Ruby is back in Texas!!

It’s November 2013 and Mom is back in Dallas for another month!

We are so glad to have her back!  In case you’re wondering how we got here here again…  there’s two answers.

The loving family answer is that she loves here family and is blessed to be able to spend some time with us.  

[ clapping ] Yea!!!  Good Answer!  A winner!! [ more clapping ]

The second answer is that she’s ready to advance in her cake decorating studies and be a student in the Wilton Cake Decorating Gum Paste and Fondant class.

This is the third class in the four class series that is offered by Wilton.  This class is taught by our favorite cake instructor Joyce Wilson and it’s held at Hobby Lobby in Frisco Texas. 

I emailed Joyce Wilson a few weeks ago to see if the class would be offered and if she would be teaching.  

In response I was informed that she would be offering this class at the Frisco Hobby Lobby on Saturdays in November.  That was enough to get mom packing her bags!!

Mom is excited to be stationed here in Dallas to help us prepare for Thanksgiving dinner that will be held over Hedy’s house.  She’s also excited to celebrate the birthdays of two of her grandchildren this month.  Chris’s 14th birthday is November 9th and Aziyah’s 3rd birthday is November 19th.

Stay tuned for more info on Mom’s Dallas adventures!

Follow Mom on twitter – @granniruby

Carolyn

The Strawberry Cake

Mom has been making this strawberry cake for years.  When we hear of this cake we automatically think of this being made for one of her grandchildren.  In most cases it is the male grandchildren in our family that favor this cake.  This is the most frequently requested cake order that mom receives.

This cake was given a make-over.

Make no mistake, there was nothing wrong with the classic “Ruby Jean Strawberry Cake”.  Not one complaint logged about the recipe or the appearance of this cake in the 20 or so years that she’s been making it.  The timing was just right for a change.  Gran planned to spend an extended period of time in the Dallas metroplex, Marc requested a strawberry cake from Gran while she was in town, Gran is taking cake decorating classes and needing to practice her techniques.  Everything aligned and the result is a self-directed redesign of Mom’s classic strawberry cake.

Let’s begin with the end.  Here’s the cake that Marc received from his request.  Wow was his response also!! (I just know you said it…)  Enjoy some of the photos that show mom creating this masterpiece.  I witnessed it all – and tasted the icing also.

Note the chunks of strawberries in the icing.  Looks like the       classic strawberry cake so far…    Just hang on…

Enough said!  I’m proud of Mom and I know you are also.  Like what you see? Let Mom know this by giving her a call or leaving a comment here.  I’ll make sure she gets every comment you post!

Carolyn

Cake Decorating Basics – finishing the class!

Where did the time go?  We are now at week 4 – the final week of our Wilton Decorating Basics class. 

There was a lot to do to prepare for this class and a lot to do in the class itself.  This is the class where everything that we’ve learned in the earlier weeks come together in what should be an impressive cake.  In the previous weeks we’ve learned to create drop flowers, rosettes, shells, pompom flowers, leaves and the Wilton rose.  We also learned to apply multiple boarders to the top and bottom of the cake.

We had to show up at this final class with our cake baked, leveled and iced and/or filled.  We were also to make drop flowers and roses throughout the week and bring them to class to apply them to our cake.  We also had to bring our homemade buttercream icing to class prepared by adding colors to it as we needed to complete our cake design.

I was tired before beginning the class prep.  I gave up.  I let mom do her cake, icing and flowers and I would cheer her on instead of working on a final class project of my own.   I’d also apply the continual buttercream tasting that is required to monitor the freshness of the completed project.   I thank God that you can’t fail a class like this one!!

As you can imagine, Mom was so excited for this class just like all the rest of them.  She spent time every day on making buttercream, creating flowers and cake baking. 

On class day we learned to create the classic rose and picked up additional tips on cake design and finishing. 

