 St Mungos Mod4 Privet Drive Mod
 
MO & DMLEClabbert
Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Narnia
Posts: 19,272
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Ezra Hensley
Gryffindor Sixth Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Florence Schultz
Slytherin Third Year
Ministry RPG Name:
Penelope Grimm
Law Enforcement
Ministry RPG Name:
Regina Amstern
Minister's Office
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|  Baguette | there is no D in my name | TRAITORclaw | Queenie of Narnia
Text Cut: Responses Quote:
Originally Posted by Chelliephone  Cake decorating? Oh, if only Chin-hae were here for this one. Or if only Evan had ever paid attention to when Chin-hae talked about work or showed any of the designs they'd made at the bakery he worked at. The male Nam had to think really hard to try to recall anything, but then it came to mind the elaborate fan cake that he'd had once for a birthday.
The cake part tasted good but... The frosting. Remembering that gave him an idea, so he raised his hand and waited to be called on. "A lot of bakers use fondant for frosting on a cake because it's sturdier than like a buttercream and can be used for molding. I personally don't think it tastes very good though." So no, he did not like fondant though it seemed the most popular. "Excellent, yes, fondant is very commonly used. Very useful and versatile in adding certain decorations or sculptures, even if the taste is not always up to par with the rest of the cake." It wasn't her favorite either, truth be told, though it was very nice to look at when done well. Quote:
Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Ah.
Culinary arts. Cake decorating. Claudine was not sure how she felt about this topic. See, she was used to having her meals prepared for her. Here at Hogwarts, while she lives with the Jones’, when she lived at the Blaze mansion. But cakes… who didn’t like cake? And some of them were decorated so prettily that often Claudien found herself reluctant to even eat them.
Not really having an answer for this question, the seventh year opted to sit out on answering. She’d just be listening this time around. No answer from Miss Blaze this time, it seemed, which was okay. She looked to still be paying attention, so Rosalie offered a smile before moving on to the next student. Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi Upon hearing the words 'cake decorating' Daniel's head snapped up and he began to search for Lisa as he wondered if maybe she had told Professor Applewood about him never having made a cake before. He was convinced that they were moving to the kitchens later seeing as she had mentioned that they wouldn't be inside of the classroom for long.
"Our chef makes cakes from time to time" when they had a birthday party or any party really. "I never cared about the techniques or designs though, I just want to eat them" which is as far as his cake decorating skills went. "But he uses this weird tube (cake icing nozzles) to make flower shapes" at least he guessed they were supposed to look like flowers? Rosalie could appreciate the honesty in Mister Yoon's answer. Eating cake was certainly the part that would excite people the most. "Flowers are a very common decoration that people use on their cakes, yes, excellent." Text Cut: Apollo & Kinsay Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising Non magical ways that people express creativity?? Welp, that ruled out quidditch and exercise. His eyes wandered over to the vines on the walls as he considered plants and horticulture a possible way people express creativity. But it seemed they were going to be talking about culinary arts creativity instead??
He grinned over that one Hufflepuff boy, Daniel's answer, cause honestly he had the correct answer and the only answer that mattered to the third year. "I'm with him. If the cake doesn't taste good, then what difference does the design make." Also, it was going to be destroyed via cutting within minutes, so it seemed like an awful lot of wasted energy on designs and techniques? Quote:
Originally Posted by ArianaBlack Kinsay wasn't planning on answering any questions, but she was still paying attention... even though she was actively trying not to. It was difficult not to pay attention when the topic of class was actually interesting. Why did Professor Applewood choose FUN lesson topics?! It was so unfortunate.
Still, Kins was doing a pretty decent job at NOT answering things. Or asking things, for that matter. But when Apollo offered his answer, Kins frowned. It made all the difference! People always judged books by their covers. Or people by the way they dressed. Or cakes by their designs. Or or or. She understood the point Apollo was trying to make, but it was silly.
"No one wants to eat an ugly cake."
..... Did she say that out loud? Mister Adara-Stark raised a question about taste vs. decoration, and Miss James jumped in with a reply just as quickly. "Taste is certainly an important to consider when baking a cake, Mister Adara-Stark. And Miss James makes an excellent point. There's a reason for the saying that goes, 'you eat with your eyes first.' If something looks unappealing or unappetizing, people are much less likely to eat it, even if they're told that it tastes wonderful." Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady of Light Cake decorating!! Which meant that they would get to eat cake, hopefully. Valentina tried not to bounce on her seat with excitement, super glad Professor Applewood was going to be teaching them something fun today.
