To get red icing to write “I love you,” there’s no easier way to buy it by the tube. If you’ve ever tried to make a red velvet icing, you know it takes a lot of the coloring to get it red, and it never really gets velvety red. So with this, Wilton makes this. It comes by the tube. You take off the cap and screw on the coupler.
Any time you need red or black icing, just buy it by the tube. It doesn’t really have a taste to it, so it’s not going to detract from your cake’s taste.
This is a #3 writing tip. Squeeze it just like a bag. You can’t hold it like a pencil because this will make your writing jagged. Hold your elbows close to your side and write just like you would with a pencil.
If the writing gets squiggly, you’re not moving fast enough. If it breaks, you’re moving too fast.
I’m writing out “I Love You,” here on the cake.
For longer words, like “Anniversary,” you may need to write at an angle.
Now we have our cake iced, so we’re ready to add our top and bottom decorations.
This is a twelve inch disposable cake decorating back. We just take and snip off one end of it. Then you are able to put your coupler on it.
This is tip #22. It makes a large star, and it’s great for making a border.
If you’re thinking right now, “I’m not a cake decorator,” – you can still do this!
Take the bag and fill it with icing. Pull it together at the top and give it a twist. Hold it tight so it goes through the applicator instead of back up.
Apply the icing with a rhythm. The important part is being consistent all the way around the cake. Just putting a bottom border to your cake adds a lot to the decoration.
Now we’ll change out the tip. That’s the great part of this coupler. We’re going to add a leaf tip now to make a ruffled design. This is tip #112. It’s a little bigger in size than this #22. We aren’t going to use a coupler with this. We’ll put it directly in the bag. We fill the bag. #112 is a great tip for a beginner to use.
We’ll use a consistent motion once more all the way around the cake. We’re putting it at a 45 degree angle with the top of the cake, so it’s not on the top or on the side exactly. In that way it broadens the surface of the cake. Now we’ll come around. Any time you need to stop, just quit squeezing and pull away and you’ll be able to pick up right where we started.
See what a beautiful heart shaped cake we have here?
Another tidbit I want to give you is to use newspaper. When you take a section of newspaper, open it up, and put it on your counter, it makes cleanup so easy. Whenever you need to set your spatula down, you can just set it on the newspaper, and when it’s time for cleanup, you can just throw the newspaper out.
To ice your cake, you want to make sure your icing is a soft consistency so it’s easy to spread. If it’s too heavy, it’s going to be hard to ice the cake without getting crumbs in it. Use lots of icing. Put it on the cake, then use your forefinger on the top of your spatula and use this to just spread the icing. You don’t want to spread it thin and bring it back, because when you pull it back, it will bring with it all the crumbs.
The easiest way to ice a cake is to use a quick icer tip.
Some people refer to this as tip #789. It has a smooth side and a ridged side. You can put this in a 16-inch bag. You have to trim the decorating bag so the tip is out of the bag. Fill the bad with as much icing as you can so we can ice all the way around the sides of the cake.
Fill the bag by folding this cup into it, then use your spatula and the rim of your hand as an edge to scrape off the icing and put it into the bag. We’ve got our bag filled with icing. Since we’ve already started, let’s ice the top of the cake with the chocolate buttercream.
You have to have extra icing to make borders, so don’t be concerned that you’re going to have so much icing on the top of this cake. In today’s world, we don’t want to pile the cake high with icing.
At this point, we’re not interested in getting the icing real smooth. We just want the whole cake covered. Then we can come back later and smooth it out without worrying about the crumbs.
When you’re trying to apply the icing using this quick icing tip, you want to be able to squeeze it. You can see how nice and soft this icing it. Drag it around the cake edge.
Especially with a shaped cake, such as this heart cake, you don’t want to lump on so much icing that you lose the shape of the heart. So we’re going to smooth this out and take off any extra icing by scraping it off back into the bowl.
We’re going to add some of the chocolate icing base to the white buttercream icing so that we can start off with the buttercream icing being kind of light.
We’re going to use that to ice the cake. Then I’m going to add more of the chocolate icing base to provide a deeper, richer chocolate look to the decorations.
When you’re adding the chocolate icing base to your icing, you may have to add just a little more water – about a teaspoon’s worth. This will make your chocolate buttercream icing a little softer and easier to spread.
