Christmas Cookie Cutter Set by Wilton

So I confess to loving baking, and I thought I would try out a gingerbread recipe by Margaret Fulton (I am on a mission to cook everything in her Baking cookbook). With this in mind I purchased myself this wilton set of gingerbread men cookie cutters. There is four metal cutters in the pack, and I have to say that they cut absolutely beautifully and they are really sturdy, so its unlikely that they are going to get bent out of shape in the bottom of my cookie cutter drawer.

I gave three of the four sizes a go. The largest one just seemed to be more like a fat teddy bear. I think as each cutter gets bigger they don't end up getting the proportionate increase in height. So I wasn't really a fan of that one lol.

I plan on decorating these with my son this afternoon - so here are my nudey rudey gingerbread men! No idea why this keeps posting this image the wrong way, so apologies for that!

My Overall Review:

Rating: 7.5/10

Positives: Sturdy and will hold there shape, easy to find in the shops, well priced and comes in a little box to store them in.
Negatives: The weird shape of the largest one - so I have marked it down purely for that, and since it is 1/4 of the packet, then I deducted 25% from my rating.
Cost: I purchased mine from Cake Decorating Solutions for $8.95. I think its pretty reasonably priced for 4 metal cutters.

 

Kitchenaid's new commercial stand mixer - 6.9L bowl

So finally kitchen aid has brought out a mixer with a larger bowl - its like a little slice of caking heaven IMO, but here is a review so you can make up your own mind on this bad boy.

Some of the features listed on the kitchen aid website are:
Full metal construction robust, stable and durable
High efficiency DC motor runs longer & delivers optimum torque with less heat build up

Our most efficient Advanced Feedback Speed Control ensures selected RPM is maintained

10-speed slide control with Soft Start feature starts at a lower speed and quickly increases to the selected speed

Speed Control Protection shields the control lever to prevent accidentally turning on the mixer

 

Original Planetary Action fast and thorough mixing

Professional Style Attachment Power Hub suits all stand mixer attachments

Stainless Steel Power Knead™ Spiral Dough Hook powerfully punches and rolls thick, heavy dough with smooth efficiency

Stainless Steel 11-wire Elliptical Whisk provides increased volume for fluffier egg whites and lighter whipped cream in minimum time

6.9L Stainless Steel Bowl with J-style ergonomic handle facilitates easy stacking or hanging. The sealed handle and cut edged bowl eliminates the hazard of food trapping

Pouring Shield keeps ingredients covered while providing a convenient chute to add further ingredients to the bowl

Motor protection should the motor experience an overload, the mixer will automatically shut off to prevent damage

Dishwasher safe accessories

 

I have been using this mixer for over two months now, in conjunction with my Hobart 20L mixer, so I admit to only using it for smaller cakes, but it has completely replaced my smaller kitchen aid, and I think that despite the price, this will become the go to mixer of choice for many cake decorators. The extra capacity is really worth it, as you can use it for big or small cakes. I have no doubt that this will start to come out in additional colours soon. 

 

I also don't think you need the flexi beater with this one - the whisk has great contact with the bowl, and I don't end up with bits at the bottom that need to be remixed, unlike the smaller model where I felt I needed the flexi beater.

 

My Overall Review:

Rating: 9/10

Positives: Capacity - I mean seriously, it makes it sooooo much more worthwhile over their standard model. Still can be used with all the accessories like the pasta machine. It is much quieter and as the head does not tilt, it means you can not misalign the beater which is such a good feature as it would drive me insane with the smaller model (and ruined one of my whisks)
Negatives: The bowl is a bit of a pain in the backside to get on and off - but I suspect this will get easier over time once the metal bump at the back has a little bit of give in it. I think the price will be the biggest draw back for a lot of cake decorators. It is a big price difference from the standard model to this one and this is why I have docked it one point on the score. But if price is no issue then its a ten for sure.
Cost: The RRP for this mixer is $1195 including GST - you can check it out here on the kitchenaid website

 

 

Getting my Dinkydoodle on!

So todays road test is on the Dinkydoodle designs range of airbrush paints. These paints are quite unique in the way that they can be applied to both fondant and chocolate.

When you airbrush using these colours you can also layer them up, so if you have a coat of blue, and then you want to add some white over the top, the white will actually be white and not create a paler shade of blue. There is no drying time between coats - its pretty much instant which is awesome, and from what I could see during my airbrushing time, its not possible to end up with a blobby wet mess which I have occasionally done using my kopykake and americolor airbrush liquids.

The big bonus I see with this range of paints is actually my new best friend - also known as Pearl Silver, which is the white lustre look that everyone wants at the moment. Here is the deal, I have two different brands of airbrushes, and unfortunately I have found that the americolor pearl blocked both of them up due to the thickness of the paints. Watering them down would result in applying lots of coats to achieve the look of a fully lustred cake. The Pearl Silver (about to be renamed just Pearl) is a little gem of a colour which did not block my airbrush!!! Hooray, *imagine me doing a happy dance here lol* a quick and easy way to lustre without the dreaded spitting and blocking of the airbrush.




I was fortunate enough to do a class with Dawn on Sunday, and this is the amazing creation, which started off white, and by the end of the day was transformed into a beautifully airbrushed barrier reef creation.

 

My Overall Review:

Rating: 10/10

Positives: They go on dry, can be mixed together to get the colours you want, the black is a true black, you can use them on chocolate and fondant, and I don't think I need to say anything else about the pearl silver do I??? No wet blotches from over applying.
Negatives: They are hard to get a hold of at the moment, but Dawn assures me that there will be a bucket load in the shops this week. It would be good if there was a sample pack available so that you can try them all out and then purchase the larger ones that you like. It might be a little bit expensive at first, but I can see that they would last a while.
Cost: I paid from $16.50 - $23.50 per bottle at Cake Decorating Solutions. They are proving so popular at the moment, so if you are interested in purchasing them, I would recommend pre-ordering them so you don't miss out.

 

I couldn't leave this class without getting a happy snap with one of my cake idols - don't mind my blue nose lol!!!