Ok guys, if you have taken the basic one stroke painting class and are ready for more we have an advanced class this Saturday Nov.17th here at the shop. You remember how much fun you had the first time around so just think what skills you will walk away with in this class. We still have some spots open so give us a call to sign up while it is fresh in your mind and come have some fun. The Cake Cottage 951-600-4773

Well, Halloween is just around the corner and I bet there are lots of trick or treaters  out there ready for some sweet goodies. So we have a Cupcake Class just for them. It’s Friday the 26th at 4:00pm till 6:00pm right here at The Cake Cottage in Murrieta. They will learn to decorate cupcakes into a ghost, a mummy, a witches hat just to name a few. It’s a great way for them to let off a little steam, give you a break for a couple of hours and go home with some delicious, fun treats. Check our Class page for more details. Here are some photos of the Cupcakes they will make.

Got Milk ? Lol, well you will need some when you show up with your latest creations. It’s time for Susan Carberry’s latest Fall Fondant Cookie Class. These are all new designs, and custom cookie cutters Susan had made just for this class. If you have not had much experience with Fondant this is a great cookie decoarating class to start with. You will learn some of the basics of how to work with fondant, a sugar cookie recipe that is delicious and works every time, and how to decorate your cookies into scrumptious works of art. This Class is Thursday night Sept. 6th. Class cost is $ 75.00 and ALL SUPPLIES ARE INCLUDED…..EVEN THE COOKIES !!…….just show up and have some fun. Give us a call to sign up 951-600-4773

Dive! Dive! Dive!……Are you ready for some undersea adventure? Want to learn more about cake sculpting and working with fondant? Then join Susan Carberry for a day of under the sea fun making this submarine cake.  Your hand carved submarine (cake) will be resting on the ocean floor surrounded by sand, coral and sea shells that really make this cake stand out. This is an all day class on Saturday June 23rd, 10am till around 4pm, here at The Cake Cottage. You must have fondant experience to take this all day class. Class is $100.00 plus supplies. This is one of those cakes that will WOW everyone that sees it and make you look like a true cake artist. So don’t wait, as class size will be limited on this one, give us a call now at 951-600-4773 and get signed up right away. Once you take this cake home you will be glad you did…….Pete

Dive! Dive! Dive!

Ok guys, if you have not signed up for our newsletter yet then you are missing out ! Here is the latest project that Susan Carberry put together for The Cake Cottage Newsletter.  We will be putting more and more info in our newsletters so don’t miss out on great projects like this and tip and tricks to help you on your cake decorating skills…..Pete

Bird House Cookie

By

Susan Carberry

The Cake Cottage

Supply List

Sugar Cookie Dough (see recipe and baking  hints)

Bird House Cookie Cutter

Small Round Cutter (to cut out the hole in the center)

Veining Tool

Knife and scriber tool

Fondant : Pastel Yellow, and a very small amount of black

( Call us for availability)

Canary Yellow Luster Dust

Decorator Tips: # 2, # 3, # 5 and #  349

Icing bags

Icing bags

Royal Icing ;’ light blue, electric green, avocado green, yellow and pink

Sugar Birds

General tools, spatula, rolling pin, scissors, cornstarch puff

Sugar Cookie Recipe
Makes approx 3 Dozen 5” Cookies

Ingredients:

2 Cups Unsalted Butter
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Lemon Extract (or flavor of choice)
5 ½ to 6 Cups All Purpose Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt

Directions:

In at least a 5qt mixer or a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Then add the eggs, mix.  Add  vanilla and Lemon extract, mix.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.  Gradually add to the butter mixture until incorporated.  For 3D cookies it is best to hold back a bit on the flour (5 ¼ or 5 ½  cups). Scrape bowl and mix until dough comes together.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Roll out cookies on parchment paper, cut shapes leaving space between the cookies, then place the parchment paper with the cookies onto a  cookie sheet.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees in a regular oven or 300-325 degrees in a convection oven until golden brown around the edges.

Cookie Baking Tips

1 – Roll your dough out onto a piece of parchment paper.  This way you do not need to place any flour under the dough, as the extra flour can cause it to dry out.

2 – Roll out the dough between two dowels or thick skewers for a consistent cookie shape and size.  Another option is using a wood rolling that has wood spacers on the side.

3 – Place the same or similar sized cookies on the same tray to ensure proper baking times as the smaller cookies will bake faster.

