I have finally completed the Course 1 of Wilton's Cake Decorating Courses. It was fun and interesting. It covers the basics of cake decorating. One can get the hang of various tools and materials needed for decorating a cake after completing this course. What seems impossible at first looks quite easy after taking the class. I decorated 3 cakes during the 1st course.
They were not perfect but at least I'm getting better than simply slathering frosting unevenly on my cakes. Like any other art, cake decorating too requires a lot of passion, patience, and practice. So if you are patient enough and can devote some quality time to practice you can master it in no time.
Usually each course has 4 classes, with one class per week. So in a month, you will be completing 1 course. Having 1 class per week also gives ample time for you to practice and clear the doubts you have when you go for the next class. Depending on the instructor you can take a cake or a cake dummy to the class. I hear that some instructors are strict and ask you to get the cake.
Mine was flexible so quite a few in my class got the cake dummy. I didn't know that such a thing existed, so I baked a cake. It's a model cake made with styrofoam available in various shapes (I have seen square and circle) and sizes. So you can practice on it, after you are done wipe the icing with a damp sponge and reuse it.
Cake dummy is available in Michaels and other cake decorating supplies stores. If you live in Canada, locate a Bulk Barn near you and forget Michaels.
You can get almost all Wilton cake decorating, candy making supplies at cheaper prices than Michael's. They even rent character cake pan sets.
Another interesting tip which I found here, is using a cake pan upside down instead of buying the cake dummies. That's really awesome. It's very easy to use, already in the shape and size of the cake you will be baking, easy to clean and you can reuse it countless number of times.
Assuming that you can bake a decent cake the next step is preparing the icing. The course book has the recipe for the Buttercream Icing used in the class. The recipe calls for meringue powder, which is a combination of egg whites, cream of tartar and other unrecognizable chemicals. Now, this was the first hurdle for me. I was in such a dilemma whether to use that powder or not.
I have eaten store-bought cakes and will also be eating it in the future and I don't mind the eggs. Bringing eggs home and cooking with it, is my phobia. By getting this powder I was not bringing actual eggs but I did not want to post here even the pictures of the cakes decorated with that icing. When I asked my instructor about a substitute for the meringue powder, she felt sorry that she did not have an answer.
I was thinking maybe I should use an equal amount of EnerG Egg Replacer powder itself. Then I discovered Wilton's Buttercream Icing Mix.
The instructions read that I just had to add water and butter/margarine to it and beat it with a mixer. When I read the ingredients, I was happy that nothing related to eggs was mentioned. So I happily picked it. After coming home I was scanning the list again and found mono-glycerides.
I have read earlier that unless and otherwise it is clearly specified vegetable derived mono-glycerides, all other glycerides are derived from animals. So I couldn't use that and returned it. Many omnivores and even some vegetarians may be thinking what's the big deal.
In this day and age of packaged and processed food one can't be really sure about what one is eating and the source. But what to do I'm one among the million quirky vegetarians!
The day for the 2nd class was nearing and I was supposed to take 3 cups of icing and here I was still wondering what to do. I thought maybe I should simply follow the recipe, prepare it, learn the decorating techniques and once I'm sort of good, I can start experimenting with a substitute for the meringue powder.
But I need not have worried after all in this era of Google serving information at your fingertips. A couple of recipe sites had Wilton's Buttercream Icing without the egg powder and the reviews were good too, telling that it had the consistency perfect for decorating. It was the exact same recipe given in the course book but minus the meringue powder. So I too decided to do the same and kept my fingers crossed.
To my surprise my instructor while testing each of our icing with some designs told me that mine was perfect for decorating and she couldn't believe when I told her that I did not add the meringue powder.
So girls, one problem solved. (There is another one in the 2nd course too! Yes, I enrolled for it and the 1st class is already over. Hope I will be able to find a solution for the Royal Icing too). What a relief!
Now that we have found an egg-free buttercream icing recipe, what to do next? We would be requiring icing in 3 consistencies. Stiff, Medium and Thin. Stiff consistency icing is used to make those gorgeous roses and other flowers and objects you see on the cakes. Medium consistency is used to make borders and related designs. Thin consistency is for writing on the cake and frosting the cake.
