Pastry Whirlwind: Wilton, Cakegirls, and the Swedish Bakery

Since I have neglected my page but plan to post cakes in the future, I thought I would try to bridge the gap by letting you know what I've been up to. A real transformation happened in October. I spent almost every day traveling down to the South Suburbs of Chicago to attend the Wilton School of Cake Decorating. It was my first experience decorating cakes every day. That, combined with the flood of new skills I learned, helped me to start making cakes that really represented my tastes and abilities.

The first two weeks were dedicated to the Master Course, an intensive piping regimen of flowers, figures, and borders, which resulted in my rose and pansy cake, which I posted in December. The second two weeks were with Colette Peters, owner of Collette's Cakes, in NY. Collette has a masters in painting from Pratt and worked as a designer at Tiffany’s for 10 years before becoming a decorator. Her cakes are flamboyant, free-spirited, and amazing! In her class tools were rarely used for their original purpose, and flowers were mostly called, "fantasy flowers.” It was important to me, when making cakes in her class, to use her techniques (like metallic painting and free-form carving) without stealing her style. The cakes I completed for Colette were the beetle and celestial cakes, which I also posted.

After Wilton I spent three months interning full time with the Cakegirls of Chicago. I was thrilled when they took me on because my love for their cakes verges on obsession. Chief designer Mary Maher’s cakes are stylish and artful, and she has developed a distinctive style that is regularly imitated. Mary taught me how to use molded chocolate and rice-crispy, how to add life with highlights and shadows, and when to balance bold statements with detail. Never once did she send me to get coffee or make me do dishes!

It was at Cakegirls that I learned that piping skills truly separate the boys from the men. Mary, and her sister Brenda both started out at an old-school buttercream bakery in Detroit, and as a result use a piping bag as if it’s an extension of their hand. I decided after my internship ended to apply to work at Chicago’s own old-world bakery, the Swedish Bakery in Andersonville. The place has been a neighborhood staple for 80 years, and they do everything from marzipan and whipped cream cakes to fondant and buttercream. Speed and a steady hand is my goal, and since we average what seems to be 50 cakes a day I think I’ll achieve it.

I’ve made a lot of cakes at work that I’d love to post on my blog, but out of respect for the businesses I’ll leave web-posting to the business owners and customers. When I find some time to create cakes at home, which I am looking forward to, I’ll be sure to post them here!

A Month at Wilton

Hibiscus and Birds of Paradise Cake

I decorated this cake for a tropically themed "castaway" party celebrating the removal of a kid's full-body cast.
I was pleased that the customer didn't ask me to write anything on the cake. The messages put on cakes seem more appropriate in a greeting card than on a dessert. I like the graphic simplicity of this cake. The flowers growing from the sides onto the top highlight the cake's nice shape rather than focusing only on the cake's flat top.

Tiffany Blue

We were taught in school that blue is the least appetizing color because it is not a natural food color (even blueberries are really purple). However, I have found that a lot of people like their pastry to be Tiffany blue, probably because it is a color of glamour and status. I'd like for more of my cakes to take on the qualities of jewelry.

Poodles and linzers

A 1950's inspired birthday cake.

Linzer cookies decorated with a little royal icing for Spring. The one in the center is filled with apricot preserve.

Pat the Bunny

Poppy seed, raspberry, and pear butter Hamentashen baked for my friends the Melnicks for Purim.

I like to make my own stationary when I write letters. I decided this time to incorporate some text in the drawing. I thought that a little graphic design practice might help my cake decorating. "Oma" is the German word for grandma.

A "Pat the Bunny" 1st birthday cake. It's hard to see in the photo that the sides of the cake are blue. The top of the cake is orange fondant and the bunny and flowers are gumpaste.

Another 1st birthday cake. You can see its only 4 inches next to the penny.

Fred Anderson's 80th!

Last Sunday was a celebration/tribute concert at the Velvet Lounge in honor of Chicago jazz legend Fred Anderson's 80th birthday. My close friend, Dan Melnick, who works at the Jazz Institute of Chicago threw the party and asked me to make the cake. He said there was talk of a grocery store sheet cake and he wanted to treat Fred to something a little more special.

He gave me the image above to work off of, which is a photo of the much-loved wallpaper from the old location of the Velvet Lounge. The cake was about 14x18 inches, vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream (both with real Tahitian vanilla bean), and decorated with rolled fondant. Dan said the cake was a hit and that it may be featured in Down Beat magazine. Keep your fingers crossed!

Ninja Cake.

Easter Cookies.

We are holding an Easter cookie decorating class at le Flour on April 11th for kids 8-12. Each student will get white cookie canvases in the shapes of eggs, bunnies, flowers, and carrots (like the ones I've decorated above) and we will help them pipe, paint, and sprinkle to their heart's content. I am looking forward to the class because it's the first I'll teach professionally.

Although teaching has never interested me much, I like teaching art because you spend some time explaining and demonstrating, but most of the time is spent watching the students self-explore. The cookies are vanilla bean sugar cookies with royal icing. They don't hold their shape very well when baked, but they make up for that in delicacy and crumbliness.