Class #2
For the past couple years I've been using the grandness of the internet, books and blogs galore to gain insight into the art of cake decorating. I've tried my hand at covering cakes in fondant (and I'm starting to get pretty good) and have made some pretty cool 3-D birthday cakes in the process as well, but one of the things I'm missing is the intricacy in decorating- all the little details and more importantly getting to learn how to use all those cool tips I have in my cake box!
Best Christmas present ever :) I have one great boyfriend.
Last summer I actually tried to take some cake decorating classes while waiting around for my job to start, but was never able to make it happen. But nows my chance! I started looking around the local craft stores and found a Wilton decorating class at the local Michaels. This is where the dork in me shines.. the class is on Friday nights- yes, I give up my Friday nights to learn the art of cake decorating...but I'll tell you what, it is my most looked forward to evening in the week and I couldn't enjoy myself more.
Last night was our first time actually practicing on a cake. Everyone at work is going to start 'love-hating' me even more... I have to have a cake made, ready to decorate every class... so what does that mean for my office?? There is going to be a freshly decorated cake every Monday for the next few weeks! I figured this would also be an awesome way to try out new cake recipes that I haven't had a reason to try out. From a suggestion of my decorating instructor, this time around I cheated a little bit..I usually always make my cakes completely from scratch, but this cake is actually started with a boxed cake mix- Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden to be exact. The finished creation is a Yellow Almond Sour Cream Cake...I must say the end result was awesome; a super moist cake with just a hint of almond that holds up really well (the recipe is at the bottom of the post). If you don't have a lot of time to mess with a completely from scratch cake I highly suggest it.
Back to the decorating! This week we just learned some basics, but I thought I'd share my creation. I mastered the art of filled stars, writing with icing, and dots.
At the end of class we were set free to create with the different techniques we learned. Earlier in the evening we were talking about paisleys (don't ask me why) so I used that as inspiration and then went with my monogram to practice my handwriting. I thought it came out pretty good.what do you think??
Yellow Almond Sour Cream Cake
Oven: 350 Bake Time: 25-30 minutes
Adapted from the side of the box
1 box Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp Almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
Mix eggs, sour cream, oil, and sugar in a large bowl. Once combined, alternate adding cake mix and water. Pour into cake pans and bake.
Happy Baking :)