Wilton Course 1 Lesson 1

I signed up last week to take the Wilton cake decorating classes at my local Micheal's Craft store. I have been wanting take the class for a while and finally found the time to sign up. Last night was the first class. According to the syllabus, students are required to buy Wilton frosting and the decorating kit which was $35 at the store but I think I bought mine for about $16 a few months ago on amazon. The kit includes various tips, reusable and disposable piping bags, icing spatula, decorating lessons to practice on and more. We were given the course 1 booklet at the beginning of class which includes many color photos displaying proper technique and step by step instructions but of course it also pushes the use of Wilton products. The four lesson course was only $22 which I think is a very good deal.

The class began with a thorough introduction from the personable Wilton instructor. She explained what was in out decorating kits, tips for baking cakes and what we would be learning in course 1. Then she demonstrated different butter cream consistencies and also demoed how to torte, fill, and smoothly frost a cake using a spatula. Then it was the students turn to practice on cookies. After filling piping bags we used the star tip (18) on the practice board and then we decorated our cookies so we could bring them home and show our families what we did in class.

Students were also required to bring in cookies from home to practice decorating on. I used a sugar cookie recipe from Bake at 350 which was very delicious and sturdy enough to bring to and from class with out breaking. This was a fantastic recipe for rolled cookies. The only thing I did not like about it was there is no measurement given for recommended thickness when rolling out the dough, I rolled mine to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. I think 1/4 inch would give best results. I also used room temperature butter even though the recipe calls for it to be cold, I only have an electric hand mixer and it would have been difficult to cream cold butter. To compensate for the temperature,  I let the dough chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes prior to rolling it out. The cookies did not seem to spread at all during cooking and held their shape extremely well. The cookies themselves were very tasty, just sweet enough and the texture was almost shortbread like. I would definitely use this recipe again to make rolled cookies.

Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies

Slightly adapted from Bake at 350

Ingredients
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
 2 sticks (unsalted) butter, room temperture
 1 egg
 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Add the flour mixture in three additions and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling. Chill the dough if neccessary.

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets (To prevent spreading, freeze the cut out shape on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before baking) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

yummy

 This is the cake of my dreams. Between layers of brown sugar chocolate chip cake lies a thick layer of gooey chocolate chip cookie dough and the whole cake is enclosed in a blanket of brown sugar buttercream and garnished with mini chocolate chips and fresh backed chocolate chip cookies. This cake is perfect for anyone who can't get enough raw cookie dough. I based this recipe on chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes from Annie's Eats. Most cupcake and cake recipes are interchangeable, just slightly different baking times and, obviously, different pan sizes. I used two 9 inch cake pans for my dream cake but 8 inch would be great also and would leave you with extra batter for cupcakes.

cookie dough filling as thick as the cake layers

I doubled the filling recipe because when I just prepared the original amount it did not look the thick lushous layer of cookies dough I had envisioned. I also multiplied the frosting recipe by 1.5 to ensure I would have enough to cover and decorate the cake but this was unnecessary as I had a lot left over after finishing the cake. In total, I used about 8 sticks of butter for this cake! even if the cake is cut into 16 slices, thats still 1/2 stick of butter per slice. The unhealthiness of this amazing cookie cake puts it in the only for special occasions category.

I baked this specialty for a cake-off me and my supervisor, Tom, had at work. Every year in April is when we celebrate everyone's birthday at my job. Tom suggested we have a contest this year to see who could bake the best cake after I brought in some banana split cupcakes to work. His  car shaped mini cakes didn't stand a chance, they didn't even have frosting.

The competition

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake

Yield: 24 cupcakes or two 9- inch layers

Adapted from annie's-eats

INGREDIENTS

For the cupcakes:


3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature


1½ cups light brown sugar, packed


4 large eggs


2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour


1 tsp. baking powder


1 tsp. baking soda


¼ tsp. salt


1 cup milk


2 tsp. vanilla extract


1 cup mini chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

For the filling:


I doubled this for an extra thick layer of filling

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature


6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed


1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour


7 oz. sweetened condensed milk


½ tsp. vanilla extract


¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting: 


3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature


¾ cup light brown sugar, packed


3½ cups confectioners’ sugar


1 cup all-purpose flour


¾ tsp. salt


3 tbsp. milk


2½ tsp. vanilla extract

For garnish:

Tiny chocolate chip cookies


Mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1  To make the cakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans and line them with parchment paper or for cupcakes, line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. In a measuring cup, stir together the milk and vanilla.

2  In a large mixing bowl combine the butter and brown sugar. Cream together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

3  Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed or by hand, in in 3 additions alternating with the milk in two additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

4  Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans or cupcake liners. Bake cake for 20-25 minutes or cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5  To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.

6  To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture. It helps to roll the dough into balls before refrigeration. To make a nice even cake layer, put a large piece of parchment paper over a 9-inch cake pan and put the filling in that to refrigerate so it will be the same shape as the cake.

7 To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Frost as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.