If you don’t already know, I had the most wonderful opportunity to attend an event with Wilton.  It was three days of pure fun, not to mention a wonderful learning experience and I can’t thank them enough for inviting me.  I know you’ve seen those cakes, those creative masterpieces and what I learned while at Wilton is that turning a cake from plain to awesome is not as hard as you might think once you learn the techniques.  We had two great teachers (the best of the best of Wilton’s instructors) that made learning easy for us.

Because I have so many photos and things to share, I’ll probably break it all up into more than two posts.  For today, I’ll share making the Cupcake Cake below and a few of the steps.  If you’re wondering about the first steps, it’s to create an outline for you to fill in with other icing, you know, like coloring.

First off, if you look closely, you’ll see that she’s smoothing the icing with a piece of parchment paper.  Very neat trick for all you who have asked how to get it so smooth. Unless you are using fondant, then this is a great way to do it!

Now you take another piece of parchment paper an any template you have.  Outline the template with some piping gel.

Flip that over onto the cake and smooth down lightly with a paintbrush; then lift carefully.

Now you’re ready to fill in the gaps.  With a bigger tip, we created a both the top and bottom.  Super easy to do and very cute!

Top with some sprinkles and viola! You have a cupcake cake!

I added a fun yellow border with pretty much the easiest thing ever to do, the little stars.  You can do a whole cake like that in fact so don’t sweat if you can’t learn the harder stuff.  Just do stars (I say stars but not sure the correct terminology..hmmm) and you’ll still be the talk of the town;)

All the techniques taught for this are very basic and super easy to do. You can take these classes at your local participating stores. Check out the Wilton site to find out where and when. You won’t disappointed!  There’s so much more to share with you but this should get you started!  And if you a subscriber to my monthly newsletter, then you got to see another little cupcake that I won’t be showing here! 

Have any of you taken a Wilton class or do any cake decorating?  If you have or do, share your link or send the photo to wilton@mywoodenspoon.com and I’ll showcase some here!

Recipe was submitted into February’s Food Challenge (2011) by Mary L.

INGREDIENTS

• Nonstick baking spray with flour
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 5 large eggs
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Zest of three oranges
• 1 ½ cups freshly squeezed orange juice
• Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup Bundt or tube pan with baking spray, set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In bowl of a heavy mixer, beat eggs on medium-high speed until well-combined, about 1 minute. Slowly pour in the sugar and continue beating until thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. On low speed, alternate add the flour mixture and the olive oil, starting and ending with the flour, mixing well. Add orange juice and zest. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, about 1 1/4 hours. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out onto the rack and cool completely, then place it in a covered cake stand and let it sit overnight. Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar. Serves 12.

When Wilton asked me to do a review, I had no idea all the wonderful goodies they would be sending would be so fabulous and make little man go CRAZY!!

As a long time user of Wilton, I honestly knew this review would be biased because well, I have always loved them.   My son’s 4th birthday was so special because of his cowboy cake, made in a Wilton pan. He talked about that cake forever and still remembers it. He’s 16 now.

Wilton, in my opinion, represents outstanding quality that is built to last for years and years; products that can be passed down for generations.

In the package they sent me, there were gels, sprinkles, cupcake wrappers and toppers, the fabulous new UltraGold round cake pans, muffin pan and more.  I was so excited because I was going to make such a pretty cake using it all!  Well, that didn’t quite happen.  As you will see, little man (my 3yr old) decided that he wanted to do it all!  I haven’t seen him that excited since he got his first saddle.

We used cakes mixes and icing that I had lying around the kitchen so I immediately was able to get started. I began with making the batter for the UltraGold Round Cake Pans first, then the batter for the cupcakes.

And then I baked and baked some more.  While waiting for everything to cool off, little man about drove me crazy asking,”are they done, I want to help you”. It was annoying but yet so adorable to see how excited he was.  Finally everything was out of the oven and cooled.

My cakes came out perfect, cooked evenly and I had no problems at all getting them out of the pans.  Same for the cupcakes.  I decided to ice the cake and cupcakes because  I know little man wanted to do ALL the decorating. I’d be darn lucky to get in anything of my own.  Wilton sent us several different kinds of cupcake sprinkles, sparkle gels, wrappers, and toppers!

