Diary of a Cake Stylist

How to Cover a Cake with Fondant

2011-08-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

How to Cover a Cake with Fondant

You'll need:

Prepare your cake with a light layer of icing.

Prepare your fondant mat by rubbing a small amount of Crisco to your mat. Remember, a little goes a long way. It should be a very thin layer. This will help your fondant from sticking to the mat and will make the fondant in contact with the mat shinier. I also prep the rolling pin with a little crisco and dust some cornstarch over it in order to avoid a "sticky situation".

After cutting your fondant piece you have to knead the fondant to make it more pliable (like you would with dough) and be able to roll it. The fondant will be ready once it becomes more pliable and the fondant looses its shine (i.e., becomes opaque). Do not overknead as the fondant can start to melt (hands expell body heat) and become sticky, therefore, work as fast as you can. If this occurs, add a little cornstarch to your fondant. Most decorators use a corn starch "puff". Here is a link to "Working with Fondant" for quick tips.

After kneading the fondant, roll it into a ball and place in the middle of your fondant mat. I recommend using a fondant mat to achieve a smooth surface.

TIP: It is difficult for me to roll the fondant flat out of a ball. I recomment that you pat the fondant ball until it flattens on the mat as shown on the picture below. Then you are ready to roll the fondant.

In this picture I was covering a round 8 inches in diameter cake that was 4 inches high, therefore I had to sum each side and the top --> [4 inches (side) + 8 inches (diameter) + 4 inches (other side) = 16 inches]. Since the total was 16 inches, I had to roll my fondant until it was 16 inches in diameter in order to be able to cover my round 8 inches in diameter cake.

Roll the fondant from center to the edge to keep the circular shape of the fondant (do not roll from edge to edge). Feel free to rotate the fondant.

Once you are done rolling the fondant, we have to transfer the fondant onto the top of the cake (make sure your already frosted cake is near your rolled fondant for easier transfer). ***Butter Cream Recipe***

Roll the rolled fondant on your rolling pin so you can gently lift it and place one edge of the fondant over one edge of the cake. Slowly unroll the fondant over the cake (make sure it is centered).

The fondant should drape the cake as shown in this picture.

Shape the fondant to the side of the cake by gently smoothing it with your hands starting on the top center of the cake and outwards and then the sides. Hands can leave impressions on the cake so make sure you do this gently or use a Fondant Smoother.

Press the bottom of the cake to mark the edge and make it easy to trim.

Trim the excess of the cake with a knife. I use a small pizza cutter for easy cutting... just roll and cut :). You can also buy a Fondant Cutter

Your cake is now ready to decorate.... like a blank canvas. Enjoy!!

Zebra Print Fondant

2010-06-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

ZEBRA PATTERNS

I try to make my life less complicated when decorating cakes. Although I love using brush for painting, making a little mistake can take a while to repair. When trying to paint zebra patterns over white fondant it can get even measier. So here is a quick and easy wait to get perfect zebra patterns on fondant.

All you need is:

White fondant
Dark fondant (chocolate in this picture)

Instructions:

I'm using a small amount of fondant here for demonstration purposes. So keep your mind open for different zebra patterns over larger surfaces.

1) Knead desired amount of white fondant.

2) Pat the fondant 'dough' over your prepped fondant rolling mat.

3) Knead chocolate (or dark colored) fondant and make logs of fondant in different shapes and sizes. Logs ends should be pointed. Place over patted white fondant creating different paterns (make sure to make Y's here and there). - REFER TO PICTURE

4) Roll the fondant in one direction (e.g., vertically) in order to enlogate the chocolate logs until these get 'incorporated' into the white fondant. The chocolate fondant should looks as part of the white fondant. -REFER TO PICTURE

5) Continue stretching the fondant to it's desired lenght.

6) If you want to make the patterns a little wider, then roll the fondant across the stips (e.g., horizontally). - REFER TO PICTURE

7) Cover desired cake with zebra print fondant. Enjoy.

** Come back for animal print cake examples***

The Little Mermaid

2010-05-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

The little mermaid cake was a hit at this 7th birthday party!! All the girls wanted to eat Ariel's flower and the boys wanted to eat the eyes... yes, that's kids nature :). This time, I stayed away from the typical chocolate cake and ventured with a "peaches and cream" cake. A regular sour cream cake with pieces of peaches and filled with pastry filling (similar to whipped cream) with peach pieces as well in order to stay in the same flavor subject. The cake was then covered in butter cream using the star tip method. It was a hit with both children and adults alike!

The HOW:
I used the Wilton Disney Princess Ariel Cake Pan to bake my "peaches and cream" cake. I then covered the cake with a thin layer of icing leaving the cake outlines for help.

For decorating this cake I followed the included pan instructions, which suggest piping tips 3, 16 and 21. Black icing is a little difficult to get, so I just used the Wilton Black Icing Tube and attached piping tip #3 as a shortcut. You can attach any piping tip size to these tubes!!

For the eyes, instructions suggested piping blue buttercream, but I wanted to create some depth in the eyes so I tinted some Wilton Piping Gel with a little blue gel icing color.

Although you can buy the little mermaid icing color kit (Disneys Little Mermaid Icing Color Set), I opted for making mine since I can create these colors with the basic set of gel coloring from Wilton that I already own (basic wilton set or Wilton Set of 12). In order to obtain the skin color icing, I played with brown and pink gel colors on my white buttercream.

Don't forget to pipe the eyelashes. It makes a difference, trust me!!

For more decorating tips please see my previous posts:
Star Tip Decorating - http://thecakestylist.blogspot.com/2007/09/buttercream-star-tip-decoration.html
Buttercream Icing Recipe - http://thecakestylist.blogspot.com/2007/09/buttercream-icing-yield-3-cups.html
Icing Consistency - http://thecakestylist.blogspot.com/2007/09/icing-consistency-buttercream.html

Fondant Bears

2010-04-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

You will need:

Brown Fondant
Gel colors (brown or black for the nose and eyes)
Spaghetti (to support the head of the bear, and if you like, the limbs as well)
Toothpick
Cake decorating brush
One piping tip (any size)

Getting started:

Roll 2 balls of fondant for body and head of the bear and for logs of fondant for limbs (arms and legs). Remember to proportion these as these will complete body of bear.

Cover your workign area with a small piece of wax paper to prevent the bear from sticking to your working area.
Press the body of the bear slightly over wax paper, shaping the body to a less rounded form (it's up to you to decide how you want the body of your bear to look)

Insert a dry spaghetti on top and in the middle of the bear to function as the support for the bear's head as shown in the picture below. Don't attach the head at this time as it is easier to work / mold the head when dettached.

Take one of the limbs that you have rolled before and pich the tip of it upward in order to shape the foot of the bear. Then pinch the other end (the thigh) so it can fit nicely next tot he bear's body. See picture below.

Repeat for the second leg.
Insert a small piece of spaghetti on the side of the bear's body in order to make sure the leg stays in place. With cake decorating brush, wet around the sphagetti with some little water (our 'glue' in this case) and attach the limb. Repeat on the other side.

