Hello and welcome to week eight! On the agenda for this week, airbrushing and mold making. We started off with mold making, learning about gelatin, silicone and cornstarch and cocoa powder molds (shown below). We then worked on airbrushing techniques and assembled a pastillage showpiece. Chef called pastillage assembly week "the week of tears" because pastillage breaks so easily. Luckily there wasn't much carnage.

Here are some pictures of the chocolate frames we made using corn starch and cocoa powder molds. It was pretty easy. We just had to press a wooden picture frame into a tray of cornstarch/cocoa and then fill the cavity with tempered chocolate. After the chocolate set we could remove it from the mold and voilà! A chocolate picture frame.

These are all the pastillage and pressed sugar pieces we used to create the showpiece. We cut them out during sugar week and then stored them. After a couple days of practicing airbrushing on paper, we painted them.

This is the flower I created using pastillage petals. It was attached together using hot sugar. 

This is the final showpiece I created. The dome is made from pressed sugar and the base is a dummy cake covered in fondant. All the rest is airbrushed pastillage. I hand painted the black lines onto the butterfly. I was extremely relieved when I managed to put it all together without breaking anything. Pastillage is extremely fragile so I was really nervous about assembling it.

Well that concludes week 8. That means I'm already half way through the program! I can't believe how fast it's gone. I'm excited for all the things we are going to learn in the remaining eight weeks but sad that it will be over so soon. I'll make sure to enjoy it while I'm here. Thanks for reading!

Happy baking,

Kayla

Hello and welcome to the second part of the Gumpaste, Fondant and Piping unit! This post will be on our third and final project from the two weeks, which was a three tiered wedding cake. 

The first part of the cake was creating a gum paste flower spray to go on the top. For the arrangement we made calla lily's, orchids and a gardenia. We made the flowers over two days then assembled the pray on the third. 

This is what the flowers looked like after we put them all together. We added fabric bow loops to make the arrangement look fuller. They were displayed on the top of the cake in a pressed sugar vase.

To create the broach we used a silicone hold. After unmolding we painted the entire surface in edible silver paint. We then added accents with white and coral pearls and a gum paste gemstone.

Some new techniques we learned for the cake were beading and draping, both of which are shown in the picture above. We also learned how to create fondant ribbons. 

This is what the final cake turned out. After working on it all week I was definitely sick of looking at it but it did turn out good. And it was awesome to learned three new gumpaste flowers! Next week we're back with Chef Scott for airbrushing and mold making. Then the week after that we actually get to start baking! Can't wait to tell you all how delicious it is!

Happy baking,

Kayla

Hey everybody! So week 7 and our Gumpaste, Piping and Fondant unit is officially finished. In the two weeks we had with Chef Nicholas Lodge we decorated a fruitcake (which we baked at the beginning of the program), a plaque and a wedding cake. We got to learn a ton of new techniques through the three projects. This post will be documenting the first two.

This was the first project we worked on, and the first time we got to decorate a real cake! We were shown the traditional way a fruitcake would be decorated in Britain or Australia where they're popular.  The fruitcake was first covered in marzipan, then in 3 coats of royal icing to make it smooth. We then decorated in using numerous royal icing piping techniques including color flow, pressure piping, scroll work, over piping and drop lines. As you can see it is decorated for Valentines Day so when I take it home for Christmas I may re-do the decorations.

We also got to learn how to make fondant and gumpaste from scratch. We used the gum paste we made to create the sugar rose.

Here are some close-ups of the piping work I did on the cake. The top showing scroll work, over piping and drop lines and the bottom showing the shell border with frilled edge. All the techniques we learned were amazing but definitely require a great deal of practice to become proficient at.

This is the second project we worked on. A winter wonderland plaque complete with bas-relief snowman and gum paste snowflakes and lettering. I kept my snowman to put on the fruitcake when I get home!

Everyone in class was rather infatuated by the snow sparkle hologram dust we added to the gumpaste snowflakes. Glitter makes everything better.

Well those are the first two projects we worked on the last two weeks. I will have pictures of the wedding cake up very soon. Next week we're back to Chef Scott Green for Airbrush and Mold Making. I can't wait to tell you all about it! Have a good weekend.

Happy baking,

Kayla

Hello again! Well, week 6 of the program is officially done and I cannot believe how fast it's going! Everyone told me my time in Chicago would fly by but I can't believe how right they were. I'm a week behind with my posts but I'll be getting back on track this weekend. This post will be on week 5, which was Pastillage and Sugar work. It was most definitely the most fun week so far. I have done a small amount of sugar work before but I got to learn some awesome new methods and techniques.

Photo Credit: Steve Marcus - http://www.lasvegassun.com

Our teacher for this unit was Chef Scott Green. The above is a picture of him at the 2012 Amoretti World Pastry Team Championship in Las Vegas, as part of team USA. Yup, we got to learn from him. Even during demo it was amazing to watch him work. I feel so privileges to have such talented Chef's to learn from.

This was the main project we were working on this week. A contemporary wedding cake with blown sugar swans, bubble sugar and pulled sugar roses and ribbon. 

This was my first attempt at sugar ribbon. It's definitely not an easy thing to do but it's something I would love to get better at as I think it looks amazing when done well.

Here are some close-ups of my pulled sugar roses and blown sugar swans. Everyone in class made about 6 swans and picked the best 2 for their cakes.

Though sugar work probably isn't something I will be using much in my career it's something I love to learn about so I'm very happy we got to spend some time on it. The next two weeks will be Gumpaste, Piping and Fondant with Nichols Lodge! I can't wait to tell you all about it. Till next time.

Happy baking,

Kayla