So while preparing the icing, you usually start with stiff, then add some water to get medium consistency and some more water to get a thin consistency. One should be careful while adding water, it's usually 1 or 2 tablespoons to the maximum. Again any mistake done is not irreparable, you can always add some confectioner's sugar or water to get the desired consistency.
Cake decorating is a massive topic and I'm a beginner. So I will try my best to cover important things here so that those who are interested and don't know where to start can get some sort of an idea of how to go about it. If you feel that I have overlooked something or have any questions/clarifications please feel free to leave your comments here or email me and I'll keep updating the answers in the subsequent posts.
If you tried this Vegan Buttercream Icing recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
💌 Save This Recipe!
We'll email this recipe post to you, so you can come back to it later!
We will also add you to our email list. Unsubscribe at any time.
Recipe
Vegan Buttercream Icing Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Vegetable Shortening
- 1 teaspoon Wilton's Clear Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Wilton's No Color Butter Flavor (Optional)
- 4 cups Confectioner's Icing Sugar
- a pinch Salt (optional)
- Approx 2 tablespoons Milk/Water (As Required)
Instructions
- In a bowl, add the shortening, vanilla and butter flavoring and 2 tablespoons of water. Cream until light and fluffy.
- Add sugar one cup at a time and beat after each addition until all the ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together.
- Blend an additional minute or so, until creamy. This produces 3 cups of stiff consistency icing.
- For medium consistency, add 1 teaspoon of water to each cup of stiff consistency icing. For thin consistency, add 2 teaspoons of water for each cup of stiff consistency icing.
My Notes
- You could use Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening. In that case, you can omit the Wilton's Butter Flavoring. I couldn't find butter flavored shortening so I had to use the usual one and hence I added 1 teaspoon of butter flavoring. If using the extra teaspoon of butter flavoring, go slow while adding the water. Also look for trans fat-free shortening. I was not able to find it and used the regular one and each serving has 0.3gm trans fat.
- Icing consistency is key while decorating a cake. But don't worry if you don't get it right because fixing it is quite easy. If the icing is very thin add some icing sugar until yo get the required stiffness. If it's too stiff add water (drop by drop) to dilute it.
- Milk or water can be used while preparing the frosting but I read elsewhere that using water is better.
- Icing keeps good for 2 weeks when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- The Wilton cake decorating course book which was supplied to us during the class, has a lot of useful information, tips, and tricks organized in a neat manner. You can also find this on their site. The information on the website is spread all over, so I'll give some important links in the next section.
Taste & Texture
- Even though the name of the icing is Buttercream, we don't actually use butter. Instead, we use solid white shortening. That gives the pure white color (so when you decide to mix colors you can get better shades) and also the correct structure for the designs. To keep the icing at it's whitest we use the Wilton's clear Vanilla Extract and no color Butter Flavoring. The usual vanilla extra is in dark brown color and when it's added it will tint the shortening and the icing will not be in the purest white.
- I saw a couple of recipes, where only butter is used or half butter and half shortening is used, but I have tried it only with shortening. As I have mentioned earlier I didn't want to experiment too much at this initial stage of learning. I read quite a lot of reviews, that some people don't like the greasy aftertaste that shortening gives and so they used butter instead. I felt that when the icing is consumed together with the cake you don't feel the greasiness but you definitely feel it when you eat the icing alone. Also, the vessels get very greasy and it's messy to do the dishes in the sink. Better use the dishwasher. The taste is really good though, just like the bakery ones. I actually was experimenting with white cake recipes. So for the 3 cakes, I baked during the course I tried 3 different recipes and felt that the icing really covers up even if the cake is not that good. Can you believe that this frosting is actually vegan?
Other Information
Explore Wilton's website for a lot of information about cake decorating. It's very extensive. To help beginners I'm putting out a list of useful links here.
3 Wilton's Cake Decorating 101
5 Golda's Kitchen
(An excellent retail and on-line baking/cake decorating supplies store based in Canada. They ship overseas too.)
