Product Review: Wilton Molds

Product Review: Wilton Molds

Have you seen these???  Wilton has some new cake decorating products out that are pretty nifty.  I was very interested in their new "Fondant & Gum Paste Molds" ($9.99 each): Baroque, Global, Fabric, and Nature.  Michaels is currently having a "buy 2 get the 3rd for free" sale on all their bakeware and cake decorating products.  Go ahead and dash out to the store.  I'll be here when you get back.  I really wanted the Baroque mold, but they were sold out!  I settled for the Global and Nature molds.

Global

Nature

demonstrated with Satin Ice fondant

This was a lot of fun!  These molds are really nice.  They appear to be made of a thick slab of silicon.  They are easy to clean and are very bendy.  Love the colors!  I dusted the cavities with powdered sugar using my pastry brush and tapped out any excess.

I use my little wooden roller to smoosh the fondant into the cavities.

I was able to roll the fondant with enough pressure that you can see the mold through the fondant, but it was still easy to remove.  The back of the box suggested using a foam pad to press the fondant, but I didn't feel like rummaging through my craft closet for it.  I gently pressed a wad of fondant into the cavity with my finger tips and then rolled from the center outward.

If the fondant didn't immediately pop out, I was able to coax it with my pastry brush and by bending the mold.  I didn't notice any wrinkles or imperfections from impressing the fondant into the mold.  I did have to be careful not to pull too much on the fondant so it wouldn't stretch.

There are a couple of downsides to these molds.  The cavities are pretty deep, so the resulting fondant accents seem to be thick.  If you're not into that, well, you're a bit out of luck.

The other problem is that these beautiful borders aren't very long.  You'll have to do this many times if you want to line a cake.

Other than that, I say run out and scoop these up!  I had a blast and can't wait for a good excuse to use them on a cake!

Wilton Butter Cake: Review

Earlier this week I made a butter cake from Wilton's recipe site:

http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Butter-Cake

I wanted to test drive this recipe to see if this is what I wanted my tiered or sculpted cakes to be made from. 

This cake has a firm, moist texture that makes it perfect for tiered designs. We've added almond flavor to give it a richer taste everyone will love.

Everyone except me.  I don't like almond flavoring (e.g. amaretto).  This cake was very similar to the pound cake I made from Paula Deen's recipe (see review post), except ... um ... not as good?  My husband said it was too sweet and neither of us liked the almond flavoring.  It didn't have the nice crust like the pound cake.  But it wasn't mushy after chewing it like the pound cake.  The texture was ok.  It might have been a tad on the dry side.  This cake was sufficiently dense for tier cakes, but I didn't prefer the taste.

Wilton Color Mist Food Color Spray: Review

Last night I used the Wilton Color Mist Food Color Spray (black) on a fondant covered cake.  My fondant was tinted dark brown (was using up some old stuff from a previous project).  I have to say I was pretty disappointed.  I thought the spray would be a good alternative to spending hundreds of dollars on airbrush equipment.  What I got was weak color and a lot of fumes.  I had put my cake inside a cardboard box lined with a white trashbag.  The trashbag got very little coloring on it, the heaviest parts were light gray at best.  After using almost the entire can, the cake just looked to be a darker brown (similar to dark chocolate).  I really thought I would use this like spray paint, but instead I got about 10% of what I expected.

Before

After

I would like to try this stuff again, but with new set expectations.  I can't use this stuff for full opaque coloring, but I would very much like to try it for highlighting and adding depth to other colors.

I did a search to see what the interwebz said about this stuff:

http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/coloring/canned.htm

Edible Food Coloring NEW & IMPROVED!  in a Aerosol can. Shake can, hold at a 45 degree angle, spray 6-8" away from item. One can covers more than a dozen 8" cakes plus dozens of cookies, sugar and fabric. This is a wide spray; if a thin line is required use stencils.

