Level 1 - Week 1 - The Basics

So a few days have passed and I completed my first class on Friday. Let me just say it was so much fun!  I had an absolute blast, the class time flew by.  As they say time flies when you are having fun! The entire level-1 course is 4-weeks, with classes that are two hours long.  Those that know me, know I'm a time-oriented person so I arrived at class a little early to secure a good spot.  When I arrived at the classroom I was the only person there, though I noticed there were some bags and supplies on the table next to me.  I waited in anticipation not really knowing what to expect. Moments later the instructor arrived, followed by more students. The class was six people total. I think six is a good class size, because it allows for one-on-one time with the instructor when needed.

As class started the instructor explained that she would be doing a lot of talking and explaining, but the upcoming weeks would be more activities.  When the instructor stated this I immediately got a flash back to my college days, and the first day of class.  Most of the first classes were introductions with the instructor explaining what was to be expected from the course.  Even though we did not do a lot of hands-on activities in class I learned A LOT of useful information.  I took about a page and a half of notes. I'm a note taker, so I am known to take notes.  :-)

Being that I really do not have a lot of baking experience, I soaked up all of the information that I possibly could. A few things that I learned that I thought were kind of cool, were the following:

• Baking a cake:  When baking a cake place the ingredients out for about 10-20 minutes prior to baking.  This allows for the ingredients to chill and become room temperature.  
• Add moisture to a cake:  Wrap the cake in saran wrap and place into the fridge for about 20 minutes. When you take the cake out, the cake will be moist.  Vanilla cake has a tendency to be drier. 
• Frosting: Frosting can last up to 2 months in the fridge in a sealed container, and up to a year if placed in the freezer.
• Frosting Consistency: There are three types of consistencies for frosting: thin, medium, stiff.  The thin consistency is used for writing/printing and icing the cake.  The medium consistency is used to create designs such as stars, borders, and flowers with petals that lie flat.  The stiff consistency is used for decorations such as flowers with upright petals (like a rose).
• Avoid crumbs:  Once the cake has had a chance to cool off, level off the top of the cake with a leveler, then flip the cake over.  The bottom will now become the top of the cake and will provide a smooth surface for icing.

The above tips are going to be particularly useful to me when I bake my cake for the next class.  I can't wait to test them all out!

In addition to learning about some key tips to baking, we also learned how to place icing into an icing bag, the differences between the tips, and how to make stars.  I took so many notes on the different tips, don't you worry. I will be sure to blog about the different tips that were included in my cake kit.  After we were shown the proper method to create stars, we were able to then practice on cookies.

Please see below for the pictures of the star decorating exercise using the cake decorating tip #18:

Included within the cake decorating kit, there were various practice stencils.  The one below depicts the one we used to make stars.  As you will see by the first star (well not sure if you want to call it a star lol), I didn't know what I was doing.  I got better as the practice lesson went on.

 After completing the practice set above, I got to work on the cookies.  I made real simple designs and played it on the safe side.  Don't worry, I will practice more and take more risks.  Below you will see the three cookies that I decorated while in class.

I know, I know these are really basic, but hey it's a start!  For the next class we have been tasked with the following:

1. Bake a cake - 8 inch
2. Prepare frosting medium consistency, thin consistency
3. Pick out colors for decorating

Phew! As you can see from above, I learned a lot of information in just two hours. I just can't wait until the next class.  In the next class we get to ice a cake, use piping gel to stencil on a design, then finally decorate the cake with the stencil.  For my next blog, I will let you know how my experience preparing frosting went.  Until the next one cake lovers..... ~  xoxo L.B