Cake decorating class – Weeks 2 & 3

It’s taken me a while to post about my second class for two reasons:

1. I was exhausted that night so I unfortunately wasn’t my most attentive and don’t know how much of what was taught I actually retained (writing it down straight away might have helped with that, but I decided to sleep instead).
2. Does anyone want to hear about the whole hour of the class that we spent colouring fondant? Think of a room full of adults mixing play-doh together. Not making anything, just mixing it and you are just about there.

So I’ve combined Weeks 2 and 3 in this update because I had much more fun in Week 3!

Week 2 – I worked with fondant for the first time and learnt how to colour it. You add the colour and knead it. That’s it. Well, there is a trick to it…you only want to add a drop at a time and you don’t kneed it like bread, you place the drop of colour in the middle, roll it into a ball, pull into a sausage and twist, roll into a ball, repeat. Our wonderful teacher Julia demonstrated and then it was our turn. We all just sat there, each waiting for someone else to start. You wouldn’t think a room full of grown women would be so nervous to add a drop of food colour to a ball of white fondant. Finally we got started and a few minutes later we were all surprised by how easy (aside from it being a bit of a workout for the arms) it actually was. By the end of the hour, we may have been a little bit over it. Or maybe that was just me. I was starting to struggle with my lack of sleep and hayfever allergies by that stage. I was certainly very glad I’d decided to go for a wedgewood blue and white colour scheme, meaning half of my fondant was left white!

Next we learnt the art of covering a cake board with fondant and I learnt that you can’t work with fondant with hot/clammy hands (after trying unsuccessfully for a while to do just that). The combination of wearing too many clothes (it was a cool day and long sleeves sounded like a good idea at home), allergies, lack of sleep and an hour of kneading fondant resulted in me having really warm hands. Not a good combination with fondant. Eventually, and with the help of Julia who had much cooler hands, my board was covered and I was off home. It is definitely something I’m going to need to practice. Oh and don’t tell anyone, but I scratched my covered board getting it in or out of the car. I’m going to need to do some creative covering of that later on. That’s what the flowers are for, right?

Week 3 – With allergies under control and more sleep the night before, I was much more alert for the third class and it was time for some fun. We got to start making our fondant teddy bear figures and also learnt how to make small flowers. Unfortunately I left my camera at home, so the photos aren’t the best as they are from my phone, which proceeded to run out of batteries halfway through. And I’m not going to try to teach you how to make the bear here, because Julia has already put up a YouTube video which you can look at, which will do a much better job that I could.  I still need to put the finishing touches on my cherub teddy (eyes, paws, accessories) next week.

I really enjoyed this class and am looking forward to trying other fondant figures at home. The flowers were quite easy, with the hardest part being getting the fondant rolled thin enough. They were then cut out with a plunger cutter, and then shaped with a ball tool. I have to make 50 this weekend and I will put up photos when they are finished (photos below). It’s also time to bake the cake this weekend so lots of homework for me.

I may have gotten a bit carried away the next day buying different shaped cutters and ordering about 8 kilos of fondant on-line to practice with…but I will admit to nothing!