6 Bulk Barn (Another amazing store in Canada with tons of cake decorating supplies and some locations offer the Wilton Classes too. You can usually find this store in big malls.)
7 Baking 911(Has extensive details on decorating cakes, cookies and more, with lot of tips and tricks)
8 Michael's 40% off coupon (If you live in Canada, check this out. You can print this coupon and take it to the store and get 40% off on any one item. It's really a huge money saver when you are buying a big ticket item like a professional cake decorating tool set. I got a $200 dollar set for $100 because they had a 50% off special that week.
DK says
Oh i dint realise that I wrote an epic out there!
DK says
This was so long back - We all know what a LOUSY cake decorator I am. My husband was like - never say never - and to get me over my fear, got me a complete cake decorating set! I was like in utter panic - I was like why did u waste money - he was like "at least now with the thought of all that money spent you will learn cake decorating!"!!!!! Cheeky fellow!
That set came along with a cake decorating book and with the help of that I made 3 cakes - I seem to have posted only two - http://chefinyou.com/2008/07/celebration-in-order-for-os-2-winners-and-my-first-albeit-feeble-attempt/
and http://chefinyou.com/2009/02/phew-i-did-it-finally-what-do-you-think/
After feeling justified that I did so something worthwhile with that set - ippo its paran mela irukku :0 🙂 I use the tips for icing and other stuff - but havent really decorated anything as such. It will be interesting watching your series 🙂 Now I know you have SOME patience! One of those cakes took me like a WHOLE day! ( but then that's me ). Also self learning is another slow story altogether.
Hi DK, I do remember those cakes. The first one is what we learned in Course 1. The 2nd one is using fondant and it will be covered in course 3. You have really done a great job considering that you did not take any classes. Especially the roses have come out very good and can't believe that it's self taught, because I know that it's difficult to get the hang of it. I think my set is also going to stay safely in the closet once I'm done with the courses. If I have somebody around to share, I'm ready to bake cakes everyday and decorate them, because it's difficult to resist it once it is in the fridge staring at you, even though you know that it's not healthy. I'm not a lucky person like you (not having a sweet tooth).
Supriya says
Hi Madhuram. What a lovely, detailed post about ur Wilton experience. Very useful. I have also always wanted to sign up for it. Ur use of alternate ingredients and also the cake pans/styrofoam cake instead of regular cake is excellent. Gives me more impetous to take this class.
Thanks Supriya.
Mattie says
I'm getting ready to dive into frostings and cake decorating too. Loved this post and the accompanying recipe for the frosting!
You should do it Mattie. It's really interesting.
jayasree says
Wonderful writeup,Madhu. Thanks a ton for the effort of putting it up here. It will be very useful for people like me who doesn't have the option of decorating classes near by. Looking forward to more in this series.
You're welcome Jayasree.
Yamini says
Hi Madhuram,
This is really a wonderful post - i am planning to attend the Wilton's basic decorating course (hopefully in december). Your write-up on the course is very useful and makes me even more determined to sign up for it as soon as i can:) and i am even more thankful for your buttercream icing recipe - it is perfect and for the first time, i have learnt how to make buttercream icing that can be varied according to consistency 🙂 thank you so much!! 🙂
You're welcome Yamini. Before taking the course it sure looks like it's a big deal but it's not so. If I can do it anyone can. So do join the course and have fun.
Nandhini says
Hi Madhuram, If I use butter instead of Vegetable Shortening will the icing come out well? Everywhere i read that trans-fat is not good for health. If a minimum amount of shortening is mandatory for icing, can u suggest a substitute for the same.
Nandhini, as I have mentioned in the post you can do it with butter alone but I'm not sure how well the structure of the designs will be, because I have not tried it. If you are going to simply frost the cake you should be fine with butter alone. My friend (in the class) tried it with margarine but the designs did not come out well because it was too soft. Trans-fat free shortening is available in US, I'm not sure about India though.
Sonu says
Oh, Thank you Madhuram. You are so thoughtful! I did go through that same site. 🙂
You're welcome Sonu.
vani says
hi,
i was thrilled to see ur post today.. and excited to completely read ur post. As i am a strict vegetarian too.. i wanted to take this class in joann .. but i was hesitating to take it as i didnot have a clear picture of the course. now after reading ur post i completely understand what they teach in teh course.. so i am planning to take it as u have mentioned that it is really useful.. thanks for all the information. pls update more on the class as u take the next course. thanks so much.