Now let's work on the bear's arms. Take one of the fondant logs meant to be the arm of the bear and pinch on one end. Repeat for second arm.
Insert a small piece of dry spaghetti on each side of the bear and moisten the side with a wet cake decorating brush and place the arms so they rest on top on the legs (or position arm wherever you like).

Now let's work on the head of the bear. Roll the second (smaller) ball of fondant, then press in the middle to create a protution (the bear's snout) and pinch slightly in order for the snout to come out a little bit.

Flatten the snout a little bit. Center the head on the palm of your hands and mark the spots where you want the eyes. Press slightly with the back of your brush in order to create the eyes.

Using the back end of one of your piping tips, Mark the mouth of the bear as shown below.

Press slightly with a toothpick in the middle of the mouth to make a small opening. Wet your cake decorating brush slightly and shape the mouth of your bear.

Roll a tiny ball of fondant (this will be your bear's nose). Moisten the back of the ball and press to the middle of the bears snout. We have given the bear a nose.

Place the bear's head on top of the bear's body, making sure that the dry spaghetti inserts through the middle of the bottom of the bear's head. Make sure it keeps in place.
Roll 2 tiny balls of fondant (this will be the bear's ears) and flatten then on your working surface. With the back end of your decorating brush, press slightly in the middle in order to indent.

Moisten 2 spots on the top of your bear's head and attach the ears (as shown below)
Dip the end of one toothpick in the gel color of your choice (dark brown shown below) and slighlty insert it in the bear's eyes to give it color. Swirl the toothpick a little bit to make the eyes a little bigger, repeat on the second eye.

With your decorating brush or toothpick, color the nose of the bear.
Roll little balls of fondant and flatten. Press and 'glue' with water to the sole of it's feet. Paint 3 dark spots to mark the toes.
Allow soem tiem for the fondant and the gel color to dry. Repeat process to make multiple bears of every color and shape :).

cricut cake™ world premiere

2010-04-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, I was browsing the web and I found this. I'm really curious how this works and how useful it will be. I guess I have to wait until they post any videos, but here is the information and the link to the product.

Online-only preview April 12, HSN Network Premiere April 14

From the people who brought you the Gypsy and turned the world of scrapbooking on its head, comes the Cricut Cake Personal Electronic Cutter. Launching exclusively at HSN, this design system is specifically for decorating cakes, cupcakes, cookies and confections – making crafting sweeter than ever!

Similar to existing Cricut machines, the Cricut Cake is made with stainless steel for easy cleaning and safe for use with food. It is also compatible with existing Cricut cartridges.

http://www.hsn.com/cricut-cake-personal-electronic-cutter_at-5049_xa.aspx?rid=1761x

Pink Teddy Bear - Step-by-Step Instructions

2009-06-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed making this pink fondant teddy bear. It was fun and very easy. The step-by-step instructions below may seem too long, but it just me posting so many pictures... so don't be discouraged. Before I begin, I would like to first say: don't worry how your teddy bear is looking like as you make it, it all comes together at the end.

You will need:

1. Pink fondant for the teddy bear

2. A small amount of dark fondant for the scarf

3. A small amount of additional colored fondant for the silk rose (in this case orange)

4. Black gel food Color for eyes and nose

5. Any icing tip for mouth markings

6. A fondant baller (modeling tools)

7. Piping gel (or food flavoring or vodka) to 'glue' fondant pieces

8. Decorating brush / Pearl dust(optional)

9. Wilton Cutter Embosser

10. Like always, toothpicks (esential tools for cake decorating)

11. Read, "Working with Fondant" that I have previously posted.

Ste-by-Step Instructions:

1. Carve a muffin into the bear body and cover with rolled pink fondant

2. Roll a log of pink fondant to use as teddy bear's legs. Cut in the middle to have two legs

3. Attach logs of pink fondnat to bottom body of bear with raw spaghetti to form the legs

4. Use your wilton cutter with 'stitch' wheel to emboss stitches across the teddy bear by rolling across teddy bear body and along the legs of the teddy bear (as shown in pictures below)

5. Roll two smaller logs of pink fondant to use as the arms. Flattend the log and shape

6. "Glue" one arm to the top of the teddy bear body with piping gel (if you don't have any, use food flavoring or vodka)

7. Position over leg as shown below

8. Repeat with second arm

9. Use your wilton cutter with 'stitch' wheel to emboss "stitches" across the arms

10. Insert two raw spaghetties on top of the teddy bear's body to support the head (don't forget to trim spaghetti so they are not taller than the head)

11. Roll a ball of pink fondant to use as the head and attach to top of the teddy bear body (emboss stitches across the head with your wilton cutter / embosser)

12. Roll one small ball of fondant to use as the teddy bear's snout and 3 tiny balls of fondant for the eyes and nose

13. Flatten the "snout' a little bit

13. Position the snout by by gluing with piping gel and pressing sligthly to flatten

14. Posotion and glue eyes and nose with piping gel (tip: use toothpicks if necesary to position pieces)

15. Use the wider end of a icing tip to mark the mouth of the teddy bear

16. Roll two additional balls of fondant to make the ears of the teddy bear

17. Use the other end of your decorating brush to indent the ears

18. Cut the ends of the indented balls of fondant to make the ears and glue with piping gel to top of the head of the teddy bear

19. Optional Step: Brush your teddy bear with a little pearl dust to give it a little silky shine finish

20. Roll a little strip of dark pink fondant and cut a strip with your wilton cutter to form the scarf

21. Position scarf at the base of its head and glue with piping gel

22. Roll a little strip of orange fondant (or color of choice) and cut a small thin strip with your wilton cutter to form the silk rose

23. Roll the strip to form the rose (tip: fold edges before rolling for a smooth finish)

24. Color the eyes and nose with black gel coloring with your decorating brush.

The end!!!

Tinkerbell Cake

2008-11-09T18:36:00.000-08:00

I created this fun and colorful Tinkerbell cake for a baby shower in late November. The mom-to-be was a chocoholic, so I themed the flavor of this cake as "Death by Chocolate".

The cake was super moist triple chocolate cake (chocolate cake with chocolate pudding and chocolate chips), filled with Ghirardelli fudge and frosted with home made chocolate buttercream .

The cake was then covered with fondant and decorated with fondant accents. All fondant pieces included the purple flower where Tinkerbell is sitting on, grass, pink mushrooms, grey stones, leaves and the pink/purple flowers. The only exception was the Tinkerbell candle.

You can find the candle at amazon.com (Walt Disney Tinker Bell Tink Candle).

The base of the cake where 3 cake rounds that were covered with green fondant. I wanted to add some fun to it, so I wraped the base with a boa.

I'm glad to say that the cake was a success in this babyshower. It blended perfectly with the outside baby-shower party. The party's guest tables had center flower arrangements and we added little Disney Fairies figures to these arrangement, so guest could take home.

Marshmallow Fondant FAQs

2008-09-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

Q- I live in very sunny, very hot and very humid country. I’ve often found that my fondant “weeps” and slowly dissolves from the moisture in the air when I leave it out at room temperature. Will this happen with your marshmallow fondant recipe as well?

A- Marshmallow Fondant (MMF) will hold up until about a weather of about 75 degrees F.

