NegoSkwela - Master Cake Decorating Day 2

We did character cakes including cutting the cakes into shape. We decided to do Jollibee's beloved character the bee. For those of you who don't live in the Philippines, Jollibee is the competitor to McDonald's.

Well our bee turned out to be pretty cute. Again, we all took turns on how to pipe star designs to create that raised look. It was quite fun and like I always say...seemed pretty easy. As Allan says, it really is all in the pressure of the piped icing. Yeah right! Again, everything he did made it look so easy that when it was my turn, I had some high stars and low stars, no uniformity at all. Yeah, better luck next time.

Next, we moved onto fondant. Again, I was surprisingly surprised at how easy it is to make fondant cakes. Actually, if I had to choose one, I do believe the fondant is the easiest one in terms of cake icings. Why? Because if you mess up, it's quite easy to fix the icing. Unlike boiled icing, once you pipe and you mess up, it'll be harder to fix, if not permanent.

Fondant is used in most wedding cakes for that flawless, clean and elegant look. Apparently, fondant is very typical in Europe, but only has become popular in the US recently. Fondant can even be purchased ready made in a specialty cake store. All you have to do is roll it out and apply it to your cake.

The recipe we used to make fondant (sugar paste) is:

Yield: Enough to make a 10x4 high cake

Ingredients:

1 tbsp (1 sachet) - unflavored gelatin (ferna or other)
1/4 cup - cold water
1/2 cup - glucose (ferna or peotraco)
1 tbsp - glycerin
2 tbsp - solid vegetable shortening
2 lbs - confectioners sugar (in batches of 2)

Procedure:

1. Combine gelatine and cold water
2. Place gelatin mixture in double boiler until dissolved and slightly clear
3. Add glucose and glycerin. Mix it well.
4. Stir in shortening
5. Remove from heat. You can add flavoring and color (if you want your whole cake using this one color) at this point.
6. Place 1 batch of confectioners sugar in a bowl and make a well.
7. Pour the warm gelatin mixure in the the well and mix.
8. Add the rest of the confectioners sugar. Again, just put enough sugar until the stickiness disappears and knead well.

Storage:
You can use the fondant immediately or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you are ready to use it again, bring it to room temperature and knead again until soft.

Rolling it out. Have two plastics ready and place the fondant in between. Make sure you dust some confectioners sugar to the top and bottom of the fondant to keep it sticking to the plastic. Roll out with fondant roller or use a regular wooden roller with dusted sugar on it. Roll it out to about 1/8 cm thick, just like you would pizza or pastry dough. Then place it on top of your cake that is already layered with some boiled icing or type of jam. This is to adhere the fondant to the cake. Tapper the sides and use cornflour to smooth out the fondant. Decorate as necessary.

NegoSkwela - Master Cake Decorating

The master cake decorating class at NegoSkwela is three days. I was a bit scared to enroll because of the title itself. Just because I took the basic doesn't qualify me as a master. I was intimidated that students who would attend this were already experts in this craft.

To my surprise, other students just decided to take this course because they didn't have time to take the basic one. I actually had the upper hand. Woohoo, nothing better than to pretend I was a pro.

During the day we went over the basics of my previous class to get everyone up to speed. Later, Allan showed off his skills with airbrushing. He made decorating a cake look so easy with just air and coloring. I'm simply amazed.

After his demo, we again had the opportunity to airbrush our very own cake. Now, let me tell you....I soo love airbrushing. I know it takes practice to master and you really need to have that creative eye....but I want an airbrush machine just because. I didn't realize that airbrushing a cake can be pretty easy. Again, let me stress easy, if you practice. But to think that the cakes they sell out in the retail shops can be so expensive, isn't so hard to do.

NegoSkwela - Basic Cake Decorating

On to the cakes! I saw the ad in the Manila Bulletin that piqued my interest...something to do with cake decorating at Nego-Skwela in Quezon City. I didn't know the format for their classes nor was it possible to get any good information from them online.

Like my previous class at Heny, I didn't know what to expect and had a fear that I wouldn't have hands-on again. It seemed too cheap at P1685 for two days to include any materials.

First impressions of Nego-Skwela's campus? Yikes! The exterior of the building was drabby to say the least. The classrooms were a bit dirty and equipments old. At Heny Sison, their classrooms were clean and bright with professional tools...you can tell the school had money. It was like night and day or it could just be my OCD issues kicking in. Alas, as long as it had an a/c, I was good!

All in all there were six students in attendance. Our teacher was Allan Nicolas, a cake decorator with several years experience abroad and in the Philippines.

He made royal and boiled icing, gum paste and showed us techniques for piping. He demoed more techniques such as flower molding and ribbon making. And to my surprise, with the time we had leftover, we were able to practice. I practiced my piping and tried to make flowers. The piping is a bit trickier. You have to apply consistent pressure and have steady hands. So much for my steady hands....i'm like a person with turret syndrome...having bursts of erratic hand movements as I do some icing designs.

The following day, in groups of two we were actually able to make our own batch of icings to create our very own faux cake. I say faux because I didn't bring my own cake, which we were advised to do. I used styrofoam as my base. Some students brought there own cakes or cupcakes to decorate on.

Boiled Icing ready for piping

My cake before

My cake after with ribbons

Viola, all our finished cakes!

All in all, I highly recommend it. If you want hands on, then this is as good as it gets. It was such a great experience, I decided to enroll in the Masteral Cake Decorating class Allan is teaching next week.

By the way, Nego-skwela offers a lot more courses than what they post on the newspapers. Some of the classes that were recommended by other students I met included bead work and balloon decor, so either go over there or give them a ring at 433-0637. They are located in North Ave, across Diliman Quezon City.

Heny Sison - Chocolate Indulgence Class

To jump start my apprenticeship, I decided to take my very first course ever here at Heny Sison Culinary School. To be honest, I didn't know much about this school except for the fact that the owner Heny Sison is a famous cake decorator for the rich and famous (actresses/actors and the like).

Since the classes offered are pretty much one day sessions, I decided to take the class called Chocolate Indulgence.

I didn't know what to expect, but I was hoping for some hands on. I guess you could say living here has kept me out of the kitchen. With all the housekeepers and cook, it's hard to step into their territory. Or should I say, it's hard to step into my own kitchen without getting the "what the hell is she doing look". At times, I so miss living on my own. I knew exactly where all the pots and pans where and I could experiment without anyone minding me. If what I was making was bad....then I can always give it the housekeepers to eat. They would appreciate it no matter what. Nothing goes to waste.

The class was merely a demonstration of about 5 to 6 recipes using obviously....chocolate. No actual hands on. Make sure you call up or read the syllabus ahead of time to know what exactly you will be getting into.

Demonstrations included black and white brownie, chocolate molten cake, tiramisu, panna cotta and others I can't remember now. For the most part, some satisfied my taste buds....some were just downright too sweet. And since I didn't have anything to drink, I had to stop eating some desserts after two bites (except for the desserts using dark and bitter chocolate, I scarfed it all!).

All in all, the chef was really sweet and accommodating, I enjoyed her. The class, however, was a bit too hastened. Again, I blame that on the recipe count. Two, it was difficult to actually see the demos even with a mirror above the stove. They also had a TV that didn't even focus properly on the stove they were cooking on. Three and for those that don't normally bake or cook regularly, ingredients were not fully explained. Several students were asking so many questions, I knew they felt lost.

Would I go back? Depends. It might be better to just get recipes that interest you from the internet and jump right in at home. If you want a certificate or bragging rights that you took a class at Heny Sison then by all means, go.