Eat, Recipes

Icing on the Cake!

*Photos by Rebecca (Allyson and I with instructor Summer Pruett left)

Yesterday was the day Allyson and I had been waiting for…the day we were taking the hands-on cake decorating class at the Whole Foods Culinary Center on 6th and Lamar. I unfortunately miscalculated the start time, so we missed the first 20 minutes, but we caught up quickly and jumped right in, cutting, layering, and frosting our individual cakes to decorate. We learned frosting techniques and how to create several icing detail designs as we worked with the buttercream frosting. Summer Pruett, of Stardust Pastry, her very own local Austin “pastry boutique specializing in wedding cakes,” and the Texas Culinary Academy, instructed the class of about 15. Her steady hand demonstrated how to ice the cake so well, her final coat was as smooth as fondant. And, she successfully taught all of us how to create a decorative rose out of frosting, complete with leaves and vines. Notice my final work of culinary art that I made for the Austin Breakfast Club which held it’s 2nd meeting today! It was a big hit!

My favorite moment during the class, was when Allyson had icing trouble, and actually took her hand, and grabbed the 2-inch less-than-perfect frosting rose, and threw it off of her cake in frustration. But, she got through it (with messy hands), and with Summer’s patience and expertise with cake disaster recovery, and the end result didn’t show any traces of the struggles Al had just minutes before.

If you’re looking for culinary fun, Summer is also teaching a Pastry Workshop on April 9th, a Couture Cupcakes class on April 11th, and a few sushi classes too!

Culinary/Arts, Weekend or Evening Activity Recommendation: Take a cooking class at the Whole Foods Culinary Center! Some are demonstration-based, with tasting, of course, and others, like this one, are hands-on. Take a look at the schedule here (updated monthly). Sign up if you find a class you’d like to take because they fill up fast!

P.S. I also put this under the Green Entertaining category because Whole Foods is based on environmentally-friendly and socially-responsible practices and products.





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4 thoughts on “Icing on the Cake!”

  • Allyson April 5, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    i’m glad you enjoyed my frustration. i mean you gotta do what you gotta do…and i had to get rid of that blob.

  • TJLoop85 April 6, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    It looks like you guys had a lot of fun during your cake class, enough though you were a little late (oh well). It sounds like Summer makes some pretty amazing wedding cakes.

    … hopefully there will not be any rose tossing during your next class (ha-ha).

    TJ

  • TheRebecca April 6, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    TJ–who are you? introduce yourself, and thanks for visiting my blog!

  • rick April 6, 2009 at 8:37 pm

    You are the most beautiful cake decorators I have ever seen. Don’t forget your skills as I expect some samples for father’s day!!! You Guy’s take(I mean make) the cake!! LOve Daddio


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