I can offer a couple of solutions:

1) Work and keep cake in an air conditioned room.
2) Roll the fondant layer thicker. This proves helpful.
3) I do not recommend to place a fondant covered cake in the refrigerator (due to humidity) but
I personally haven’t had any trouble when I place mine in there for only a short period of time. If you need to place the cake in the refrigerator (for a brief period of time) you can try bringing it to room temperature in the following way - Place the cake in a brown cardboard box to collect the atmospheric moisture and help the cake come to room temperature safely.

Q- I don't like the flavor of cornstarch, can I ommit it from the recipe?

A- Yes, you can use powder sugar instead.

Q- How do you color fondant?

A- I usually knead in my colors with gel coloring if separating the MMF into separate colors.
However, If you are doing one color for the whole batch, you can add the gel coloring in step 3, when you have all the mini marshmallows melted. Add the color mix and then proceed to step 4.

Q- How thick the fondant has to be so it won't reap or tear?

A- I usually roll my MMF about 1/8″ thick so it will be thick enough for handling and for it to have stregth integrity.

If your marshmallow fondant is still tearing, then it might be because it is too dry. Next time you do your MMF don’t add all of the sugar. If it is still dry, add water (about 1 tablespoon at a time) and knead. When kneading, knead until the MMF has a satin shine to it.

MMF works best for covering a cake if you let it sit overnight. Rub your MMF with a thin layer of Crisco, wrap it in plastic and place inside a ziploc bag. Let it sit overnight.

Q- Is the butter flavor necessary?

A- The butter flavor is just for… flavor. Just substitute for 1tsp of clear vanilla flavor (i.e., 2 tsps of clear vanilla extract).

Q- I was wanting to see if you could tell me what I could use on fondant to make it shine. Some cakes you see sort of have that dull look, but others have a shine. Is there something to put on them that makes them shine. I have read about alcohol, but is that right?

A- Yes, that is right. Some like to spray the fondant covered cake with vodka to give it that shine and to remove any starch.

I ususally just cover my rolling mat with a very thin layer of shortening when rolling my fondant. I flip it and cover the cake.

Another form of shine can be to brush it with some pearl dust.

Q- To what size do I need to roll my fondant to cover my cake?

A- To cover a cake, always measure its’s high and multiply by two then add the diameter. After you get this number add one inch (~2.5 cm). For example, 8″ x 3″ cake it will be:
a) 8″+3″+3″=14″
b) Now add the extra inch: 14″+1″=15″. This is the diameter you will need your fondant to be for an 8" x 3" cake.

Q- How do I make chocolate fondant?

A- Chocolate MMF recipe posted HERE.

Q- Do I need to ice the cake first before covering the cake with fondant?

A- Yes, ice the cake with regular icing and then cover with the fondant.

Q- I was wondering if the fondant can be kneaded in a machine (kitchen aid) instead of by hand. Will the result be the same as hand kneading?

A- That is a good question. I’ve never done the marshmallow in the mixer, and hand kneading it is not that bad. However, I did hear some myths about metal bowls turning the fondant gray. Don’t let this put you down as stainless steel bowls are just fine.

I have heard from other readers that it’s much easier to mix the fondant in their kitchen Aid Mixers. Just grease the bowl with a thin layer of Crisco to prevent the fondant from sticking and use the dough hook. The fondant should be done in about 8 mins. A hand mixer is a big no no. You may burn it.

Q- I'm placing some decorations on the side of my fondant covered cake. How do I ensure they don't fall off the cake?

A- The answer is piping gel. It’s ’superglue’ to me for fondant.

How to Make Fondant Bows

2008-09-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

1. Roll fondant 1/16 in thick in desired color.

2. Cut 2 bow loops, 1 bow center and 2 streamers using a Fondant Cutter.

3. Cut ends of streamers in a 'V' shape.4. Set bow centers and the streamers aside, covered in plastic so they won't dry.

5. Pleat the ends of one bow loop cut out and fold over to form a loop.

6. Brush ends with some clear vanilla extract so the loop with 'glue' to itself. Press the ends lighlty to secure it. Stuff loops with tissue paper so the loop can dry in that form.

7. Make second loop.

8. Place two bow loops over surface with two bow ends joined together.

9. Pleat bow center ends and wrap around the middle of the two joined bow ends. 'Glue' the bow center with clear vanilla extract.

10. Attach bow center with loops over frosted cake, or 'glue' with clear vanilla extract to fondant covered cake.

11. Pleat straight ends of streamers and insert them lightly under bow. If the cake is covered with fondant, use clear vanilla extract to 'glue' to cake.

12. Allow to dry, then remove the tissue paper from bow loops.

Voila!!!

Stacking Cakes (with or without pillars)

2008-08-13T16:50:00.001-07:00

How to Stack Cakes - without pillars

You'll need:

Cake boardsfor each cake tier

At least 3-4 dowel rods for each cake tier (except top tier)

Instructions:

Place your base cake (the largest) on the largest cake board or cake base. Remember to 'glue' it by adding a dollop of butter cream or frosting.

Place the other tiers on cake boards of the same diameter size. The reason lies in that we don't want these boards to show.

On top of the large cake (first tier) mark the diameter of the cake you are going to place on top (second tier). Within this diameter imagine the position of the dowel rods as a triangle or a square ( 3 dowel rods if the second tier is not too big, 4 dowel rods if it is a big one).

Take a dowel rod (these are sold in cake supply stores and are FDA approved), and poke it into the base cake until it touches the base. Mark the height of the cake. remove rod and cut where you marked earlier. Repeat with the rest of the dowel rods you'll be using for the base cake.

Place dowel rods in base cake with a gap of 2-3 inches apart (remember they should be within the diameter of next cake tier.

Repeat the process for all tiers except the last one.

Stack up the cakes on one another.

Decorate your cake!

How to Stack Cakes - With Pillars

There are many pillar sets out there. Here is a quick link to Cake Pillars.

These sets come with their separator plates and pillars.

Instructions:

Start by placing your base cake on its cake base.

Identify next separator plate size and press gently on top of the center of base cake to mark the place for the pillars (don't press too hard so you don't spoil the icing on the cake).

Place tier cakes on their separator plates (with their respective size).

On the base cake that you have marked for pillars, poke each pillar until you can feel them touching the cake board. Tip: The pillars are normally hollow and I haven't had any problems with having stable cakes, however if you feel tha your cake is not stable enough, you can poke dowel rods at the center of the hollow pillars for extra stability.

Place second tier cake on top of the pillars by securing its separator plate to the pillars from base cake.

Repeat the process for all tiers, except the top most.

How to Make a Cowboy Hat - Step-by-Step Instructions

2008-08-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

How to Make a Cowboy Hat - Step-by-Step Instructions:

You'll need:

- gumpaste/fondant Mixture
- Small Cake (desired size of hat)
- Knive for carving
- Buttercream for frosting

Step-by-Step Instructions:

We need to start by making the brim of the hat as this will take a day to dry. For this cake I used a gumpaste/fondant mixture (just knead a 1:1 ratio of gumpaste and fondant). If you use fondant only, it might take several days to dry.

