A Fairy Garden Cake -

I love this cake. It is so simple and beautiful, but looks amazing! This was the first time that I have really tried to make a person shaped figure out of gumpaste (besides the zombie for the movie cake, but zombies don't really count, do they?) I was not really sure how she would turn out, but I am very happy with her!

I make the house out of two 6inch round layers that I carved into a more round top. The roof of the house is a third 6 inch round cake, also carved. I put the cake on a 6 inch round cake board and used frosting to make up the difference in the space between the board and the cake. The first time I covered the roof with fondant, as careful as I was, the fondant still ripped as I tucked it under the "eaves". I decided to cover it with a second layer of fondant rather than remove the old fondant. I am glad that I did as I think the first "cover" made the bottom edge look neater in the final piece.

The flowers, leaves, and critters are all made of gumpaste. I like working with gumpaste for the decorations as I can make them as far in advance as I would like and they stay nice, they are also still edible. I also like that they get very stiff so they will hold the shape that I want.

With everything ready, putting it all together is just a matter of placing pieces on and adding some stems and grass. My grass tip was very frustrating today. I must need a new one.

Delivering the cake was amazing. The birthday girl gave me the best compliment ever. She didn't see me there and turned to her friend to say, "See, I told you that she makes the best cakes ever!" I love making cakes! The joy and amazement on peoples faces when they see my work is priceless. I also love that they seem surprised when the cake tastes good too!

Gum paste Stephanotis or Hawaiian Wedding Flowers

Making gum paste stephanotis flowers is really easy to do, requires very few special tools, and are sweet and elegant on any cake, cupcake, or cookie.

You will need gum paste (I prefer pre-made), a foam shaping pad, corn starch of dusting, pearl Nonpareils (you could also use a tiny piece of gum paste rolled in pearl colored dusting powder if you like), and a small dog bone shaping tool (my favorite). You will also need the cutter for the base of a rose, it looks like a wavy five point star.

Knead the gum paste until smooth using a very small amount of crisco if needed to keep it from getting sticky. Dust your work surface with corn starch to keep the gum paste from sticking. roll out your gum paste until fairly thin. Many bakers like to use the rolling guides to make their paste the same, I am best at "eyeing" it, but it should be about 1/8 to 1/16 of an inch.

Cut several stars using the rose base cutter. Pull up the excess gum paste, knead it into a ball, spread it with a small bit of crisco and wrap for later.

Place one star on the thin shaping foam and using the small dog bone tool gently go round the edges to soften them. You do not want them to ruffle, but you don't want them to be thick either.

Using the same tool, start near the center of the flower and pull out along each petal, just to give them some curve and definition.

 Finally place the star on the thick shaping foam and using the same tool, press down in the center to form the divot. This is not exactly accurate for a stephanotis as they typically have a long white piece coming down from the flower before beginning the stem, however, on a cake, that would not be seen and would have gotten in the way of how I wanted the cake to look!

 The last step is to place it in a safe place to dry (I use the plastic tubes that can be supports for a tiered cake that I have cut into 1-2 inch pieces) and add the pearl. The pearl is traditional for a stephanotis and is designed to hide that tube piece that I mentioned earlier. To add the pearl, use a small paint burst to place a drop of water or gum paste glue to the indent in the center and drop in the pearl.

Perfect! The corn starch will help the gum paste dry quickly so work with small amounts of the dough, but it will help, especially if you waited and do not have days to wait for something to dry!

This flower is always white in nature, but I think that if you were wanting to be creative, it could be beautiful in any color!

Flowers, Flowers, and more Flowers

I have taken on the always daunting task of making a wedding cake. Only my second to date, but my perfectionistic self always worries that it won't be absolutely perfect. On ones wedding day, they deserve perfection...although I know that I will be the only one to see the flaws, I will still see flaws. However, here goes! The bride has asked for a hawaiian themed cake with basic white fondant and Hawaiian colored flowers. (Do you know how many colors of flowers there are in Hawaii?) When I think of Hawaii, however, I picture pinks, corals, and yellows so that is where I will take this.

