June 8, 2009

Learning the basics..Am I doing this right?

Since I have a week in between classes, there is plenty of time for me to play around with my kit and try out everything. The hard part is not bringing it out every chance I get. This is why I never got new toys when I grew up.
I decided to try making my first batch of Class icing so I could figure out the consistencies I needed to have. Needless to say, Calgary is a very dry city. When the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of liquid, Calgary needs about six. So I was a little worried about my first try when it came out like this:

Im pretty certain this means my icing is too stiff!
I added a bit more liquid to it to get to what I thought was a medium consistency, good enough for making most decorations. I decided to try out my new piping bags, and tip #16 to make the simple star shape, which we are using for our first cake.
Remember when your father/grandfather/brother etc would tell you to measure twice and cut once? Yeah, same applies with piping bags. You put the coupler in and mark where to cut so it goes through the bottom of the bag, but not all the way through.
Needless to say, I measured once, cut once and lost a 10 inch bag.

The dumb part was I have 42 disposable bags in my kit, which would have been a lot cheaper to lose than the featherweight one.
So I tried the disposable one.
I managed to cut the tip off correctly this time, but soon realized my icing was not the right consistency.
Icing should not take 15 seconds to squeeze out of the bag.
And icing should not hurt your hand when you try squeezing it out..
And icing should not blow a hole in the side of the bag and cascade all over the countertop..

Sigh... Back to the drawing board.



2 comments:

  1. Hi Kelly,
    I do cakes as well and I gotta say that Wilton lies! You will quickly learn to "eyeball" the right consistency and put a bit in a decorator bag and test it out. I also have one helllll of a time making their gumpaste from scratch.
    Bakers gotta keep their secrets ya know...that goes for Wliton too... ;)

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  2. Hi Kelly,
    I agree with Bunny. Also, I've never cut the tip off my bags, I just put the coupler in, and have a bit squished in the tip. I've never had a problem doing this and have been doing cakes for almost 30 years. I find cutting the bag weakens them.

    I hope you enjoy the course. Remember to take time to play around with the tips and just have some fun!! You'll be amazed at what you can do with a bit of icing.

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