Use a real hat brim to draw a template on a poster board.

Roll out your gumpaste/fondant mixture to desired thickness and cut out the brim using your board template - If you don't have a cut just cut a gumpaste/fondant circle that is larger than the cake (which is going to be center of hat). If you like use a fondant sewing wheel to mark around the edge of the brim a 'seam'.

Place gumpaste/fondant brim over upside down cake to hold its curl shape. If you don't have a hat, place the gumpaste/fondant brim over a surface and lift its side by placing something under the sides to hold the curl until it dries.

Use whatever size of pan to create the size of your hat. I used the small wilton oval pans for this cake (2 layers) and torted them into 4 layers to add alter layers of chocolate fudge and dulce de leche. Place on top of a cake board of same size and trim to fit the size of cake.
Trim and shape your cake to look like your hat. I carved an indentation on top.

Cover with frosting or buttercream.

Then, cover with fondant.

Once the brim is dry, place the cake on top of it.

Decorate your hat to your desire. I added a fondant ribbon and bow.

Icing Flowers (Royal Icing)

2008-05-24T02:00:00.000-07:00

I'm bringing this post to the top as I have added several tutorial links. My next flower should be the Victorian rose and the buttercream rose (worth the wait). I will be adding more flowers to this Index in the coming weeks. I hope you enjoy working with these flowers.

In the following posts I will show you techniques for making the following flowers with Royal Icing. Please be patient as I will be updating this index with instruction in the following post. For future reference, use this as a name guide and Index to step-by-step instructions.

Victorian roses

Daisies

Click HERE for daisy flower step-by-step instructions.

Pansies

Click HERE for Pansy flower step-by-step instructions.

Chrysanthemum

Click HERE for Chrysanthemum flower step-by-step instructions.

Primrose

Click HERE for Primrose flower step-by-step instructions.

Violet and violet leaf

Click HERE for violet flower step-by-step instructions.
Click HERE for violet leaf step-by-step instructions.

Apple Blossom
(bright pink flower on lower left corner)

Click HERE for apple blosssom step-by-step instructions

Daffodils

Click HERE for Daffodil flower step-by-step instructions.

Royal Icing: Primrose

2008-05-24T00:37:00.000-07:00

The primrose flower is a medium sized flower with heart shaped petals. You can find these flowers in different colors, including all yellow, blue with yellow centers and purple with yellow centers. These flowers are accent flowers that add a touch of elegance to any cake. Refer to the Flower Index for other flower's step-by-step instructions.

Primrose Flower

Tip: 103, 14, 1
Royal Icing: Pink (or color of choice)
Consistency: Medium
Royal Icing Recipe

Instructions

1. Looking down on your flower nail, imagine dividing the nail as follows: Note that the flower should be the size of the inner circle. 2. Using your tip 103 make the first hert shaped petal (depicted at the upper left corner of picture below) by sqeezing your piping bag slightly at a 45 degree angle from center to circle edge. At this point continue piping along the edge while gently using a gentle back and forth motion in the middle as you spin your flower nail slowly and proceeding to close the petal. Relax pressure, stop and slide out.
3. Repeat to make four more heart shaped petals (for a total of five).

4. Add a small star center with tip 14.

5. Add a small dot to the top of the star with Tip 1.

6. Dry in medium flower former.

*Picture of cake with this flower

Royal Icing: Pansy

2008-05-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

Pansies are one of my favorite royal icing flowers because they look so complicated, but they are not. If you have tried the other flower tutorials I have previously posted, then trying this flower out should not be difficult. Pansies are found in nature in different colors, including all yellow or all dark blue. Add color by painting over them when dry or using color striped bag. Refer to the Flower Index for more flower instructions.

Pansy Flower

Tip: 104, 1
Royal Icing: yellow and violet (or color of choice)
Consistency: Medium Consistency
Royal Icing Recipe

Instructions:

1. Looking down on your flower nail, imagine dividing the nail as follows. The flowers will be the size of the whole circle.

2. Using your tip 104 make the first yellow petal (one quarter of the circle). Squeeze bag lightly at 45 degree angle, to make and upside down U (as shown on picture below). Make sure that the U closes at the end – relax pressure, unite with the starting point, stop and slide out. Repeat to form the second yellow petal (second quarter of the circle).
3. No let's make the violet petal. This is basically a single ruffled petal that will fill one half of the circle. Create this petal by starting like a single petal, but don't finish it. Instead, use a gentle back and forth motion to create a ruffled effect.

4. Add two shorter petals on top of the first two yellow petals (depicted in picture below in orange for visibility), positioned so that they are centered over the seams where the yellow petal meet with the single ruffled violet petal. 5. Add a tip 1 teardrop shaped loop center in yellow color (as shown in picture below).
6. Dry in medium Flower Former.

7. When dry, dip a small brush in food coloring (violet in this case) and add violet stipes to top yellow flowers.

*Picture of cake that depicts this flower.

Slice of Cake - Fondant

2008-05-13T23:40:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for a babyshower last Friday. I really wanted to create something funky yet adorable, so I came up with a slice of cake with adorable fondant bear toppers. The cake came our bigger than I thought it would as I ended up stacking 4 layers of cake. It was then frosted and covered with fondant. Green ruffle is buttercream.

I made the bears ahead of time out of fondant and painted the paws, the nose and the eyes with black food coloring. The top bear is mama bear holding the newborn cub in her arms. The bottom bear is papa bear. The mother decided to keep the bear toppers so she can use them as cake toppers for the baby's first year cake.

This cake was actually 4 layer of chocolate cake with two fillings of chocolate mousse and one layer of "dulce de leche" (similar to caramel). It was so yummy!!

Buttercream: Chrysanthemum

2008-05-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

Chrysanthemum Flower

Refer to the Flower Index for other flower links.

Materials

Tips: #5 and #81 (Master Tip Set , Measuring Cups and Tool Set)
Icing: Buttercream - Medium Consistency
Icing color: Your choice

Prepared Flower Nail (attach wax paper square)

Instructions:

1- Prepare a bag of buttercream icing with tip #5 and another bag of same buttercream icing color with tip #81.

2- Pipe a mound of icing with tip #5 at center of flower nail. 3- Insert tip #85 with indent facing up) to the bottom edge of mound slightly. Squeeze bag and extend to the edge of inner circle and release pressure pulling slightly upwards at a 45 degree angle. Continue piping these petals around to create a row of base petals.

4- Repeat by piping the next row of petals slightly shorter positioning them between the base petals and on top of the last row (don't forget to insert the tip slightly into the mound, squeeze the bag, pull and release pressure at a 45 degree angle).

5- Continue piping petals until the mound is covered with each row slightly shorter. It usually takes me about 4 rows.

6- At center of flower, pipe 3 vertical petals.

Roses: How to Make Fondant Roses

2008-03-03T16:48:00.000-08:00

Fondant roses are beautiful. These roses harden up and are less fragile than royal icing flowers. If you are able to roll the fondant "dough" very thin, the roses can look very realistic. They do take a little bit longer than icing roses, but the end result is wonderful. Not to mention that they last longer.

