Sinking Titanic cake!

I was asked if I could make a Titanic themed cake for a young teen who was a fan of all things Titanic.  I thought I’d attempt to make a sinking Titanic!

The cake was 2 flavors…chocolate with PB cup filling and white with raspberry filling.

I haven’t carved very many 3D cakes, but from what I have done, I have found it easier to start with much more cake than you’d need and SLOWLY take off cake inch by inch.

After I put the two halves together, I gave it a crumbcoat and popped it in the freezer for 30 minutes, then I started to carve the bow and stern.

After another crumbocat….back into the freezer.

I wrapped the bottom of the ship with a black fondant band, then white on top.

Time for the deck…..light brown fondant, painted with darker brown gel color mixed with vodka to get that wood grain look of the deck.

Next came the railing…toothpicks and fondant rope. The smoke stacks and the “people”.

The icebergs are rice krispie treats covered with buttercream.

 

I hope you enjoyed my little cake!

Thanks for reading the blog  and happy caking:)

 

Kelly

My first standing 3D cake!!!

I was feeling very daring and decided to attempt to make my first standing 3D cake!!! Food Network here I come (just kidding!).

 

It was really easier than I thought it would be. I ordered Bronwen Weber’s man skeleton from Caljava’s site. It comes with all the pieces you will need. All PVC pipes that are fully adjustable.

 

Start with securing the legs to the board that’s provided.

Then slide the cake plate over the center pipe and start stacking your cake.

I used rice krispies to form the legs.

Then it was time to attach the arms and head. All the “joints” are designed to be positioned any way you want. You have flexibility in the design you wish to create.

This is the styrofoam head that comes with the kit. This is actually ovoid in shape. I suppose you can use a round shape if needed. This is the perfect shape for the character I am making. General Ackbar…a Star War’s character.

Since I got this new MAC computer, I am having a heck of a time learning how to cut and paste. I would love to add a picture of this character so you know what he looks like…he’s ugly! So, if you’re curious just Google it.  Here is the shape of his head.

I then covered his head with some brown fondant and added his eyes.

Here he is after getting painted and getting his hands put on.  All that was left was to add some details to his uniform….here he is:

Not bad for my first try! All the pieces are easy to remove, wash and dry so they are ready for the next project.

 

Next blog post will be the sinking Titanic cake…coming soon!

 

Happy caking and thanks for reading my little blog.

 

Kelly

Lightning McQueen

I was asked to make a birthday cake for a little boy turning 2 who loves Lightening McQueen.

I decided on a Neapolitan cake. Chocolate, white and strawberry cake with alternating layers of strawberry jam and chocolate ganache as my fillings.

After crumbcoating, I put the cake in the freezer for about 1 hour. I wanted it to be very firm before I started carving it. This was a huge cake, with all the layers and fillings it was almost 7 inches tall. It was very heavy and I was concerned about it breaking the rack in my freezer, so I put some cake pans under the rack to help hold up the cake.

Time to carve!  I made the cake this size because I wanted to start with a large amount of cake and slowly take off a little here and there.  I started on the side and drew with my knife,  an outline of what I thought the car should look like.

All this carving left a lot of scraps for the hubby!

After icing, the cake went back into the fridge. I then started rolling out a pice of white fondant that I was going to put under the red fondant.

This enables me to make my windows by cutting out the red, revealing the white underneath. It gives it a more natural and I think cleaner look.

After adding a generous amount of tylose to some fondant, I shaped the spoiler and attached it to the back with toothpicks.

Time for his smile and eyes.

I cut out the wheels with a circle cutter.

To make the spokes in the wheel, I used the end of a rose tip.

A few years ago, I bought a laminator from Wal-Mart and it’s been one of the best tools in my cake decorating hobby. I made 2 templates. One being Lightening McQueen’s trademark lightning bolts on the sides of his car and the Rusteeze log on the top of cars hood.

I like to laminate things I need to cut out for a few reasons:

1. Laminating make the item sturdier. Less likely to tear when I cut around it.

2. Laminating keeps it clean. There’s always buttercream, airbrush colors, fondant, cornstarch or vodka in or near my work area. If my hands have food coloring on them and I go to pick up my template, I can just wipe off the template before it touches my fondant and I don’t have to worry about the item being soiled. If it gets wet, there’s no guarantee it will hold its shape when I’m cutting around it.

3. Laminating items is permanent. I just throw it into a folder just in case I may need to make another Lightening McQueen cake again!

Almost done!

I had heard that my local craft store carried these great little LED lights in the wedding section and they proved to work great as headlights!

You just twist the bottom of the light to activate it. They will stay lit for up to 8 hours.

