Alhamdulillah ... Alhamdulillah ... Alhamdulillah ...

Assalaamu Alaikum :D

Saturday April 26, 2008

Squeeky got married

*Alhamdulillah*

It was a beautiful and magical wedding .... couldn't have been more perfect. Once I get my computer/internet situation dealt with in my condo .... I may post a picture!

Course 1, Lesson 4

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

Okay, so I had my last class on Sunday for Course 1. In this class, we focused upon leaves, vines and mastering the Wilton Rose. Oh yes, we even practiced a flower called Sweet Pea. It looks simple to do ... but it's not! It was so difficult at first but once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad. I didn't take a picture of my attempt at those haha so no pictures here for that one.

We had the option of placing our roses in the center of the cake or at the side. So I gathered mine at the side of the cake. Our instructor taught us how to mound the roses so that it produces a nice lift. I thought that was amazing because it gives the roses and the cake a great look.

My cake doesn't appear as big as it usually does. It was so late when I baked the cake, there was no way I was going to add another cake layer. So instead, I layered the one cake that I had. I noticed it is much easier to ice a lower cake than a higher one!

A closer look: The roses would be much better if there weren't so many cracks at the ridge of the petals. I'm gettin' there!

The final product! I must say, this is my favourite cake from all the ones I decorated in class. I just wanted to freeze it forever *sigh*

Yet again, I was able to use this cake in the evening for all my family to share. My cake was an anniversary cake for my aunt and uncle who had come over. I gathered quite a few people over to help me pack the wedding favours. I absolutely LOVE my wedding favours and I absolutely LOVE my wedding invitation cards. Alhamdulillah! Things are crazy hectic but it is all coming together, yay!

Yea, so, that's how the planning is coming along. I haven't turned into a "bridezilla". I believe everyone is waiting for that moment haha Maybe during the last month ... maybeee. Right now, I'm slowly starting to feel the stress of getting everything together ... it's not so easy, my friend.

Next week, I signed up for Course 2! Can't wait to see what other new goodness we will be learning! I was just incredibly thrilled when we all were awarded with certificates for completing Course 1. I was almost in tears ... *sniff*

Stay tuned!!

Course 1, Lesson 3

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

I had my 3rd class last Sunday and it was just too much fun! NOT as stressful with the last class because this time ... I came prepared! I did feel a bit rushed because I had to decorate my cake while we were taught new techniques at the same time because I had to leave right after class to visit my cousin. She bought a new house with her hubby and it is so beautiful, masha'Allah! I was glad there was another excuse for me to take my cake somewhere ... don't have to worry about leftovers!

Our lesson today was to create clowns. I did a practice run at home and it was pretty simple to do. We were to buy Clown Heads and place them on top of the body. The clowns without heads looked pretty creepy ....

I tried to do a Brush Stripe effect in the icing. It was my first time trying it so it didn't turn out as great as I was hoping but hey, close enough!

Placed the heads on the clowns and added some roses and balloons! We continued to practice the Wilton Rose so I thought I would accompany the clowns with them :)

I had to complete the cake when I got home and brought it to my cousins ... ta da!

"If you should die ... before you wake ... *evil laughter*"

- The Simpsons: Bart's Clown Bed

I couldn't believe how easy these classes were. It's only been a few classes and I feel like I have leared so much. I love it, alhamdulillah hehe This particular cake was a lot of fun. Now I'm waiting for a kid's birthday party so that I can provide them with a fun cake like this :)

Course 1, Lesson 2

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

I'm really getting lazy with these posts! ahh. I'm posting a new entry very soon!

In this post, I am going to share the steps I took to make my cake for my Cake Decorating Class. We were told to bring a cake that has already been iced. We had the option of following one of the templates given to us in the Decorator book but our instructor advised that it would be better to experiment with the tips that we have been taught so far.

Alright ... so I have made cakes from cake mixes so many times before but this time, it was different. Maybe it was because of the new oven or the fact that I didn't place the oven rack in the middle ... I don't know ... but that cake kept rising and rising ... until it was humungous!

Here were the steps I took to make this cake ....