Please note that the instructions below may seem a little intimidating. To make a full rose takes about 5 minutes. The first time may take longer. Once you get a hold of it, you will be making these roses a bunch at a time. They are worth it.

Before you start make sure you have the following:

Fondant (and the color of choice: I use Wilton Gel Food Colors)

A plastic mat (this will be for rolling the fondant). I use the Wilton Cake Dividing Wheel (it works wonders for me and it has many uses).

A tiny bit of shortening (to rub the mat so the fondant won't stick)

A rolling pin

Flower fondant cutters (I use the Wilton Rose Bouquet Cutter Set)

Ball tool (I prefer the one that has the ball tool on one side and the veining tool on the other- very practical)

Art brush

Icing flavoring (this will be used to glue the fondant)

Toothpicks

Thin and Thick Foam pads

And last but not least: Before you start, read the "Working with Fondant" that I have previously posted.

Step 1:
Have the amount of rose centers you need ready (toothpick with cone fondant centers). Instructions on how to make this: "Fondant Rose Centers".

Step 2:
Prepare your mat by applying a very thin layer of shortening. This will avoid the fondant from sticking to it. Make sure the amount of shortening you place is very minimal. Too much and it will make the fondant sticky.

Step 3:
Knead a portion of your colored fondant until it is a little bit softer (this shouldn't take long). Roll it into a ball and place on top of the mat.

Step 4:
Roll the fondant from center to the edge to stretch into a very thin layer. I know it is thin enough when I cannot roll it any thinner and I can read the mat printed font through it (see picture below).

Step 5:
Use your medium sized flower cutter and cut as many flowers as you can (remember we are only rolling a portion of the fondant as this will dry very fast). You need three flower cutouts to make one full bloom flower.

Step 6:
Take one cut out (tip: wrap the rest with plastic wrap to prevent drying) and place on top of your thin foam. Make short straight incisions in between each petal as shown on the picture below. This will allow the petals to be more flexible and not rip when bended.

Step 7:
In order to create a more realistic effect, we have to thin the edges of each petal with the ball tool. Place the one side of the ball tool at its middle (i.e., half of the ball is touching the fondant and the second half the thin mat). Roll your ball at the edge on each petal by pressing a little hard. You will see the petals "rippling". DO NOT go back and use the ball tool again on a thinned petal. This will rip the petal. This is a one chance only. I will refer to this step as "balling".

Step 8:
Place your thinned or "balled" flower cut out on top of the thick foam pad. Note that I covered the foam with some corn starch to prevent sticking. With the ball, press its center (as shown on the picture below) slightly hard. This will create a "cupped" center.

Step 9:
Apply a little icing flavoring with an art brush at the cupped center. We use icing flavoring instead of water because the flavoring has alcohol and this evaporates faster thus the flower will dry faster. Insert the rose center toothpick through it. This first petal will be the center petals of your rose.

Before we continue to setp 10, visualize the picture below. Each cutout has 5 petals. Imagine that this looks like a gingerbread man, with petal 0 beign the head; petal 1 and 2 the arms; and petals 3 and 4 the legs.

Step 10:
Apply flavoring to petal 0 (the head). Glue the petal to the center fondant cone as shown on the picture below.

Step 11: Apply flavoring to one arm petal, in this case petal 1 and 'glue' it with flavoring to the cone center.

Step 12:
I assume that by this time you know the process, so a picture is not necessary. Apply flavoring to opposite leg, in this case petal 4 and 'glue' it to the cone center.

Step 13:
Apply flavoring to the remaining arm (petal 2) and 'glue' it to the cone center.

Step 14:
Apply flavoring to the remaining leg (petal 3) and 'glue' it to the cone center. The center petals of the rose are complete. Stop here if you want a rose button.

SECOND LAYER

Step 15:
Take another flower cutout and make the incisions between the petals. Place on the thin foam pad and ball all the petal edges. Transfer the balled flower cutout and place on top of a thick foam pad. INSTRUCTIONS ARE DIFFERENT HERE.

Step 16:
Place the ball tool on middle of one of the arm petals (petal 1) and cup the petal. Do the same to the second arm (petal 2) and then to the center. Turn the petal to the other side and cup the head (petal 0) the two legs (petal 3 and 4).

Turn the petal to the other side and insert the toothpick with cone center and first layer of petals. Glue one arm petal (petal 1) to the one layer rose (exactly where two petals meet) do the same for the second arm (petal 2). Glue the head (petal 0) next, then the opposite leg (petal 4) then remaining leg (petal 3). You have completed the second layer of petals of the rose. Stop here if you want a medium size rose.

THIRD LAYER

Step 16:
Take another flower cutout and make the incisions between the petals. Place on the thin foam pad and ball all the petal edges. Transfer the balled flower cutout and place on top of a thick foam pad. INSTRUCTIONS ARE DIFFERENT HERE.

Step 17:

Cup the center of the flower cut out with your ball tool and then cup all the petals one by one.

Turn the flower cutout to the other side and insert the toothpick on cupped center (petals should be curved on the outside) and glue the petals one by one to the 2 layer rose (where two petals meet).

An easier way is to turn the rose upside down and glue all the petas one by one to the 2 layer rose.

Your full rose bloom is done. CONGRATULATIONS.

Roses: Fondant Rose Centers

2008-03-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

How to prepare rose centers for your Fondant roses:

1) Roll the fondant to be a 1/4 inch thick (use wood rods when rolling to mark the thickness).

2) Use smallest flower cutter and cut your 1/4 inch thick fondant. Each cutout will be the amount used to create the fondant centers.

3) Roll fondant cutout into a ball.

4) Insert this ball into toothpick and roll it with fingertips to form a cone as show below:

5) Make sure this cone center is as long as the width of one petal from large flower cutter.

Fondant: Working with Fondant

2008-03-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

Read: What is Fondant.

Basics of Fondant
As most of you kow, fondant is made of sugar. When working with fondant, the decorator will have to knead the fondant like it would with dough. Fondant dries very quickly and hardens, therefore, the decorator must work fast with fondant. It is advisable to keep plastic wrap nearby to wrap the fondant when needed and prevent it from being exposed to the air.

If your fondant ever dries, never add any liquid to it as the fondant will go back to its basic sticky form. Hard fondant should be disposed.

Storing Fondant
It is advisable to wrap fondant tightly in plastic wrap. Then place this inside a sealable plastic bag. Make sure you remove all the air when wrapping. Fondant should NOT be stored in the refrigerator. The refrigerator holds moisture, and moisture is not good for fondant. Fondant can be stored in a cool and dry cabinet at room temperature.

Working with Fondant
As you knead or work with fondant, your hands can expell body heat and it will soften the fondant In some cases it will feel sticky. Most people feel compelled to use powder sugar to make the fondant less sticky. Note that powder sugar is not the right thickening agent that must be used here. When working with fondant, only use corn starch. Most decorators that work with fondant use a corn starch "puff" that is very easy to make. Buy a disposable cleaning towel as shown below (make sure you buy the one with the thin pores). Place some corn starch in the middle and tighten with a ribbon to make a pouch. Use it as a "puff".

