Back in the Saddle with Gumpaste Lavender

It's been a while since I posted anything cake related so I thought I would share what did for a party this weekend. 

I made 24 gumpaste lavender stems last week and baked some chocolate chip cupcakes for a family party. It was the first in at least 6 years that I have done anything at this level. Working with gumpaste is very different than working with icing in a piping bag. Some would say it is easier because it doesn't require the same skill set. If I didn't have that skill set, I would agree. Since I do know my way around a piping bag, I think piping these out onto the cupcakes would have been faster, and therefore easier. 

I don't know why I didn't pipe these on instead of making them in gumpaste. These definitely give off a fancy vibe and while it was a family gathering, I wanted them to be extra special for this occasion. 

Each flower and leaf was painstakingly made by hand and assembled. I was glad I did it. I confirmed for myself that I've still got it!

I had all the supplies that I needed, I just needed some fresh gumpaste. Literally, everything else was in my stash, plus, plus, plus!

I will share a video on how I made them on my YouTube channel soon, so stay tuned for that.

Back to classes!

Cake classes have started up again for the fall and my oven is ready for baking season! "Course III, Fondant and Tiered Cakes" started on Wednesday with a great group of ladies of all differrent skill levels.

Here on the left, is a picture of Edith's cake from a CIII in the Spring. Aren't her white roses stunning! Great job Edith!

Look at what Nicole made! I love colors and so does Nicole. She made her roses in all the colors of the rainbow and did worderful work. Her 15th birthday is in a month and her aunt Julianna says she is begining to plan the big party including making her own cake. Can you believe she is so young and so talented?

Cupcakes-o-plenty!

I had a cupcake lesson the other night and my students did a great job making beautiful cupcakes. Here are just a few from Connie, Paula and Regina.

It seems cupcakes are all the rage now-a-days. I mean everybody’s into making cupcakes and hey, why not! They are perfect pint size treats that can adapt to any occasion. Cupcakes aren’t just for bringing in to your kids class anymore. People are having cupcake wedding cakes! It’s not very traditional but doesn’t it sound like a great idea?

Ambiebride.com showed this lovely "wedding" cake on their site, calling cupcake wedding cakes an affordable alternative. I am not sure I agree with that because as a baker and a decorator, it all depends on what the bride wants and what it will take to produce the end result. Afterall, depending on the design alone, icing/decorating 250 cupcakes versus a cake serving 250 is a completely different thing.

Martha has been very busy on the web lately promoting the art of cupcaking since the infamous media mogul just released a brand new book on cupcakes. Check out her site for some truly amazing pictures of the Cupcake challenge at Martha Stewart Living Radio: open only to folks on Sirius XM! radio. I almost hate to share this as I want to steal all their ideas but the cuteness and cleverness of the ideas is so awesome I am bursting to show everyone! Let me know what you think by posting a comment.
In addition to Martha’s new book on cupcakes, which I haven’t managed to get my hands on yet, there are two other books that I think are great cupcake books

First is the "The Cake Mix Doctor, Cupcakes". Her technique is very simple and she spells it all out. Use a ready made cake mix, any brand you like and add the ingredients she suggests, bake it and you will have some amazing flavor combinations with the frosting pairings she suggests. The second book I love is, "Hello Cupcake!" by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. The author completely floored me with her creativity and using only ready made ingredients to decorate cupcakes with anything from sharks, sunflowers or an incredible cupcake cake decorated to look practically dead on like a Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. I laughed out loud, chuckling and snorting like a child, unconscious of being in a public place when I starting leafing through this book. I hear her vanilla cupcake recipe is the best!

Check out the book carousel on the right side of this page if you are interested in purchasing any of the books I’ve mentioned.

Here is an example of Karen's creativity, just in time for all those graduation parties. She used Mallomars(YUM!), Andes mints, red licorice and phyllo dough(ready made in the freezer section of most chain grocery stores).

I can hardly wait for her next book!

One last batch of cuteness before I sign off for the day.

Love it!

The Right Tool for the Right Job: The $ of Taking Classes

Howdie, Cake Friends!

When I took my cake decorating classes I was unemployed. I bought the student kit the first week and each week I bought more supplies and not everything all at once.

I used what I had at home until I could buy some of the tools that made things easier to work. For example, I didn't buy any special cake decorating colors for a long time because; I had the liquid food coloring that you use to color Easter eggs in my kitchen cabinet. That's what I had so that's what I used. I didn't have a cake pan but I did have a small ceramic oval roasting dish from IKEA and since my instructor used an oval cake to demo with and I thought it was sooooo cute, I used that! I also used dental floss to torte my cakes.
Well, with a little bit of experience you find that the cake decorating colors are better than the liquid food colors because they are concentrated and you aren’t adding extra liquid to your icing which will change the consistency of your icing. A ceramic roaster is fine for roasting chicken but when I baked my cakes they weren’t baked evenly as when you use an aluminum pan. Half of the cake would be golden brown and the other half would be blonde. Now, when you throw some icing on that bad boy no one is going to notice and the cake was never raw batter inside or over done, it just wasn’t cooking evenly. The dental floss method was not a very precise method, to say the least and the $3 I spent on a cake leveler was the best $3 I spent in my life!

