August 2013- Week 4

ORGANIZATION SKILLS

This week was very effective as I did some more practical work, both using the information during my research, and by being taught by Pak Tukul, a cake-decorating master that has been in the baking and decorating industry since 2001.

COMMUNICATION WITH SUPERVISOR

I didn’t communicate with my supervisor at all. 

INFORMATION

I took a 3-hour class of basic buttercream decoration class with Pak Tukul at Indonesia Patisserie School (IPS). There, I firstly was taught the real basic- how to pipe straight lines.. Pak Tukul demonstrated the lines and some other designs, like the leaf design, fleur de lis design, ruffle designs, shell design, and script writing on a piece of wax paper. He told me to practice and try the various designs with applying the right pressure. Different levels of pressure are needed for different designs. Holding the piping bag properly is important, to make sure that the pressure is steady and there will be no air bubbles out. Then, he taught me how to pipe a rose. Holding the piping bag with the right tip with the smaller part up, I had to pipe with a rainbow motion to make the bud, one on the left side and one on the right. Then, keep on doing the rainbow motion, covering the intersection of the piped buttercream. I had so much failed attempts and couldn’t even get it right when the class ends. Lastly, I learned how to cover a cake with buttercream. I knew how to cover the surface of the dummy cake, so I got it right already. Though however, I encountered some problems when I started covering the sides of the cake. Pak Tukul then came to me and he told me that the buttercream on the sides needed to be higher than the top surface of the cake, so that the swift motion could be applied in the end without having to ruin both frosted top and sides. To smooth the sides, he told me the perfect angle of the spatula. The angle of the spatula to spread the frosting needs to be at a quite 45-degree angle. Then, to smooth the frosting, the spatula needs to be in an angle, in which it almost touches the frosting, After a few failed attempts, I finally got a smooth cake. Then, I decided to apply Edd Kimber’s simple spiral technique on one of his videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RmikZHRgsg). To do the spiral technique, I had to hold the spatula from the center of the top surface of the cake, and with the turntable turning, slowly move the spatula outwards. As for the sides, hold the spatula from the bottom, and with the turntable turning, slowly move the spatula up. Finally, I also purchased another Craftsy tutorial, "Modern Buttercream Piping" by Joshua John Russell, who learned baking and pastry arts at Johnson & Wales University.