Tuesday 12 October 2010

Cupcake decorating class

I was on the look out for a cake decorating class here in London and that's when I came across the class at Bea's of Bloomsbury in Holborn. I have had so many failed attempts at making butter cream and cream cheese icing that I realized unless someone showed me how to go about it- procedure and consistency wise- I wouldn't succeed. Trust me, this is talking from experience...I have wasted icing sugar, cream cheese and butter by the truck loads because I goof up quite often when it comes to frosting. 

Bea...one of the sweetest people I've met is a pastry chef and owner of the quaint lil tea shop called Bea's of Bloomsbury and her basic class on cupcake decorating was all that I was looking forward to. She even let a friend join in absolutely free of cost, making up for rescheduling the class. We got there at around 5.45 and was totally made to feel at home. Bea brought over a plate full of cupcakes for us to dig into and we did, shamelessly, rather! The red velvet with cream cheese was brilliant and so was the vanilla with passion fruit frosting. So after we had our mouths full we cleaned up, put on our aprons and Bea gave us a small introduction about herself, her transformation into being a pastry chef and what her class would cover. She conducts different classes at her restaurant, details of which are on the website and I assure you, it would be absolutely worth it, if ever you want to give it a shot.
The class started off with Bea showing us how to make the perfect, silky smooth chocolate ganache, followed by taking us through the processes of getting the perfect Italian butter cream consistency and then of course my favourite, the cream cheese frosting methods. We were then taught how to make cones with butter paper, fill it with melted chocolate (white and dark), fold it and draw designs, write out names etc etc. Once that was perfected, Bea showed us how to fill, hold and use a pastry bag to frost cakes and cupcakes. Then came the best part, we were given an array of cupcakes to decorate on...with Bea showing us some easy piping ideas and decorating methods throwing in quite a lot of interesting tips for storage, colouring and fixing issues which I thought was incredibly useful. She laid out about a hundred different sprinklers with various themes, glossy glitters, shiny dusts and fancy flowers...all for decorating. I literally went crazy decorating and so did the others. She cleared any doubts we had and asked us to take our own sweet time decorating the cakes...so yes we were at Bea's of Bloomsbury till around 9pm  decorating, laughing, eating and having a jolly good time. I left the shop happy, high on sugar and with 2 boxes full of cakes decorated by yours truly. So hopefully the next time I bake a cake, I wouldn't be stuck when it comes to frosting and will remember all that Bea taught us. Here are some of the cakes I perfected, and some I destroyed :)
Vanilla cake with raspberry icing

Vanilla cake with vanilla icing


Celebrating Pinktober, the National breast Cancer Awareness Month with this raspberry butter cream frosted cupcake.


Red velvet with cream cheese frosting


...and these are some I did after I lost my patience
(from left to right: blueberry frosting, cream cheese, vanilla, chocolate ganache)

47 comments:

Yours Truly said...

oh myy!!! cupcake decorating class! and such superb looking designs and mouth watering pictures ! good work =) i cant wait to begin the class i have been dreaming of

Suji said...

Super analo...I loved all the diff decors Nisha....

Ria Mathew said...

Beautiful post, Nisha. Loved the photographs. Could you tell me which tip did you use to get that rose effect?

Anonymous said...

Just lovely! feel like crabbing one right from the picture. Very nice presentation!

Nitha said...

wow.. lovely...

Pavithra Elangovan said...

OMmmmmmmmmmmg everything is awesome ... All the cupcakes are making me drool like anything.. beautiful beautiful beautiful...

Nithya said...

Wow they all look fantastic :) Now this makes me want to attend a class too :)

Monet said...

Your raspberry buttercream cupcake looks like a beautiful rose! I so enjoyed hearing about your experience...I would love to get some professional training. Your cupcakes all look gorgeous...I was drooling from start to finish!

Satrupa said...

Lucky Gurl ...... you perfected it :) Love the cute lil sugar babies.

Cheers n Happy Cooking,
Satrupa

http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Stuning decorative cakes...luv each one of them... a treat to our eyes

Anonymous said...

hi!This was a really fine post!
I come from roma, I was luck to look for your website in baidu
Also I learn a lot in your blog really thanks very much i will come daily

Finla said...

I want to join in the lessons too. I love all the decoration, looks beautiful.

Afsal_ Alif said...

Well,I wud like to name these Pics as Cinderella series.....They lukk as if something taken frm the fairy tales....

Reshmi Ahmed said...

its absolutely awesome !!!! Nisha, it would be great if u could share the recipe for making the frosting...i always wanted to try my hands on decorating but everytime couldnt get any proper frosting consistency...

