Sunday, July 5, 2009

Decorating course... Part 4

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So last Sunday was the end of the basic course as they call it. It was a kind of test, to assess how much we had learnt in the past 3 weeks. We had to bake a cake, make fondant and marzipan, and any flowers we wanted to use, from home! All assembling an piping had to be done in class.

For the cake, we had to use one of 2 recipes they had given. I used one for a basic vanilla cashew cake, that I divided into chocolate and vanilla. It tasted real good, and it was a little less sweet to make up for the super-sweet fondant, which I absolutely hated when I tried it. But surprisingly, it didnt taste so bad with the cake. It tasted pretty good, in fact!!!!! Can you believe it? I'm still shocked!!


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I made the marzipan and fondant at in the week before the class, and it was pretty easy. Ofcourse, the rains were a big problem while making fondant, but a little extra sugar made it perfectt!!

For flowers, I made roses, leaves, and drop flowers. The roses were intended to be blood red, but they came out pink :( Since this was the first time I was actually dealing with colors, I didn't let this bother me too much. As long as the technique was right, I was happy. The leaves were also a bit too pastel green, but I didn't have the right colors!! And the drop flowers, well they were a nice mauve-ish color, but somehow, over a few days, their color got completely ruined, and I ended up not using them. I was pretty disappointed.

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But in class, they totally cheered me up, and I started to cover the cake with marzipan and fondant. I apologise for not having any in-process pictures, but my camera was with my parents, who went out of town for a business meeting. However, they got me a lot of awesome stuff to compensate for it, that's coming up later!!

I began with piping after that, and they made the most amazing looking red icing ever. I think I've done a pretty good job with it, even better than the little part one of the instructors [who isn't too good with piping] did. The piping on the bottom was done by him, and the one towards the top of the cake was done by me, as you can see -

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They had mentioned they would teach us filigree and lace work after the decorating was done, and told us to leave place for it on our cakes, if we wanted to. Going with the shape of the cake, I chose a filigree heart, that I think looks rather pretty!! What do you think?

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So that was my cake. I had a number of problems with it, and by the time I got my camera back, a few of those things on the sides had broken off. Not everything was exactly as I wanted it, some of the instructors input was opposing my idea. But still, it was my first fondant cake, and second decorated cake ever, so I'm realllly pleased :D :D

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And here's the haul which my parents got, for which I was glad to give my camera!! I know it may not seem like much, but we don't get much stuff here in India, so I was ecstatic. I was happier seeing these, than the clothes they bought for me :O :O :O There's a lot of other stuff, like chocolates, and loads and loads of brown sugar, that is still to come to me, since they were carrying more than the allowed weight. :D :D

Mom also bought fresh blueberries, something that I hadn't ever tasted before, in my entire life. I ate a few, and made muffins with the rest, which were soooo good! I'm craving more blueberries right now!!

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And also, a few weeks ago, my cousin sister went to France, and bought chocolates, and this stuff for baking, though I only asked her to get sprinkles. Isn't she the sweetest?

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Also, could anyone who can read French pleasee tell me what this says? Mom told me it was some pudding thing, but I need to know exactly - Thanks!!

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So what do you say? Don't I have the bestesttt family EVER?? :D [Can you tell that I'm super-excited? :P]

Read more on this course - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11

36 comments:

  1. What a fabulous looking cake! You did a spectacular job!

    You hit the mother lode with all those goodies!
    ~ingrid

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  2. Congratulations! Your cake looks like it was decorated by a seasoned pro! I love the red piping design, It's very unique.

    I believe that the package says that it's a sort of cake that is to be made/or has been made in a bread machine. Gâteaux means cake and pain means bread. Please let me know if you need more help. And again, Excellent job!

    Also to answer your question about the lemon bars. ( In case you haden't read it ). Those are The best, at least in my opinion. :) It's the lemon curd and the flavourful crust that make the bars stand apart from all the rest.

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  3. Hi
    Wow you really did an awesome job with that cake it s magnificent . You re already a professional. I don t know how to make the cornelli. Those roses are perfect.
    How many nice things they brought to you. I m sure you ll put them in good use. That french mixture I think they re a mixture to make cake in the bread machine. A bread machine is like an oven in which you put the mixture and it bakes and obviously bread it made in it too. I don t know if you could use the sachets to make normal cakes.

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  4. Your cake looks fabulous! I can't believe it's your first fondant cake, it looks so smooth and nice. Great job!

    P.S. you had asked about one of my Tuesday's with Dorie's Perfect Party Cakes, the blue and yellow one. Yes, it was airbrushed, but it didn't work very well with the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The airbrush color was beading on the frosting and didn't look good, so I used a spatula and just kind of smeared the color in. Airbrushing seems to work with powdered sugar type icings better.

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  5. Gorgeous, Fabulous ok now I am seriously running out of words! The cake looks beautiful, so very professional, loved that filigree heart!

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  6. Ingrid - Thank you!! I sure did :)

    Valerina - Thank you sooo much :D :D The red design is called cornelli lace, very easy, but very beautiful!! I'll be trying out those bars soon!