I had so much fun making this cake and I heard the birthday boy enjoyed it as well.

 

Happy caking,

 

Kelly

Rylee’s First Birthday

My friend Michelle’s little girl Rylee was turning one year old so a celebration was to take place! Her party theme was centered on this design:

I made a marble cake with a hazelnut buttercream filling. I decided to level the top cake layer before I iced it with ganache. It seems like I could NEVER get a smooth, level top to my cakes. You know how you take the cake layer and flip it over so the “bottom” of the cake is actually the top? Well, I’ve always struggled with getting it smooth, so I decided to break out my Agbay cake leveler and give it a run through.

 Now that’s a smooth, level top!

I’ve been trying to ice my fondant covered cakes with ganache instead of buttercream and WOW what a difference! Apparently, ganache covered cakes are the norm in Australia and it has caught the attention of the cakers up north.

Here’s the chocolate ganache, I use 1/2 milk, 1/2 semi-sweet chips with a 2:1 ratio. So 2 parts chocolate to one part heavy cream. This is what it looks like after it has set overnight…it should be the consistency of peanut butter.

With ganache,  you can really get a nice, sharp edge wich is what you want when you cover a cake with fondant.

I put the cake on a cake pan to tuck the fondant underneath the bottom.

Then, I used my level to check and make sure the bottom tier was straight

Yep, the bubble’s in the middle!

I am still haunted by my first cake disaster which took place at the end of January of this year. I was using a metal separator between the tiers of a wedding cake and should have used my leveler then! Looks can be deceiving!!! Just because it looks straight doesn’t mean it is! All it had to be was just an 1/8th of an inch off somewhere and well….gravity took over and the top tier fell off, hit the floor and broke an arm and leg off the bride and groom cake topper! The wedding coordinator asked me if I had any super glue with me and I just looked at her with my mouth open. I  was thinking…I’m a cake decorator…I have spatula and icing…NOT superglue! Well, someone was able to find a hot glue gun and I found myself on the floor behind the cake gluing the arm and leg back onto that cheap plastic cake topper. Needless to say, now I come fully prepared and armed with an assortment of  items in my emergency kit!

The cakes were stacked, now time to decorate.

I found these cute little cutters at my local craft store. I bought them just for the little square cutter I wanted to use to make my gingham border.

I rolled out a strip of white and strip of pink fondant and went to town cutting out my squares.

Next, I added some whimsical flowers to the bottom tier.

Added a little lady bug:

and some butterflies

I made them by using some oval cutters from Ateco…they really have great supplies. All the cutters are sturdy, not flimsy like some Wilton sets.

For the final touch, I added birthday wishes onto the fondant covered cake board using tappitts for the letters. I added a generous amount of Tylose to my fondant and let it sit for a little bit. I have found a great tool to help me pry my letters out of the molds…it’s an insulin syringe…

I use this also to pop air bubbles under my fondant.

The finished cake:

Happy decorating and remember to use the level!

Kelly

Tie – dye fondant tutorial

Here’s a little cake I made for a little girl turning 2. Her nickname is Jing Jing and she loves Yo Gabba Gabba. “Who are they?”, you ask…. I have no idea! I had to Google them to find out what they are. So after a quick search, here’s what I found.

This is Plex 

 

This is Toodee 

 

Here’s Muno 

 

Brobee 

And last, but not least…Foofa 

The birthday girl’s Mom wanted something tie-dye, so I thought I’d try to tie-dye the fondant. Marbling fondant is easy, I’ve done that many times, here’s an easy way to tie-dye fondant.

Step one:

Choose your colors

Step two:

Roll out each color in a long “snake”

Step three:

Line the colors up side by side, then coil them together

Step four:

Grab your rolling pin and smooth out. Cover your cake.

After dusting with cornstarch it looks a little chalky

I took  a paper towel and some crisco and gave it a generous rub to give it some shine

Here’s the view from the top

Happy caking!

 

Kelly

Not enough hours in the day…..

I have done so many cakes since my last post and I feel so guilty for not posting the pics I have taken. I started taking pics during the process, would finish the cake, deliver the cake, come home, clean kitchen, start laundry, etc….before you  know it several months have gone by! I wasn’t even sure if my little blog was still active or not!!

Plus, we got a new Mac computer and I am a slow learner when it comes to new technology!  So here I am with a SMALL new post and the names of 2 other blogs that I like to read.

They are:

www.acaketoremeber.com and www.sugaredblog.blogspot.com

 

Both of these sites are wonderful and very educational.

