Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics

Rose Technique on Cupcake

  While baking is a fairly new endeavor to me, my mom and my sister have always been big bakers. I was always content with consuming the baked goods, but never really interested in baking, or decorating.

   We have a tradition of decorating sugar cookies for many holidays, but especially Christmas. We use royal icing and dye a big batch into a rainbow of colors and go to town decorating our Christmas treats! Although I always look forward to this tradition, my cookies always pale in comparison to my sister's creative, quirky, impeccable design. Additionally, my mother is equally creative and has great technique when it comes to cake decorating, so when my cousin asked if I was interested in taking Wilton's Course 1 with her at A.C. Moore, I said, "Why not?"

Christmas 2009

   The course was $20 and consisted of two 4-hour sessions. Initially I was turned off by the prospect of cake decorating for four hours at a time, but the time actually flew by. In addition to the $20, they recommend purchasing Course Kit #1 which includes all tips, couplers, bags, and tools needed for the course. Because Candee already has the Wilton Professional Cake Decorating Kit, she loaned it to me for the duration of the course so I could save a little money ;) Thanks, Candee!!

Christmas 2010

   The first class consisted of a lot of practice. We just bought the Wilton Decorating Icing and added some food coloring to practice various techniques with different tips. Some of my favorites were the rosettes! The lesson kit includes a practice board and we spent time getting used to the bags, changing tips, and finally decorating some sugar cookies!

   The second class built on our skills learned in class one. Everyone  was a bit more at ease and moved a bit quicker. We learned the Pom-Pom flower, Mum, and Roses! The roses were absolutely my favorite and probably had something to do with the fact that I could make the roses better than the other two flowers. We practiced these skills on cupcakes instead of cookies.

Christmas 2011

   Also for the second class she encouraged us to make our own buttercream frosting from scratch, so I used the Wilton recipe found here. I used the Crisco that was NOT butter flavored (because I don't care for that flavor personally) and used 8 teaspoons of water and not milk so that the icing does not need to be refrigerated. I actually made this recipe twice because the first time I used tablespoons to measure the liquid aspect and my frosting came out too liquidy. The second batch was much stiffer so throughout the class I just mixed the two together to make whatever consistency I needed. Both consistencies were delicious. 

   We worked towards decorating a cake by the end of the class so I made a handful of roses and let them dry. Then I carefully iced my cake, and piped my letters. After that I placed my roses carefully using the special scissors, and then added the dots to pull the whole thing together. 

Proud Mama!

   Overall, I am incredibly proud of this cake. I almost don't want to eat it because it's so beautiful so it's still sitting on my counter...I didn't know that I had it in me, but it makes me want to practice more and ice more cakes!

   I would definitely recommend this course to someone interested in learning simple techniques for decorating, and I hope to continue on and take Course 2 in the future!

Stay sweet,
Jasmine

Recipe to Reality: Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Banana Pudding Poke Cake!

    
   Some of you may be reading this title saying, "Poke cake?! What the heck is a poke cake?!" If this sounds familiar, don't worry, I thought the same thing. I found this recipe at The Country Cook's website. It's a great recipe for beginning bakers because it's Semi-Homemade, as Sandra Lee from the Food Network would say!

All set!

  The great thing about this cake is that the techniques are very simple, it tastes delicious (when does cake from a box not taste delicious?) and can have lots of different combinations. I decided to use "Rainbow Chip" cake mix, mostly because I already had a box of it in my pantry, but you can use your favorite cake mix for this recipe. After much deliberation, I decided to use Banana Cream pudding after getting advice from Twitter user @ThurmanPoat and my husband (whose opinion counts for a lot around here ^_^).


   I used a 9 x 13 pan courtesy of my aunt, Pattycake, because the kitchen in my apartment is too small for all my newlywed gifts :( . I followed the directions for the cake mix using the traditional water, eggs, and oil and let it bake for 28 minutes when the top was golden brown. Let the cake cool for just a few minutes before you begin poking holes into it.

This is where it gets its name from!

    Yes, POKE! Where do you think it got its name from? ;) I used the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all the way through the cake to the bottom of the pan. The only trouble I had with this was that some of the cake got stuck to the handle and then came out when I removed it so there were little crumbles of cake on top. It didn't change the way it tasted, but didn't make for a very pretty picture.

   While the cake is cooling, make the pudding according to the directions. Make sure you are using the instant pudding. I added milk to the pudding and whisked it for about 2 minutes, then let it sit for 2 minutes to solidify a bit. You don't want the pudding to completely solidify because you want to pour it over your cake, but you don't want it to be completely liquidy either.

Full of Holes!

   Next, pour the pudding over the cake and use a spatula or spoon to make sure the pudding gets into all of those holes that you poked! Put that into the refrigerator to set up for a few hours.

Pourable Pudding!

Using my Pink Spatula ;)

   Once the pudding is set, add a layer of Cool Whip. I used the Light Cool Whip, but you can use any kind.

Looking good!