You will use this puff when working with fondant to cover working surfaces or to thicken over-kneaded fondant.

Decorating with Fondant
In order to "glue" pieces of fondant to other fondant, it is advisable to use food flavorings (any flavor, such as clear Vanilla Extract as this doesn't have any color). Food flavoring contains alcohol, which evaporates (dries) faster than water. Remember, moisture is not good for fondant as it makes it sticky. Therefore, this will work perfectly.

When gluing fondant to cake frosting or cardboard, you can use piping gel. Piping gel is thick and it can help 'glue' fondant tightly.

Coloring Fondant
Since moisture is not good for fondant, avoid using liquid food coloring to color fondant. I use the wilton gel colors and this works great.

How to-
I pat the fondant into a little pancake. Place desired amount of gel food coloring in the middle. Fold halfway to make a half circle. Press until flat again incorportating the gel into the fondant. Fold again and press. Repeat process until you feel the gel color has incorporated into the fondant. Knead the fondant "dough" to color evenly. I like this process because it avoids getting food color on my hands. You can use disposable gloves (no latex) to tint fondant as well.

Where to Find Fondant
Fondant can be bought or made at home. I usually buy my fondant. I will try and make a couple of recipes and test them. If all goes well, I will post them with comments in the near future.

Have fun working with fondant and visit us soon. Let us know how informational this blog was.

What is Fondant?

2008-03-03T16:29:00.000-08:00

Fondant is a paste often used to embellish cakes. In its basic form, fondant is made of sugar and water. This paste is rolled and flattened then placed on top of a cake previously frosted in order for the fondant to "glue" itself to it. In other words, fondant is a thick chewy form of frosting.
Fondant cakes are most often used to embellish wedding cakes. However, it can be used to decorate any type of cake. Specially if you want to create 3 dimensional flowers, bows and ribbons.

Fondant can be bought or home made. Fondant prices are a little bit expensive, but worth it. Please see later posts for fondant recipes and tips. Check the Pictures category to the right for pictures of fondant cakes I have made recently.

2008 San Diego's Cake Show PICTURES

2008-03-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

The San diego Cake Club: "Confections on Parade" was so much fun. There were so many beautiful cakes on display. I got some captured in the picture video below. They are in no particular order as the categories are mixed. I'll let you decide who the winners were. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Barbie Doll Cake

2008-02-17T14:04:00.000-08:00

I just made this cake this weekend. It was soooo much fun designing the dres and dressing her up in it.

The barbie cake is chocolate chocolate chunk cake iced with fudge. The rose cake is strawberry cake with strawberry filling and iced with white fluffy vanilla buttercream.

The dress is all fondant. The white decorations on the white portion of the dress are white buttercream icing piped with a small round tip. The rose cake is covered in white fondant. The ruffle is white buttercream and the roses are fondant. Check how to make fondant roses here.

Pink Cowgirl Hat Cake

2008-02-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

I made this cake at the end of 2007 for a 1 year old birthday girl. I forgot my camera at home, so I only have my cell phone's pictures.

Cakes:

The bottom cake was super moist chocolate chocolate chip cake filled with raspberry and iced with vanilla buttercream. Green grass is green vanilla buttercream, flowers and leaves are fondant. Lasso is chocolate fondant (I was too tired at this time I just left it that color, I suggest making it a lighter color).

The hat is cake too!!! It is sour cream vanilla chocolate marbled cake filled and iced with fudge. Covered in pink fondant. Ribbon is white fondant.

The cupcakes are white chocolate cake with white chocolate chips, iced with colored buttercream. Flowers and small hats are made of fondant.

How to make a HAT cake tutorial

Flower Cookie Bouquet - Spring

2008-02-17T12:49:00.000-08:00

Great Spring / Easter cookie bouquet idea!!!

I placed dry foam inside the clay pot to position cookies. Used green tissue paper to create greenery effect.

For cookie recipe see my previous post (here). How to decorate your cookies (here) - This link will take you to the icing recipes and techniques.

Valentine's Cookie Bouquets

2008-02-10T23:45:00.001-08:00

Need more valentine ideas? Here are a couple of pictures I took at a cake club meeting. Note that I did not baked or created these cookie bouquets - Kelle did. The cookies shown below are iced with buttercream!! I was impressed, since we try not to use buttercream on cookies due to its soft consistency. However, these turned out just great. I want to bring to your attention, that buttercream won't have that shiny finish as color flow (see color flow recipe here). The buttercream recipe is Colette Peter’s.

Kelle’s mom’s cookie recipe:

1c butter

1 1/4 c granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of milk

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Tip: you can add about 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg for 1 batch

I had posted instructions for creating cookies on a stick HERE. It should apply to this recipe. Bake at 400 degrees Farenheits for 8 - 10 mins.

Colette Peter’s Buttercream recipe:

2 cups butter (unsalted - room temperature)

1 cup milk (room temperature)

4 pounds of powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)

3 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

Add all ingredients to bowl and mix them until all are incorporated and the icing is smooth. Fill a piping bag with buttercream. Pipe buttercream icing onto cookies (for outline). Pipe more icing to fill the outline.

I had posted color flow / royal icing recipes and “How to Decorate your Cookies” previously HERE. These might be helpful.

Heart cookie cutters recommended

Valentine's Cookies

2008-02-09T14:54:00.001-08:00

Follow Cookie recipe and instructions HERE

Cookie Cutter Ideas
Valentine's Cookie Cutter Set
7-pcs Metal Heart Cookie Set
Heart Cookie Cutter Set

Chocolate Truffles- Recipe

2008-02-09T14:49:00.000-08:00

It seems that chocolate truffles do not fall in the category of cake decorating. I thought this recipe will teach you how to make truffles than you can use to place on top of chocolate cakes. I have some nice ideas for decorating cakes with truffles, but no pictures to show you. I will try to make one soon so I can share with you. Meanwhile, you can decorate your truffles to match any holiday- check pictures.

Ingredients

1/2 pound (8 oz.) of bittersweet chocolate
1/2 pound (8 oz.) of semisweet chocolate (to lighten the bittersweet chocolate)
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon of coffee (*optional* to bring the chocolate flavor out)
1/8 cup brandy
2 tablespoons of good vanilla extract
Dutch processed cocoa powder (about half a cup) to roll truffles in

Step-by-Step Instructions

Chop the bittersweet and semisweet chocolate finely and place on a medium size bowl.
Add the butter and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat the process.
Set aside
In a sauce pan, heat the heavy cream on the stove top on medium heat until simmering.
Let stand for about 30 seconds
Pour the cream through a fine meshed sieve over the chocolate and let stand for about 1 minute.
Whisk the cream and chocolate starting from the center until you incorporate all the ingredients together
Add coffee (if using), brandy and vanilla. Whisk one more time
Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour
Using 2 spoons roll small balls of the chocolate and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
Using gloves (powder free), roll the balls between your hands to make it round.
Roll them in the cocoa powder

Serve at room temperature.
They can be refrigerated to last longer (in airtight containers), and served at room temperature later. Allow to cool before refrigerating.

