**Disclaimer** - I'm sure it sounds like I absolutely HATE Wilton and their products, so let me clarify. Wilton classes are a GREAT way to learn some of the basics of cake decorating. I believe, however, that some of their methods are a bit outdated. I also have a love/hate relationship with their products. Though others may not agree, I think most of their basic products are wonderful. I have many of them: spatulas, rolling pins, fondant cutters, etc. On the other hand, some of the products are not so great....the prime example is their fondant! That stuff is NASTY!!!! And don't get me started on those lacy looking cake boards. :) Ok....got that off my chest, just didn't want you to think I was completely against Wilton and their products.
Ahh....another Wilton finale cake. I know their intent is to bring everything you've learned together in the course into one gorgeous cake, I'm just not sure that's what actually happens. Let's take course 2 as an example. Here are the things covered in Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Borders:
- Royal Icing Flowers
- rosebuds
- daisies
- daffodils
- mums
- and more
- Borders
- reverse shell
- rosettes
- rope
- Basketweave
- does anyone really use this anymore? Seriously? Do they?
- Colorflow
- essentially its royal icing used to make an outline and really thin royal icing poured into the dried outline
Most of these are great techniques to learn, others are not. I'm not sure how many people use royal icing flowers anymore. It seems that sugarpaste/gumpaste flowers are more popular now-a-days. Borders are a great thing to learn, it's nice to know how to do more than one border. As far as basketweave, I'm seriously curious if this is still used, it seems pretty outdated to me. The colorflow technique is especially great when it comes to icing sugar cookies, but as far as accents for cake, it seems fondant and gumpaste are more popular. Not to mention, you can get them same effect using thick royal icing as an outline and a thinner royal icing for filling it in...no need to actually buy the colorflow powder.
Ok.....so, you learn all those things in Course 2 and you're supposed to bring them all together for your finale cake. That's a whole lot of crap to put on one cake. Oh, and I did I mention then finally cake is baked in the oval pans supplied in your course kit? I'm not sure why they want you to make an oval cake....maybe it's so they can charge more for the kit? Who knows?
Ok, enough ranting there.....
Anyway, when you take all those techniques and throw then onto one cake, the result is a super-sugary, over-flowery, kinda-cheesy, oval cake. It looks a little something like this:
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My Course 2 finale cake - circa January 2008
I love the cake blog! What brand of fondant do you use instead of Wilton? Or do you make your own? I've refused to make cakes with fondant because it tastes so gross, but I've only tried Wilton... now after reading your blog, I'm thinking I should try it again.
ReplyDeleteHi Amy! I really like to use Satin Ice fondant. It's really easy to work with and doesn't taste nearly as bad as Wilton. They also have a dark chocolate flavor that is REALLY good! Another brand that is really good is called Fondariffic. They make flavored fondants. If you go to their website, you should be able to order a small sampler for about $6. I've also made fondant, it was called Marshmallow fondant. It used marshmallows, powdered sugar and water, I think. That was really yummy too!
ReplyDeleteI usually order my fondant from www.globalsugarart.com. That doesn't happen too often though since they are based in New York and it costs a fortune to ship it to Maui! You might try calling cake supply stores near you to see if they offer those brands. The recipe I used for marshmallow fondant was on www.cakecentral.com. That's a great site with forums, galleries, how-to articles, etc.
Hope this helps some!