bottom, the cherry, and the "red" border.
What did I learn? Well, 1 lb = 3 3/4 cups. Don't just wing it, especially after spending all day on your feet in the kitchen in the first place. I should have taken more time to practice making frosting earlier today, or even earlier this week. All in all, though, this was an evening well spent :) I hope it tastes good! :D
Update: It tasted good! The frosting was super-sweet, but that's cuz I forgot to add salt! Another lesson learned!! :)
To be quite honest, I sort of...winged it. And it shows a bit. First off, I don't have a scale to measure "1 lb" of powdered sugar, so I kind of guessed. I didn't think of googling it until after I had made the frosting (to anyone who's curious, 1 lb = 3 3/4 cups when it comes to powdered sugar). The frosting turned out ok-ish, but it could have been better. I also winged it on the filling. We'll see how that turned out when I test it on...I mean feed it to my friends :) For the filling I creamed a little bit of shortening with Irish Cream Coffeemate. Then I added powdered sugar and cocoa powder until it looked right. I ended up using the leftover for the cupcake bottom, the cherry, and the "red" border.
What did I learn? Well, 1 lb = 3 3/4 cups. Don't just wing it, especially after spending all day on your feet in the kitchen in the first place. I should have taken more time to practice making frosting earlier today, or even earlier this week. All in all, though, this was an evening well spent :) I hope it tastes good! :D
Update: It tasted good! The frosting was super-sweet, but that's cuz I forgot to add salt! Another lesson learned!! :)
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Good News!!
I can finally start baking!!! :D
Chris and I went to Little Rock yesterday to find another Wilton Course 1 book for me so I could finally start my lessons. We went to Joann's first and found Decorating Basics. Not what I was looking for, but we bought it anyway. Then we walked down to Hobby Lobby and I looked in their cake section. Apparently they were having a class, because the cake decorating aisle was PACKED with people. Well, I asked the lady who looked like she was in charge about the books. She then directed me to Decorating Basics, Flowers and Cake Design, and Gum Paste and Fondant. Turns out that Wilton changed the course material and these three books are the ones I need, not the old ones! I promptly bought the 3rd one (they only had the second one in Spanish. No hable Espagnol...), kissed Chris, and thanked him for losing the other book! I would have never known otherwise!
On top of that wondrousness, I received my giant tip set in the mail today! :) Unfortunately, it's missing some of the tips that I need for the first book (go figure, right? It comes with 52 tips and I'm still short a few :P), so I'll either have to make do, or go buy the few that I need. We'll see what happens when Chris gets home from work :) Which is SOON! I'll post as soon as my first cake is done!
Chris and I went to Little Rock yesterday to find another Wilton Course 1 book for me so I could finally start my lessons. We went to Joann's first and found Decorating Basics. Not what I was looking for, but we bought it anyway. Then we walked down to Hobby Lobby and I looked in their cake section. Apparently they were having a class, because the cake decorating aisle was PACKED with people. Well, I asked the lady who looked like she was in charge about the books. She then directed me to Decorating Basics, Flowers and Cake Design, and Gum Paste and Fondant. Turns out that Wilton changed the course material and these three books are the ones I need, not the old ones! I promptly bought the 3rd one (they only had the second one in Spanish. No hable Espagnol...), kissed Chris, and thanked him for losing the other book! I would have never known otherwise!
On top of that wondrousness, I received my giant tip set in the mail today! :) Unfortunately, it's missing some of the tips that I need for the first book (go figure, right? It comes with 52 tips and I'm still short a few :P), so I'll either have to make do, or go buy the few that I need. We'll see what happens when Chris gets home from work :) Which is SOON! I'll post as soon as my first cake is done!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Sorry, Nosferatu; You're Not Allowed in the Kitchen Anymore.
Bad news...no cakes today either :( I went to make some cookies last night and discovered red flour beetles in my cupboards!! EW!! Staying true to their namesake, they were also spotted burrowing through my flour. No cookies for Jecca. Today my friend Melissa came over and helped me clean out the cupboards and set out cut cloves of garlic, apparently a repellent for this specific specie. Now my food is protected from bugs and vampires :)
Even with a newly de-bugged kitchen, I still couldn't bake a cake (well, not a cake that would have followed the course material). My Course 1 book turned up missing :( We looked EVERYWHERE for it, turned the whole apartment upside down. We even went in the scary room (aka the office) and looked. Nowhere to be found. Chris has come to the conclusion that he probably threw it away :( He thinks he might have tossed it when we were cleaning up before our friends came over. As upset as I am that it's gone, I can't get mad at him and consider myself a fair human being. He's not the one who accidentally threw out her ~$100 wedding jewelry the week before the wedding :\ I've been trying like mad to find a free pdf somewhere, but to no avail. I guess I'll have to wing it and practice what I already know until we get a chance (and the money) to go to Joann's in Little Rock. As my fourth grade teacher would say, "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on." Thanks Mr. B; that it will.
Even with a newly de-bugged kitchen, I still couldn't bake a cake (well, not a cake that would have followed the course material). My Course 1 book turned up missing :( We looked EVERYWHERE for it, turned the whole apartment upside down. We even went in the scary room (aka the office) and looked. Nowhere to be found. Chris has come to the conclusion that he probably threw it away :( He thinks he might have tossed it when we were cleaning up before our friends came over. As upset as I am that it's gone, I can't get mad at him and consider myself a fair human being. He's not the one who accidentally threw out her ~$100 wedding jewelry the week before the wedding :\ I've been trying like mad to find a free pdf somewhere, but to no avail. I guess I'll have to wing it and practice what I already know until we get a chance (and the money) to go to Joann's in Little Rock. As my fourth grade teacher would say, "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on." Thanks Mr. B; that it will.
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