Sally at the French Culinary Institute!

Here I am at the French Culinary Institute! I love the look of the school is just so clean and cozy inside.


Here is my classroom..the beginning of it all...

I'm nervous but the excitement and determination has taken over!! :D I am taking the Fondant and Royal Icing course taught by Cynthia Peithman at the FCI. Below I have my final project that I completed on my last day of my class. I absolutely love Pink and green combination. My cake reminds me of the Simply Shabby Chic bedding linens and thats probably where I got my inspiration!


The cake is a genoise (french sponge) cake layers washed with Grand Marnier and vanilla buttercream. The exterior is a pink colored fondant with quilting pattern. The border of the pink fondant is green bands dusted with pearl dust and adorn with green ribbon and the cake is topped with a large bow dusted with pearl dust. Can you believe that I drove this cake from NYC to my home in Virginia in one assembled piece, which is 5 hours!!

So now we begin the Adventures of Sally at FCI from the beginning..

The first couple of classes began with mastering the recipes for Rolled Fondant - a white moldable sugary paste that is used to cover and decorate wedding cakes. The rolled fondant produces a smooth, matte, porcelain like finish on a cake, that is why it is choice pick for wedding cakes.


There is also a Poured Fondant is cooked is thinned into a sugary syrup and used for confections such petit fours ( mini french cakes) or the gooey center of a chocolate covered cherry.


Day 1
Mastering your fondant recipe, consistency and rolling and decorating a styrofoam cake dummy. Then practice all piping techniques with Royal Icing.


Colette's Fondant Recipe:

Ingredients:

- 2 pounds confectioner's sugar
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
- 1/2 cup glucose (found in cake decorating stores) or white corn syrup
- 1 1/2 tablespoons glycerine (used as a softener) used in the winter when dry, not needed in humid times
- 1 teaspoon desired clear flavoring (vanilla will give the fondant an off-white color) suchas lemon or almond extract
- powdered sugar or cornstarch for dusting

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, sift the sugar and make a well in the center.

Then In a small saucepan, add the water and sprinkle the gelatin on top to soften ( called blooming) for about 5 minutes. Begin to heat the gelatin water mixture and stir until the gelatin is dissolved and clear. Do not boil. Turn off the heat and add the glucose ( corn syrup) and glycerine, stirring until well blended. Add the flavoring and blend.

Pour the gelatine mixture into the well of sugar, and mix until all of the sugar is just blended. Then scrap the mixture out of the bowl into a well dusted surface. Use hands to knead fondant mixture until it becomes a smooth and even consistency. Work small amounts of confectioner's sugar if the mixture is sticky until smooth and dough like.

Form the mixture into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place in an airtight container. Making sure no air gets in. The fondant can be used immediately in cooler temperature weather like winter time. This icing works best if allowed to rest at room temperature for about eight hours before using, particularly if the weather is humid.

Be sure to knead the fondant until it is really pliable before covering cakes with it. It helps to prevent tearing on the edges of the cake.

A great thing about class that they feed us dinner every night at 8:30 pm! Its food that the student chefs cook also in the kitchen..its great!

We also get nice breads, pastries and desserts to try sometimes! Yummmies! I ate all the almond and the raspberry ones!

Day 2

Making Fondant again and decorating dummies to get practice.

Then practice more Piping , while Chef Cynthia Peithman prepares to demo like 15 different fondant techniques:

Quilting

Stenciling

Sponging

Texturing/ Embossing

Making Pearls

Molds - using silicone lace and molds to create designs

Piping with Royal Icing - Snail Trail, Star, Leaf, Rosettes and Swiss Dots, swags

Making Ribbons, bands and bows

Clay Gun - different types of borders made with clay gun

Airbrushing

Day 3

We made our own french genoise cakes and buttercreams from scratch :)

We also filled our geniose cakes with buttercream filling and cake wash. My cake wash was Grand marnier and vanilla buttercream.

Day 4

Chef Cynthia shows us how to crumb coat the cake and what we need to do to prepare the cake and boards in order for cake building.

It was the day we crumb coat our filled cakes and make and decorations needed in advances. I had a lot of things to do to ensure a timely execution on Day 5 (last) day of class.

-To crumb coat the cake with buttercream.

-To cover the cake base board with fondant.

-To make any type of wedding topper, bows and ribbons in advance to dry and harden for cake assembly on last day of class.

Here are my bow loops that I made for my large bow topper for my cake.

DAY 5

For my final project I made a pink fondant wedding cake with avocado green bands and small bows and a big ribbon bow wedding topper. The technique I used a quilted pattern on my fondant cake with green bands and a ribbon cake topper.

I also made the little bows to use on the side of my cake to cover up where the bands of green fondant connect :)

Then after the quilting and the green band, I made a creative decision to add 3 little swiss dots on each quilt diamond for an extra something,...



Here is my final product!!!! WOOOWEE! It took me 4 hours to put all the details on this one! The top 2 tiers are made with styrofoam dummies and the bottom tier is a buttercream geniose cake. The cake sizing is 3 inch, 6 inch and 9 inch!

So we gathered all the cakes and had a cake showcase and here are some of the other cakes that my fellow bakers made...


The student next to me decided to go crazy and and do a Jungle cake. She sculputed the trees and branches and then painted the different shades of green on green fondant. Then the she used cookie cutters to make the animals and she airbrushed the color onto the animals. She was the more amibitious one...lol.

Here is a really nice pastel blue and white fondant cake with opposing color bands, swiss dots all over the cake and beaded border.

The cake behind mine that is white uses the technique of stenciling royal icing onto your cake surface which was nice and pretty too.





A picture of me and Chef Cynthia with my cake! I'm so pleased and excited to come back and try out everything I learned. YAH!

