Two tier happy cake

It was unbelievable how fast this phase went. And the thing that surprised me most is how much fun I had with royal icing and how pretty the cakes turned out. 

On the last day of this phase we all had to cover and decorate a two tier cake. As the school opens at 9 am we could start as soon as we arrived. 

I started with making some royal icing. I found some very pretty cake designs online and I wanted to combine the designs for my cake. I wanted my cake to be covered in white fondant with blue accents. But first I cut my cake in 3 layers and filled them with a cherry compote and apricot compote. Then I covered it with some butter cream and let the cakes chill in the fridge till the butter cream hardens.

In the meantime we made some piping bags with different colors and we started with rolling out our fondant.  I also made an attempt on piping orchids since they had to dry out for a bit. I made some smaller once and some bigger ones.

I love the color blue and like how it pairs with white and yellow. Since the fondant was white blue and the orchids were white blue with a yellow/red accent I decided to use the same color for my decoration.  

Then it was time to put it all together. After both cakes were covered with fondant I used some pearl colored powder mixed with alcohol to give the cakes a nice shine. After the alcohol vaporized I stuck 3 straws in the first layer of the cake and cut them off about 1 cm above the top. This would be supporting the second layer of the cake. After that it was decoration time! 

At first I placed all the orchids on top. Then I though the second layer looked a bit bare so I removed the bigger orchids and placed them on the second layer. Next time it is better to have a plan first because the orchids were not fully dried yet and left a little stain on the white.

For someone who didn't had a plan of how to decorate the cake I was so very pleased with the end result. And what was more important is that it tasted soooo good! I made a lot of people happy with this cake so there you have it: my two tier happy cake.

Pressure piping

This class has all been about royal icing; in particular about pressure piping. With this technique you can make the whole animal kingdom, if you wish. The key is to know when to press and when to stop and to know how to build your animal step by step. Most animals are made out of a round shape or a water drop shape. By putting more or less pressure on your piping bag you can give it any shape you wish. 

Here are some very fun and cute samples of what can be done with pressure piping. 

Today was the first day we covered and decorated a real edible cake and as I don't see myself making a lot of animals with pressure piping I decided to decorate my cake with flowers. I have to say I am getting really good at it!

As this module is all about using royal icing for decoration we all got to work with a cake that the school made earlier. It was quite a big cake so I manage to cut it in 4 even (yah!) pieces. On the cake I sprinkled a bit of sugar water. This is just a simple syrup made of 50% sugar and 50% boiling water and to make it extra flavorful we added a dash or two amaretto liquor. After that I spread some cherry jam on one layer and some apricot jam on the other. On the last layer I used half cherry and half apricot. Then I coated it all with some Italian butter cream. This is not simply butter and some powdered sugar creamed together, but made with egg whites, sugar water and butter. Because the base of this butter cream is a meringue mixture it's silky smooth and not overly sweet. I think I can eat a whole bowl of if just by itself! 

After the cake was covered it has to be chilled in the fridge for a bit so the butter cream can firm up. In the mean time we kneaded some white fondant and since I love blue I added some color to it. 

I spend the afternoon making flowers and decorating my cake. 

And I was very pleased with the results.

I even had time to decorate a ginger bread house!

Cake decoration

Today it was all about making flowers and decoration with royal icing. Every day so far has started with making a batch of royal icing. From this basic mixture you can make it thicker by adding more powdered sugar or to make it more runny by adding more liquid. 

We had to use royal icing to mask a cake, meaning that the royal icing has to cover the top and the sides. For practice we all had our dummy cake and since the royal icing has to be a bit thicker for masking the cake we put just enough powdered sugar to make it the similar consistency of Greek yogurt. 

We started with putting some royal icing on the top and with a spatula we evenly smeared it out by turning the cake around. Then it was time to do the sides. We used a dough scrapper to make it all look smooth. It looked pretty easy but it was harder then I thought. I am confident that, with a little more practice, it would look much better.

Then it was time for royal icing roses and other flowers. For this the royal icing had to be as thick as concrete. Or at least thick enough for the petals to keep its shape.

At the end of the day this was the result. Next week we'll be decorating a real cake!

Color flow icing

I have to say that I wasn't a big fan of royal icing. That was before I knew what possibilities there were. This class totally changed me.

We were asked to bring a picture of whatever we liked in two fold. One was to work on and the other one was for comparison. 

The class started with an explanation of how to transform royal icing to color flow icing. Basically what you do is you make your basic royal icing, mix it with the color of your choice and use lemon juice, liquor or water to make it thinner.  

We started with practicing on cookies, just to get the feel of it. 

We used several colors, mixed it with lemon juice and liquor and let our creativity flow. They turned out very pretty. The icing was still wet and shining. After it dried the colors would be a bit darker and not glossy anymore, but still pretty.

After practicing on the cookies it was time for the real deal; our pictures. 

As Christmas is around the corner I picked a picture that would fit in perfectly. This took me almost a whole day to make but it's true when they say "practice makes perfect", because the second one I made only took me half an hour or so. I finished right before class ended. It also helped that I could borrow some left over colors from other people. Unfortunately I didn't make a picture of the second one and both of them are in class waiting for me. Can't wait to put on the last details. 

Royal icing

Day 10 was the start of a new phase; Royal Icing. I have never made or worked with royal icing before, but basically it is egg whites, powdered sugar (suikerbakkerspoeder= powdered sugar with dried glucose) and a pinch of cream of tartar. It's been used a lot for decorating cakes and cookies. While working with royal icing it has the consistency of very thick yogurt. But after it dries out it gets really hard.  

We started with a masterclass on royal icing and were showed how to make it and what the right consistency is. From this basic mixture it is possible to make the icing more or less runny simply by adding water (or liquor) or more sugar. 

After receiving a lot of information we used the rest of the day playing around with royal icing. We used:
- 180 gr pasteurized refrigerated egg whites
- about 1 kilo shifted powdered sugar
- pinch of cream of tartar

To the egg whites we added 2/3 of the powdered sugar and the cream of tartar. On very slow speed using the flat beater we mixed everything together. Then after that spoon by spoon we added some more powdered sugar till the icing has the right consistency. The right consistency is when the icing on the beater forms a nice peak that is flexible enough to still move back and forth.    

We used several different piping tips making borders, flowers and anything we could think off. We also made some colored icing. 

I practiced a lot on flowers and leaves.

It was a bit of a slow day with lots of information and a bit of piping practice. It didn't feel like we did a lot, but I manage to make this. 

This day was purely to let us practice with icing and get the feeling of it.