Valentine's Chocolate Truffles

2008-02-09T14:48:00.001-08:00

I took a class on chocolate truffles and was amazed at the endless ideas to decorate truffles. For Chocolate Truffles recipe, click HERE.

Truffles can be rolled on sprinkles that resembles the holiday's theme (top left corner). They can be rolled in coconut and then dipped in white chocolate (white one on lower left corner), rolled in coconut only (lower left corner) or simply just dipped in rich dark chocolate (or milk chocolate, your preference).

For heart truffle shown below: I used coating chocolate (perfect for melting and molding) and poured over a transfer sheet (design is colored cocoa). Allow to set for a bit and use a cookie cutter to make chocolate cut outs (heart shape). Place a cut-out on the bottom, top with chocolate truffle using a piping bag, and top with another cut-out to sandwich the truffle filling. Voila!!

The picture below shows a chocolate truffle dipped in dark chocolate. Allow to cool and with a decorator brush green gold luster dust... beautiful!!! The ripple design was made by using a dipping spiral tool.

Truffle rolled on colored crystal sugar.

2008 San Diego Cake Show: Confections on Parade

2008-02-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

The San diego Cake Club Presents theit 25th Annual

"Confections on Parade"

An Artistic Cake Display and Competition with more than 150 cakes on display. Most proceeds benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Every level of decorator is welcome to enter. Visit the the San Diego Cake Club website for more information: http://www.sandiegocakeclub.com/.

WHEN: February 23rd and 24th, 2008
TIME: 10am Saturday to 4pm Sunday
WHERE: La Jolla Village Square (at the center of the shopping center, first and second floors)ADDRESS: 8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037

There will be sugarcraft demonstrations hourly.Saturday 11am - 5pmSunday Noon - 3pm
There will be a cupcake corner for everyone to decorate cupcakes.
There will be a raffle as well with great prizes including Kitchen Aid Mixer and Dysneyland Tickets.

To see last year's cake pictures, see my video posted here.

2007 San Diego Cake Show

2008-02-09T12:04:00.000-08:00

The San Diego Cake Club threw a Cake Show last year (March 2007) and I never posted the video. The video below is a compilation of some of the cakes that were on display lat year.

This year's cake show (2008) will be held this month. For information see my post here.

Most proceeds benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

** You might need to click a couple of times on the Play button to get it going. Enjoy!!

Nintendo Super Mario Brothers Cake

2007-11-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

Someone asked me to make a cake for their birthday. I wanted to create something colorful and fun, so I came across Su-Yin's cake and decided to replicate it. This cake was fun to make. I started by making Mario which I knew would be more difficult than the rest. Once he was made, the rest came about easy.

Double click on the pictures below to enlarge the pictures and see all sides of the cake.

The cake is a marble chocolate-vanilla cake filled and covered with chocolate fudge, then covered with marshmallow fondant (MMF). Mario's body is filled with bread and covered with marshmallow fondant. All decorations are MMF.

Royal Icing: Daffodil

2007-11-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

Daffodil

I have moved to a difficult flower, however, the difficulty only lies in the several steps that it takes to create the flower and not the handling of the piping bag.

Materials

Consistency: medium

Royal Icing Recipe

Prepare one bag with tip 104; another with tip 3 and another with tip 1 - All filled with yellow royal icing.

Instructions

1. Prepare your flower nail by placing a square of wax paper on top of it, secured with some icing. Looking down on your flower nail, imagine dividing the nail in 6 equal parts.

2. Using your tip 104 make the first petal (yellow royal icing). Squeeze bag lightly at 45 degree angle, sliding to outer edge and when it reaches the outer edge spin nail to fan royal icing and return to starting point to close loop by relaxing pressure and sliding out (think of it as an upside down U- see upper left corner of picture).
Petal depicted in orange for visibility. Space in the middle will not be there, but marked as seen to trace the movement of the tip.

3. Repeat to make a total of 6 petals.

4. Dip your fingers in cornstarch and pinch outside of each petals to make them pointy

Flower Center

1. Start by making a flat dot at the center of the dot with tip 3. Then move in a circular motion to create a coil that opens up (like a tornado shape) – base should be narrower than the top. Stop and lift away.

Center depicted in black to show tip movement. Spiral on top like a coil.

2. With tip 1 bag, add a zigzag trim to the top edge of the coil.

Trim depicte in pink for visibility. Double click to enlarge.

3. Dry in small flower former to give a slight cupped shape to flower

Royal Icing: Daisy

2007-11-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Daisy
Refer to Flower Index for other flower links.

Materials

LINK

Consistency: medium

Royal Icing Recipe

Although daisies are found in anture with white petals and yellow centers, it is fun to make them in any color you want in order to march the theme of your cake.
Instructions

1. Prepare your flower nail with a square of wax paper (glue it with a little icing). Looking down on your flower nail, imagine dividing the nail in 12 parts as follows:

2. Position your bag with tip 104 parallel to head of your nail. Wide end close to outer edge and narrow edge angled up slightly. Squeeze slightly and slide tip towards center. Voila, your first petal. Do the north, west, east and south petals.

3. Repeat for total of 12 petals.

4. Add center with tip 5, by making a dot and then pressing with your fingers lightly (depicted in orange for visibility)

5. Dry in medium flower former to give shape to flower.

Flowers in Flower Former:

Chocolate Marshmallow Fondant (Choco MMF)

2007-10-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Follow instructions to MMF recipe HERE. You will add the following ingredients to recipe above.

1 oz melted semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 tbsp cocoa powder (it can be either Dutch-process or natural - the later will give a more pronounced flavor)*

Follow Instructions on MMF recipe from Step1 to 3, for melting the marshmallow. Once these are melted, stir melted chocolate in a mixing bowl until well incorporated. Set aside.
Here is the change to the MMF recipe. Instead of just adding the sugar, place the sugar in a small mixing bowl and sift the cocoa powder in a small mesh strainer over the sugar. Mix the dry ingredients.
Proceed to step four, sift sugar and cocoa mix over the melted marshmallow and continue the instructions, i.e., mix until well incorporated.
Continue with the kneading (this is hot- wait until it cools a little or start kneading with a spoon until safe to the touch).

*Variations to this recipe:
- You can also use white chocolate by substituting 1 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and 1 tbspoon of cocoa powder with 2 oz of white chocolate.

Royal Icing: Violet Leaves

2007-10-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

Violet leafs add a pleasant full look to cakes. Since violet flowers are too small, I like placing them under the flower to bring out its details. Refer to Flower Index for other flower links.

Violet Leaf

Tip: 103
Royal Icing: Green (one color
Consistency: medium
Royal Icing Recipe

Instructions:

Looking down on your flower nail, imagine dividing the nail in half; Then in two quarters.
Squeeze royal icing on one quarter of the nail slightly. Go up by using a jiggling or zig zag motion (another way to describe it is to do multiple ‘n’ letters
When you reach the top slide tip out a little bit and ‘fan’ the royal icing as you turn the nail.
Continue down the path (second quarter) in a jiggling motion moving back to starting point.
Dry in medium flower former to give a slight cupped shape to leaf.