The most important thing is to follow the directions on the cake you’re going to use. Today I’m going to use a cake mix that we have at Party Time, and the great thing about this one is that all you have to do is add water, so that makes it pretty nice.
On the directions it tells you to add one and a half cups of water. Add half a cup at a time. Put a little water in first to prevent the mix from sticking to the mixing bowl. The directions tell you to mix it on high for three minutes. Then gradually add the water. Notice that I don’t just dump it in there like you might do with a regular cake mix. Just gradually add it in as it mixes.
Gradually adding the water will make for a better, smoother cake mix.
Party Time’s wide variety of patterns lets you be just a click away from a full-on theme party. Here are some tips to keeping your cost down while still getting the exciting look you want. Mix In Solid Tableware After you work out what theme your party is going to take, find the unique patterns [...]
Note: This is the final part of a three part series on how to bake a home-made King Cake.
Now we take the King Cake out of the oven. It’s gotten nice and brown. When you thump it and hear a hollow sound, you know it’s ready.
Now we brush the King Cake with egg wash. It’s just egg that we’ve beat up. It gives the cake a shiny look. You need to do this as soon as you take it out of the oven. You want the heat from the cake to cook the egg.
Now we come back and glaze it with frosting. The recipe is powdered sugar, milk, and butter vanilla flavoring. You want the glaze to have a thick consistency. Use the microwave to heat your glaze for the right consistency.
Decorate your cake on the parchment paper before moving it to a serving board. Decorate the cake one part at time, adding purple, green and gold sugar to the icing. Alternate colors for the Mardi Gras look.
Now we’re ready to display our King Cake. Happy Mardi Gras!
Note: This blog is part two in a three-part series on making a delicious home-made king cake!
Now that you’ve prepared your dough, the next step is to add the filling and shape it up into a King Cake, ready to go in the oven.
Cut the dough in half. Size it up using your hands. You’ll need a little bit of flour.
We take the flour and sprinkle it over the dough. Make sure you put flour on your rolling pin to keep it from sticking. Roll the dough thin, about nine inches wide. It’s going to feel like the thickness of pie crust, but it’s a lot more forgiving.
The dough has elasticity to it. Even out the thickness of it with your hands if it isn’t going the way you want it.
Lift the dough, making sure it’s all loose. At this point you put your filling in here. This cream cheese is a popular variety. At Party Time, we have eight different kinds of filling. These fillings come in two lb. bags and have a long shelf life.
Put three rolls of filling on the dough.
Save the remaining filling for the next time you’re making a King Cake.
Spread out the filling on the dough. Now you can add an additional filling if you’d like – for example, a raspberry filling.
You can also add cinnamon or pecans as a filling.
Roll your dough, then when the edges of the dough roll so the cake seals and does not leak filling.
Once you get the King Cake pinched together, you put it on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on top.
Fold the King Cake so you can transport it easily, then turn the seam side down so that you have a pretty, smooth top on your King Cake. Work it around into an oval, making the two sides overlap.
Brush the top of the King Cake with melted butter. The melted butter will help the dough to rise and prevent cracking by keeping it moist. Wait 30 minutes or so for the dough to rise. Wait until it’s about double it’s current size. Now you’re ready for it to go in the oven to cook.
Here are the links to the various fillings you can choose from:
Note: This is part one in a series on how to make a home-made king cake!
In the New Orleans tradition of Mardi Gras, they serve King Cakes. Today I’m going to show you how to make a King Cake – which is just a fancy coffee cake with a toy baby inserted inside.
The most popular fillings around Louisiana are a pecan praline cheesecake and a cream cheese with raspberry filling. The basic coffee cake is the same recipe – you just have to put different fillings to make it different.
As the tradition goes, there’s a little doll placed in the King Cake after it’s baked. Whoever gets the doll in their slice is supposed to throw the next King Cake party. These parties are celebrated starting on January 6th, which is the Night of the Epiphany, and they go on until Mardi Gras.
Of course, they’re delicious to do any time of year!
First of all there’s a little thing you need to know about when you make a King Cake. It’s a yeast product. Yeast kind of scares some people off, but it’s easy to do. You just can’t add anything too hot to the yeast (or it won’t make it active).
Take one tablespoon of yeast and mix it with a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of flour. Mix this together with ¼ cup of water.
