What does it take to make cupcakes?

The cake base is easy. Doing the topping, icing, and décor is not. Until we met the pioneers in cake decoration, we wondered why those beautifully trimmed cupcakes cost as much as they do. Now we understand. We are not a cake baker, hence we know little about that. When we received an invitation to attend the Wilton class introduction, we consulted, through email, our executive chef son-in-law Graham what Wilton is all about. He enlightened us.

Wilton is a big name in cake decoration instruction. It has been doing so for 80 years, making it a pioneer in the field. They developed the Wilton method, which through the years has made cake decorating easy for aspiring bakers, through age-old traditions as well as developing creativity and refining techniques to produce not only delicious cakes, but visually lovely pieces as well. We can call cake decoration an art, for each piece that goes on top of the baked product is a result of one’s creativity. The size, shape, positioning of each piece of décor and the colors used must all be aesthetically pleasing.

So we found ourselves at Gourdo’s Café in Serendra, marveling at how a beautiful 12-petal pink rose evolved from a tube of fondant icing in the adept hands of Sandra Folsom, director of Wilton School of Cake Decorating and Confectionery Art in Chicago, USA.

We were delighted with how Peachy Juban did her attractive fondant cake, as with Jackie Ang-Po’s cupcakes, each with a different colored icing. Peachy owns Short Crust Cake Shop in BF Parañaque (that would be another story) while Jackie is seen on TV and owns Fleur de Lys Patisserie in Quezon City. Both ladies are certified Wilton method instructors.

The reach of Wilton in the country is not limited to Metro Manila. There is Albert of Cagayan de Oro, where he is culinary instructor at Cagayan de Oro College.

There are three Wilton courses – Decorating Basics, which is the starting point, covering the fundamentals of baking a cake, making icing and using a decorating bag; Flowers and Cake Design, encompassing both traditional and contemporary design, focusing on making flowers, choosing the colors and other embellishments; and Gum Paste and Fondant, imparting the best techniques for more challenging work, making bows, borders and gum paste flowers.

In Manila, Wilton courses are held at the Living Well Homestore at the Poduim, at Gourdo’s in Serendra and Gourdo’s World Market at the Alabang Town Center. Each is an 8-hour course taken over two days. Fees for this year are still being finalized. Call 812-3022.

Meantime, note that the courses are supplemented by baking needs available at Gourdo’s. A section of the store is loaded with Wilton products, from rolled fondant multi-packs, cutters and embossers, smoothers, decorating tips, lifters, spatulas to baking and decorating ingredients. Whatever one needs to make cakes, they have them at Gourdo’s.  

Price watch – saba bananas are not good these days and they are expensive at P45 a kilo. We had to throw away half of a bunch because they were all stone-hard.

Big Magnolia chickens are available at Puregold in Alabang. They weigh from l.6 to 1.8 kilos, at P122 per kilo, perfect for roasting or cooking with sauces, or for tinola and nilaga. It is a pity (or selfishness on the part of the merchants?) that dressed chicken is now sold without the liver. Tinola tastes better with a dip of patis, calamansi and crushed liver.

Pork kasim is at P175, pork liver at P125, green papaya for kilawen is at P25 a kilo.

Café Ysabel now makes bottled sun-dried tomatoes at P160. However, the label does not carry its weight. We figured it is about 180 kgs which makes it a bit more expensive than Santis, where one can scoop from a giant container at P85 per hundred gms. A good Café Ysabel buy is the pack of chocolate crinkles at P47. 

There is a forthcoming festival focusing on food from Capiz. This will take place on March 4 and 5 at the Araneta Center. We will have more details in our next column.

Have a good Sunday!

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