I am going to try to manage my time more wisely.  I work 6 days a week between the 2 jobs I have, then my “cake” job makes 3.   Seems like 24 hours in a day just aren’t enough!

 

Happy caking to whoever is reading and don’t forget to check out those sites!

Kelly

 

Rocco

We had a near tragedy last week when one of our little dogs, Rocco, was almost run over with my hubby’s Ford F-250 truck. Praise the Lord, my hubby heard my screams and stopped in time! Rocco suffered some major road rash along the inside of his legs as he was getting scooted along the driveway when the tire made contact with him. He was given pain meds and antibiotics and he is doing much better now.

So, as a way to say how grateful we were that he received such great treatment, I headed to the kitchen. I made 2 cakes, one for the ER animal hospital that we first took him to on that Sunday evening, and another cake for his regular vet who saw him the next day on his follow up visit.

I made 2 11×18 square cakes, vanilla with whipped cream buttercream and fresh strawberry filling. YUM!

I decided to carve the cake before I put the filling in and boy was that easier to do than try and cut through the dam and filling. After I carved it, I iced with regular buttercream and covered with a light brown fondant that I had leftover from an earlier cake project.

I then broke out my airbrush system and gave it a little color with the ivory airbrush color from Americolor.

I made 2 doggie bowls and filled them with some cereal that looks amazingly like dog food!

I filled the bowl with a little buttercream icing first so the cereal would stick.

Added a little thank you with Rocco’s signature and delivered the cakes to some very wonderful people that day.  Thank you to all the vets and vet-techs who take care of our “kids”.

Kelly

Watermelon slice

I was asked to make a cake for a co-worker’s family get-together on the Fourth of July. I was first thinking of a traditional red,white and blue with stars cake, then I was surfing on Cake Central and came upon some cakes that looked like watermelon. A light bulb went off! Watermelon and picnics and ants are pretty synonymous with summertime, so that was my inspiration for this cake.

I first started off by baking 2 12 x 18 sheet cakes and filled them with a seedless raspberry filling.

I made a double dam inside since I knew I was going to be doing some serious cutting and didn’t want my filling to ooze out too much. I stacked the cakes and popped them into the freezer for 30 mins. After chilling,  I started shaping the cake to look like a slice.

You can see where my filling and the dam meet. I was lucky enough to not have much oozing since I did trim a lot of cake off the corners.

Lots of cake scraps for the hubby!

I wanted to make a cute cake board so I bought a red and white checkered vinyl tablecloth from Wal-Mart.

Wrapped it around a 16×16 in sq. piece of plywood (compliments of my hubby…he’s cut a lot of plywood for my boards!), and used  a staple gun to secure it on the bottom.

After icing the cake and securing it to the cake board with a little royal icing on the bottom, it was time to break out the airbrush. I used pink from the Americolor airbrush set I bought. and sprayed the front and top of the cake, but not the sides, since they were going to be covered with fondant anyway.

I then rolled out some leftover light green fondant ( I save all my extra fondant…you never know when you might need a little green, or purple for a quick flower, etc.) I had no idea of how much fondant I would need, so I used a ribbon to measure around the cake and give me a better estimate of how much to roll out.

After cutting one side straight, I dusted it with cornstarch, and rolled it up bandage style.

This corner gave me a little trouble, the fondant was a little too thin and ripped, so I cut matching strips and put over both of the corners of the cake, so they would look similar.

Before airbrushing the sides, I put a paper towel over the buttercream on top to keep any green coloring from getting on it.

I loaded some more green fondant into my clay extruder and made a ribbon to duplicate the lighter part of the watermelon rind.

I used the bottom of a decorating tip to cut out circles and shape into my seeds.

How to make the ants:

I had again some leftover fondant that I mixed some tylose into so it would be more stable and dry quicker.

Quick little ant anatomy lesson for ya:

http://www.infowest.com/life/antbody.htm

I began by rolling out 4 balls for each ant. 2 larger sized balls for the head and tail, and 2 smaller ones for the abdomen.

I took some 18g floral wire that was already wrapped with white paper

I skewered the body parts, then cut and bent some wire for the legs and antennae.

After assembling the bodies and legs, I set them on a block of styrofoam and gave them a quick spray with the airbrush.

I stuck in the 2 antennae on the head and added some googly eyes and let them dry.

The finished cake:

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Keep on cakin!

Kelly

Cuppies

Recently I was asked to make some cupcakes for a bridal shower.  I have fallen in love  with the newest trend out there in the cake world….cupcake wrappers

You can find just about any color, style, theme that you’re looking for. Some are pretty cheap (like the ones I bought above) some are quite pricey if they have intricate cuts in theme, say for example a lace theme.

