Today, I have successfully and completely decorated a cake on my own! It is a little sloppier than I would have wanted, but that is only because I was running out of time. I mean I had to decorate two cakes in one day! Technically, decorating took about four hours total, because I had to help out around the store for a little and to make one more thing for my cake. I know if I wasn’t as rushed they could have been so much better, but I think they still turned out fairly well. I was shocked that some of the roses drooped so quickly even when I freezed them overnight. But, my sponsor told me it was because the weather was a hundred degrees. I’m so happy that I freezed them now, because if they were already drooping when they were frozen beforehand, the roses would probably be a blob if I didn’t freeze them. I can’t decide which cake I like better though. The only difference between the two cakes is the design. They both have pros and cons, so I don’t really have a favorite. I like the sodas on one cake, but I like the roses—well, most of the roses—on the other. But regardless, I have decorated a somewhat professional cake myself and accomplished my goal.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Preparing for the Final Task
The second to last day of senior project arrived! I was shocked that it was already almost over, but I was more focused on the cakes that I would have to decorate myself tomorrow. Both of the cakes are already baked. I made some changes to one of my designs, but now both of them are finished. All I needed to do today is learn the last technique for my cake which was soda and start preparing for the next day. Soda is when you take a tip with a very small opening and move the icing around randomly. The final product is thin lines of frosting overlapping each other. It may not sound that exceptional, but it looks nicer than it sounds. It is also another easy technique to do. Then, I worked on my roses for my cake. Since I’m a novice, they said it would be easier for me to make the roses now and freeze them so they would stay intact as I placed them on the cake. So, I made my four white roses and eight medium red roses. I am now only one day away from making my cake. I am so excited. I hope they turn out well!
150 Pounds of Chocolate
Today was dedicated to the business side of the bakery. And what was on the agenda for today? Restocking white chocolate, lite cocoa (aka milk chocolate), and dark cocoa. The chocolate is contained in a sealed plastic bag within a box. Each box contains only one type of chocolate, and each box is fifty pounds—that’s a lot of chocolate. I’m not complaining. I just want to show exactly how much chocolate they store; they probably have well over 1,000 pounds of chocolate. They package the chocolate in three ways: one pound, five pounds, and ten pounds. You use a scooper to put the chocolate into the bag and a scale to make sure it is the correct weight. If it is too light, you add some more chocolate. If it is too heavy, you remove some chocolate with gloves. To seal the bag, you twist the bag right on top of the chocolate and run the bag through a machine that seals it with tape. I was surprised that they sell a bag of ten pounds. I thought they would rarely ever get someone who would buy that much. But, right after we put the ten pound bags into the store, a man purchases two of them—I guess it isn’t too weird after all.
Cupcakes
As I walked into the store today, I glanced over to the display case, and there were barely any cupcakes. I was so excited, because I knew that meant that we would have to decorate them. Chloe, another worker, and I all teamed up to make more cupcakes. I thought now I can help with the whole decorating process, icing and all. After we made a list of all the cupcakes we needed to decorate and how many of each to make (there was twenty-seven total!), I gathered all the cupcakes together, and we began. Some cupcakes are very simple, just ice and that’s it. Some have to be iced and decorated with sprinkles and candy. Others have to be filled, iced, and decorated. Each type of cupcake has its designated decoration, so we had to make sure we were decorating it properly and not just to make it look nice (although that is very important). For example, a yellow with raspberry has the buttercream icing and red sprinkles; a boston crème has chocolate ganache and multicolored sprinkles; a banana with peanut butter has buttercream icing, brown sprinkles, and a banana-shaped candy; a red velvet cupcake has white chocolate cream cheese frosting; and a chocolate cupcake has buttercream icing.
May I Take Your Order?
This day was another day that I was involved with someone's wedding cake. I prepared the wedding orders. Information on the order is the client’s name, date of wedding, location of wedding, number of servings, size of cake, flavor of cake, type of icing, decoration, and day of pickup/time of delivery. What I had to do is gather or make everything for the order that isn’t food related like the drum (cake board), the invisible pillars which hold up the tiers of cake, the plates which is the base of the layered cakes, the topper which is a figurine of the bride and groom placed on top of the cake, and any other decorations involved like ribbons. The drum is used specifically for wedding cakes because they are thicker and, therefore, sturdier. It is three times as thick as a cake board. The invisible pillars are “invisible” because the three pillars are placed inside the cake like the corners of a triangle. The plates are plastic cake boards are placed in between tiers. For example, if a cake has three tiers, the order from bottom to top would be: drum, large cake with three invisible pillars, plate, medium cake with three invisible pillars, plate, small cake, topper.
When I was done with the wedding cake orders, I covered pretzel rods in chocolate.
Cake Decorating 101 Lesson #3
This lesson was all about the cake decorations that normally get overlooked and overshadowed by roses, ornaments or images on the cake. What cake decorations am I talking about? Leaves, borders, and writing—yes, writing is considered decoration too. Writing on a cake is pretty much similar to any other type of writing, but the difference is that the “writing utensil” (a.k.a. icing tip) doesn’t touch the surface and the “lead/ink” (a.k.a. icing) doesn’t always stay in place. For example, if you are writing something with a big curve like the lowercase letter “s” in cursive, as you are curving down, the “lead/ink” could be dragged by the curving motion of the “writing utensil”, and you will end up with a mix between the letter “i” and “s”. You just have to practice a couple times to get used to these differences. Leaves are very easy. The tip literally does all the work. All you have to do is squeeze the icing and once the base of the leaf is the size that you want it to be (which depends on how big you want the leaf to be) you slowly release your pressure as you pull the icing away—it is that simple. We didn’t learn the same type of border we did last time which was called shell. We learned the reverse shell and the rope which is my favorite. The reverse shell is exactly what it sounds like, doing the shell but in the opposite direction. The rope is when you basically overlap the shells to make it look like the shells are wound together.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Week 3: Saturday Buzz
Saturday turned out to be a crazy day. It was the day when I learned how to run the cash register. First and foremost, speaking to customers on the phone is not even close to how nerve racking serving a customer is in person. Since Eileen and I arrive at Create A Cake an hour before they open on Saturdays, Sandy showed us how the cash register worked. At first glance it seems relatively easy. All the buttons are marked clearly and the task of ringing up a person seems pretty straight forward, but with the audience of an expectant customer it's a different story. The buttons seem to have been scrambled and every item seems to have a secret code that needs to be punched into the system. Eileen and I were able to each ring up a couple people successfully.
As we work toward making our final cakes, Laurie showed us how to make a different kind of flower. This one didn't really seem to have a name but I called it a passion flower. It is made by using a nail with a huge top on it. Therefore it is called a flat headed nail. I personally felt that I was able to make these flowers better then roses so I decided to do make them for my cake.