Wilton Cake Decorating Course 3, Class 4

The Course 3 final cake challenge was to make a tiered cake with either dowels or those tacky plastic pillars. I chose to stack my cake and enlisted my husband to assist in the assembly. I used 6 inch cakes and 8 inch cakes. I torted the cakes creating 8 layers total, which provided significant height. The height to width ratio is very important if you want the cake to be visually appealing. Also, when stacking with pillars or decorating with cascades of flowers, a 3-4 inch cake width difference is suggested. I went with a simple elegant cake with minimal details so the 2 inch difference was appropriate.

The cake is Dorie's Perfect Part Cake recipe (posted previously with the peach cake) amended using orange zest and orange juice to flavor the cake and icing. The filling was a mixture of strawberry jam and fresh strawberries. I used very little swiss buttercream this time around and used whole milk instead of buttermilk for the cake batter. Whole milk creates a denser cake, whereas the buttermilk really encourages the angel food like consistency. The cake was very moist and did not need any added frosting once the fondant was removed.

This was a tough but enjoyable project and I am entirely pleased with the results. I feel confident in my cake making skills and am warming to the idea of making wedding and other special occasion cakes some day. Total time spent making the cake was about 9 hours. The majority of that time was spent baking the cakes and making the icings from scratch. Not included is the time it takes to make fondant roses. I estimate I make about 8 an hour. I made 21 total.

I affectionately call this cake, my Lauren Conrad cake. Although I loath LC, my freestyle buttercream accents remind me of the monogram cakes that Martha Stewart helped make so popular a few years back. The roses were made using tinted fondant, which I then painted with a mixture of vodka and yellow sparkle dust. Entirely edible, although not recommended :)

Antipasto Salad

My new favorite salad of the moment is this Antipasto salad I created after reading through dozens of recipes online. I needed to bring a salad to work that pared well with pizza. Big hit at work and at home. This is not a cheap salad as jarred artichokes, deli salami and deli provolone cost about $5 each. It ends up being about $25-30, but it yields plenty for dinner and lunch leftovers the next day. Still cheaper than eating out.

Antipasto Salad
makes 4-5 servings

1/2 head red lettuce
1/2 head butter lettuce
1 can black (or green) whole, pitted olives
1 small box of yellow cherry tomatoes
1 small jar of artichoke hearts cut in half (in oil tastes better)
1/2 cup deli sliced peperoncini from jar (or to taste)
5 slices of provolone cut into pieces (deli sliced provolone is best)
1 package of deli sliced salami cut into pieces
Italian dressing to taste

Monkey Bread

Yum. Monkey Bread. Great comfort food for those Sunday-morning-tomorrow-is-Monday blues.

Working Woman's Monkey Bread

4 cans of 8 buttermilk refrigerated biscuits (I only used 2 cans!)
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup pecans, chopped

On low heat mix butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts together until sugar is dissolved. Spray Monkey Bread Baking Mold with non-stick cooking spray. Quarter biscuits and dip in sugar mixture until well coated. Place biscuits in pan and pour remaining sugar mixture over biscuits. Place in a COLD OVEN and turn to 350° F. Bake 45 minutes. After removing from oven carefully release edges and center with a knife. Invert onto a serving platter and serve warm.

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 3, Class 2

Course 3 is Fondant and tiered cakes. I love working with fondant. It's pliable, not messy and contrary to what many think, delicious! I love this cake so much. It turned out so much better than I had planned. I almost don't want to let anyone eat it...

I was super proud of my corners, borders and tiny detail. Side shot to show off.

Orange Chiffon Cake with Orange Swiss Buttercream

It was my girlfriend's birthday celebration this past weekend in Amador Wine County. I wanted a light, not-too-sweet cake as we would be consuming lots of wine. I used the Orange Chiffon Cupcake recipe from Cupcakes, by Elinor Klivans and amended my go to Swiss buttercream with some orange extract. I used two 6 inch cake pans and torted the layers, which means I cut both in half. Torting can give a cake impressive height and make room for yummy fillings. Top it off with some royal icing flowers and this was an exceptional little treat.

Orange Chiffon Cupcake Recipe by Elinor Klivans.

1 ½ cups cake flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
4 large eggs separated
1/3 cup water
1 ½ grated orange zest
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare cupcake pans.

1. Sift the cake flour, ¾ cup of the sugar, the baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Using a large spoon, make a well in the center of the flour mixture and put in the yolks, oil, water, zest, orange juice and vanilla and almond extracts in the well.
2. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the mixture until smooth and thick, about 3 minutes.
3. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.
4. Set aside.
5. In another large bowl. With clean beaters, beat together the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until the whites are foamy and the cream of tartar dissolves.
6. Beat on high speed until the egg whites look shiny and smooth and the beaters form lines in the mixture; if you stop the mixer and lift up the beaters, the egg whites should cling to the beaters.
7. Slowly beat in the remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat for one minute.
8. Stir in about one third of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.
10. Bake for about 35 minutes, until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 2, Class 4

Course 2 was advanced buttercream, color flow technique, royal icing flowers and basket weave. I thought a lot about how I wanted my final cake to look. I knew I wanted pastel flowers and a chocolate buttercream for the basket. All the planning paid off in the end. I love this cake. Basket weave is surprisingly easy. Much easier than making chocolate buttercream! The bird is color flow, a thin, fast-drying icing that can be used to draw any shapes or designs. The royal icing flowers are easy to make and impressive once on the cake. My favorites are the pansies.

Due to my first kitchen disaster, which I am not yet ready to talk about, the cake was store bought. I just scraped it down to the icing and created a beautiful cake of my own.