Liwovien

Our last class – Sept 30th.

I am so happy with my final cake for the completion of Course 1 of The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating.

I challenged myself to new levels for this one. I didn’t use the Crisco icing for any of the icing this week. All of the icing is by Cherrybrook Kitchen. It was the chocolate icing for the roses and the vanilla icing for the rest – again I substituted organic butter for the recommended margarine. When using butter instead of Crisco, the icing needs to be refridgerated to be stiff and then it warms up as you use it. So, whenever it gets to soft, back into the fridge it goes. Unless you are icing the cake however, then you do not want it refridgerated. For the cake this week, I chose the Namaste Foods Spice Cake and did the Carrot Cake Variation. For the directions, I followed their directions with one deviation – I replaced the 2/3 cup oil with 1/3 cup applesauce and 1 Tbsp +1 tsp of oil to reduce the fat and it came out beautifully. For the carrot cake variation, I added their recommended 1 cup of shredded carrot and for the nuts and fruit, I added 1/2 cup (56g) of chopped walnuts and 1/4 cup (40g) of organic raisins. I meant to add 1/2 cup of raisins, so I will see how this tastes and see if it needs more raisins or if it was a good omission.

I did the roses before class this week since I thought it would be a lot of pressure to do six roses in the time given and have them not melt (due to the butter in the icing) without having a fridge nearby.

I did take a cooler with me to class to keep the roses and icing cooled. It worked out great. Also, when I was working with the icing in class and it became too soft, I placed it in the cooler for a couple minutes and then I was great to work with again. I know it sounds like a lot of trouble to go through, but I would prefer to make something I like and will probably eat than to make something I won’t like.  We received a Certificate of Merit at the end of the class and a $5 off coupon to encourage us to take the next class.

The next class, The Wilton Method of Cake Decorating Course 2: Flowers and Borders, is slated to start the beginning of November 2008. I think we are going to hold off on taking that class until late winter or spring since I just don’t know how much more cake we can eat – and November is just so busy getting ready for Christmas toward the end of the month. Wow! To think, Christmas is less than 3 months away.