Friday, May 9, 2008

Cake decorating with chocolate and jelly


I attended the last night of my cake decorating course at William Angliss on Tuesday. To finish out the course, we made ready to roll fondant plaques, and decorated them with chocolate and jelly.

The chocolate was both easier and harder than icing to decorate with - easier because it flows more quickly, and harder because it has a nasty tendency to harden in the piping bag tip before you are finished, and if you cut your piping bag tip too large, it flows all over the place.

I loved the jelly overlay, because it was bright, colourful and reminded me of stained glass.

We had to make two plaques, and through sheer luck, I had two useful occasions to make plaques for. I decorated my first plaque for the top of a cake which I made that evening after class for Kane from work. By chance, I had learned that he turned 30 the next day, and I thought what better way to celebrate a milestone by having a special cake:


I used my new piping skills to pipe whipped cream in and around the cake. The chocolate cake itself was the recipe from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook that I have made before, just filled and decorated differently. Kane was very happy with his cake, as he had never had a birthday cake at work before. The feedback was that it tasted good (relief!).

My second plaque is for Mothers Day this coming Sunday:


I am flying home to see my Mum for Mothers Day and taking Monday off so that I don't have to hurry back. I will probably make Mum a plain madeira cake (she doesn't like "goopy" cakes) and stick the plaque on it with very small icing rosettes.

I am so glad that I did the cake decorating class. Although I sometimes didn't feel like going anywhere but home after work (let's face it, do I ever feel like doing anything else?), and we were often under the hammer to complete the various projects within the available timeframe, it was well worth it, as I learned a lot. Cake decorating hasn't been my forte in the past, and I am not a "natural" at it, but I have definitely acquired some skills to make my celebration cakes look
more special (provided that I am not too lazy!!). Thanks to Greg Williams, our teacher, for passing on some of his skills to us, and for his patience with our often none-too-tidy work habits.

19 comments:

Susan @ SGCC said...

Check out those plaques! They look great! What a fun class that must have been. I'm very impressed with your decorating skills. You're a natural!

Laurie Constantino said...

Those are spectacularly looking cake decorations. The class definitely paid off, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the different ways you make use of the new skills you learned.

Unknown said...

wow cool! i cant decorate yet...i wanna learn T_T

Silvia - Magnolia Wedding Planner said...

Good morning! That cake is stunning darling and you are really good at decorating!
It's a gorgeous decoration indeed!
It must have been a very intersting class!
have a wonderful day
Silvia

Peter M said...

The cake looks super and your attentiveness in class shows in the final result!

Swati said...

Lovely plaques ..like the jelly effect a lot.. it sure does a lot of brightness!! It must have been a fun class..

Anonymous said...

Excellent cake, well done :)

giz said...

There is a wave that seems to work in our blogging universe. When I see one banana recipe, I see several, then out come the blueberries in droves. Your post about cake decorating is very cool and timely - visit our blog later tonight :)

Anonymous said...

Your cakes are looking so masterful! I'm so aching to take one of those cake decorating classes now!
Happy Mothers day too!!!

Emily said...

Spectacular! The cake looks great. I'm glad you took the class too, because now I get to see all of your talent.

Lore said...

I like the idea of decorating with jelly! From what I can see it has a gorgeous stained-glass look. Have a great visit!

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Bravo! I think you've done great - don't knock yourself and your abilities!

Rosie said...

This cake is stunning and what skill and talent you have!! Congrats on completing your course :)

I also have an award for you on my blog ;)

http://rosiebakesapeaceofcake.blogspot.com/

Rosie x

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Susan - it was a really fun class, and I surprised myself by enjoying it, despite being all thumbs.

Thanks Laurie - I hope to put my new skills to good use.

Thanks Pete - now I just have to appltry and not be lazy when decorating.

Thanks Swati - it was a fun class.

Thanks Goddess - much appreciated.

Hi Giz, I have checked out your first post on your classes - I look forward to the next 3 instalments!

Thanks T&D - hope you were able to enjoy Mothers Day with your family.

Thanks Em - though unfortunately we have to work on the talent.

Thanks Lore. I had a lovely time visiting my Mum, and she appreciated it.

Thanks Ghetti.

Hi Rosie, glad to see you back, and thanks so much for the award!

Cakelaw said...

Oops - I lost my replies to Rita and Sylvia, so here goes:

Hi Rita, the decorating class was way cool - I'd love to see what you could come up with.

Thanks Sylvia - glad you liked it.

Pixie said...

You did a wonderful job with your cake- I'm certainly impressed!

Anonymous said...

Very adorable cake!

Mama Mia said...

I want to take a decorating class too! Beautiful cakes! I'm passing along an award to you and your wonderful blog! Check it out and pass this award along! http://mylifeisyummy.blogspot.com/2008/05/arte-y-pico-award.html

Ivy said...

I would like to take a decorating course as well. Congratulations. Your efforts are paying off. They look lovely.