Wilton 1.2, Soft Bake Pretzels, & Wilton 1.3

This past week has been hectic. With zero time to stop and think about anything other than my to do list, and unfortunately, blogging never made it to the top. So in my spare time, here it is.

Wilton 1.2

First of all, I want to start by saying that these classes are proving more difficult than I once expected. A lot harder. This is the first cake that is required to be made by my Wilton Course. It's a cake, topped with a giant cupcake. This cake started off bad.
When attempting to ice the cake I had a mini temper tantrum because for some reason my icing wasn't crystalizing. Turned out to be my fault. Another problem I had was the wrong type and flavor of shortening. I was introduced to the shortening sticks and have fallen head over heels for them. The problem with my first time using them: I bought butter flavored. And that, mixed with vanilla, tasted awful.
My second problem was the color of my cake. It was supposed to be blue, but I iced it with a beige icing (thanks to the butter flavored shortening) because I was running out of time. So when I got to the class I purchased a misting spray and gave the cake a heavy coat. I think it still hasn't dried.
Everything else for this cake worked out okay with some trial and error.

Soft Baked Pretzels

This has been something that has been on my mind for a while. I attempted (and was victorious) bread making, so it's time to shake things up a little more. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com and they were pretty simple. The hardest part was twisting them and keeping them twisted when soaking them in the baking soda bath, which was difficult all on it's own.
The recipe yielded twelve pretzels, and I left three plain, salted three, baked three with cheese, and the last three were drizzled in cinnamon and sugar before baking.
They were a hit. I think this will be a repeat recipe.



Wilton 1.3

Wilton 1.3 is about cupcakes. And if there is one thing I can do, it's a cupcake. Cupcakes are the closest thing to a pie you can get in the cake world (they are both baked in a tin...) and I know pies.
The cupcakes in the picture aren't the ones from class. They are cupcakes made from the lessons I learned in class that night. They are pretty basic, a buttercream top to some yellow cake. And, I found a use for the rest of that blue spray from the Wilton 1.2.
Time to sign up for my next class: Elements of Cake Design and Flowers! Oh, and go back to college. There is always that, too.


Until next time,

Ryan