Little man had a hard time deciding which ones he wanted to use so of course, he used everything.  He just piled it on here and there, licking his fingers inbetween applications.  It was a sight to see now and one that I’ll never forget.

Overall, the Wilton line is excellent. From the sprinkles to the UltraGold cake pans, it was all perfect, as I expected it would be.  Wilton should be a part of everyone’s lives, directly or indirectly.  Tyler loved that cake at the young age of 4, not because it was Wilton, but because it was his favorite thing, a cowboy and Wilton made that possible.

I know this post has a lot of photos but I took even more and have compiled them in a whrrl slideshow.  Enjoy and I’d love to hear your Wilton story if you have one and if you don’t, get one!

oh.my.gosh.  I almost don’t have words to describe this cake. Actually, I don’t have words to describe it. It’s that good. I will tell you, that after we all had a piece, I went to do one load of laundry and within 10 minutes, 2 more pieces were gone. I’m not 100% of who the culprits are but I have a sneaky suspicion that it was the doing of two teens.

You can use any chocolate cake mix you want.  I chose to try Naturally Nora’s Chocolate Cake Mix for this recipe.  One of the first things I noticed when mixing the batter, is how few lumps there were.  I was even mixing by hand and quite surprised at how smooth it got.  These cake mixes use all natural ingredients with NO trans fats or hydrogenated oils.  They are Kosher as well and contain NO dairy or soy.  That’s not a big concern for me to be honest but I know that many of you guys will appreciate that.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 chocolate cake mix
• 1 can sweet condensed milk
• 1 small jar caramel ice cream topping
• 1 tub Cool Whip
• 1 Butterfinger candy bar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350′.  Bake cake as directed on box.  When cake is done, poke holes in cake. (wooden spoon handle works well).  Pour condensed milk over the top of hot cake.  Pour the jar of caramel ice cream topping over the condensed milk.  When cake is completely cooled, top with Cool Whip and sprinkle Butterfinger over Cool Whip.

The winner of the Last Cake Standing challenge and $50,000 was Mary Maher who finished the challenge making a sweet 16 cake for the sextuplets.

All three challengers making it to the end were deserving to be there and it was exciting to watch it unfold. I read through all the comments on my previous Last Cake Standing post and found everyone’s take very interesting. I have to agree, Bronwen was very ugly at times and her attitude towards Mary (when talking to the camera) could have been so much better. She is no doubt a wonderful cake maker but when you say catty things and sarcastically make fun of someone else’s cake, then you lose my respect quickly. HOWEVER, she’s really good at what she does and I thought all her cakes were awesome!

Courtney was a surprise to me and I thought her cake was awesome! She deserved to be right up there and gave them girls a run for their money! She’s a big sissy though and needs to toughen up. There’s no crying in cake making!!! lol

I would love to know your thoughts and hear how YOU would have ranked them 1st-3rd.

EDITED TO ADD: Mary Maher was the winner of the Last Cake Standing Challenge and the $50,000. Great cakes, great ladies and a fun challenge to watch!

One Food Network shows I’m looking forward to checking out, is Last Cake Standing.  Have you seen the buzz?  The talent is unbelievable!

LAST CAKE STANDING

Food challenge!  I love to watch challenges and am in awe of the cakes that are created.  They are amazing.  Set your tuner for April 5th, 8pm/7CST. My tivo is ready just in case I can’t be around.

6 pastry chefs will be thrown into a 4-round challenge and eliminated  one by one where the winner will take home $50,000!

The six Challenge all-stars are: Michelle Bommarito (Ferndale, MI), Courtney Clark (Ann Arbor, MI), Mary Maher (Chicago, IL), James Rosselle (Los Angeles, CA), Elisa Strauss (New York, NY), and Bronwen Weber (Dallas, TX).

EPISODES

Episode 1 – Premiering Sunday, April 5th at 8pm ET/PT

In the premiere of Food Network Challenge: Last Cake Standing, six enthusiastic Challenge all-stars receive their first task: illustrate one aspect of their lives through cake! The action-packed competition begins with surprise instructions to move into their kitchens and immediately start creating their signature cakes. At the elimination ceremony, a curveball shocks the competitors when they, instead of the judges, are told to eliminate the first cake artist.