For some reason, my cakes are baking in my oven as if they were on steroids. I don't get it. Anyway, the top dome needed to be removed so I finally used this Cake Leveler tool. It did the job!

After leveling it, I used medium consistency icing to create a dam along the cake so that when I fill the middle, it won't droop out.

I didn't have time to make fancy filling so I just used the thin consistency icing which I will be using soon for icing the cake.

Didn't I tell you it was a huge cake? I placed the second leveled cake ontop and now it looks like a big cake sandwich! Mmm mmm!

I used Wilton's Icer Tip (an amazing tip) to cover the cake with icing, instead of using the spatula technique. This way ... I felt I was able to use the right amount of icing to spread upon the cake. Now, it doesn't look great because my icing wasn't thin enough! But I will learn from this mistake, insha'Allah next week it will work! It will!

Ta da! I smoothed out the icing with the off-set spatula. I will not get into how difficult this process was for me because of the wrong icing consistency. The correct icing consistency is important, people!! Oh, and my cake is placed on a turn table which really helps with the icing.

I tried so many times to succeed with this Wilton Rose. This was my last attempt and yes, I did it! Again, it only works if the icing is at the right stiff consistency.

Now ... for my Cake :)

And there it is, folks. My first cake after my decorating class. I cannot stress how much fun it was! I am definitely going to be using these techniques for many more years to come :D

Stay tuned for my cake from the next lesson. Coming very soon!!

Course 1, Lesson 1

Assalaamu Alaikum :)


Description - Cake Decorating Class
Level - Course 1
Location - Michaels

It's true! I have finally enrolled in these classes! For the past 2 years I have been eager to join but it just was not meant to be .... until NOW! Another friend of mine really wanted to take these classes so we decided, it had to be done. It's every Sunday and there are 4 classes.

We had the first class and it was basically an Introductory class. Of course, I was late. My day wasn't really going too well and I left the house later than I wanted to. I missed the first 10 mins and that was when she was explaining the beginner points to Icing *hmph* Thank goodness for my friend who passed me her notes. It was just really strange because I have not been in a classroom in a really long time and the first thing I had to do was fill out a scantron! I'm like, why is this here? I started panicking because I couldn't remember how to fill one out! And I kept saying to myself, "make sure the circle is filled completely!" That was quite the experience. Anyhooz, our really cool instructor was showing us how to make the icing we will be bringing to class next week and how to cut, ice and smooth a cake. It was just amazing. Since I have baking experience, I was familiar with most of what she was doing ... except for making the icing. I only made icing once and that ... umm .. needed some practice. But I think I should be able to do this! The way she was showing us how to fill the cake with icing and covering the entire cake with the most SIMPLEST icing tip, was just amazing. I cannot tell you how giddy and excited I was throughout that 2 hour class and afterwards ... eeh!

We were told which supplies we will be needing for class. You spend the most money in the first course and then not so much later on. I thought I would hold off a bit and shop around for better deals. Bulk Barn has practically everything for less! There was this amazing carry case that includes everything you will ever need for cake decorating ... I am *very* tempted to purchase it!

Homework for Next Week:
We have to bake a cake at home, fill it with icing, cover it with icing and bring it to class along with separate containers with coloured icing so we can decorate.

Maybe I can take pictures of my process during this course ... I think that'd be nice. I'll just have to see how this month is for me. Baking every weekend, yay! So many get-togethers, baby showers ... I am ecstatic :D

So stay tuned for my up-coming adventures ;)

Busy Bee *buzzzzz*

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

Yes, I have been busy! Which is expected from me because I have so much to do and there is so little time! I am actually feeling the crunch, eep. Okay, I lied. Not really ... to me, I feel like I have all the time in the world until I see my "to-do" list. It's still quite long, ahh. But I think we're doing pretty good! All this wedding planning is so much fun because we've been going here and there ... looking at such beautiful things ... making crazy decisions! It's great :D

I must say, wedding invitations are a big pain in the behind. But alhamdulillah, things are on their way with that as well. What I really want to get out of the way are the wedding favors. I find it a little more difficult because we have something specific in mind and sometimes, it's hard to find things when you're limited to one idea. Oh well, I got faith! Recently, we have just been concentrating on condominium shopping! That's not too easy either but I feel we'll find something perfect very soon, insha'Allah.

