In my very first learning project post, I outlined some of the ideas I had for the project. I planned to use Betty Crocker’s website, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to find recipes and baking tips. I ended up using all of these platforms, except Twitter. While Twitter does seem like a great place to find new recipes to try, I just did not have enough time to utilize it in my learning project. However, there are lots of recipes I found on Twitter that I plan on making in the future to continue expanding my baking skills, such as these kinder cookie bars! Initially, also I planned to experiment with…

This is it! The last week of my learning project. I have to say, it does feel bittersweet. As promised in my very first learning project post, I baked and decorated a cake completely from scratch. I have been preparing for this over the last couple weeks of my learning project. Two weeks ago, I decorated cupcakes, so I could learn about working with buttercream and using various decorating tips. Last week, I made fondant roses, so I would have some practice before making them for my final project. Since I did the preparations, I felt pretty confident going into this final project. I started by calling my family friend…

It is so crazy to think that this is already the second last week of my learning project, and next week, as promised, I will be baking and decorating a cake from scratch! In preparation for my final project, I decided to learn about using fondant. I found a homemade marshmallow fondant recipe by Wilton to follow. This recipe was extremely user friendly; it allowed you to check off the steps as you completed them and included lots of extra tips, such as how to store the fondant. I had no idea how much work it is to make fondant from scratch. The recipe was easy enough to follow, but…

This week I decided to try my hand at decorating cupcakes. Although this is something I have done many times before, I usually just slap some store-bought icing over the cupcakes and add a bunch of sprinkles on top. I wanted to learn how to professionally decorate using different decorating tips and home-made buttercream icing. I followed a gluten-free vanilla cupcake recipe by Gluten-Free Palate. There was a frosting recipe included on the same page, which was super helpful because it meant I did not have to go searching for one. First, I had to gather supplies, as this was my first time attempting to decorate professionally. I found these…

This week, I took a big risk. After only two weeks of learning how to bake online, I attempted to create my own recipe! I had previously decided that I wanted to make cookies for week two of my learning project; however, plain old chocolate chip cookies just did not feel like enough. I thought about it for a few days, and then I read Raylin Janzen’s post about her decision to challenge herself by beginning to use a much larger canvas for her learning project. I was inspired; this was the little push I needed to step out of my comfort zone and do something risky, despite the fact…

For the first week of my learning project I wanted to bake something very basic that I knew would be easy to get right, so I went with this gluten-free banana bread recipe from Betty Crocker’s website. It literally has the word ‘easy’ right in the title, so I figured I better be able to do it. The recipe was already gluten-free, so I just used some all-purpose gluten-free flour that I had in my cupboard. I took a quick look at the ingredients before I started baking, only to realize I had a big problem. I did not even know what one of the ingredients was! So much for…

Thanks to a little push from my EDTC 300 class, I will be spending the next couple of months learning how to bake! Crepes, cookies, cake you name it, I am about to try it! Now, baking is not a completely foreign skill to me. I have definitely learned a bit from my mom and my grandma while helping them in the kitchen, but I have just never really taken the time to bake anything on my own. I am looking forward to exploring this skill and possibly even picking up a new hobby! I was diagnosed with celiac disease at the age of seven, and I have been eating…