Sweet Artichoke said...

oh waow! That must have been a great class! I love the raspeberry and blueberry frostings! They have beautiful colours!
Any chance that you will soon post some details about the frosting, and tips? :-)

Sunitha said...

Looks delicious... glad you had a great time.

Priya Suresh said...

Wowwwww!!! great job Nisha, would love to join some decorting class but unfortunately i dont have any idea about them here...beautiful frostings..

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

awesome awesome cuppys Nisha. I so very want to learn cake decoration and would look forward to learn from you. please teach us how to make that silky smooth butter cream.

Suja Manoj said...

Oh my..looks superb Nisha, great job dear..beautiful frosting

Jaisy James said...

looks beautiful dear n loved ur pics

Sushma Mallya said...

Seems you had lots of fun doing all these beautiful cup cakes...each and every cupcake is unique and very lovely...

Anonymous said...

I Just loved the first pic..really beautiful...It would be really nice if u cud share few of the mrasurements/proportions/thumbrules for making the butter cream & other frostings....I have wasted a lot of frostings myself!!

Ann said...

Awesome- so envious of your class, it sound slike it was so much fun! The icing looks droolicious (that BTW is not a word, but blogging has allowed me rather creative freedom with the english language)! I like the little ganache mounds and the large rose piping. Did you guys use Wilton products/tips?

Torviewtoronto said...

love the glitter like decoration beautiful and well worth learning :)

Unknown said...

Oh Nisha!how lucky you are and glad that you had brilliant time! it my dream too, let it take it take its own time want to experience as you did, each and every cupcake looks gorgeous and adorable, i would have viewed ur pic's couple of time in office drooling all over them, man they are mouth watering!

Unknown said...

Lovely cupcakes! I'm feeling a bit J too, because I also want to learn but we dont have any good place here :( Waiting to see more of your beautiful creations soon :)

aipi said...

If anyone,i would definitely know how pretty they look as I suck big time at decorating my food lol:))

US Masala

Unknown said...

These look amazing! I am checking out her classes right after I leave this comment! I'm doing a cupcake decorating class at 'The Make Lounge' in November and I hope it's as good as this one! Otherwise I might just do this one right after!

Sarah Naveen said...

Oh gal..thats awesome...I can see you were a good student !!! fabulous clicks too

Namitha said...

They all look lovely...tempting clicks too :-)

Pushpa said...

Cool yaar,I like each and everyone of them but the rose decoration stands out for me.Happy cooking!

Pushpa @ simplehomefood.com

Anonymous said...

Rather cool place you've got here. Thanx for it. I like such topics and anything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.

Hilary Benedict
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Cool Lassi(e) said...

This post has some serious good eats! The cupcakes look divine and I am salivating at the sight of it. But I don't generally eat the frosting, hence my hesitancy to even try to get into one of those classes.Besides, its so hard to lose weight even without all these goodies..LoL.
If I am to pick a favorite, it would be the one on the very top.

Foodie Ann said...

Loved the peach icing that looks like rose....Its perfect Nisha...:) Kudos ...

Shabs.. said...

hey nish....was going thru all the missed post...i was wondering if u got the nozzle which u made rose in?....and the recipes for the butter cream?..I dint have much problem in frosting.....may be just the firt time...but i tell u, it easily gets messed up cos little liquid can make it really runny!:)....loved the pics...was reading ur oreo cookie story....messed up first batch...as u were stressed out and ro playing guitar...lol..lol...Here it is watching tv in very loud voice that i have to yell on top of my voice for him to respond!uff...men!

Unknown said...

cant take my eyes from those beautiful cupcakes marvelous..Great clicks!!

Unknown said...

WOW!! All of them look lovely!! Great job, Nisha..Stunning pictures!!

Fathima said...

wow! love this! every design is perfect!

Cherine said...

Beautiful cupcakes and beautiful frosting!!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

They all look so pretty! I love your pretty blog.

Cheers,

Rosa

Padhu Sankar said...

Wonderful post!! After seeing all this even I feel like joining a class.

Joudie's Mood Food said...

These cupcakes looks gorgeous! I love all the different styles. Really makes a difference! LOVE IT!

Savoring Italy said...

Wow! This is too much beauty! I want all those cupcakes. You did a great job. Your blog is beautiful. :)Happy weekend to you.

PJ said...

wow, looks so beautiful! i should take a class such as these too. my favorite is the pinktober one.. very nicely done.

Joyti said...

I can make frosting easily, but I have trouble making beautiful designs with it. Seems like the class taught you how to make really gorgeous - I love the rose pattern the most.

indianspicemagic said...

Wounderful................

Plateful said...

Now this's truly inspiring. How did you manage that rose petal kinda frosting, I want to try it! Btw, I came here looking for you best cake recipe. Which one do you recommend? Plz let me know, thanks!