Cake Decorating Courses

I've been looking into some cake decorating/baking courses around the area and have found a couple options I thought were worth sharing.

L'Academie de Cuisine - This Academy of Culinary and Pastry Arts located in Bethesda, MD offers recreational courses to those of us who just want to have some cooking fun. Their Cake Decorating 101 and 201 courses fill up very fast. 101 teaches you how to fill, frost, and decorate with a pastry bag, as well as how to make classic buttercream. 201 focuses on the use of fondant, teaching students how to create satin coverings, roses, ribbons, and other decorations. CD101 is $65, and CD201 is $75. Click here http://www.lacademie.com/Calendar.aspx for their calendar of course offerings.

Michael's Craft Store - Michael's offers Wilton Cake Decorating Courses at four different levels. Course I (Discover Cake Decorating) focuses on basic skills & techniques from icing prep to simple borders and roses. Course II (Flowers & Borders) teaches more intricate flowers and borders like pansies and basketweave. Course III (Fondant & Tiered Cakes) introduces rolled fondant, advanced borders and flowers, and tiered cake assembly. Lastly, there is a Fondant & Gum Paste Course that teaches you how to marbleize fondant, work with a ribbon cutter, make gum paste flowers, and more! Right now Michael's is running a special, register for a class for the month of July and you'll get 50% off your tuition, plus save an additional $10. In addition, you'll receive the 2009 Wilton Yearbook for free. Courses are anywhere from $15-$30 (before the discount offer) and usually run for 4 weeks (1 class each week). You have to contact your local Michaels for dates and times. To find a Michael's by you that offers the Wilton courses, click here http://www.wilton.com/classes/classlocator.cfm

Cupcake Necklaces

Can't decide what to do with that Stimulus Check of yours? (Ha). Check out these adorable cupcake necklaces by KC Designs!


















Available through Neiman Marcus, these darling little charms have pavé diamond insets, and come in 14-karat Rose Gold, White Gold, and Yellow Gold. Oh yes, and they retail at $830.00 each. Insanely expensive? Yes. Do I want one? Of course!

Recipe of the Week

For fun, I decided each week I'll post a delleicious new cupcake recipe. This week's recipe comes from Gloria Bradley of Naperville, Illinois (a lovely little suburb of Chicago). Gloria won both the Grand Prize and Dessert Category for her Lemon-Scented Blueberry Cupcakes in Cooking Light Magazine's 2006 Ultimate Reader Recipe Contest.

This recipe is a great pick for the summer months. It uses fresh blueberries and lemons, and even has a low fat cream cheese frosting. Sounds like a cupcake you can eat morning, noon, and night! And who doesn't love that?

Click here for the recipe: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1571446

(Image by Howard L. Puckett @ MyRecipes.com)

Baking Fun

Word has spread around the office that I will be out of town later this week, i.e. not here to bake my coworkers their weekly cupcakes! So to please the masses, I decided to bake some cupcakes last night to bring in today.

I've never liked public transportation, but when choosing between a 17 minute Metro commute or a hour+ drive, I think the choice is obvious. Unfortunately today the AC was broken on the Metro. With this recent heat wave we've been having in the DC Area, you can assume that the ride from Shady Grove to Bethesda was a hot & sweaty nightmare. However, the compliments on my cupcakes from complete strangers, all the way from the Shady Grove Metro platform to the elevator ride up to my office floor, made the trip a little less miserable!

So lesson of the day: if you ever feel like socializing, walk around holding a plate of cupcakes. It's a guarenteed conversation starter!

Cupcake Happy Hour

If you're going to treat yourself to a happy hour, skip the bar and head to the bakery! The Baltimore location of the Baltimore Cupcake Company offers a Cupcake Happy Hour every weekday from 5:00-6:00pm. All cupcakes are only $1! Though their flavor menu changes daily, you can find great flavors like Vanilla Vanilla, Key Lime, Coconut, Strawberry, and Cookies & Cream.

Yea, Baltimore may be a little outside the realm of the DC/Metro area, but I thought this was definitely something worth knowing!

The Baltimore Cupcake Company is located in Locust Point, at 1443 E Fort Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21230. Check them out at Baltimore Cupcake Company

The DC/Metro Cupcake Group

I recently combined my love for cupcakes and socializing by starting the DC/Metro Cupcake Group! I was inspired by the success of the NYC Meetup Group hosted by the lovely Nichelle of Cupcakes Take the Cake. The group has only been open for 3 days and so far we’ve got 14 members! 3 days, 14 members…growing pretty fast!

Our first meetup is Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 2:00pm. I thought Baked & Wired in Georgetown would be a great place to go. Realizing DC’s obsession with cupcakes, Baked & Wired went from making a “couple dozen cupcakes a week to 100 a day,” according to owner Teresa Velazquez. In addition to their increased production, Velazquez upgraded the store to include an area with leather lounge chairs for hanging out. This will be a great spot for everyone to have the opportunity to meet eachother while enjoying some delicious cupcakes!

Some of their biggest hit flavors are Strawberry, Chocolate Cake, and Birthday Cake. All cupcakes are $3.25 each.

Check out the group at http://dessert.meetup.com/13/, and check out Baked & Wired at http://www.bakedandwired.com/. Be sure to stay tuned later this month for pictures and details of the meetup! I can't wait to meet everyone!

(Photo by Erin Chrisinger)

Washingtonian's Best Of Party

Washingtonian Magazine is throwing their Best of Party on July 8, from 7-10pm, and Baked & Wired, Georgetown Cupcake, and Heidelberg Bakery will be providing the desserts!

The Best of Party is known to attract the DC Metro Area’s fun, hip crowd. So if you’re in the mood to meet some new people and taste the best of what DC has to offer, head out to the National Building Museum for a guarenteed good time!

The $95 tickets will buy you access to ample amounts of food from all the best restaurants in the DC Metro Area, as well as open bar all night. Shelling out an additional $30 earns you VIP status; this entails a “Best of Washington” T-shirt and allows you be the first to sample food and drinks at 6pm! A little pricey, but a portion of the proceeds go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Good cause, good food, good people, how many more reasons do you need? Click here to check out the list of restaurants, libations, and desserts, and to purchase tickets!