Wilton Class 4….

Welcome back,

I finished up my last class the other night. Here is a picture of my final cake.

My cake was a hit, those that had a piece were impressed. It was a cherry/chocolate checkerboard cake covered in butter cream and chocolate fondant.

A part of me is a little sad that the classes are over, I suppose I’ll have to do a little research to see if there is another class/course I can take to keep from getting rusty. Maybe even look into becoming a Wilton Instructor and doing that part time.

Revamp the blog…

Welcome Back,

After much thought and consideration, I think I will have to revamp this website/blog.  The name itself no longer suits me, as it was derived from an avitar I played in an online game I no longer play. Well the express part seems to fit, but I am not sure if I will continue to use that in the new name or domain name. I also want to create another website just to showcase the custom cakes that I make, and to help promote my future business.

So far nothing is set in stone, names have not been decided. Right now it’s a work in progress. But as soon as I come up with a few ideas and decide on the final product, I will come back and share that with you.

Speaking of this website… I have been tracking the stats for this site for almost 2 years now. According to those stats, the top 3 countries that visit my blog are the USA, Canada, and China… The most uploaded picture is this one shown here————->

This is probably the shortest entry to date… But I have to start prepping for my Cake Decorating class for tomorrow, that’s what happens when you procrastinate.

Marshmallow Fondant

Welcome Back Avid Blog Readers,

I would like to take a moment and share another recipe with you. Without any further delay, here is the recipe for homemade Marshmallow Fondant.

Ingredients Needed:

1 pound of mini marshmallows, 2 pounds of icing sugar, 1/2 cup of vegetable shortning, and 2-5 Tbl spoons of water.

Directions:

Melt marshmallows and 2Tbl spoons of water in a microwave or double boiler… Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds then take out and stir…Place back in the microwave for 30 seconds, take out and stir…Continue doing this until mixture is completely melted…This usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes.

Place 3/4 of icing sugar on top of the melted marshmallow mix

Generously grease your hands, (the back, the front, and between your fingers) with the shortning… Heavily grease your work surface, (counter top or table)…Take the mixture out of the bowl and place in the middle of your work surface. Cover what is left in the bowl with a damp cloth.

Start kneading the marshmallow/sugar mixture as you would knead bread dough. The mixture will be very sticky at this point, just keep kneading… Re-grease your hands and work surface as needed and add the remaining mixture if there is any and continue to knead that with the rest of the mixture.

Now if you find that the mixture is tearing easily, it is too dry so add 1/2 Tbl spoon of water at a time and knead it in. It may take about 8 minutes to get a smooth ball that will stretch with out tearing when you apply it to your cake.

If there are bits of icy dry sugar, add a few drops of water and knead… Otherwise double wrap your fondant in plastic wrap and it will be ready to use the next day. However, your fondant can be used immediately.

This can be stored for several weeks in the fridge as long as it is greased before it is wrapped in plastic wrap. Feel free to add color to your fondant.

While we are on the topic of Fondant, I have a few tips to share with you. First, the Wilton Fondant will save you the 8 minutes of kneading, but on the other hand it tastes terrible. Duff’s Fondant comes already colored and has a nice taste to it as well, and you’ll pay a little extra for those perks. But this home made Marshmallow Fondant tastes the best and is price friendlier that Wilton’s or Duff’s.

Wilton Course 2, completed

Welcome Back,

I just thought I’d take a moment to share a few pictures of the cake I decorated the other night.  A definite improvement from the last few cakes that I decorated.

I apologize for the poor quality of these pictures, they were taken with my cell phone.

In any case, I signed myself up for the final course of the Wilton Cake Decorating classes. I’ll be finished by September, and I was even thinking about becoming an Instructor. It’s worth inquiring and having as a back up plan in case the day job doesn’t work out.

One thing I have to improve on, is getting the right consistency for my icing. I can make the butter cream icing and royal icing just fine, it’s a matter of finding the happy medium between too stiff and medium/thin. All in good time I guess. It’s just a little frustrating to make all of this icing, pack it all up and take to class, just to not be able to work with it.

As I make and decorate more cakes, I’ll post them here to share with all of you :)

To Be Continued……

32 years of reflection

Welcome Back,

First off, I would like to say Happy Canada Day to my friends and family up here in Canada. Happy Birthday to me, and Happy 4th of July to all of my friends and family back home.

As much as people say that age is just a number, and that it’s not how old you are, but how old you feel.. So with that said, as each year passes and each birthday goes whizzing by, many of us stop to reflect where we are in life. We think about how far we’ve come, what we left behind, and we often compare ourselves to other people our age.

Mentally I feel like I’m in my mid 20’s. Physically I feel the same, although some days I feel my age and then some. As far as my career goes, I would say that it rates above average. My health is well above average. The quality of life is better than it was one year ago. So really, I can’t complain.

I often think about the fact that when my mother was my age ( 32 tomorrow), I was already 9 years old and my brother was 7 years old, she was married and divorced twice and we never lived anywhere for longer than 3 years.

On the other hand, I don’t have any children, my second marriage is 100 times better than the first. I have travelled all over the East coast and made a career for myself, and I am taking classes to assist in a possible career change that will allow me to be creative. I also started my life over in Canada, having moved 2500 miles northwest to Alberta.

In the end, it would seem that on a sub-conscience level I have avoided the one thing I feared…  Turning out like my mother. Not that she is a horrible person, as I know she had good intentions. Then again, everything happens for a reason. I truly feel that I am where I am suppose to be at this point of my life.

I will admit that I am secretly hoping that my husband has something special planned for my birthday.  As far as I know our plans for tomorrow consist of us going to the movies and watching the new Twilight movie, and then going over to a co-workers’ for a BBQ.  Typically my birthdays would consist of a Friendly’s ice cream cake, and heading over to Stanley Park and Westfield High to watch the fireworks display. I guess a Dairy Queen ice cream cake will have to do, and no fireworks on July 3rd in Canada…

Now that I have had the chance to spout off,  I think the point of all of this is that I need to stop dwelling on the fact that I am getting older. But rather focus on the accomplishments, reflect on all that I have going for me like my health and my loving husband.

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