You can find these online at several sites, I found these at www.globalsugarart.com. If my hubby only knew how much I buy from here….good thing I get home before he does so I have time to hide the packages!

I chose to make 40 of each flavor. Chocolate WASC with a peanut butter filling

and then white velvet cuppies with a tangy raspberry filling

I topped the chocolate cuppies with some of these

The white velvet cuppies were topped with a fresh raspberry. Here they are all snuggled up in their new wrappers.

I used Wilton’s 1M star tip to make the swirl.

All boxed up and ready to go.

I remember when I was in grade school and anytime we had a class party I would always  ask my Mom if we could make some cupcakes. I would slather on some canned frosting and give them all a quick shake of multi-colored sprinkles and I thought they were the greatest things ever made.  I was fascinated with them then, and now I can’t wait to make some more.

Happy caking!

Kelly

Basketweave wedding cake and golf theme grooms cake.

When I was asked to make the wedding cake for Tim and Alex, I immediately decided to do a basket weave design to accent the Gerber daisies that were the theme of the wedding. I found a wonderful tutorial on Global Sugar Art. I would be lost without the hundreds, probably thousands of tutorials on the web. You can find them on Cake Central, Y-tube and other decorators blogs. When I need to know how to do something, I usually check Cake Central first, if I can’t find it there…I Google it! Google is your friend! Here are a few pics of how I made the daisies.

 

I started with this set of Gerber daisy plungers by FMM, you can find them at www.globalsugarart.com.

You will also need a small flower cutter…I think this is from a Wilton set.

You will also need a strainer to make your impression on the center of the flower. It leaves the perfect impression of a daisies middle. I forgot to take a pic of this part, but all you do is take a small ball of your gumpaste or fondant, flatten it out and press it into the mesh to get your pattern.

You start by cutting out the largest size daisy, then use the next smaller size to lay on top, overlapping the petals. Then cut out several of the small flower cutters and cut that into half, take a pair of scissors and cut each petal in two. Then take these little pieces and overlap them in the middle before you place your center. I’m still trying to figure out how to link things on this blog, I suggest going directly to the GSA website and looking at the tutorial for a better explanation through their pics. That’s how I learned.

Here they are in my Wilton flower formers after I gave them a quick spray with my airbrush. I made these 1 week ahead of time, I suggest you give yourself plenty of time, they are time-consuming.

The wedding was on a Friday, so I baked ALL my cakes on that Monday. I got off of work at 3:30 pm, went home, fed the kids (my 5 cats and 2 dogs) and started baking. I finally finished around 11:20 that night. Here they all are after being tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. I had no room on my kitchen counters, so they all slept in the guest bedroom that night! I always bake my cakes approximately 3-4 days before the cake is due. Bake on day one, then torte, dam and fill on day two. Trim and ice on day three. This gives your cakes plenty of time to do some much needed settling.

The grooms cake:

This is the top tier. I used 1/2 of a Wilton ball pan set. This is it covered with fondant.

I put a pretty thick layer of fondant on this cake because I needed a little extra room for the dimples of the golf ball. To achieve that look, I used the back of a 1/4 tsp. I first made all my indentations, then went back over and made a slightly deeper indent to get the right look.

Looks like  a golf ball to me.

I wanted the second tier to resemble the “greens” on the golf course. I slightly marbled some light blue and white fondant together to cover the entire tier with, this was the “sky”. I then wrapped light green around the cake, then added areas of darker green, I made the “sand traps” with some flash colored fondant that I brushed with piping gel before adding brown sugar to resemble sand.

Added a flag and black dot to resemble to ball cup and this tier was done.

Bottom tier covered in light brown fondant and wiped with a little Crisco to remove excess cornstarch and give her a little shine!

I used some square and diamond cutters from Ateco and placed some pieces on the sides. They looked a little blah, so I got out my clay gun extruder and made some rope. I then outlined each square for a little visual interest.

I was going to leave this tier just like it was. I stacked the cake, added my green grass and stood back and looked at the cake and just thought the bottom tier needed to flow with the rest of the golf theme. So I pulled out some leftover grey fondant and made some golf  clubs.

I think this one turned out o.k. Now time to move onto the wedding cake.

Basket weave wedding cake:

This cake was made out of 12, 10 and 8 in squares. I put a thin crumbcoat on top, then made the basketweave design on the top and bottom tiers only.  I left the middle tier smooth because I thought all three tiers with the basket weave may be  a little to “busy”.

After icing and stacking, I put the daisies on.

Here are the finished cakes at the reception site.

Congrats to the newlyweds!

Happy caking.

Kelly