The Finale: Wilton Cake Decorating Course I

Basically, this cake was a vehicle for my rose-making skills. This was the cake I made for the last class of Course 1, and although all the other cakes I made were 2-layers, this one was far more impressive decoration-wise.

TWD: Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte

I use butter pecan ice cream - if I did this again I would use something with a stronger flavor. Really good but time consuming. Sorry about the short post; school starts tomorrow and I've been busy all day doing last-minute summer lounging.

Covered Cookies

Just some volunteer work for my synagogue...chocolate covered pizzelles with nonpareils.

TWD: Granola Grabbers

I usually make granola for my mom every couple of weeks, and we had just run out when this became the recipe of the week. So I made some granola, and got started on these cookies. I substituted pecans for peanuts because that's what I had on hand. I also was too impatient to wait for the baking sheets to cool down in between batches, so I stuck the remaining half of the batter into the fridge and made the rest two days later.
My parents like them a lot, I actually haven't tried more than a crumb that fell off the cooling rack cause I'm not a big fan of granola. I guess I'll have to eat one soon though, there are so many and not enough people in the house to eat them!

TWD: Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

I've never made sticky buns before. In fact, even after 5 months of working for Panera Bread, I've never eaten a sticky bun! Sure I loved to snag the pralines off the baking pan when my evil manager wasn't looking but...the whole thing? It looked like a crusty swirl with glop and nuts on top. Well...essentially that is a sticky bun. But trust me, the ones I sold were not appealing. So when I asked my parents to pick from the Tuesdays with Dorie list of already made recipes and they unanimously chose the sticky buns, I knew I was in for a treat.
They were hard. I didn't have a KitchenAid that I could use, because my parents keep a kosher house and our KitchenAid is parve, meaning no dairy or meat can go in it. And boy does this dough have a lot of butter. So I got to work out my arms with a wooden spoon and some seriously sticky dough.
In the end, these were SO GOOD. I didn't let the glaze boil quite enough, so it was a bit grainy, but otherwise these were ooey gooey perfection. The soft brioche dough combined with the crunch of the pecans and the sweet sweet glaze took these buns over the top. Lesson learned- I will never judge a sticky bun by Panera's nastyness again.

TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

Sorry I waited until the last minute to post - I was in New York visiting my grandparents.
Anyways, this loaf was simple and smells delicious. It's cooling as I type; I'll make sure to post about how good it is when we get around to dessert. That might not be til around 9 though, so hold your horses!
I used the "drop by teaspoons" marbling method, after reading the other ones on p. 229, figuring that would be the most obsessive-compulsive friendly :)I have my first Wilton Cake decorating class tonight at 6:30, and I started the Baking series at Cambridge Culinary yesterday. We made cream puffs, except I forgot the flour for the cream so...it broke when Chef Marcos tried to add it afterwards. It's ok though - I went home and immediately made another batch, which ended up being perfect.