Cake Deco Diaries

Last week I attended a weeklong cake decorating class at the Institute of Culinary Education. It was a blast and I’m so excited to execute all the techniques I learned in this year’s cakes. There was too much to pack into one post, so for now here’s an overview for how the week went down.

When I sat down for my first of five cake decorating classes last week, a familiar realization came to mind. In the time leading up to my week of lessons, a part of me just assumed that I’d show up, the instructor would impart some wisdom and I’d instantly “get it” and be a cake decorating expert. But sitting there doing what felt like endless exercises in piping, I thought, “Oh, [sugar], I actually have to work at this!”

The first class was simple. We prepared a recipe for Swiss meringue buttercream in pairs, loaded piping bags with #18 star decorating tips and learned shells, zig-zags, swags, stars, and rosettes. I struggled with the soft consistency of the frosting. The contents of the piping bag melted under the heat of my hands. We also learned how to make parchment cones for small piping, typically done in contrasting colors.

The Swiss meringue buttercream was, by far, the most fussy frosting recipe I had ever made. The truth is I’m very blase about frosting. I tend not to measure ingredients, going by taste. I don’t like frostings that are overly sweet. I think the frosting should accessorize the cake, not overpower it. So when we spent a good 20-30 minutes preparing a frosting recipe, I thought, “I am never making this again.” But then I tasted it and realized the time was worth it. This recipe is perfect. It’s buttery and rich without too much sweetness. The only downside is it’s not the easiest frosting to pipe with, but it’s not impossible. And the instructor reminded us we’re our own worst critics.

Day 2 also started with a frosting recipe. This one was called decorator’s buttercream, and it lived up to its name as soon as we started reviewing the piping techniques we had learned the night before. The frosting piped beautifully, but its taste was no match for the Swiss meringue buttercream. The decorator’s buttercream was overly sweet and tasted exactly like the frosting typically found on grocery store cakes. On day two we learned a few more piping techniques – swags, bows, ruffles, rose buds and half roses in addition to two different techniques for leaves.

On Day 3 we tackled full roses, piped onto “rose nails”. The buttercream we used on this particular today, another version of decorator’s buttercream, was the stiffest of all the frostings we had prepared. It tasted better than day 2’s, but was a nightmare to work with. I did my best to make a cluster of convincing yellow roses. The instructor remarked, once again, that we’ll be our own worst critic. She suggested checking out the roses churned out of the bakeries of those wholesale membership stores. “They’re not so nice,” she said.

Day 4 is when things got real. We had a lot to do. First we baked yellow cakes and got a lesson in high ratio (also called two-step) vs. creamed butter cakes. Once our cakes were in the oven, we made marzipan from scratch, dyed it in sections and began creating an army of fruits and vegetables. The process was a lot of fun, very relaxing, and surprisingly delicious. And before we were sent home, we had to quickly make our modeling chocolate for use the next day in making chocolate roses. By the time I got home it was past 11 and my recently injured knee was screaming.

Day 5 began with a lot of loose ends. We had an entire cake to assemble and decorate, but not before learning how to craft chocolate roses and bows. We broke our sheets of hardened chocolate into pieces and began kneading it like dough. The instructor announced, “What you want to do, really, is created a giant Tootsie Roll.”

“If one were lazy, let’s say, could one just use Tootsie Rolls?” I asked.

“Well, yes, I suppose you could,” she replied. In the days following this tutorial, I thought up some other mediums one could use for edible roses – Starburst, flavored Tootsie Rolls, and colored white chocolate. Similar to the marzipan fruits and veggies, crafting the chocolate roses was as relaxing and fun as getting your hands dirty with playdough.

We had each churned out a few roses and bows, and it was time to return to my favorite frosting recipe – the Swiss meringue buttercream – but this time it would be flavored with espresso and Amaretto. The smell was divine! And the taste?! Oh my word. I could sit down with a bowl of this frosting and a spoon and be a very happy woman.

Once our frosting was prepared, we had a full tutorial on how to trim, cut, crumb coat and smooth finish a cake. This bit alone was worth the price of admission to me. Because for months now, I’ve struggled to really nail this part of decorating. I’ve watched many tutorials online, but seeing it in person was invaluable and I learned a few techniques I hadn’t seen elsewhere.

With the clock nearing 10pm, we all began working on finishing our cakes. I took my time, especially when smoothing the icing. When the instructor walked by to inspect my work, I asked, “Am I finished? Just tell me I’m finished!” She had warned earlier that you could spend endless hours fussing with frosting, but eventually you just have to move on. The instructor humored me with a “You’re finished!” As the saying goes, great works of art are never finished, only abandoned.

Once I had piped borders and set my roses and bows on top, the cake was finished and class had adjourned. I was so pleased with my work, I treated myself to a cab ride home for fear the subway ride might damage my handiwork. I let the cake sit in its box for a day and a half before photographing it and cutting myself a piece. No cake is too pretty to eat, but this one deserved to stay intact for just a bit.