sounds like top gear...

yup, well i'm feeling the momentum now. it's a lot like snowboarding. you ride the lift to the top of this mountain. it's a nice ride. you chat on the way up. you take a picture or two of the tree tops, of you and your snow-buddy, of your excitable grin. and you see that you are almost to the top and then all of a sudden, it's time to hop off. you pick your route down and then off you go. it's just you and your skills. and the cold, crisp air. and it all comes down to the trail you pick, your ability to call upon all the knowledge and skills that you already came with and those which you have learned. you fix your gloves, tighten your board, adjust your snow-hat (which is totally adorbs) and off you go. it's go-time.

that's what i think we're up to in class. and all that training i've been doing, all the late-nights, all the extra practice, all the reading, all the visualization. all the sacrifices i've made... i'm sensing that it's all adding up and building into something into which i'm more than happy to lose myself. you can in fact do anything you set your mind to.

this week we've gotten more into decorating and techniques that are involved in styling a cake. at least that's what i call it: styling. (though i'm sure that i didn't invent that :o)

monday we spent some time on sugar and gingerbread cookies. learning how to prepare the dough, how to make your cookies retain their shape without becoming gigantic, unrecognizable blobs of cooked dough. and then how to pipe a border and use run-out or flooding to fill in the cookie to decorate them. holy sugar batman! i can see someone ordering these cookies as a wedding favor! how adorable, yet tedious! haha, i'm SUCH a cake girl. but still, i'll be using these techniques around christmas, when i make the 7 billion cookies i make every year for friends and family. hope you all are looking forward to that! ;o)

we also practiced sponging color onto fondant and then practiced brush embroidery, piping and stenciling with royal icing. now if you know me AT ALL, you know how much i adore brush embroidery. i don't quite know how to explain it, but i can say that it involves music, being in a zone and just quietly thinking and working on some art work. it's just a place i am very comfortably "home." i had sponged a very vibrant floral yellow and green over my cake...i've been thinking a lot about australia lately, and the colors remind me of the daintree and the royal botanic gardens so that's what inspired my color choices. (god, how i miss you oz - can't wait to return to my home away from home!) i decided to only use white royal icing as an overlay because i didn't want to take away from my vibrant background. i can't say that i LOVE sponging color on cake, but it's a unique look that i'm sure has a place somewhere. either way, i loved getting to play with brush embroidery again and getting try some stenciling was fun - i will be incorporating that onto a future wedding cake someday! can you say 'elegant?'

fast forward to wednesday? CUPCAKE DAY! now cupcakes are delightful and i was particularly excited to learn about the vegan chocolate and gluten free versions! gluten-free and vegan are the new 'pink' in cake. and i love to be on the cutting edge of trends. and i can tell you with great certainty that the recipes i have for both are AH. MAY. ZING. seriously. i'm still dreaming about the mascarpone frosting.

oh and the toasted hazelnut. OH. EM. GEE.

here's our red velvet too! yummy!

either way, each team made a cupcake - our team made basic chocolate. (which was really delicious)

and when all was said and done, we all shared our cupcakes and got to take an assortment home. super sweetness.

i also got to play with marzipan to make little fruits and veg. of course, we didn't get a chance to airbrush them, so i played with my photos to give my creations some color anyway...and i have to say, i love how they came out. just remember: almond paste + corn syrup + powdered sugar = adorable yumminess.

today, friday, we have a major test. and that's why i've been a somewhat absentee blogger... i've been really busy studying. and getting my mind in the game. today will involve using the American milk sponge we baked last class to build a cake and eventually decorate it to demonstrate our proficiency with royal icing, etc.

i'm pretty confident about that so long as i can forget about the fact that it's a test and there's a time limit. it's so nerve-wracking! :o) but in a really cool way. i often feel like i'm in some sort of cake boot camp - but a fun one and luckily our chef instructors don't scream at us like they probably do in a real boot camp. cake is for happy, not for crying :o)

anyway, on that note, i've got to get back to studying and getting ready to leave for school. gotta a lot of thinking to do too! luckily i get to ride the train twice a day... helps me think!

ps - we also got an additional AMAZING assortment of new toys to play with for school - think sugar flowers!!! can't wait to get started doing that!

more to come!

xo

m