Wilton Cake Decorating Course 3 : Gum Paste and Fondant Class 3 and Completion!

 Hello again! Well I finally have a bit of time to post about my final two classes on this Wilton cake decorating journey and this is my graduation cake. Truly the pinkest cake I've ever decorated!

 In these last two sessions we learned so many things, like how to cover the board with fondant...

Aaaanddd....How to cover the CAKE with fondant..

 Look at all my hardworking fellow course mates kneading away...my neighbour Sabrina refuses to look at the camera cos she's so into her kneading...lol! Some say it's good exercise for the arms..some even say can 'enhance' their 'bosoms' shall we say...haha!

As I said in my previous post, the bows that I had already assembled got all floppy and some of the loops broke so I had to make a new one.Me likey the polkadots on the new one :)

Aaand this is how it looked like once put on the cake.. 

 This is just a showcase of the gum paste flowers that we learned in this course. The daisy, roses, mums or chrysanthemums, carnation and the calla lily. Pretty ain't it?

We also learned many types of borders. Ball borders, ruffles and plenty of other techniques such as inlays and outlays as shown on these other beautiful masterpieces by my coursemates.

 I'd say they are such a creative bunch of people!

 A nice pic of me receiving my final cert from our lovely and patient instructor Ms. Angeline Stanley.

 A slightly tired looking me holding up my cake proudly!

 Sigh..it looked even nicer when airbrushed with some pearl shimmer..I have to invest in one of those one day..awesome stuff!

I didn't actually take a group photo but this was the one taken by Angeline. I'm actually going to miss all the fun and laughter from this group.Truly a wonderful memory that I can share with my kids one day. It's only just the beginning but at least it's a start. Actually there are plenty more to learn and I hope I can share more of my journey as I intend to go and learn different techniques perhaps from individuals who are experienced in cake decorating. As for now, I am content and happily taking orders. This will give me the chance to hone my skills and gain more experience first before moving up to the next level. All in all, besides sewing (which I still love!) cake decorating gave me an outlet to show my creative side and eat my cake too! Next post? The making of my Chelsea soccer cake and my daughter's one year old rainbow birthday cake!..coming soon!

Wilton cake Decorating Course 2 : Class 3 and Graduation

 Hello friends yup this is the final blog concerning Course Two in my cake decorating adventure..Sorry it took so long to update as I was completely knackered from all the baking and flower making and needed some well deserved rest. Well let me tell ya..making flowers out of royal icing is truly a skill to be reckoned with...the amount of concentration needed is enormous and one wrong move and your flower goes kaput!! So here is the documentation of class 3 and the final graduation class. WARNING : There are a lot of pictures! Hehe..

All handpainted and here I am letting it dry on a piece of foil on my muffin pan.

In class 3, we were taught on how to pipe all kinds of flowers. We made flowers using royal icing which is an icing that has tons of meringue powder so that it sets to be hard. So here is my favourite among all the flowers...LILLIES! At first I made a mistake by piping five petals instead of six..I had made 12 until I realised they were all wrong.Then I had to do it all over again with six petals..phewwh..well all I can say, practice makes perfect!

We did the Wilton Rose again (in orange) and the ribbon rose (in bright pink). Both beautiful but using different techniques.

As promised my improved pansies made using gum paste.

These are my apple blossoms (left) and my primroses (right)

These are my lovely bright daffodils

I like making these I don't know why..perhaps because it's a sunny colour and I find the corn starch pinching of the petals a very fascinating technique.

 These are my violets...for these I would have preferred a darker purplish colour though ..still they're cute :)

Now this is the preparation of my Course Two final graduation cake.I baked a three layer chocolate cinnamon cake. This cake was a moist aromatic wonder and quite heavy after all that layering. In the background, you can see the meringue powder which to me is super expensive but also super useful especially in the making of buttercreams and icing. For those who don't know, meringue powder is basically powdered egg whites.

This was after crumb coating the three layers with buttercream

 Back in class for the final day of course two and we learned the reverse shell borders, rosettes and the basketweave

 Doing it on the practice board was one thing but doing the basketweave on the actual cake was another.It was time consuming and required some concentration indeed. Oh and did I mention, you need a LOT of buttercream!

 Then it was time to decorate the cakes with all the flowers we had made prior to coming to class. This was my creation. A symmetrical design.. Muahahha!

 This here was my neighbour Sabrina's creation with her cute fondant bees. The dark coloured basket was made by our instructor Angeline.

 These were my other classmates beautiful creations

 I think the one on the left belongs to Michelle and she made her basketweave with a different tip than the rest of us. Here Sally sempat lagi giving us the peace sign while finishing her masterpiece hehe

Mine again!

 Yeah mine was the big FAT one right in front.

 Fireworks and celebration!!!! I received my second cert in the Wilton Course from Angeline Stanley our instructor.

 A smiling class pic is a must! From the left and I hope I've got the spellings right..Fadia, Michelle, Sally, Sabrina, ME, Pee Lee, Angeline, Misako and the three other ladies I'm not so sure of their names as they just joined us for this course.

 You can't tell here but I was completely knackered but still proudly posing next to my cake.

 In the box and ready to go home.

 And then a quarter in the tummy...hehe..

 So there you go.. the journey for my course two had ended..:) I shall be continuing to Course 3 Fondant and Gumpaste in the Wilton Method of cake decorating series in May along with my perky and gung-ho classmates. We are looking forward to finishing this course together and as expected we became fast friends because of our common interest. Cake decorating...What a great way to make friends!

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 : Lesson 4 and Graduation

I graduated the first course in the Wilton Method syllabus today.So yay for me!

The cake was a white chocolate banana cake.

Some writing before all the placement of roses

My instructor Ms. Angeline Stanley handing over my cert. Weee!

Close-up of the golden paper

The excited graduating class taking pics

The fruits of our buttercream labour

I think this was the winner..her roses were perfect!

A lemony beauty

My neighbour Sabrina's gem

Other beauties

My friendly and hardworking classmates

Okay this was the last pic before the 'mishap'. Yeah my cake fell (Gasp!) but thank goodness it wasn't smashed to smitherines. Just fell on some files almost hitting the floor and dented on one side but my borders hancur :( Perhaps I should invest in a better cake caddy.
I managed to repair the cake once I reached home.Not as perfect as before but presentable and added more roses to hide the dent.Oh well, I will have to be much more careful next time. Course 1 was fun and even though the tasks were relatively simple, it truly was a challenge for me as it was not easy balancing my time between baby and prepping for class. I will probably start Wilton Method Cake Decorating Course 2 : Flowers and Cake Design in April. I bet that would be an even bigger challenge and loads of fun!