"I like any cake that has a lot of frosting on top." Val liked any and all kinds of cake, honestly. Who didn't? She did like ice cream a little more but yeah. Rosalie smiled. "Certainly can't go wrong with including frosting on a cake." There was such a variety of frosting types too, so there was something for everyone. Quote:
Originally Posted by MadAlice Violet was taken aback. She'd never really seen anyone decorate a cake, except for house-elves, and they'd done it all with elf-magic. She didn't really remember noticing any cake that much, except for how it tasted when she ate it. Then she remembered a cake she'd seen several years ago in the window of a New York deli. "I saw this cake once. It was rather a tall cake, with chocolate frosting, rather plain on the outside, but the really unique part was the inside. The cake had had a piece cut out of it and laid to one side on a small plate, so that the onlookers could clearly see the cake's inside. It had been made of many, many thin layers--16 of them.' (Violet had stood there and counted them). "The layers were chocolate and white, alternated one after the other and with custard or red filling in between each one. It looked splendid!" "Yes, excellent! Sometimes bakers not only decorate the outside, but even the inside can be done creatively with differing flavors, sizes, and colors for the cake layers." Those were very impressive too. "You have all covered a nice variety of ways that cakes can be styled differently. Cake decorating can take many forms, all depending on the creativity and skill level of the baker.
"And so today, we're going to be trying some hands-on practice with the art of cake decorating. We'll be moving down to the kitchens for this, so please follow me." And once everyone was lining up, Rosalie led the way down to the kitchens, keeping an eye out for any vine obstacles along the way.
Fortunately, they didn't have far to go with the kitchen being a couple floors down, and the vines didn't take this opportunity to stand in their way, and so after tickling the pear, they were inside. She led them over to a part of the kitchens that had been sectioned off with tables lined up in rows, one for each student. On the table they would find a cake turntable, an offset spatula, a round cake board, a flat plate with two small layers of cake on it, and a few containers of frosting.
"Please take your spot at one of the tables, one student per table." And she did the same, taking the table set up in the front of the rows. "The elves have kindly let us use this area of the kitchens and assisted in preparing a few things ahead of time. I want you all to get a basic, general overview of cake decorating for this lesson; over the next few weeks, we'll cover certain aspects in more detail. The cake layers have already been baked and cooled, and the tops have been cut to provide a flat surface on top.
"I will demonstrate the first part of your tasks, but there is also a paper at your tables with these instructions listed out if you want to follow along." It was up them whether they wanted to watch a little first or if they wanted to complete each step as she did.
"First order of business when handling any kind of food, of course, is to wash our hands and make sure our hair is out of our face and tied back if necessary." Hers was indeed already pulled back, so she moved on to washing her hands at one of the nearby sinks for 20 seconds, then returning to her station once dried.
"Next," she continued, completing the steps as she went along, "we'll place this cake board on the turntable and the first cake layer on top of it. Then, using the offset spatula, we'll add some frosting to the top of this layer, spreading it evenly, and then we'll place the second layer on top of that. Then we can apply more frosting to the top of that and around the sides of the two layers. You can turn the cake with the turntable as you do this to make it easier to spread around the sides. It's okay if this layer is a bit thin and doesn't fully hide the cake. It's called a crumb coat, and it'll help keep the crumbs from mixing with the final coat of frosting you'll add in a few minutes.
"In order for the frosting to harden, you'll need to put it in the enchanted ice box for about 10 minutes. With an ordinary Muggle refrigerator, this time can be longer, but as we don't have access to one here, we'll use what we have." Ice boxes had been used by Muggles once upon a time too, before refrigerators were common, so the function was still the same, even if this particular one worked through magic.
"While you wait, you may wish to plan out how you want to decorate your cake. On the counter over here are several piping bags ready to go in a variety of colors and with a few different nozzle shapes. Perhaps you'll want to add a border to your cake, or write a message, or draw a flower, or anything else you can think of."
And with her cake in the ice box, she would go ahead and talk about the last two steps without demonstrating. "And so the final two steps are simple: once the crumb coat has hardened, take it out and add the top layer of frosting, smoothing it out over the top and around the sides. And then you may begin decorating."
And with that... "If you haven't already, you may begin!"
OOC: Hopefully everything is clear, but here's a simpler list of the instructions as well:
- Wash hands; ensure hair is out of your face and/or tied back
- Place cake board on the turntable
- Place first cake layer on top of the cake board
- Apply frosting to the top of the cake layer with offset spatula
- Place second layer on top of the frosting
- Apply a crumb coat around the sides and the top of the cake
- Refrigerate in enchanted ice box for 10 minutes
- Apply a top layer of icing, smoothing it around evenly
- Decorate with piping, sprinkles, etc.
If you have any questions, please feel free to VM/PM me  Class will continue in approximately 48 hours.
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