These weeks are going by so quickly!ย I’m very excited to give away today’s gift. I’m a huge fan of Wilton products and while I’m not much of a cake decorator, I’m sure there is someone out there that is going to just LOVE today’s prize.
I have just been dying to get to the Wilton School in Chicago to have a pro teach me the tricks of the trade. My cakes tend to turn out lopsided or cracked. The one time I attempted fondant it ended in a sticky disaster. And while I may not be a pro at cakes, I do favor cookies and cupcakes especially around Christmas. Wilton’s icing colors and tips make it easy to create masterpieces and you can find a mold for just about anything in their bakeware shop.
This is the first time that I’ve made anything gingerbread. I do enjoy it during the holiday season, especially with a hot cup of coffee. I really enjoyed baking this and piping adorable little outfits onto each of them. I think my favorite things were the scarves and bow ties. There’s nothing cuter than a gingerbread man! Making these cookies reminded me of that scene from Shrek. It’s probably my favorite scene out of the entire movie.
There’s still time to get some holiday baking in before Christmas so if you’re into gingerbread I would give these a shot. They are great to make with kids and then allow them to have fun decorating them. But before you run off and bake, how about a giveaway? The folks at Wilton were kind enough to give my readers their Ultimate Professional Cake Decorating Set valued at $199! And it can be all yours.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup packed dark-brown sugar
- ⅓ cup unsulfured molasses
- 1 large egg
- Decorating sugar or sprinkles
- Royal Icing
- 1 tablespoon meringue powder
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- Food coloring, if desired
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in molasses and egg. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients; mix just until a dough forms. Place dough on floured plastic wrap; pat into an 8-inch square. Wrap well; chill until firm, 1 to 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough in half. Working with one half at a time (rewrap and refrigerate other half), place dough on floured parchment or waxed paper; roll out ⅛ inch thick, turning, lifting, and flouring dough (and rolling pin) as needed. Freeze dough (on paper) until firm, about 20 minutes.
- Loosen dough from paper. Cut out shapes, and transfer to baking sheets.
- Bake until firm and edges just begin to darken, 10 to 18 minutes, depending on size. Cool completely on baking sheets.
- For the icing, in medium bowl, beat meringue powder and cold water with electric mixer on medium speed until peaks form. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Spoon icing into decorating bag fitted with medium round tip, and pipe over cookies. Sprinkle with sugar. Let stand about 5 minutes or until icing is set.
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I’ve always wanted to learn how to decorate amazing cakes, so this would definitely help me out!
We’ve never tried using fondant, but Kelly does some amazing things with buttercream icing. This weekend: Polar Express cake.
I would love to win this so I can gift it to my sister who bakes the most amazing cakes!
I love Baking And Decorating Cakes.
I love cake decorating..I can’t believe I didn’t know there is a Wilton School in Chicago! I soo wanna go there now.
My 11 year old daughter is the aspiring baker in the family and would go crazy for this.
Oh she definitely would!
Love making cakes and still need the tools. ๐
Oh the wonderful whimsical creations I would make!
Oh the wonderful whimsical creations I would make!
This is perfect timing. I want to make gingerbread for a cookie exchange and I am recently unemployed and would love to play with cakes!
I want to win because the only thing I have to decorate cakes with is a spreader.
My skills are really limited…I really could use this. Maybe help to perfect my decorating skills.
I make cakes and cookies all year round to give to friends and family. This giveaway would help me be more creative and would make them look like I knew how to decorate them properly.
Having the right tools would really help my baking!
I would absolutely LOVE to have this kit!!!
I am an AVID cake decorator and have started taking the Wilton classes. This would be such a blessing to have most of the supplies all ready!
Baking is my favorite hobby so I’d love to win!
I’m a newbie decorator and this would be awesome to keep learning with!
I baked for the first time gingermans but used the easy bakingmix.now i really want to try the tradiotional way. I love this item
I would love to win this for my friend who makes amazing cakes and would truly love this ๐
I want to experiment with gum paste and fondant more. Lots of great tools in here.
I’d love to win this to be able to decorate cakes and cupcakes better.
OH-I’d so love to win this. I love to decorate but definitely need some new tools to improve my skills. Thanks!
Love this post. I love baking, but my downfall has always been decorating. I’d love to be able to learn and practice more.
Luv holiday cookies and I’d luv to make them look like a professional decorated them….happy holidays!
I would definitely use it to decorate cupcakes. They are my favorite to make and I love using Wilton products!
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I love to bake, and have two boys and a husband that love me to bake for them. Still perfecting my decorating techniques. This would help tremendously!
this is the most amazing giveaway, I have so much to learn and this would help so much
I would love to win this because I’d like to start decorating.
When I was a little girl, I would sit on the counter and watch my Grandma bake and decorate cakes. When I got older, she taught me how to make different colors out of the white frosting, then we moved on to roses, how to weave a basket out of frosting, and so on. She used Wilton products then, and this takes me back to her kitchen. I haven’t decorated cakes in years!!
This would be great to have. I like to make cakes with my kids but this would allow me to start decorating them.
This is definitely a great kit for that!
I have take Wilton cake decorating certification classes, and these would definitely improve my cake decorating kit.
I would like to win this as it would be fun to learn to decorate a cake. Thanks for the giveaway!
I would love to win this so I could help perfect my decorating of cakes and other baked goods!
My great grandmother was a cake decorator, and I would love to learn the art.
I would love to give this to my daughter
I love love love baking but I’m not a great decorator, so this will certainly help!
I love decorating cakes and cookies. I have a small arsenal of supplies, but I would love to have more!
I’d like to win because I wanna go to college in the summer for baking cakes and cupcakes I love baking