Bake & Decorate - Birthday Cake – Blue Sapphire

Class Overview

This sugarcraft course is suitable for all abilities learners and those seeking to develop and refine their skills.

At the course you will learn how to bake, assemble and decorate a beautiful birthday cake using decorations with wafer paper and sculpting techniques with buttercream.

You will learn the following skills:

• Baking a 6’’ moist vanilla cake sponge
• Making Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMK)
• Colouring buttercream and make it smooth and pliable
• Assembling a cake and covering a cake with buttercream
• How to work buttercream – using sculpting technique
• Making decorations out of wafer paper
• Decorating and finishing techniques
• How to safely deliver cake

Equipment & Ingredients list

(Please note this class requires a minimum of 4 learners to run. If the minimum number is not met, the course may be cancelled and a full refund will be issued. Learners will be informed at least 3 days before the start date if the course is unlikely to proceed, so ingredients do not need to be purchased in advance).

For this class you will need to bring the following materials and equipment:

Equipment:

1. 2 x 6’’ cake tins (about 3-4’’ deep)
2. Kitchen scale; parchment paper; scissors; kitchen thermometer (optional)
3. Hand-held mixer; whisk
4. 2 mixing bowls; containers to mix and colour different colours of buttercream
5. 8’’ cake board & 8’’ cake box to transport your cake
6. Turn table (Lazy Susan)
7. Spatulas: - Straight spatula for icing a cake; rubber spatula; bench scraper spatula; sculpting art spatula
8. Silicon mat or suitable table protector
9. Apron; kitchen towel or cloth; wet wipes
10. 2-3 big professional disposable piping bags (normally they are in blue/pink colour)
11. Painting Brush -1-2 thin oval brushes; tweezers

Ingredients list:

For the sponge:

• 87ml full fat milk + 128ml full fat milk
• 64ml oil (sunflower/olive/vegetable)
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 2 big eggs (or 3 small)
• 278g self-raising flour
• 278g caster sugar
• 10g baking soda
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 170g butter (room temperature)

For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

• 225g egg whites
• 450g caster sugar
• 670g butter (room temperature)

Flavouring by your choice: Vanilla extract/Lemon extract/Orange extract or other flavour by your choice

For the decoration:

• 3 sheets wafer paper (will be provided by your tutor)
• Edible Blue Gel colour (two tones if available)
• Edible sugar dragees - white or blue (optional)
• Gold/Silver colour dust + few drops alcohol (vodka/gin/rom)

About the tutor

Zlatina is a sugarcraft artist and a pastry chef based in Cardiff.

She has won five gold medals at Cake International in Birmingham (the world leading sugar art show) for five consecutive years 2015–2019, as well as a number of other gold medals.

Minimum Age: Please note that you must be aged 16 or over to enrol on this course.