4 – Royal Iced Cookies – Use a Tip #3 and  stiff royal icing to pipe an outline around the edge of the cookie.  Then, thin  down the icing, place in a bag without a tip, cut off end and flood the center of the cookie.  note: For cookies that do not have a lot of detail or small areas, you can spread the icing with a Spatula if it is the correct consistency and you do not need to outline the cookie first.

5 – Fondant Covered Cookies – attach the Fondant using  water, shortening.or Piping  Gel.

Instructions

Step 1

After your cookie has cooled,  knead your Yellow Fondant to give it elasticity (while kneading use a bit of shortening on your hands and work surface to prevent sticking).  Dust your counter with the Cornstarch Puff and place the Yellow Fondant on top of the cornstarch, begin  to roll out the Fondant.

Roll your Fondant approx 1/8th of an inch thick and cut out the shape using your Bird House Cutter.

Brush the back of the Fondant with water, then place the Fondant on top of the cookie with the water side down.  Smooth the surface.

Step 2

Cut out a small whole just below the roof line using the small Circle Cutter.  Roll out a bit of Black Fondant, cut out a circle using the same round cutter.  Brush the back of the circle with water and place inside the round opening on the cookie.

Step 3

Using the Veining Tool, draw lines from the top of the cookie down to the bottom, approximately 1/2 an inch apart.  This creates the wood  planks.  Using  the Knife Tool, draw random lines up and down in various lengths on the wood planks. This will give you the wood grain look.

Step 4

For the perch, roll a small ball of Yellow  Fondant  into a tube shape and attach using water, just below  the Black Fondant .

Step 5

With a dry brush and Canary Yellow Luster Dust, brush the Yellow  Fondant  to give a variation of color.

Step 6

With light blue royal icing and a Tip # 5, pipe a zig zag pattern from one end of the roof line to the other end. Using the same bag and tip, pipe a zig zag on the base the bird house.

Step 7

Use Tip #2 and Electric Green Icing to pipe random vines. Using Tip # 349 and Avocado Green Icing, pipe leaves on the vine.

Step 8

Flowers ; using  Tip #3 and Pink Icing, pipe a small  balloon shape for each petal (hold the tip at a 45 degree angle and slightly off the surface, pipe and let the icing build up moving the tip up with the icing but still keeping it slightly imbedded in the icing, Once the icing  has built up a bit, then lower your tip, relax your pressure and drag  the tip at the end). Pipe five petals for each flower with the small ends of the balloons meeting in the middle.  Fill a small bag with Yellow Royal Icing and cut a small amount off of the end.  Pipe centers of the flowers with the bag at a 90 degree angle to the surface.

Step 9

Attach the sugar bird using a bit of royal icing. There you have it. Now go show your friends and watch them be amazed……..!!

Hey guys,

For all of you that are heading to ICES next week Susan has just picked up a Demo spot and will be showing her latest creation…..her Vacationing Shark…….just in time for shark week…..lol………in this Demo she will  be using modeling chocolate, rice cereal treats, royal icing, flower cutters, stiching wheel, crimpers chocolate molds and sugar sand………Wow….that is alot of items in one cake but he really turns out great. Not to mention all the infrastructure as well to hold the shark up……anyway…..this was just added on the ICES website so sign up for a fun and unique Demo.

Just when you thought it was safe to decorate again !

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that Susan has made up lots of cake and cookie samples for her classes so that you can see what amazing things you will be learning and making in her upcoming decorating classes, so check out the classes page on our website to see what’s new.

We also have a New Cupcake Flavor to Announce…………STRAWBERRY !!!

A Marvelous Strawberry Cupcake with Strawberry Buttercream Icing Or Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing
All Topped Off With A Chocolate Strawberry Garnish

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that if you are planning on taking Susan’s fondant 1 cake decorating class you should sign up for the up coming class starting on Tuesday may 24th……because after this class ends, Susan will not be teaching it again until sometime in AUGUST due to her travel schedule, and you need this class to take all the intermediate classes….and there are some great ones coming up this summer. So sign up for Fondant 1 cake decorating class now before it is booked up and you miss out..Pete

Just a heads up about Susan’s Cake Decorating Classes at Cake Camp in Las Vegas.Susan will not be teaching her classes in Vegas and then be teaching them here at the The Cake Cottage later. The Vegas Cake Decorating Classes are ONLY FOR VEGAS. Susan is making them special, so if think you can just take her Vegas classes later at her shop…FORGET IT..you will be out of luck…and from what I have seen so far..the LasVegas Cake Decorating Classes are going to rock…Just so you know..Pete