Sure Vani, I'll keep updating here.
spice says
Hi Madhuram,
I love this post.....I have to make b'day cake next week & I wanted somesort of white icing & was in the middle of no where(U know when u google a lot to find perfect recipe)....& here u come to the rescue....but I have one question this is no cook icing/frosting, so can u feel the taste of cornstartch from confectioner sugar.....b'coz i tried once & didn't liked it much....and is icing sugar same as confectioner sugar.....please let me know....
Spice, icing and confectioner's sugar is one and the same. I didn't feel any after taste from the sugar. As I have mentioned it was a bit greasy. So you can try 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening.
Sonu says
Hi Madhu, what a coincidence! Even I have been searching info about Wilton classes here since last weeks. I am so tempted to learn this new skill. Here in Australia, we have very few classes (and those are so far away from my place) but not available and easily convenient like US & Canada. 😥
But I am determined to do it anyway. 🙂 Your this post is very informative and useful like us. Thank you. 🙂
You're welcome Sonu. I found this site, hope it's helpful. http://www.wiltonaustralia.com.au/
Priya says
Very lovely and really helpful for peoples like me...i wanted to learn about frosting and decorating..Hope to see more and more from u Madhu..
Sure Priya, will keep updating here.
Ramya Bala says
Wonderful post Madhuram...Even I took those classes...and I use half butter and half shortening...there is really a diff in taste..learnt it from my first cake instructor and still following the same...
I too am going to try it after I'm done with all the classes Ramya.
abc says
Hi Madhuram
Let omnivores feel that we are being too fussy about the sources of food products but this is the way we should be. It is very tough to find trans fat free shortening. I live in a small city and did not find it in nearby walmart 🙁
I was able to get that in US, but have not still found one here. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.
Champa says
No. Even though I did find a recipe which uses lime juice and makes royal icing without using meringue powder, I found that after I was done with the courses. But, I don't think if you make them without eggs, it'll stay strong and not break like the ones with meringue powder.
Thanks Champa. A fellow student told me that her friend used cream of tartar instead of meringue powder. I have to try that and I also found a royal icing mix made with icing sugar and soy. I have to just add water. I'll try both and see which one works out the best.
Vaishali says
Madhuram, this is some weird coincidence because I also posted today my mango cupcakes with vegan mango buttercream frosting-- it's a different recipe but also with vegan butter and shortening as a base.
Your cake-decorating course sounds interesting. It does take a lot of work to develop an eye and the skills for decorating a cake-- I'd love to do it someday. A relative of mine recently did the course at Michaels and has been turning out very impressive cakes.
Wow, mango cupcake and buttercream frosting, that's sounds so delicious and exotic.
Cilantro says
Thank You Madhuram for the info, I have been looking for cake decorating courses in my area for a long time now. Let me check if Wilton`s is in Seattle otherwise I guess I can learn from you.
Use the class locator link to find out the one nearest to your place Cilantro.
Savithri says
Hi Madhuram!
I took all 4 Wilton courses and loved them. You really learn so many techniques. I even made my friend's wedding cake and another friend's engagement cake. You can see it here. http://makingmakers.posterous.com/life-is-in-the-details
Hope you enjoy the rest of your classes!
Savithri
It's true that we get to learn a lot of techniques. Your cake looks very elegant.
Champa says
Hi Madhuram,
I have taken all 4 courses by wilton. My instructor asked us to bake cake and so I did for all the courses. There is a disadvantage of using dummies though. It is very easy to smooth the icing on a dummy and you don't have to worry about crumbs getting all over. If you bake cakes and ice them, you will at least get the practice of how to handle it. Good luck with the rest I sure had lots of fun. Any questions about cake decorating, feel free to email me.
Thanks Champa. Did you do it egg free, the royal icing? I'll mail you.
Keerthana says
Lovely post Madhuram. I always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes. Looking forward to your further posts now:)