More than a dozen 8" cakes, hmm?  Perhaps I'm not spraying close enough.  I was about 8" away.  I found a few reviews by an obvious plant, Freak369, who suggests spraying it on cardboard and different distances for the desired color control.

http://www.candylandcrafts.com/colormistfoodspray.htm

One can will cover approx. (6) 8" round cakes, (4) 9" X 13" cakes or (4) dozen cupcakes

Wilton Course 3, Class 2

Wilton Course 3, Class 2

First up was learning how to make fondant roses.  These turned out just lovely, especially with my ivory colored fondant.  Hopefully I can find a reason to make a bunch of fondant roses ... perhaps for my final cake.  It was difficult to work with such a thin layer of fondant without tearing it.  My ball tool is a little disappointing because you could feel a line where the plastic was joined together. 

Next was rolling out the fondant to cover our cake.  It was evident that I hadn't properly kneaded my fondant before rolling it out.  There were little holes and cracks throughout.  What was neat was rolling it out on to the Cake Dividing Wheel that came in our student kit.  The wheel was really a plastic? vinyl? circular mat that had measurements marked on it.  My cake was 3" high and 8" across.  Once my fondant was rolled out to the 16" mark, my teacher and I lifted the mat (which the fondant stuck to) and placed it on to the cake.  Once properly centered, the mat was peeled off.  I was instructed to set the corners first before attending the rest of the cake.  She showed me how to gently press the fondant on the sides of the corner and avoid creating pleats.  No beginner's luck here; my cake had a couple of visible creases.  I popped some air bubbles with a sewing pin.  To hide some of the cornstarch and holes, she told me to spritz the top of the cake with water and run over it with her little wooden roller.  That really helped!  It smoothed out the top more and dissolved the white cornstarch specks.  The fondant smoother tools didn't help because they kept sticking to the fondant.  Again, if the fondant was properly kneaded, this would not have been an issue.

Once I was satisfied with the fondant, I took out my square cake topper that I had made earlier in the week.  I brushed on some piping gel on the top of the cake and gently placed the square on top.

Afterward, I piped some shell borders around the top and bottom of the cake to hide the seams.  My teacher reviewed how to make shells with me (since I never took Course 1), and I practiced before even touching the cake again.  She suggested starting with the back of the cake first.  Good call!  That way I could get the hang of it in the section that would be seen least.

I'm ok with how the cake turned out.  Not thrilled but not disappointed.  The sides seem to slope and bow out.  There was a line on the sides where the filling was separating the two layers.  I'm guessing the weight of the cake and fondant made the filling spew out the side, pushing the fondant away.  I really think I need a firmer cake for this (this was a Duncan Hines box cake).  Yesterday I baked a butter cake so I can practice all this again tonight.  I'd like to achieve those crisp, sharp, straight lines that the professional cakes have, but I need to identify what the problems are that need to be addressed.  I think I prefer buttercream to cover a simple, monocolor cake.  Hopefully this butter cake will taste good, or else my cakes will be more enjoyable to the eye than the tongue.

Wilton Course 3, Class 1

Yesterday was my first class for Wilton Course 3. We went over several piping techniques:

bead border, cornelli lace, sotas

brush embroidery

drop string

ruffled border

There's no picture of the ruffled garland ... because what I did looked awful. Apparently I've been doing my shells incorrectly. I was bringing the tip up and down, making a lump. I really just needed to build up and then release.

I enjoyed the drop string technique. It was difficult but doable. I screwed up the order of the overlapping drop strings!

In order to do the cornelli lace on a cake, you really need a tilting turn table. That will go on my wish list for future endeavors.

Next class is what I'm really looking forward to. We have to bring in an iced cake to cover with fondant. Luckily my instructor is allowing us to bring in homemade fondant. I heard horror stories of other instructors chewing people out for not buying the Wilton brand stuff. She suggested we make the cake for a special occasion because they'll turn out very nice. I'm so glad she's allowing us to make whatever cake we want. On the internet I saw most cakes for Course 3 were the bow tie cakes, so I was afraid we'd all have to make something like that. They're pretty, but also pretty boring in my opinion. I've decided to make Hang and Sandi's engagement cake designed after their invitations (see finished post)


This week will be spent preparing for next class. I need to bring:

• 12 fondant rose buds (colored however I want)
• tinted fondant to cover the cake
• tinted fondant to make the rest of the roses
• tinted fondant for the rose leaves
• iced cake of our choosing