I started by doing lots of research on line. I looked up Hawaiian flowers, weddings, cakes, everything that I could think of. I finally concluded that I needed to make a few flowers in a variety of colors or the small cake would get overwhelmed. I decided on the Hawaiian Wedding Flower (Stephanotis), Plumeria, Calla Lilies, and a coral colored forget-me-not type flower that doesn't really exist (the bride saw vines with flowers on the other wedding cake that I did and loved them.)

I was not quite sure how to make the plumeria so I went back to the trusty old internet and watched a you tube video. I would highly recommend this. It is not hard, but there is a trick to rolling or twisting the petals to get them to look just right. It also takes a bit a patience (not something I have to spare) and some time. There is another post with step by step instructions if you are interested...

The cake itself was pineapple (top and bottom tiers) and strawberry (middle) with vanilla buttercream and a white chocolate, marshmallow fondant. All fitting with the theme. I am very pleased with how well the cake turned out. Those who were already at the wedding site when I delivered loved it and I am very anxious to hear what the bride and groom thought (they were busy getting ready and the wedding was just last night). Was it perfect, of course not.....but I am pretty sure that I am the only one who could see any faults. I guess that it the curse of the perfectionist baker!

Swimmy Swimmy Little Ducky

I threw a baby shower for one of my best friends. Of course I had to make a cake, but I just couldn't decide on what I wanted it to look like. I searched and searched my books, internet, and brain, but just couldn't decide on an idea. Or maybe the problem was that I had too many ideas! There were only going to be a few people at the party so the cake was going to be small. Eventually I decided on a ducky idea that I adapted from a larger cake on the internet.

I bake two 10 inch round cakes and then angled them down so that the top was a bit bigger than the bottom. I covered the entire thing in swirly blue fondant. (Very easy to make by the way, just don't mix the color in all the way, roll out, and poof- you have water) I then made some swirly brown fondant that I made look like wooden planks and put these around the sides. I didn't like how blah the color looked so I painted them with brown food coloring mixed with vodka. I like this method as the color stays true and the vodka does not leave a sticky mess on the fondant. Finally I piped some frosting bubbles, put a pink rubber ducky on top and wrote the baby's name. I did add edible iridescent glitter to make the bubbles sparkle!

The cake was a hit and tasted yummy as always! I also had rave reviews about the fondant. I use MMF with melted white chocolate chips mixed in. Very yummy! I also had a bit of a break through. Two things....plan ahead - I would have made the wooden planks out of gumpaste to make them more realistic, but ran out of time due to my indecisive problem. And 2 - plain, uncolored vodka will "erase" any painting mistakes!

Fun for the Fourth!

I was asked to make cupcakes for a story time. I also get to read the story! I chose to read a story about the Fourth of July and freedom so I decided to make Fourth of July cupcakes. I have seen cupcakes like these on Pinterest (the best idea source ever!). 

I started with white cake batter and divided it into three equal (or as close to equal as I could get) groups. I used food coloring to make one batch red, one blue, and left the third white. I then put the batter into disposable decorating bags and taped the bags together close to the tips. I wanted the bags to be right next to each other in a line. I then filled my cupcake liners with strips of batter. I will say that it was a bit messy and towards the end they came out in a triangle shape, but they were cute. 

After they cooled I frosted them one stripe at a time and rolled the frosting in a bowl of sprinkles to make it look like ice. Finally I put the cupcake in a fancy Wilton cupcake liner and added half of a twizzler as a straw. 

Very simple, cute, and yummy! Easy for the baker who wants to try something that looks great, but is afraid to take on a big cake! 

After all of that...traveling for an hour and fifteen minutes, only having 30 minutes to completely set up, put together, and finish decorating the cake....it came out AWESOME!!! I loved it and more importantly, so did my niece!

Tonight was one of my most frustrating cake making sessions ever! If you ever over cook your marshmallows when melting them for fondant....DON'T USE THEM!!!! I was in a hurry, tired and went against everything that I know about sugar. The marshmallows were not burnt, but they were in the microwave for a long time. I should have just thrown them out and started over, but I proceeded to make the fondant. Not only did it get pretty hard, but my powdered sugar was lumpy. Needless to say, I had to re-make it. I also thought that I had enough frosting, but did not and had to make more of that too!

The cake is finally frosted and covered with fondant, but I cannot put it all together until I get to my brother's house. So, I guess you could say that I am almost finished, but it feels like it is a long way off still...