   Finally, add some crushed Nilla Wafers to the top right before you serve it to add some texture to the cake. If you add them too early, they will absorb the moisture from the Cool Whip and will get soggy. 

Ready to Serve!

   My new mother-in-law had a party this weekend to welcome my husband and I home from our honeymoon and I decided to make this cake for it. All of my husband's family loved the cake! It was moist, the pudding was delicious, and the whole thing came together perfectly. I couldn't take too much credit, considering it is semi-homemade, but I didn't mind getting compliments, either!

Deeeeeelicious!

Recipe to Reality: Buttermilk Blueberry-Raspberry Breakfast Cake

   After coming home from the gym today, I picked up Candee and brought her to my apartment to make some Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake from a recipe that I found at Alexandra's Kitchen . As a fruit and veggie lover, I decided that we should add raspberries as well as blueberries because in my head, the more berries the better! 

All our ingredients, ready to go!

As a savory cook, I don't bake very often, but I do love eating baked goods! So it's going to take me a little while to get used to improvising in the baking kitchen. In cooking, I can pretty much add whatever I want to a dish. Extra veggies, different spices, a little more water, no problem! Today I learned that it's a little harder in baking. I'm going to have to be more precise and follow the recipes to a T and learn how to add in different elements that I want. This makes Cupcake Wars seem a lot harder! No wonder so many of their batters come out wrong when using new ingredients. I guess we can't just add in an extra cup of raspberries just because I think that it will taste better ;)

Our Coated Berry Mix

The recipe was very simple to follow. We used my zester today (instead of Candee's cheese grater) and found that the lemon flavor of the cake is subtle and brings a brightness to the cake. The recipe also instructed to coat our berries in flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan while baking.

Mess-free Shield!

I was pretty excited to use my Kitchen Aid mixer for the 2nd time since I received it as a gift from my bridal shower. (Thanks Aunt P, Aunt E, and Grandma!) Candee was just as excited if not more-but for the funnel-shield thingy that prevents some of your dry ingredients from spilling out the sides of your mixing bowl.

Pink?!

It didn't occur to me that the raspberries would break apart and dye our batter pink...but I didn't mind at all! The batter looks like frosting, doesn't it?

35 Minutes

Before baking, we sprinkled another tablespoon of sugar on top of the batter and it made somewhat of a crunchy sugar crust. While the recipe suggested 35 minutes for baking, we left ours in for about 42 minutes because when we checked the cake after 35 it was still runny. I think the addition of the raspberries made the batter more liquidy and that's why it needed a longer cooking time.

Looking Good!

Overall, we were happy with the way it came out. The cake is a very moist and full of berry flavor! The raspberries add a tart element, and my husband suggested more sugar next time to compensate. The cake is a bit...for lack of a better term... squishy! But! I prefer soft cakes and cookies to dry crunchy ones, so I'm really okay with it. Half of the cake went home with Candee and half stayed here, and I don't think either will be sitting on the counter for long ;)

Blueberry Swirls

We love the way the blueberries popped to make these beautiful blueberry swirls! Also, notice that the pink raspberry color of the batter baked out while in the oven.

Cooking is better with a cousin :)

Stay Sweet,
Jasmine & Candee

Product: Wilton Professional Cake Decorating Kit

Hi Sweethearts! Today I will be publishing my opinion on a kit I received over the holidays this year and have been loving ever since.

A little backstory- I had always just picked up a large plastic bag, filled it with icing and cut the tip off to frost my different baked treats- it worked -but was definitely not something that I was planning on partaking in forever. Just picking up an opaque white piping bag equipped with a gleaming silver tip gave me a feeling of excitement and professionalism that I was unable to experience prior.

Onto the product-
The kit is nicely organized, with a detachable top level divided into three sections. The bottom seems to me more of an endless pit than anything else after you have started using it-I find it easier to throw everything back in there after I am finished for a quicker cleanup- but I am sure if you are more meticulous than I am there would not be a problem.

Inside the kit:

• Two disposable decorating bags
• One 10 in. decorating bag
• One 16 in. decorating bag
• 6 Wilton Gel Food Colors in:  

             -Violet

             -Rose Petal

             -Royal Blue

             -Lemon Yellow

             -Golden Yellow

             -Kelly Green

• 11 Wilton Professional Tips in #'s:

        -Cake Icer #789

        -#104

        -#18

        -#22

        -#5 (2)

        -#12

        -#352

        -#48

        -#225

        -#1M

• One rose pin in #9
• 6 rubber bands
• 2 couplers
• One 16 oz. white decorator icing
• Wilton icing knife
• Tip Brush
• Cake Decorating Guide

My Feelings: I think that that product is definitely well equipped for amateurs or working professionals, and the included guide makes it easy to learn how to utilize each product to its fullest potential. From my experience, the tips are easy to use to decorate and ice cakes as well as cupcakes(I have yet to venture into the realm of cookies and other baked treats). The tips and bags are easy to clean up as well.  My  one complaint is the food coloring-it does make beautiful, vibrant icing colors, but I want it on my cakes, not my hands!

Stay sweet, Candee