It will be February soon and I consider this month to be my most busiest baking month! Something is happening each weekend and of course, I am going to do my best to provide something for the parties. There are a couple of baby showers to attend to! I am really excited for that because one of them is for a good friend of mine and I have been meaning to make something special and cute for a baby shower. But you will have to wait for the end of the month to see pictures of that! ;) However, I will entertain you with pictures from my parent's wedding anniversary. I decided to make the cake (which I feel wasn't too attractive because it was the first time I made icing and I didn't make enough :/ ) The guests enjoyed it so that's all that really matters, no? I made more cupcakes too!

Enjoy ...

The 3 layers were: Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Cake & Brownie bottom! mmm

* Happy New Year *

Assalaamu Alaikum!

It is the first day of 2008 ... wow, time is flying. I wanted to write an entry earlier, which was the plan, but so many things came up that I did not get the chance. What came up, you ask? Well, here's the list.

Sick
I fell really sick last weekend. Alhamdulillah, I don't get sick often but this was just horrible. I had a terrible fever that lasted for a couple of nights and on top of that, I had the flu. A terrible one too! Then again, whenever I get the flu, it's always terrible. That weekend was quite busy too so I wasn't really able to get some rest. I had to go to my fiance's place for dinner and then the next day we had to attend a party. I am finally getting over it now but the cough is still present. Go away cough! *cough*

Baking
I was able to get myself to do some baking:

Since it was Eid-ul-Adha, I decided to make my baking treat. Eid this year wasn't the same because a lot of my relatives were somewhere else. My aunt and cousin are away for Hajj at the moment so not everyone was able to gather the way we used to. But that didn't stop me from baking! I tried to make Boston Cream Pie Minis. They turned out really good! I think these little guys got the most positive review than anything else I've made hehe Yummers.

I thought I'd try to make my own chocolate tee hee It actually worked! I was so proud of myself. I melted chocolate, poured it in a plastic sheet (which was for chocolate bars) and then kept it in the freezer. It was pretty cool :) I used it to decorate my fiance's cake.

This was his Collector's Cocoa Cake. Now, this was not how it was supposed to look. I had issues with this cake from the beginning :( But hey, it was nice and chocolatey so that's all that matters!

My sister's birthday was the day after my fiance's. She wanted cheesecake so I made her a Triple Layer Cheesecake. It was pretty cool to make because I had never made a layered cake before. I did a little mistake with one of the layers but since I know what the mistake was, I can fix it next time and it'll look much more better! Boy, was this cake rich! Verrry sweet. I used Chocolate, Butterscotch and Vanilla for this cake.

I think that was all the baking I did so far. Well, actually, I did bake with my cousins last night for New Years Eve. Umm ... it did not turn out at all. I think it's because we didn't have the right pan. I am determined to try that recipe again and make it work!

RIS

This past weekend, I attended Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference. I've been to it quite a few times and each year had it's fair share of good lectures but I the topics and theme didn't really appeal to me that much. I was really excited to attend this year's conference because of its Family theme. Not only was it on family, but the rights of men and women in marriage. It was just very appropriate to attend with my fiance hehe We learned so much, alhamdulillah and pray that we are able to implement everything we learned from the lectures. I found the lecture on Divorce to be interesting too because we were told of how a husband and wife should treat one another during the marriage and how to make it strong and last. I really enjoyed myself this time at RIS ... great lectures, great company ... it was lovely :)

2008

And now ... it is the New Year. A new year that holds so much for me, insha'Allah. So many changes that I will experience but insha'Allah everything that happens will be wonderful and happy. There has been so much going on ... I really want to focus on taking advantage of my time. Concerning Islam and how I practice it and how often I have been practicing it and also, worldly pursuits. I want to do as much as I can and am able to.

It's been a crazy year .... insha'Allah this year will be even better. I hope and pray that all those who read my posts have a very safe and happy new year ... filled with so much happiness and adventure!