The point is, all the tools available are great to have but the job can be done without them until you decide you have had enough of doing things the hard way! Tools make things easier; the right tools for the right job can save your sanity!

Hello Cakesters!

A recent discussion with some fellow cake decorating instructors inspired me to tell you about my experience with kids in my classes.

My cake decorating classes are for adults; anyone sixteen years old and under requires an adult to take the class with them. While the classes are alot of fun you are still really learning something and so as with anything worth learning, there is work involved. You have to prepare by baking, making icing, coloring it, buying supplies and etc. For most adults, it's not a big challenge but for a child it's a lot of work which a parent will have to supervise.

I have overlooked this policy a few times. I can be flexible but more often than not and for more than a few reasons, I regret it. I had two lovely ten year old girls (BFF's) take the class and the mom insisted on not registering but would sit and read while the girls learned. I must have scared them when I argued with the mom on the first day about her taking the class with them because they were very serious and tried their hardest to do their best. Poor girls, I’m not sure if they actually had any fun in the class! I was very nice to them and tried to teach them like I would an adult and I was extra nurturing because of their age. Oh and before I forget, mom read for the first lesson and there after dropped them off for class and disappeared for each lesson. What else did you think was going to happen?
There were also two other adult BFF’s in the class. How would you feel if you were in your 20’s or 30’s, getting together with your BFF for some fun bonding time and have to do it with ten year olds; not two girls with a mom (at least you could relate to the mom!) but two ten year olds. Think about it.

Most recently I have had a 14 year old girl in my class that I swore was at least 17-19. I actually forgot that I let her take the class without an adult as a favor to one of the store employees! She has taken, CI, CII, F&GP and I wouldn’t be surprised if she takes CIII with me in a couple of weeks and ends up making her quincinierra (sorry for spelling) cake when she turns 15. This is an important birthday for girls in Hispanic culture.

She has been wonderful and I forget how old she is. She isn’t the MOST prepared person, she isn’t the BEST at techniques but she gives her all and she loves it! The class makes her happy, makes her feel special, I can tell. I am glad I allowed her in my class but again, I did it as a favor to a friend. She is a wonderful exception to the rule.

I also agreed to do a cupcake decorating Birthday Party when someone asked me as a favor. I had 20 girls, yes 20 tweens! Yikes! I must admit I was scared, a little, at first. Mom and Dad were there the whole time so I figured if the kids turned on me at least I had some back up! LOL! Kidding! The girls were awesome! I would do it again in a heart beat. I started out as I would in class. I welcomed everyone to the Birthday Girls Birthday party, introduced myself and told them I usually teach grown ups so I was going to teach them cake decorating like I would if they were grown ups. I think that made them feel special.
I then told them a few rules, nothing big but I was worried that they would run wild screaming and throwing icing and eating it before it got on any cupcakes. I was imagining the worst! After all the running, screaming, wild banshees I see when people bring their kids shopping, you see why I could imagine the worst. I wonder what parents are thinking sometimes. Anyway, my rules were; no licking of anything! No fingers, spatulas, cups, anything and I explained why. Hygiene, of course! Dad, in the back of the room actually laughed at me and said, “Good luck with that one”. LOL!

Do you know not one girl broke that rule? The next rule was not eating until they had their proper lunch which was pizza and that we would sing Happy Birthday to the Birthday girl, before eating their cupcake creations. The next rule was helping and sharing and all in all I was really proud of those pre-teen girls. I showed them how to color icing then had some of them work in teams to make a few colors. I showed them how to cut a bag to put in a tip and then how to fill a bag. Once they had their bags of icing, I showed a few icing and decorating techniques and let them have at it!
They all did a great job and were very well behaved. I was so relieved and the parents were very happy too.

Happy Caking!

Hi there Cakesters! This is my very first blog post ever!

OMG!

Well, after a few much needed weeks off from teaching I am about to get back on schedule. I have an advanced class starting end of April, which reminds me... I need to confirm with that group! I have a Candy Making class scheduled for the week before Mother's day and another advanced class for another group planned for the week after Mother's day. I need to add in some demonstrations to my schedule as well. Demo's, as I like to call them, help to introduce the classes to people who didn't know about them, live and in person.

Here is an example of what that looks like. Excuse my back...

I will do at least one demo in April on Candy Making. During that one I will dip some pretzels and make my

World Famous and often Imitated Marachino Mice.These are some mice, my friend Pat created after I showed her how. She made them for a dinner party and got raves from her guests and had to send me a pic. I told her she better! lol!

I also advertise on Craig's list and I have a Yahoo Group for all my students. I haven't offered an introductory class in a while and I have been hearing that alot of people are asking when the next one is. I think I might have to schedule 2 to fit all the people. Cool!

I will be back blogging weekly to start or more often as my following increases...tell your friends! I'm going to take this blogging thing slow and since I have posted only once since starting this blog in January (yes, January) I think posting weekly maybe a little ambitious. I am not worried though. I am excited!

Happy Caking everyone!