    Natalie - Thanks soo much!! Lol I'm no professional, this is just my first cake!!!

    Jacque - Thanks a lot! I REALLY appreciate it! =)

    Parita - Lol thank youuu!! I wasn't expecting any praises, so I'm on cloud 9 right now!!

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  7. Your decorations are beautiful - so professional!!

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  8. Well done, Avanika! Your roses are gorgeous1

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  9. I think your cake looks awesome. Your roses are beautiful and great piping job! I also love the look of your swirled vanilla/chocolate cake.

    And wow--lots of fun goodies from your family!!

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  10. Yes, my very first giveaway, great odds too- only 9 people commented and it ends tomorrow! That won't stop me from other giveaways though=) Your doing a great job in cake decorating. The cornelli lace looks very good! Any chance of you posting that vanilla cashew cake recipe? Sounds delicious- I have never heard of it before either. Your family IS awesome!

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  11. WOW!!! My eyes are popping out of their sockets, that cake is STUNNING! It's a freaking sensation! Look at those intricate details and delicate petals! Oh my God! How talented can you be?

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  12. CookiePie - Thanks!! It's really weird to hear 'professional' so many times!! I'm soo happy!

    CreamPuff - Thank you :D

    Katrina - Thank you! I was actually going for the zebra look, but I forgot to add baking powder, so I just swirled it in right before I put it into the oven :P :P

    YIMT - Thanks! The cake is delicious, but since its their recipe, unfortunately I'm not allowed to give it out. That was their one stipulation. Sorry :(

    burpandslurp - :D :D THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!! I'm feeling sooo much better after all these comments!

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  13. Your cornelli lace looks great! And I love the heart!

    You're gonna love that cake slicer. It's so perfect for leveling the tops of cakes! :D

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  14. Nice work....where are these classes held?

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  15. You did such a great job with the decoration of this cake!
    Congratulations!

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  16. Just WOW!! First time here. That is a cool pretty cake!

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  17. Cassie - Thank you! I haven't yet figured out how to use it, but I soon will :D

    Rosa - Thanks a lot!!

    Anushruti - They are held in Bandra. You can contact me for more details.

    Karine - Thank you soo much :D

    Divya Vikram - THANK YOUU =)

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  18. Woww... gr8 work.. you have a lovely blog...

    Cheers,
    Hari Chandana

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  19. Wow your cake is lovely! You did such a wonderful job and what a nice red. Red is so hard to work with but you did it perfectly. Love all the piping and your flowers. Bravo!

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  20. my first time here...loved browsing! And this cake ooks like its been decorated by a pro

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  21. you did so well - what a great way to end the class

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  22. Hari - Thank you :)

    BigRedKitchen - Red was a little difficult, and the color ran a little! Very slight, but you can see it in the close-up shots! Thanks :)

    aquadaze - Thank you soo much :D

    Jaime - Thank you, but the class hasn't ended. I'm doing the advanced course too, in fact, was just practicing some flowers I learnt on Sunday!

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  23. first time here...u had grabbed me by this post...There r no words to explain about this cake..fantabulous...yummy..lovely..iam gonna follow ur blog ..iam a beginner in baking and i think by following ur blog i would become an expert:)Thanks a lot!!

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  24. Beautiful beautiful beautiful cake!!!!! Congrats! you did it so well!! :) And what a load of goodies!! I am so J!!! And btw, that heartshape cookiecutter/pancake maker... i got one of that recently! My fiancé got me one! :)

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  25. I just was going through your last 3 posts and am amazed at your decorating work. Its good. I wish I could do all this.
    And you were telling me I was better? :)

    You have a treasure chest equivalent of goodies! I'd be over the moon!

    Did you make those roses with buttercream or royal icing?

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  26. Wow, great looking cake! Can't wait to see what else you bake up...

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  27. This is so awesome! Your cake is incredible!

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  28. Chitra - Wow! You really know how to flatter a person :D

    Ria - Thanks so much! You're super lucky too, to have your fiance get you so much stuff :)

    Aparna - Well, since it was your first time, it was spectacular! You should see my first cake :P :P All piping is done in royal icing, as that's what they prefer to teach. I'm going to make buttercream roses soon enough though!

    Rose- Thank you :)

    Anncoo - Thanks soo much!!

    Liz - I can't wait too!! I'm super indecisive, so even I cant predict what I'm going to bake next!

    Rachel - Thank you soo much :D :D

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  29. Very, very impressive cake! It looks like it was made by a professional baker. ^_^

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  30. Palidor - Thanks sooo much! I'm on cloud 9 with all the praises :D

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  31. I don't know if I'm too late, but what you have in your last picture is special baking powder for cakes made in the bread machine!!!

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  32. Hi dear
    Really your cake looks awesome specially the red coloured lines.....
    do you have any idea how to make endless royal icing(also without meringue powder) cuz i want to try royal icing but we r all pure vegetarians....
    thank you
    Poornima

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