decorating class

I had three gals from the school I teach at come over to my house for some extra instruction on wedding cakes. It was mostly a dishing session but I was able to get their attention and show them many techniques they could use on their wedding cakes... We covered the cake in fondant, made fondant drapes, fondant bows and ribbons and fondant roses both realistic and whimsy style. Then we moved to royal icing and I taught them how to make the three dimensional decorations as well as the flow method of making designs. Next we worked with gum paste and made roses, and small filler flowers as well as leaves. They were very interested in how to use the wire with the gum paste but no one ever realizes how much time it takes to make these little buggers! So we all made rose buds with about 9 petals. 

All in all it was a fun day and they walked away feeling far more educated and ready to make their cakes successfully... 

Ok so it is a lazy day for me...watching the very end of the olympics and thinking I should be doing something! Like setting up my new camera and beginning the series of shorts I want to post on youtube... I will begin at the beginning...HAHA of course! 

Mise en place is the most important part of baking or cooking efficiently and successfully. And what in the heck does that mean, you ask?? or perhaps you are savy or French speaking and you know that means "everything in it's place". So we get all the ingredients we need out and ready. That is JUST the beginning... and then we move into the measuring or in the industry we call it "scaling" since weighing is far more accurate than cup measurements. But for this audience I will begin with measuring and not weighing... but you bet I will insist you all have scales for proper baking! But I am patient and I will give you all time to get what you need to succeed. I will also post my recipes in both american and metric measurements... well, if I can... I will surely try since all the world uses metric but us... ah well... 

My first blog!

Well, I guess I have to start somewhere so here I go! 

I have been teaching baking for a very long time and I feel I need to reach a larger audience. So I set up a web page, posted a video on youtube and now this! I plan on making all three work together so you can gain as much knowledge as you need to on baking subjects. 

I will have recipes, ideas, rants and general information that you may need. I will encourage anyone to write to me for such things as well. I want to post lots of pictures of the food I make and I will post pictures of the baked goods you create with my help! 

So stay tuned! And happy baking!