Cake Decorating Class update

I can't believe I've been to three classes since week 1 and not had a chance to update on what we've learned. Where does the time go?

Anyway, in Week 2 we learned brush embriodery, which was quite interesting to learn though I can't imagine wanting to devote that much time to completing one whole cake using this technique. I think most of the class didn't find it the most interesting class and at the admission of the teacher the following week that she thinks it was too early to do it and that it was a bit of a disaster, then it's not really surprising.
To do this technique we firstly covered a cake board in sugarpaste. We then used shaped cutters to emboss a pattern onto the icing. You have to be careful that you don't cut through the icing, just press lightly so the pattern is clear. We had had to take some made up royal icing with us, which we then coloured at the class - I coloured mine pink and green - and proceeded to put into a piping bag with a fine writing nozzle on the end. We then traced part of the design with the coloured royal icing and using a fine paintbrush brush the icing towards the centre of the design to make it look as though the design has been embroidered on.

I gave it a good go but it didn't come out brilliantly.

 Week 3 was much better in my eyes. We made a 'Forever Friends' teddy bear out of marzipan. I am just claiming mine is a teddy bear though as it doesn't particularly look like a Forever Friends, there are a few changes I would make -like a bit of a flatter head and smaller ears. I really enjoyed making this and I'm now hoping to make a teddy bear's picnic cake for Ella for her birthday. I didn't realise until this class that marzipan colours just as easily as sugarpaste so all the extra bits on the bear like the pads of the feet and inside the ears and the nose are all marzipan also. I found it amazing that by just breaking it all down it was quite easy to follow and make and the mystery and wonder of seeing cute little modelling figures on cakes became less mysterious - but in a good way. The bear is just a series of marzipan balls and sausages :) I know that sounds weird but it really is, with maybe a little shaping here and there. It's just obtaining this knowledge and being able to apply it that is the hard part! I was actually quite proud of my bear :)


In last night's class we made some small decorative items for a Christening cake. We didn't do as much in this class as we started late and we spent some time looking through magazines at baby stuff to see what we could make. We made a bib and some baby feet and I made a small building block on the side :)
The teacher also showed us how to model a baby but we didn't have time to make our own in the class so I'll have to give it a try this weekend, or very soon anyway.
When I got home I wrote Isabelle on one of the bibs I made as it's most likely it'll be for Isabelle's christening that I'll be doing baby things on a cake and I was quite impressed with how straight my writing looked! I wrote it on with one of the glitter writing tubes from Lakeland which was very easy to use, but it does take a very long time for it to go hard. I've used it previously on cookies before but when wrapping them up to transport them the glitter writing comes off easily - usually still in shape though :)


Anyway next week will probably be quite involved as we have to bake a rectangular cake to take in and also make a dozen sugarpaste red roses and take lots of bits and bobs in - hope there's enough time to make it all and I hope I manage to make it look ok so I won't be too embarrassed to take it into work.