Episode 2 – Premiering Sunday, April 12th at 8pm ET/PT

The five remaining competitors take a field trip to Denver’s City Hall where they embark upon an exciting, but complicated challenge: create a top-notch wedding cake in only eight hours. The competitors serve as wedding ceremony witnesses and consult with the newlyweds before completing impromptu cake sketches. The judges reveal the next elimination and the winning cake is served at the reception that very night.

Episode 3 – Premiering Sunday, April 19th at 8pm ET/PT

The competition heats up when the four remaining competitors design over-the-top cakes based on an original superhero, decked out with extreme elements like moveable parts and fireworks. Hours before the competition, they are divided into teams and required to combine their cake designs. The winning team advances to the finale, and the losing duo faces off in an intense, 30-minute “cake-off” to determine who will move on and who will go up in smoke!

Episode 4 – Premiering Sunday, April 26th at 8pm ET/PT

The final three competitors endure a 24-hour cake-making marathon – the longest competition in Challenge history! The finalists create a unique five-foot birthday cake for a set of sextuplets. Upon completion, they must transport their cakes 20 miles to the birthday party. Strategy, endurance and skills are tested and one talented cake artist is finally crowned the winner!

Last week I made Lemon Bread, this week is Orange Pound Cake.  I’m sucker for pound cake anyways but wanted to try adding a little flavor to one. This was a hit to say the least and gone in about 30 seconds.  Would have been sooner but they had to pause and drink some milk with it.

p.s. I would love to see you join the new foodie community.  I already gave away two fabulous prizes to active members and that’s only the beginning;)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 stick butter (1/2cup), Unsalted & room temp
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp orange juice (1/4cup if freshly squeezed)
• 1/4 cup milk (you can use 2% if you want)
• 1/2 tsp grated orange rind

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325′ and have your 9×5 loaf pan buttered and ready to go.

Cream butter & sugar, then add eggs and mix well; set aside.  In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.  In a measuring cup combine orange juice, milk and orange zest and start adding butter mixture alternating with the flour mixture until light & creamy.

Spoon (pour) into pan and bake for 45min or until center comes out clean with toothpick.  Cool in pan and then remove from pan and drizzle with glaze.

OPTIONAL GLAZE

• 2tbsp orange juice
• 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

Mix together and drizzle on cake while still warm.

OMG, I just tasted the most delicious French Madeleines from Donsuemor today.  Finally, I have experienced food porn in a package!  I try various foods all the time but this one takes the cake….literally.  If you’re not familiar with these soft, moist, shell shaped cakes then you’re missing out!  They have crisp edges and the buttery melt-in-your-mouth taste is sorta like pound cake, only heavenlier.

You can get these delightful pieces of heaven in for flavors; Traditional, Dipped, Lemon Zest, and Rich Chocolate with Lemon Zest and Traditional being my favorites.  The chocolate ones were amazing as well but I enjoyed the more natural flavors of the others.

While these are French Madeleines, they are American made (San Fransisco area) with an inspired French recipe.  They are the finest of fine with all natural ingredients.  And when they say these are the ones that you’ll remember, they’re not lying.  It’s an instant addiction and can now understand how madeleines are a historic icon.

OMG!  I just had a brilliant idea!  What if we used these, as a substitute, for the cookie in my homemade ice cream sandwiches???!!!  Oh yeah!  How divine that would be!!

So where can you get these wonderful French Madeleines?  At fine retailers or even at Donsuemor.  I also heard that they will be bringing these to Texas, possibly trying to get them in some of the HEB stores!

Until we meet again my little scrumptious delights…………….

Warmer weather means less hot meals and more cool drinks, sandwhiches, and desserts.  A must have cookbook for the Summer season is Icebox Cakes!  OMG, this cookbook has some super yummy and very cool (literally) dessert recipes.  The Black Forest recipe is to die for!!! 

Some of these desserts would be excellent to serve at parties.  You’ll look like you’re a culinary queen/king!