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!

WOW your friends with these nifty Superbowl cupcakes!!!!

My friend John and Diana absolutely love vanilla bean. So these cupcakes are solely vanilla bean and vanilla buttercream, although I do recommend chocolate cupcakes so that the brown color give you a "dirt effect" on your cupcake just like the ground.

Vanilla Bean White Cake

Makes (2)- 9 x 2 - Round Layer Cakes

Dry Ingredients:
2 ½ cups Cake Flour
3 tbsp. Potato Starch
1 tbsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. Instant vanilla mix
1 tsp. salt

Liquid Ingredients:
¾ cup. egg whites (about 6 – 7 egg whites)
¾ cup. – whole milk
1/3 cup. – half and half
1 ½ tsp. – Clear Vanilla Extract

Creaming Ingredients:
1 ¾ sticks - Unsalted Butter
2 ¼ c. granulated sugar or extra fine sugar
1 - Vanilla bean pod ( or *2 tbsp of Vanilla Bean paste)

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

• Line the bottom of the plans with parchment paper.
• In separate bowl sift the flour and whisk all the dry ingredients together for about 15 seconds.
• Measure the liquid ingredients into a separate bowl and whisk to combine; whisking the egg whites will require more effort than usual to incorporate.
• Measure the butter and sugar into separate bowls and set aside.

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugar until creamy and fluffy for 3 - 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile slice the vanilla bean lengthwise with a paring knife and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the creaming butter and sugar mix. Reserve Pod for another use. ( Or add the tablespoons of vanilla bean paste at this time.)
3. Add the dry Ingredients mixture alternating with the liquid mixture in 3 -5 additions each, beginning and ending with the dry mixture. Don’t wait for the dry or liquid ingredients to be fully incorporated before adding the next. This step should take a total of about 60 seconds
4. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl all the way down. Don’t miss the clumps in the bottom middle of the bowl. Now mix on medium speed for 20 – 30 seconds to develop the batter’s structure.
5. Prepare the pans. Deposit the batter in 3 separate sections of the pan and smooth out with the rubber spatula or an offset spatula. The pans should ½ half full. Drop the pan on the counter a couple of times to settle the air bubbles in the batter. Bake for 35 minutes and transfer for to rack to cool.
6. The 9-inch round cakes should cool from about 25 – 30 minutes before removing from the pans. Invert each pan onto a flat surface and remove the layers. Remove the parchment from the bottom of each cake and wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap.

*TIP* - If you are decorating the next day, the cakes can be left out at room temperature wrapped in plastic wrap to use on the next day. Assembling a layer of cake is easier if the cake is cold; refrigerate the layers overnight or for up to 5 days before frosting.

I made these cupcakes with vanilla and green colored vanilla buttercream so that the buttercream looks like grass! Then I topped each cupcake with a fondant football with lacing that is piped with royal icing.
Lookie!

So first color some white vanilla buttercream to green for grassy.

All the cupcakes with green buttercream grass...
Then using an small oval cookie cutter ( mine is from Ateco), I cut out 2-D shapes for footballs and also hand-rolled 3-D footballs... except my 3-D footballs don't need 3-D glasses..heee hee :)

So then once you have the footballs then use white icing and pipe little laces on the footballs.



The 3-D footballs which are like the real footballs are cool and the 2-D footballs stand out better though because they are flat.

Now if your rooting for a special team you can buy some colored M&M's depending on Cardinals( Red & White) or Steelers ( Black & Yellow) and put them on the cupcakes as well.

Now see the difference for the toppers on the cupcakes! This is a more neutral cupcake topper, so you can say you are either a Cardinals or Steelers fan :)

A Cupcake Christmas!

Christmas is a time for cupcakes!
And other delicious sweets of all sorts! Try these really yummy easy variations of Christmas time cupcakes.

For decorations I used:
-Holiday sprinkles
-Christmas trees & snowflakes ( Target)
-snowflake fondant cutter
-white fondant
-yellow sugar crystals
-coconut flakes


Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and I used red and green tree sprinkles and fondant snowflake.

Bright arctic blue cupcakes are Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and decorated with white snowflake sprinkles and a large fondant snowflake.

On the left is a Lemon cake with Cream cheese buttercream sprinkled with yellow sugar crystals. On the right is a Coconut cake with cream cheese buttercream coated with coconut flakes. Just brilliant!

Just one little bite of the Lemon cream cheese cupcake...so moist and delicious!
Makes the christmas season soo scrumptious...hehe :)

Cookies for Santa!

Santa loves his cookies!! Soo don't forget to leave some by the Christmas Tree for him.

For my birthday my good friend John & Diana got me this wonderful Williams and Sonoma Cookie Press to bake these snazzy cookies!



Vanilla Butter Cookies
(Williams and Sonoma)

16 tbsp. or 2 sticks - unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
*Colored sugars or icings for decorating

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F ( 190 degrees C.)

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the egg, vanilla and salt and continue beating until well mixed, about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour and beat until just blended, about 1 minute, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Fill the cookies press with the room temperature dough according to the manufacturer's instructions and fit with the desired cookie disks. Press the dough out onto the ungreased baking sheets (not nonstick), space the cookies 1 inch apart.

Bake until the cookies are light golden, about 14 minutes. Tranfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let cool for about 5 minutes then transfer to the cookies to the racks and let cook completely. Decorate the cookies with colored sugars or royal icing as desired.

Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies. Enjoy!!

You can also wrap these in butter cookies in clear cellophane bags (avaliable in Michaels or Walmart) with silver twist ties for a nice holiday gift! Voilaaaa!
Santa is sure to love these cookies :)