ABOVE RIGHT: Homemade Hostess cupcakes - my first attempt at tackling ganache was surprisingly easy.
I took a cupcake class a while back to learn some of the basics and picked up a few tools. I've been having fun just playing around for a while, but I figured it was time to get more serious and develop my technique. I enrolled in a cake decorating class, spread over four nights.
Class one we just listened to the instructor as she introduced the terms, demonstrated techniques and then we rolled our parchment bags and tried a few designs on practice boards, not actual cake.
Class two (our first attempt at a cake), I made all the rookie mistakes - not leveling both layers to ensure an even fit, allowing the layers to shift while frosting it and pulling crumbs through the frosting. I decided I find simply icing a cake much more difficult that actually piping a design on it. The instructor is so skilled in her technique that she can apply butter cream icing so smooth it looks like fondant. The final mistake? Leaving the cake unattended while I went to look for the camera. It did say "Wyatt". I came back to find the cake's namesake licking his fingers and exclaiming "Oh! Mommy! Dis cake is soooo yummy!"
Class three, I was still having trouble with crumbs pulling up in my icing and it was driving me nuts. I was upset that my cake looked like a 5-year old decorated it. There is so much swearing and complaining going on, Davyen was afraid to come in the kitchen to make his lunch. When he finally crept in, he sneaked a peek at the cake and had the nerve to ask if there were sprinkles on it. That's how many crumbs came through. He said "Honey, face it. You and baking do NOT go together. Maybe they have a cake eating class you could enroll in". Now, this is a class where I would excel.
The theme for class three was a clown cake, despite many protests from the class participants. It turns out no one really likes clowns and one lady was even afraid of them. She made her clowns face down with chalk outlines around them. I just made them as I was told since it was a good chance to practice 3-D figure piping. When I brought the finished product home, Wyatt said "Mommy, clowns are too sca-weee!" Even three-year-olds know clowns are freaky, man. I sent the cake to work with Dayven.
I missed class four, due to the dreadful aforementioned stomach bug, which was fine by me. I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually getting a little sick of cake. The sickeningly sweet smell of icing would have put me over the edge. Plus all the work involved. While the class is only 2 hours every Sunday, I have about 2 hours of prep work (making the cake, making the icing, icing the cake with a base layer, mixing all my icing colors, rolling my parchment bags and assembling my supplies for class), not to mention the clean up of all my tools when I get home. At least I now know about the "crumb coat" (a paper thin layer of icing that you allow to harden to seal the crumbs in).
8 comments:
I gotta know how to do the crumb coat. Do you heat up the frosting and pour over like a glaze? And how do you level the layers - cut the curve off the top? Very informative post - thanks!
The class was great. I learned so much and it was fun.
For the crumb coat, I just spread a very thin layer of icing (not heated) but works if really thin consistency. Let it harden an hour or so at least, just on the counter. Then do the rest of the icing. The instructor kept telling us we weren't using enough icing either. She used a TON of icing and her cake never showed through and she never had crumbs. I guess you can just scrape some off later before you serve it to the kids.
For taking the "dome" off the top of the cake, I use a cake leveler. It just looks like a very thin wire with legs on each side. You put the legs on the counter and adjust the wire to the height you need. It was $5 at Michael's. You can also use it to "torte" a cake - meaning you slice each layer in half horizontally and add extra filling between to create more layers.
They also sell these things called "Bake even strips" that look like a strip of special fabric and you pin them around your round cake pans (they don't work on kids' character cakes). They claim to bake more evenly so the cake won't dome in the middle and be lower on the sides where it shrinks away from the pan. I haven't tried them but some girls in the class said they worked great and they didn't need to use the leveler.
There's also this stuff called "quick release" that you can buy (or make your own - I have the recipe) that you put in your pan before baking. Better than just butter and flour. It is great for character cakes before the cake comes out perfectly and you don't lose any of the detail from the pan.
One more thing about the crumb coat - the icing for the crumb coat was thinner than I wanted for the rest of the cake so I put some aside in a bowl and thinned a bit (with milk or water) and used that for the crumb coat. Then later, when you are frosting the rest of the cake, you can use more of a medium consistency icing. To test consistency - she told us to stand our spatula up in the bowl. Thick = spatula stays straight up and doesn't move. Medium = it wiggles a little, but still stays up. Thin = the spatula falls over.
Thanks, I feel I took the class with you with all your info. Of course I don't bake cakes any more but I found this really interesting. I used to use a thread to level the cake. Just wrap it around your fingers like you were flossing your teeth and pull but your way sounds much better!! ha. I thought your decorated cakes looked really good and would win a prize in the county fair!
I forgot to tell you I have a recipe for "surprise cupcakes" that are just like the ones you pictured. It has cream cheese in the middle. It is an old recipe. you drop the blob of cream cheese mixed with something else in the center of the cupcake dough before you bake it. They are really easy and taste so good even without frosting.
I'm impressed! I am about to enter 'Birthday Month' for us so I will be tackling a Monster Cake (modification on the Alien Cake) and a Tiger Cake. Yes I am insane and they certainly won't be impressive to anyone over 4 y.o. but considering that is my target market, I should be O.K.!! Your cakes were great. For some fun, check out this blog http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
I get on it just for a laugh from time to time. They do the good and the BAD! It's great. C Ya
Thanks so much!
Man I wish you lived closer! I would hire you to bake my kids' birthday cakes! You have always had that creative gene though, so I shouldn't be that surprised!
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