Cake Stencils

Last year, i receive a package from my sister. Inside this lovely box are assorted wilton products. I cannot put into words the excitement I felt as soon as i opened that brown box. One of the goddies inside are Wilton Cake Stencils. I love this babies because its very easy to use and it gives your cake a make over with the blink of an eye. It's that fast and easy. You can use powdered sugar, cocoa, lustre dusts and of course buttercream frosting.

You need not to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out:

All you need for are the ff:

1. buttercream frosting (if you are

using buttercream)

2. food coloring of your choice

3. an elevated spatula

4. a cake

5. Wilton stencils

Practice makes perfect. While it is very easy, you still need a little practice to perfect the art of transferring stencils on to your cake. I usually practice over a sheet of paper or wherever. Just make sure to practice before layering it over to your cake.

Patience is a virtue and Practice makes perfect.

However, If you don't have patience then you better go for powdered sugar.

Awesome cake is awesome.

:)

Happy stencils,

Dina

Edible Lustre Dust

Sparkling dusts or lustre edible dusts are very visible in fondant designs now a days. Maybe its because it adds beauty to fondant and gum paste toppers. Im not sure if it can be used in gum paste since it hardens more easily than fondant. It kinda gives your cookies and toppers a metallic shiny look and what makes it more awesome is that its edible. Definitely Fabulously colorful and shimmering. These edible sparkling dusts add a magical element to your sugar craft creations and cake decorating.

Mini Fondant Imprint - Sculpy

Fondant covered cupcakes are very in demand nowadays. This is the reason

why i adore my sister's mini imprint mat.

Wilton offers huge imprint mats (almost the size of a cartolina) but

when making cupcakes, i find it hard to work with such huge mat.

Sad. Sad. Sad.

Thank goodness for sculpy mini imprint mats, its size is like 1/4 sheet of paper and its very

easy to use. My sister purchas

ed this one at h

obbes and landes for only 130.00.

It comes in different designs as well.

I don't have a picture of me using mr.scuply but the results would be very much similar to the image attached below this sentence.

Cake on!

Dina

Gumpaste Part2

Here's a continuation post, regarding my gum paste entry which can be seen right after this post. I was looking around sweet craft last week and i saw flowers and decorations made out of gum paste. Can you believe that 6 pcs of roses would cost you around 200 pesos.

That's pretty expensive.

Those expensive flowers inspired me to perfect the art of making roses with the use of gum paste.

I have this, (took this photo via the internet)

My sister gave me this for no reason at all. She just showers me with gift from time to time. *awesome sister is awesome*.

Anyway, i have tried this flower set and it really really delivers. This costs around 800 to

1,200 depends on where your buying it. You can also purchase this thru www.sulit.com.ph

i let my gum paste rest for 24 hours before i use them. This makes it easier to work with.I was swamped with orders last december and i am still familiarizing myself with the art of gum paste. Btw,I used cookie cutters on my gum paste.

Note: You can use them right after you make them but it has the tendency to break into little pieces. So if you can and if you have the time, try to make you Gum paste a day ahead.

I tried cutting the gum paste into different shapes with the help of cookie cutters. I was able to produce cute toppers for my cakes and cupcakes. The recipe i have will make about 300 grams of gum paste.

Store gum paste in an airtight container. Shelf life would be a month or two. Commercial gum paste can lasts for over a year. You can try them out too.

Happy Caking,

Dina

Gum paste Recipe

Sugar Paste icing also know as GUMPASTE is a very sweet edible sugar dough usually made from sugar and glucose. It can be used to cover cakes, mold features and create decorations for cakes and many other uses.

There are commercial gumpaste available on the market, i found one at sweetcraft. The brand name is Satin ice and it costs 520.00 for 500grams.

I on the other hand, tried to make gumpaste inside my kitchen. I used

Ferna's recipe.

While the recipe calls only for 450 grams or 3 cups of powdered sugar. I added a little more than 2 cups because the recipe is to runny.

i let my mixer do the job. AT first, it was a little runny then after a few minutes i was able to get this

It should look like a dough. Once it does, place your mixture in a cling wrap to prevent air from contaminating your gumpaste.

NOTE: never leave your gumpaste in open air it will dry out easily.

TAKE NOTE: EASILY.

Always keep it in an airtight container to prevent it from going down the garbage bin. Once its hard, its going to be useless. So make sure to store it in an airtight container AT ALL TIMES.

There are a lot of gum paste tutorial videos on you tube.

Be creative and most of all Have Fun.

Happy Baking,

Dina

Mass wedding and Devotion

My husband and i have been married for 28 months now.That's 2 years and 4 months. Unlike most of my friend, i didn't have a grand wedding, because hubby and i couldn't afford something grand during those times. I was 8 months pregnant when we tied the knot and we really didnt have much time to plan a wedding. I kind of like broke the news to my parents on June, hubby converted to Roman Catholic in July and my sisters arrived in august and hubby put a ring on my finger in September 8.

Hubby and i participated in the mass wedding held by our shrine every once in awhile. We got married on September.08 together with 6 or 8 other couples. It was a very intimate celebration because only our families were present during that day. I had the most number of guests compared to other couples and we celebrated our reception at Bread Box which is located a few steps from the parish.

Like i always say to my friends, "wedding is not the same with marriage" getting married is easy while maintaining a marriage is a alot of work. I am really thankful that God blessed me with such a wonderful partner. I could not ask for more.

Last december.08.2011 our parish held a kasalang bayan for 7 couples. I really wanted to give something to the participants so i decided to bake them a cake. I bought cake mixes, and then i frosted them with buttercream and i also made some roses out of the excess butter cream.

For the butter cream recipe, i've been using wilton's recipe for years. You can check it out HERE

and Finally, i was able to used my sisters christmas gift Wilton design pattern press set.

If you are curious about the mass wedding, you can call National Shrine of the Sacred Heart and they'll be more than willing to answer all your concerns.

Till death do us part!

Happy Baking,

Dina

Sugar cookies!:)

There are different sugar cookie recipes available on the internet. Some like their cookies sweet while some wants it plain. Use the one that works best for you and adapt it to your personal taste. I personally use this recipe that i found over the internet. This recipe is well adored and worshiped by my 2 year old son.

Basic sugar cookies you need:

• 1 c. {two sticks} of unsalted BUTTER, softened
• 1 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar (you can either add or lessen this depending on your preferences)
• 1 large egg
• 2-3 tsp flavoring {pick what you like, I prefer almond}
• 2 1/2-2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder

1. Cream together softened butter and confectioner’s sugar. Crack the egg into a separate bowl, and add the flavoring.

2.Add that to the butter sugar mixture and mix until the egg is thoroughly incorporated.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add little by little to the mixture.

*I can tell the dough is ready when most of it sticks to the paddle.

When I touch it, it has a little give, but does not stick to my fingers.*

Roll out on parchment to about 1/4 an inch thick, use flour for dusting as necessary. Then, cut and bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes. This version makes 2-2 1/2 dozen, doubled, it makes 4-5 dozen.

The cookies go into the oven for about 7 minutes. Sometimes i overcook them to

add a little crisp. However, if you want to keep your cookies white make sure to watch them as they bake inside your oven.

Once your cookies are baked, make sure to place them on an airtight container. Let them sit there for a day before you start decorating them. But with or without decorations, you can be certain that this sugar cookies is to die for.

Happy Baking!

Dina

Thanks to: http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/