I just use dry yeast in a bulk package. To extend the shelf life of the yeast, I put it in a screw-top jar and place it in the freezer, and use it when I need it.
We take this yeast mixture and set it to the side. By adding that sugar and water, it’s starting to get active. It should be starting to bubble or be foamy. If it isn’t, there’s a problem, and you don’t need to go any further until you make better yeast.
The next mixture we’re going to mix up is the milk. Take a saucepan with a half cup of milk and two sticks of butter. We just heat it until the butter is melted.
Now let’s mix our flour mixture. Put two cups of all-purpose flour, one teaspoon of baking powder, and a teaspoon of cinnamon. We mix this all up so we’ll be able to add it to our milk mixture.
We also need two eggs and two egg yolks which we’ll add to the milk mixture.
Our milk and butter is melted, so we add it to our mixing bowl. We can’t add anything else to it right now because it’s too warm. We turn the mixer on to cool the mixture. If you mix the yeast in too early, the heat will prevent the yeast from being active. We mix the milk and butter for a few minutes.
Now it’s cooled down enough to add our eggs and yolks and flour mixture as well as the yeast. Run the mixer while you add the ingredients.
The next step is to hook the dough hook onto the mixer as we add the remaining flour.
At this point we measure out another two cups of flour – not the packing method – just two level cups. We put that into the bowl. Now we’re ready to mix it up. You’ll see, this is not a batter – it’s a dough, like a real soft bread dough.
Now if your dough it not wet enough, it’s going to form into a stiff ball around the dough hook. It’s really stiff, so we need to add a little more water. You might have measured everything correctly, but with different flours, you have to adjust the water. The stickier the dough, the lighter your King Cake is going to be. It’ll be tastier that way.
Notice the dough isn’t so sticky that it’s stuck to the hook, but it’s in a nice, round ball. Now a trick to get this cake to rise correctly is just take a stick of butter and grease a ceramic bowl with it. We want the butter to coat the bowl. We put the bowl on high in the microwave for 30 seconds.
This heats up the bowl, which will let your yeast act faster.
Take your ball of dough out of the mixing bowl, and tuck it into a smooth bowl. Put it in your bowl and turn it over. With that little bit of butter you’ve used in your bowl, it will butter the top of your cake.
Cover the bowl and place the bowl to the side. We will wait until the dough doubles in size.
Stay tuned for part two in this series on how to make a home-made King Cake!
Today I’m going to show you some easy tips to bake Christmas cookies. Just take your cookie dough out and put it on a sheet of wax paper.
You want to take and form it into a log, because remember we’re trying to get it into a roll so that it’s easy to slice into even-sized pieces. Our cookies will all be of the same size so they’re all done at the same time.
So once we get it into shape, we can roll it out onto a piece of was paper. Then we’re ready to cut it into pieces. It’s according to the size pieces you cut (their width) that determines how big they are going to be.
Now when we go to put them onto a cookie sheet, I use parchment paper. To get your cookie sheet ready, use a piece of parchment paper. This is parchment paper, it comes by the roll. Just tear off a piece that is the size you need.
It comes a little wider than most cookie sheets, so you need to just fold under what overlaps the cookie sheet because whatever is overlapping is going to turn brown and get brittle, and you want to be able to use this parchment paper several times.
Just put your cookies on the cookie sheet. You can kind of shape them round. You can get four across, and then if you put three in the middle you can get a little closer together and that will give you an extra row. That means less times you have to go in the oven.
This method works really well. Enjoy baking cookies!
Party Time’s HEALTHY Christmas Cookie Recipe
2 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond
4 c. flour
5 c. blended oatmeal (use blender or food-processor) – (very fine)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 lbs of white chocolate
3 c. chopped nuts
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)
Put the white chocolate in a food processor and pulse a couple times.
Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.
Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.
Note: Add pecans or macadamias nuts and these cookies will compare to Mrs. Fields White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Learn the simple steps required to make a Deco Mesh Wreath. It’s as easy as twist and tuck! See why this is one of Party Time’s most popular holiday items.
Materials Required:
1 Roll of Mesh
Looking for work wreaths or deco mesh to make your next holiday craft? Party Time has what you need!
Today we’ll show you the easy steps to making the traditional white peppermint bark as well as a a version of peppermint bark layered with dark chocolate.
