It's Dead, Jim.

My hand mixer, which was a wedding gift from my junior high and high school best friend, is currently on life support. While mixing icing last night, the beaters became misaligned and started clicking against each other. My husband, Mike, is performing surgery in tonight's picture. Its pulse is thready at best... Wait... It's gone into V-fib! CLEAR!

Update: Despite Mike's best efforts, the mixer is officially dead. He did a great job of taking it apart, realigning the gears, and putting it all back together with no leftover parts. But on the first test, the gears jumped again, and the beaters were misaligned. It served me well for the last year and a half making tons of cakes, cookies, and icing. :) RIP

Diaper Baby Shower Cake

My boss at one of my jewelry-making jobs is pregnant. VERY pregnant. She's probably-going-to-be-induced-Monday pregnant. While my co-workers and I were sitting around the table working this afternoon, we got the idea to throw her a surprise party. Tomorrow. And they wanted me to make a cake in the shape of a diaper. Sure, why not!

Now, this isn't an easy project for several reasons. First, one of the girls is a strict vegan, so I can't just use a box mix with milk and eggs. This cake had to be made from scratch, and I needed to pick up a few ingredients from Whole Foods. Second, I'm still not good at icing a chocolate cake in a concave shape with white buttercream icing. Yes, the cake is chocolate with a chocolate pudding filling between the layers for added gross factor. Third, the vegan icing must be whipped for ten minutes, and I discovered too late that one recipe wasn't enough.

The diaper cake turned out pretty well, if I do say do myself! :)

By the way, you can find the vegan chocolate cake recipe on Allrecipes.com and the vegan buttercream recipe on Vegweb.com both are VERY tasty. Be sure to double the cake recipe if you want two 8-inch rounds.

History of Wilton

I'll bet you've never heard of Dewey McKinley Wilton or how he founded the Wilton School of Cake Decorating in 1929. Check out this fascinating story of how the Wilton family achieved the top spot in the cake decorating and candy making industry.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog of Wilton Method Cake Decorating classes at Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts in San Jose, CA! Here you will find my current class schedule, Wilton product information, sample cakes (and other goodies), and all sorts of tips and tricks on cake decorating. I have SO MANY ideas to share, and I hope this can be a place where you can share your ideas as well. So sit back, grab your icing bag, and let's go on a fun journey together!