November 2013- Week 4

ORGANIZATION SKILLS

This week was very, very effective. I began to really start decorating my cakes with the tools I have. I managed to get the top two tiers of my Alice in Wonderland themed cake done, which I am very satisfied about. 

COMMUNICATION WITH SUPERVISOR

I didn’t communicate with my supervisor at all. 

INFORMATION

This week, I bought more fondant to cover and decorate my cakes. Then, with the decorations I made earlier, I began to decorate my top tier of my Alice in Wonderland themed cake. I firstly mixed the colors to get a baby blue color out of the fondant, then I rolled the fondant out, leaving it dry for at least 5 minutes before covering the cake. Covering the cake was definitely a challenge for me. I used a large pipe to roll instead of using a rolling pin to make sure everything is even. When I first tried to cover the cake, the fondant broke out. Yes, I panicked and I didn't exactly know what to do. Though however, I soon realised that I rolled the fondant too thin, making it so stretchable that it would just break. I re-did my fondant, rolling it a little bit thicker, and it worked fine. With the stitching tool, I made a cross pattern out of the top tier, and placed my Alice silhouette by applying a thin layer of Crisco. I am very pleased with this top tier. Yes, it's not perfect. There are cracks, fingerprints, and other flaws but I am very satisfied with it. The second tier took me three hours to finish. I covered the cake with not so thin layer of fondant, not wanting to repeat the first tier's mistake. The process went smooth, until the next challenge, the wax paper transfer. I took my chevron template out, and did exactly what Jessicakes has demonstrated in her Craftsy class video. I cut my red fondant pieces into stripes, let it sit for a while, and placed them on top of a Crisco-covered wax paper which had the template underneath. I cleaned the edges with a sharp knife and cutter, then applied more Crisco to the fondant pieces, then stuck them onto the cake. I pressed the chevron pieces a little bit, and removed the wax paper. Some problems I encountered were that first, the fondant wasn't sticking to the wax paper. I later figured that a generous amount of Crisco was needed to make it stick. Then, the fondant was too dry, and yes I had to roll it over again. I left it out too long until it cracked. But nevertheless, I was extremely happy with the result. I also baked a chocolate sponge cake with double chocolate frosting that I decorated myself. I was pretty happy with it, until the moment it melted in my car. And so, I had to fix the frosting at home.

Chocolate sponge with double chocolate frosting

Top two tiers of Alice in Wonderland themed cake

November 2013- Week 3

ORGANIZATION SKILLS

This week was definitely the most challenging week so far, as I am going through the process of creating my final product. I faced so many challenges and must encounter different problems that I didn’t expect at all. Though however, I was able to use the time this week effectively.

COMMUNICATION WITH SUPERVISOR

I didn’t communicate with my supervisor at all. 

INFORMATION

I started out this week with creating the Alice fondant for my Alice in Wonderland themed cake. The whole process went smoothly, and I was finally satisfied with my Alice fondant, until I realized that the size was too big. This being said, I had to redo everything again. And so, upon realizing that the templates I have made before are mostly too big, I began to adjust all of my templates that I have made and re print them. The size of the second templates, which were smaller, turned out to be just right. I also did the same thing with the Cinderella and Prince Charming silhouette, which I had cut earlier. The results worked perfectly. For the Chevron design, I have decided to measure out on the real Styrofoam dummy first, which was 11cmx6cm, and when I printed the templates and re measured it, the templates worked perfectly. I also had some problems regarding the moisture of the cut out fondant. Since my kitchen is pretty hot and dry, the cut out fondant pieces became dry, and some of the connections and details of the fondant began to fall apart and crack. I had to leave them out first to make sure that they are not so sticky and doughy, but I cannot leave them in room temperature too long. And so, I have decided to cover all the pieces in a box, layered with cling wrap paper so it doesn’t dry out too much after being out in room temperature overnight. I also had another problem with the colors of the fondant. When I tried to make my second batch of black fondant with liquid food coloring, the color turned out to be purple. I used gel food coloring for the first batch, and it seemed that liquid food coloring just didn’t work. The problem is, I got my gel food coloring at Wilton in Roxy, Jakarta. Roxy is pretty far from Lippo, and so I needed to ask someone to get the gel food coloring before I ran out of it. I also have concerns regarding my orders off Amazon. It has been two weeks or so since my cousin sent it from her apartment, but the things are not delivered to my house yet. I probably will get things around Jakarta if the materials I ordered are not delivered by next week.

November 2013- Week 2

ORGANIZATION SKILLS

This week was very effective, as I took a pretty huge step in the create stage with the current materials that I have.

COMMUNICATION WITH SUPERVISOR

I didn’t communicate with my supervisor at all. 

INFORMATION

This week, I got my fondant and Crisco ready. And so, waiting for the rest of materials being shipped from the U.S., I decided to do what I could do with the materials that I have. I first began on making white fondant pearls, and adding black food coloring to make other designs from the template. Though however, I encountered a few problems. First of all, I used a pointy tool to cut the fondant, but the result was extremely bad. The pointy tool wasn’t that sharp to cut out the designs that I want. I had to make dots before cutting through the designs, and the fondant was sticking to the tool. And so, I decided to buy a fondant knife, and it worked perfectly. When the fondant was too sticky, I added sprinkled some flour and decided to rest it for a few hours so that I could cut through it easily. I think I left it out too much, and when I started cutting it, the fondant tore apart. There were cracks everywhere, especially in thin designs. And so, I had to knead the fondant all over again in order to get it to the right consistency. I also added some Crisco to get the fondant smooth but hard enough to be traced and cut. In the end, I was able to cut a good amount of designs that I am satisfied with. I also left my fondant inside a box to adjust the moisture and temperature so that they don’t get dry. 

November 2013- Week 1

ORGANIZATION SKILLS

This week wasn’t very effective, as I have finished my plan stage, and just waiting for the materials to start the create stage.

COMMUNICATION WITH SUPERVISOR

I didn’t communicate with my supervisor at all. 

INFORMATION

This week, I received my fixed dummy cake sizes, and so my dummy cakes are all ready. I also contacted my cousin in the U.S. about my orders of Amazon and she said that she has sent it to Jakarta. At IPS, I also baked a classic vanilla sponge and decorated it. This time, no one helped me at all, so I had the unfrosted cake on my own to decorate. I decided to go simple, polishing the cake and add shells on the borders and strawberries on the center. Getting the sides of the cake clean was easier than I thought it would be, and I was pretty happy with the result, especially upon knowing that I did everything by myself.