ICING A CAKE SMOOTH

I mentioned in my previous post that I was to decorate my final cake for Wilton Cake Decorating Course 2 yesterday.  Unfortunately, that did not happen.  I got busy at work, so I wasn't able to finish my cake on time for my 6:30 p.m. class.  When Vince got home to pick me up, I was having tantrum fits.  My class was about to start shortly, and there I was, still in my home clothes with an offset spatula on hand, messy kitchen and all that, not to mention that my cake was not even halfway done.  Another thing that bogged me down is the fact that my work was not yet done, and that I would have to log in back to work afterwards should I attend my cake decorating class which finishes usually around 8:30 p.m.  Sigh.  Ultimately, I decided to skip class, so that means I need to arrange for a make-up class with the instructor.

Well, despite that, I'm quite happy because, I finally was able to ice a cake presentably smooth.  If you would remember, I had been complaining about my struggles on icing my two previous cakes for course 1.  In my desperation, I resolved to buy cake icer tips (which confusion had me buying two of the same kind *toinks*).  You bet I tried the cake icer tip, but since I was on crunch time and I didn't want the fuss of putting icing in a piping bag, I eventually ditched that and went back to the lovely offset spatula.

Markings slightly visible on top icing were from paper towel. 

I realized that time is a factor for a successfully iced caked - at least for a slow poke like me. I crumb coated the cake, gave it generous amount of time to dry, then iced it, and again gave it ample time to dry. When the icing was dry enough (it didn't stick to fingers when lightly touched), I pat it smooth with a paper towel instead of wax paper.  It's cool how the paper towel markings got transferred onto the cake icing.  I learned that trick from a video I saw online (sorry, I can't remember now which site).

So, I'm saving this cake for now in case I can arrange for a  make-up class this week.  Next Monday is the start of course 3 (fondant decorating).  I am so excited to sign up for that, but I wanted to check with the instructor first if I can do that even if I haven't made up for my course 2 final class yet.  Bummer!  Oh well, even if I don't hear back from my instructor, I'll still go ahead and sign up for the third course anyway ☻

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To see my progress in cake decorating, visit this link:

KARENINA'S KEYK/KUPKEYK DECORATING ADVENTURE

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My share for:

366 BLOG PHOTO CHALLENGE | WEDNESDAY WHITES |

FORGET-ME-NOTS CUPCAKES

I was out the whole day yesterday (and pretty much the whole Saturday too), so I apologize for not being able to get back right away to all of you who visited my blog, and left comments, as well as my meme hopping buddies.  Thank you!  Right now, as I write this post, from 46 comments or so, I'm down to just 22 more to approve and get back to at least on this blog (I have about 18 more on my other blog plus the Happiness Is participants that I need to visit too), so I still have a lot of catching up to do.  Hehe!

As I've said, it was a busy weekend for me.  Vince and I drove down to New Jersey yesterday.  We were invited to a lunch celebration for my goddaughter, Samantha, who I haven't seen for seven years.  She was just a baby when I last saw her in the Philippines.  Her mom (Momsie) and dad (Kuya) were both very close friends of mine way back from college.  I was one of their bridesmaids when they got married, and when the firstborn (Samantha) was christened, I was given the privilege to be one of her godmothers☻ I last saw Momsie in 2005 before I left Philippines, whereas I last saw Kuya in 2009 in New Jersey.  The story of our friendship deserves a separate post, plus I want to share some pics of us too, so I'll reserve those for a future post.

Anyway, before I end this post, let me share these cupcakes I made for my friend, Momsie.

These are chocolate cupcakes baked from scratch.  For the decoration, I used thinned royal icing and gum paste and fondant.  I was supposed to make buttercream icing, but I found that I still have a lot of royal icing in stock, so I decided to just thin the royal icing out and use that instead.  The forget-me-nots flowers were made out of gum paste and fondant mix, and the rest of the decor were thinned royal icing.

I need to practice more to improve in decorating cakes/cupcakes, especially work on my piping techniques.  I'm almost done with my second Wilton course, and later today, I will do my final cake in class for course 2.  Oh, wish me luck!

Do you know that you can store uniced cupcakes in the fridge for a week,
and in the freezer for three months? ☻

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You can find more foodie stuff here:

GASTRONOMY MONDAY

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My share for:

366 BLOG PHOTO CHALLENGE |