The final for the Candies and Confectioneries class was to make a wedding cake topper out of blown and pulled sugar. The requirements were to blow a piece that we hadn’t done before and to make some flowers that we hadn’t yet made. Somehow I decided that I wanted to make daffodils and from that sprouted a garden themed wedding topper. It’s pretty cute and intricate. Here’s a bunny detail:
And a snail in the back:
And a butterfly and a bee hanging out:
Doves. Kissing. With a heart. Wedding cake topper, anyone?
Blown Sugar: not nearly as scary as one would imagine. Yes, the sugar is hot. Yes, if you pump too much air into it it can/will shatter like glass. Yes, it’s temperamental. But, once you get over those factors, it’s kind of a cake walk. The pieces are light because they are filled with air, and they stick to one another with great ease (making sculpture assembly a cinch). Also, the results are really cool looking. I made a duckling for my first project. Cute, no?
Oh sugar. My demise. Other than ice cream, hard sugar candies (candy canes, jolly ranchers, etc.) are my favorite. And now, I’m learning, that they are fun to make too! Especially when they are PRETTY! First assignment in the pulled sugar class: flowers. Always the best go-to in the decoration category.
I made some Calla (spelling?) Lilies too, but they just weren’t cute enough to put onto my little showpiece.
The chocolates class finished with a big ol’ chocolate showpiece. My class partner, Krishneil, and I decided to make a spaceship/science fiction themed piece (sound familiar? I love sci fi). Everything in the picture is chocolate, from our little alien buddy to the rocks and planets on the bottom. The big white chocolate thing is a crashed spaceship. This project was STRESS CITY, but I think the final product came out really nicely, so we wound up really happy with the results. But, man, getting there was a pain!
Our alien, Godfrey, is fancy so I gave him a tie. And a piggy nose!
One of the final competencies of the Chocolates class is a chocolate box, ribbons, sides and bottom. They could be made out of dark or white chocolate and could be decorated in any way we felt looked good. For the traditional ribbon box, I made it silver, lavender, and sky blue with a Pollock inspired top and bottom. And, keeping with the Pollock theme, I made my other box gold, green, red, and yellow and cut dinosaur shapes to decorate out the top. As you can imagine, the dinosaur box is my favorite. I am a sucker for T-Rexes.
I was asked to make a cake in the shape of Yoshi (from Mario Brothers) for my boss. When I brought in the finished cake a customer saw it and asked if I could make the exact same cake for his kids’ birthday. So, there has been two Yoshi cakes made now. Can you tell them apart?
Arguably the most important class in the patisserie and baking program is the wedding cakes class, and with that said, the wedding cake is the most important cake. Because of this, I didn’t want to do a run-of-the-mill wedding cake. I had to do something that was meaningful to me, and something that said more about me than just a simple white wedding cake. So, I decided to reference my love of film and bring that in to my wedding cake design. Hence, the Wizard of Oz wedding cake. I could have referenced other film that I perhaps liked better, but this one is universally known, and I could get all the competencies done on this one cake without it blurring the vision of what I think is an acceptable cake. The poppies are made of gum paste, the Tin Man’s heart topper is pastiage, and the yellow brick road is rolled fondant. I am very happy with how this cake turned out. It wasn’t my original vision, but it came together nicely and I’m proud to call it my cake.
This week’s cake was the classic children’s theme cake. It had to be covered or draped in modeling chocolate, decorated with the chocolate bows and swags, topped with a modeling chocolate figure of our choice, and have a pastiage plaque which is cohesive with the theme of the cake. Probably the hardest part of making this cake was picking out the theme that I would be happy with. I went through a bunch of options (Wall-E, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, The Muppets) but eventually some characters from Shel Silverstein’s poems won out. I picked them probably because I felt the most joy recreating these characters than I would have the others. I like to attribute my love of literature to Shel Silverstein, so I might as well honer him with some chocolate figures! The two hugging figures are from his poem Hug O War from the book Where The Sidewalk Ends, and the plaque and stars are from the cover of his book, There’s a Light In The Attic. Chocolate chocolate and more chocolate!
Oh pretty pretty cake! I am very pleased with how this cake turned out. And, it tastes yummy too! White cake with vanilla buttercream covered in marzipan and fondant glaze. And topped off with marzipan roses and chocolate writing. Isn’t it just too pretty too eat?! But, please, eat up!!
