Wilton Fondant Class: Final Cake

Well here it is - the final cake for my Wilton Fondant class. As a lot of people know fondant is not the most delicious frosting. It looks better than it tastes. In the class we were told to buy the pre-made Wilton fondant. For my final cake I thought I would try to do something different to see if I could make a fondant cake that I liked. If you look there are a lot of different fondants you can buy or make. The class instructor said making fondant was a lot of work but I found a recipe online that didn't seem too difficult. You just melt marshmallows and knead in a lot of confectioners sugar.

You can see the final outcome in the cake above. The homemade fondant was probably a little harder to work with - a little "stretchier" than the store bought Wilton fondant - but it was still pretty easy to use. I can't say it was easy to make. If you have ever mixed rice crispy squares by hand you know how messy it can get kneading melted marshmallows. I would have to say it

was worth it though. The fondant tasted a little better in my opinion, basically straight sugar taste so still not as good as some other frostings. It was a lot more tender than the store bought so you didn't feel like you needed to chew your frosting as much.

I've also got some photos of different gum paste items we made in class. I kind of doubt most of these will come in handy making

birthday cakes for my son but maybe I will get to use them someday. For anyone thinking they would like to get a little better at cake decorating I would highly recommend these classes. There are four separate classes (I have only taken two) and they are offered at Michaels and Joann stores here. I think you can find local classes at the wilton.com site.

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Wilton Fondant Class: FrankenCake

I took the Wilton I course a couple of months ago and it was a lot of fun so I decided it was time for a little more. I decided to check out the fondant and gum paste class. Fondant is the stuff they make a lot of wedding cakes out of and it is the stuff they use to make those perfect cakes on Ace of Cakes if you have ever seen that.

In the class you use rolled fondant and gum paste (or a mix of the two) for everything. Rolled Fondant is stiff and you can mold it or roll it out. Gum paste is the same but a little stronger and dries hard as a rock in a couple of days. The cake above is one that I made in the second week of class. It is a bit of a franken cake - it was more just to practice technique than to make a pretty cake. The blue covering for the cake is fondant and the embellishments are a 50/50 mix of fondant and gum paste. It is the gum paste that makes it stiff enough to let you do things like the draped sheet look in the above cake.

One thing the class makes you realize is that you would never want to make a cake like this. A lot of people don't really like fondant. It is not that it taste bad - it is mostly just sugar. It does have a stiff, chewy texture which I don't think is real pleasing on a cake.

A major reason I am taking these classes is because of my 22 month old son. I am going to be making a lot of birthday cakes in the future. I probably won't make any fondant covered cakes but I may be using some fondant/ gum paste to make little animals or people or whatever. Plus, I assume kids may not care that the texture is not great for frosting if it has enough sugar in it!

Watch next week for my final cake of this class.

Wilton Cake Class 1 - Part 2

Tonight we made our second cake in cake decorating class.  This week we learned how to make a few flowers (no roses yet), a new border, faces, hearts, fruit, and clowns.  It is getting a little harder but so far nothing is too difficult - I think that may change with the rose next week.  For my cake this week I made a chocolate - I was a little worried because it is obvious if you mess up frosting with chocolate since you can see the crumbs.  The flowers are just called swirl flowers since you have to twist your wrist when making it.  So what do you think - I think it came out pretty good.

Wilton Cake Class 1 - Part 1

Well here is a fun one - at least for me.  I had seen a few of the other food bloggers blog about going to cake decorating class and it has always kind of been something I wanted to try.  Last year we adopted our son and I pretty much failed at his first Birthday cake - it tasted good but looked horrible.  I figured now is the time so I don't have that experience again.

Wednesday was my second class - and the first class where I actually decorated a cake.  I have to admit I had a lot of fun - my instructor Yvonne is the best.  It was a lot of work getting everything ready.  I needed to get the cake ready and prepare seven tubes of frosting during my sons 2 1/2 hour name and I just barely made it.  I went a little overboard and actually torted and filled the cake - which we didn't have to do.  I filled the cake on the top and bottom with Polaner all fruit seedless blackberry jelly - I just heated it a little to make it easy to spread and put a fairly thin layer.  The center has a mix of the frosting and the jelly to make a sort of blackberry cream.  I think it looks pretty nice cut.

Since I didn't want to eat the three cakes I am going to need to make by myself I got my wife to get her work to volunteer to eat it.  This first one worked out well since they were going to have a little celebration - that explains the strange writing on the cake.  I think I need a lot more practice with the writing - it is a lot easier when you are just doing it over the top of the practice letters than while writing on the cake.  

I won't post the recipes unless I get a request or something.  The frosting is the Wilton recipe and it is very easy to work with.  I also liked the cake but will probably expirement with some other cakes in the class.