When I was about eight, my mother took a cake decorating class. She was a housewife, and I was lucky to have her at home all the time, doing mom-type things. I have no idea how long this cake-phase lasted, but it made an indelible impression on me.
For what seemed like a glorious, golden stretch of time, but which was probably just half a year, we constantly had fancy cakes in the house. Not just Duncan Hines box mix crap, but made-from-scratch cakes, topped off with the most beautifully frosted designs.
I remember distinctly cakes themed with a four-leaf clover for St. Patrick's Day, a lion for my dad's birthday, and a bouquet of flowers with "Welcome Spring!" I also vaguely remember nagging her for a custom cake for my birthday.
It was SO much fun. I loved to look at the pretty designs, lick the frosting off the plastic cake decorations, and just marvel at the thought that MY mom could make stuff just for ME.
My mom continues to bake as one of her hobbies. She has always been a good baker. Me, not so much. I've become a good cook, but cooking and baking are two different animals. I think all they share in common is the kitchen, and high heat. In cooking, you can substitute and improvise. In baking, it's so exact and specific. I shunned baking after a few lackluster attempts.
That is, until I met Lani Sonan and Lori Tamashiro when the Cake Creations Dessert Haven co-owners were guests on the KHNL morning show. Little did I know they would change the course of my confectionary life. They brought the most beauuuutiful cakes. I wanted to learn how to make that!
I'm not really sure what about their cakes did it, since I don't live in a cave, and I have viewed other pretty cakes before. I think it was a convergence of two things: 1) Having a child; and 2) having an extended conversation with them, rather than just the normal, brief interaction of ordering a cake over the counter. I raved about their skills and they insisted I, too, could learn it via their classes. Really?!? Never occurred to me before. Cool!
Their classes (a series of five month-long classes) are all at night, so I told them I'd sign up when I got off the morning shift. When I was working the morning show I'd go to sleep at 7 p.m. I didn't realize that I'd be off the morning show sooner than I expected, but oh well. That just means I could sign up for a winter class.
It's something I want to do for Olivia. I have happy memories of my mom's cakes, and the joy it brought me (and my dad, of course!). I want to give that to my daughter.
Class #1: My friend Joy is a baker. She wanted to sign up with me for cake decorating classes. Our first class was fun! In it, we learned how to foil the cardboard base, why a lazy susan is good, how to make frosting from scratch, how to roll parchment papers for icing, how to use a coupler, how to level and fill the cake, and how to ice it with a spatula and with an icing bag.
To end, we were given pre-made six inch cakes to use all our new skills. We got to fill and frost it. Mine was a little loud, but I was actually having fun playing with the frosting tips, so when other students finished with their bags, I would take it and frost my cake more. I enjoyed seeing what tips produced which designs.
There were eight women in the class, though other classes have had up to 14 students. This is a nice size. The teachers are good. They supply all the supplies, but you just bring an apron and notepad to this class.
The students range in age from 20-ish, including culinary students whose cakes kicked mine's ass - to a grandmother who wants to decorate for grandkids. There are five different kinds of classes, year round, going from basic to very advanced.
The classes are from 5:30 till about 8:30 p.m. though I would advise you not to show up late, and if you can, take it with a friend. You are seated on tables of two, and you can help each other.
Class #2: In the second class, we learned to figure pipe bears and other round, puffy shapes; how to make a shell border; and how to make and save drop flowers (star and plumeria.) We also learned how to make a clown out of frosting.
My favorite: we practiced two ways of making multi-colored frosting. You can either pre-mix colors and add them into sections of the bag, or you can do the "lazy" way and get some color gel and a paintbrush and paint stripes on the sides of the bag.
The first way comes out looking like the soft serve ice cream. The second way, brush striping, has a beautiful effect because it produces color shades of varying intensity- darker near the center of the stripe.
We ended class with a chance to decorate three cupcakes that the teachers provided. It was red velvet. We could ice it with the usual buttercream frosting, or buttercream mixed with cream cheese. YUM. I like the latter.
Class #3: We learned how to make several different types of flowers: rose (the hardest, according to the teachers), plumeria, daisy. I also had a tip from my mother which can make mums, so I practiced that on my own.
The rose took forever and I think many of us would agree it needs more practice. Mine come out puffy, like old roses about to die. Joy's came out slumped over to the side, which then became hard to place all the petals on it. I think those were common problems. The teachers' roses looked like fresh, young, about-to-bloom buds.
You use a flower nail (WHICH YOU DON'T WASH WITH WATER OR IT WILL RUST!) to make the rose. It's a complicated process. We practiced all night.
As a visual aid, we taped a dime onto the nail and traced it with the Sharpie. We then taped small parchment paper squares to the nail to practice on.
The plumeria (aka apple blossom) is easy. The daisy is harder. The mum is easy.
Class #4: This class is the fourth in a series of four. We had more flower lessons and a "final" which comprised of us making a garden-themed cake.
We learned: sweetpea flower, rosebud (lying down), rope border, ribbon, and basket weave.
In between this, the teachers brought out our cakes and taught us to "dirty ice" the cake, also known as "crumb frosting."
It's a thin layer of frosting you apply to the cake, which you can get the crumbs mixed up in and not care about. Then you refrigerate that for 20 minutes and after it hardens, bring it out and ice it for real. You can save the crummy frosting separately for future dirty icings. Frosting saves indefinitely in the refrigerator.
Then, the cake challenge was to ice our cakes with certain rules: you had to basketweave the side, and you had to use flowers on the top. Most of us ended up sharing bowls of frosting (to not waste and to be efficient), and even bags of colored frosting. That way you just switch out the tips.
I decided to make a bunch of roses for the top, and then I got to work on the basket on the side. By this time I was tired. I had gone for a run before class and I was sleepy. It was 8 p.m., which in my world is dangerously close to bedtime. I didn't finish the basket weave. I just stopped. I threw some green vines around the back half and called it a day.
It still looked OK if viewed from the front. My husband called an "anchor cake", after the way we news anchors would have our blazers pinned in the back to make it more form fitting, and shorts and slippers under the desk - and it's OK because the folks at home can't see that!
We lined up all our cakes and voted for the best one. There was a three way tie. (Among seven cakes?!) Joy's was one of the winners. I voted for Joy's.
This was a really fun course! If you ever wanted to learn a little bit about cake decoration, I would totally recommend it. Even if you don't take the whole series that they offer, you will still learn a lot from this class. Especially if you are starting from zero, which is where I was. Of course, the price to pay for seeing those happy smiles of your cake recipients will be the risk of an expanding waistline!
www.cakecreationshawaii.com