Mom’s cake for this class was for Eboni.  She filled the cake with chocolate and decorated it with drop flowers that were made fr0m buttercream icing.  Many delicate flowers of many colors were used to top this delicious confection.  Wow!!

Mom earned a Wilton Certificate of Completion for this course.  This was presented to her by Ms Joyce, our instructor.  

Mom learned a lot in the class but that wasn’t enough.  It was at that point that she spoke with Ms Joyce about the next course in the series.  By the end of the class Mom had decided that she would stay in Dallas another month and we would be ready to take the next Wilton course during the month of July. 

I also recieved a Certificate of Completion from Wilton.  Don’t you say nothin!! 

Carolyn “buttercream” Williams

Commencement Speaker… How could I forget???

In sharing about the 2012 Commencement for Dallas Theological Seminary, I didn’t share with you one of the major highlights of the ceremonies – THE SPEAKER!!

We were blessed to hear a message by Dr. Charles R. Swindoll – more commonly know as Chuck Swindoll.  Chuck is known to many as Pastor, Author and radio broadcaster/teacher.  Chuck is also a graduate of DTS and has served as the seminary president and chancellor.

Chuck delivered a uplifting and encouraging message for the students and ceremony guests.  We truly enjoyed it!

Sorry that I missed this speaker highlight in my earlier mention of this topic!!

Carolyn

Commencement 2012 – Dallas Theological Seminary – We were there!!

Carolyn Gilleylen, a very good friend of mine completed a major achievement by completing her studies at Dallas Theological Seminary to earn a Master of Arts degree in Christian Education.  She has worked hard on this for the last few years and I’ve watched her sacrifice in her personal life to complete these studies.  I, along with her blood family members are extremely proud of her for this accomplishment!  I had planned to attend the commencement exercises and since Mom was here with me, she also got a chance to join me in the celebration.

Throughout the seminary’s  history, it has steadfastly maintained its allegiance to biblical truth.  A doctrinal statement articulates the beliefs of Dallas Theological Seminary and each year the faculty and members of the Board reaffirm their agreement with this statement.

The commencement exercises were held at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Tx.  This church is huge!  Mom and I commented on how beautiful and spacious the facility is on the inside.  It is one of the largest megachurches in North America and the worship center seats 7,000 people.  This is huge by any standards!.

The ceremonies were organized and well executed.  With the screens in place we were able to see Carolyn very well as she received her honors.  It was a blessing to be able to share this joyous occasion with Carolyn and her family.    

And Mom can say that she’s attended a Seminary graduation and visited Prestonwood Baptist Church!  Great experience!!

Carolyn

Cake Decorating – The Beginning

We decided to take the Wilton Method courses for cake decorating.  Course 1 was the Decorating Basics.  In that one we learned the fundamentals in baking a cake, making icing and using a decorating bag. We started our collection of cake decorating tips, bags, flower nails and other gadgets.  We learned to use a variety of tips to make stars, borders, apply pre-made designs and write messages on cake.  We took this class at our new favorite store – Hobby Lobby!

Our instructor is Joyce Wilson who we call Miss Joyce.  Miss Joyce has been with Wilton for a number of years and demonstrated a very personal way of working with all students.  She gets excited about teaching cake decorating and her mission is to get everyone else excited about it also! 

In class 1 we practiced various piping techniques and ended the class by decorating pre-baked cookies using buttercream.  I ate cookes and buttercream…

Buttercream!  Buttercream!  Buttercream!  I love buttercream so I was in heaven in this class.  Great recipe for this creamy confection was given and as students we were assigned to make one or two batches as homework for each of the four weeks of this class.  Yes, thank you!  I’m here to serve!  

Now… I didn’t make the buttercream… or the cake… Mom did it all!  She did all of the homework for both of us and she loved doing it!  Miss Joyce was disappointed in me for being the “bully” and passing along all of my homework to mom but I didn’t care!!   I was having fun in the class mingling with my fellow students. 

Mom was really committed to this class and it shows in her cake decorating today.  Evidence of this to come!

Carolyn