Link to how to make Violet Flowers (flower shown above)

Royal Icing: Violet Flower

2007-10-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Violets add a lot of color to cakes. You can make them any color you want to match the theme of your cake. These can be used as filler or as the main flower theme. Refer to the Flower Index for other flower links.

VIOLET FLOWER

Tip: 59 and 1
Royal Icing: two colors- Petals (violet, white or pink) and yellow center
Consistency: medium
Royal Icing Recipe

INSTRUCTIONS:

Looking down on your flower nail, imagine dividing the nail as follows: Note that the flower should be the size of the inner circle
Using your tip 101 make the first bottom petal (violet, white or pink royal icing). Squeeze bag lightly at 45 degree angle, to make and upside down U (depicted on the upper left corner of picture below). Make sure that the U closes at the end – relax pressure, unite with the starting point, stop and slide out.
Repeat to make two more bottom petals.
Make two shorter rounded top petals
Add two center dots with yellow royal icing (tip 1).
Dry in small flower former to give a slight cupped shape to flower.

Royal Icing: Apple Blossom

2007-10-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

By popular demand, I am starting a series of post with step-by-step instructions (Refer to Flower Index for links to other flowers). Royal icing flowers are beautiful and the end result will leave you deeply satisfied. They embellish everythig: cakes, cupcakes and even cookies. I would like to mention that making these flowers may be difficult at the beginning, but the skills are not difficult to acquire. Lets start with easy ones and move on to more difficult ones.

Apple Blossom

Tip: 101 and 1
Royal Icing: two colors - pink or white; and yellow
Consistency: Medium
Royal Icing Recipe

NOTE: These flowers are often used as filler flowers. Try them on simple cupcakes to embellish them.

Instructions:

1. Looking down on your flower nail, imagine dividing the nail in 5 equal parts.

*Note that the flower should be the size of the inner circle.

2. Using your tip 101 make the first petal (white or pink royal icing). Squeeze bag lightly at 45 degree angle, to make and upside down U (depicted on the upper left corner of picture below). Make sure that the U closes at the end – relax pressure, unite with the starting point, stop and slide out.- Repeat to make four more petals (a total of 5)

3. Prepare bag with tip 1 and fill with yellow royal icing. Add one dot in the center and four more on the outside as seen below.

4. Dry in small flower former to give a slight cupped shape to flower. Apple blossom is bright pink flower on lower left corner.

Link to Cake Picture with these flowers.

Transporting Cake and Tools

2007-10-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

I have found the most convenient way to transport cakes. I have to do this often, and most of the cake caddies that I have found do not have secure locks with wide and steady handles. Try this 3-in-1 Cake Caddy, so far it is being so helpful and very convenient. It has a deep cover for tall cakes. Also, you can tranpost cupcakes!!!!

If you are new at cake decorating, you can buy the 50pc tool set by Wilton. The kit includes tips, couplers, spatula, decorating brush, featherweight decorating bags, food coloring, a board for practicing decorating with frosting and an instruction booklet all enclosed in a very useful caddy. Check it out!!Also, there is a bigger kit by wilton with 101 pcs, but I think the 50 pcs tool set will do. You can add whatever is missing by buying them individually as the need arises.

Marshmallow Fondant - Small Round Pillow with Roses Cake

2007-10-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

I made this small round cake for a friend's tea call (same day quick cake). The fondant used for the drape, border and to cover the cake were made from scratch with Marshmallow Fondant (MMF) and covered with some pearl dust to give it a shine (I am not sure if you can tell from this picture). I didn't try to use MMF for the flowers, as I had these made previously. If I had used MMF for the roses, I would have made them when the MMF was still fresh and warm (just made). I find that it is easier to roll fondant very thin when it is just made. Easier than commercial fondant.

I had made and stored this MMF for a week so it was a little hard to roll it thin. By heating it a little bit in the microwave, it made it easy to knead again. The cost to make MMF is around $3dlls - compare with store bought ($20dlls/5lbs). Remember, MMF fondant tastes waaaay better than commercial fondant.

Coming Soon!!
Theme Marshmallow Fondant Cake: Super Mario Brothers

Superman Cake: Frozen Buttercream Tranfers (FBCT)

2007-10-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

I was trying for the first time the Frozen Butter Cream Transfer technique. It turned out to be very easy and the end result is WOW.

What you need:

Wax paper
Pencil
Buttercream, buttercream... that's all!!! (medium consistency)

Instructions:

Choose a template for your cake design (sometimes the template comes with the cake pan).
Trace the cake design on wax paper. If using a molded pan, trace insert.
Invert desing as we will have to transfer buttercream onto cake by flipping image (if using molded pan insert, don' t need to invert image as it is already inverted for you)
Trace outline with black buttercream
Fill the rest with buttercream (color of choice) with a piping bag using a round tip. Width of your choice. You can peek to see how image is coming out!
In order to avoid gaps between colors, it is okay to overlap some of the buttercream on top of other. Don't mix.
Place in freezer for one hour.
Place wax paper over cake, with buttercream touching top of cake (the cake can be slightly frosted).
Remove wax paper carefully and VOILA!!!

This is the end result cake:

Contemporary Cake

2007-10-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a cake that was contemporary and artistic. I tried the following 2 layer 6 inch cake. Imagine this as a 2 tier cake!! It would look wonderful!!

I tried a new chocolate recipe (chocolate cake with chocolate pudding and chocolate chips) filled with dark chocolate truffle mousse. I covered the cake with chocolate butter cream for the fondant to stick to and then covered it with white fondant. The cake was then decorated with orange fondant cutouts in different circle shapes.

Double click on the picture to enlarge it:

The cake was so moist and delicious. It stayed like that until it was gone!!!

Click on this link to an earlier post for fondant information:
What is fondant?
Working with Fondant
Marshmallow Fondant Recipe
More Fondant Cake Pics

Coming SOON!!
How to Make Fondant Roses

Getting Started: Cake Decorating

2007-10-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Kits with Everything You Need to get Started:

Wilton 101-Decorating Tool Set

Contains:

Tool caddy to organize, carry, and store the essentials
Collection of tools, colors, and food flavors to get you started
The tool caddy holds 48 tips and 12 paste food colors in a lift-out tray; upright storage prevents spills
Storage space for keeping your tools, such as: spatulas, bags, and other large supplies neatly organized
Tool caddy measures approximately 15 by 7 by 5 inches deep

Although the kit above is very complete, I really recommend starting with something smaller and adding the extra tools and stuff as you need them.

50-pcs Tool Set

Includes tool caddy to organize, carry and store essentials
Includes food coloring (prime colors)
Comes with instruction booklet with ideas and texhnoques
includes a practice boards with templates for trials.

Pans:

In order to avoid baking 2 cakes for a two layer cake, use a 3 inch deep cake pan. Just bake one cake and tort by half for two layers or divide them into more layers. I use the Wilton round pans and they work just perfectly for me..

8 x 3-Inch Round Cake
10 x 3-Inch Round Cake
12 x 3-Inch Round Pan

Featherweight bags:
Wilton Piping Bags (feather weight)

Although I love featherweight bags they are sold individually at a very expensive price (around $5 dlls each). In cake decorating you need plenty of them, specially if working with a lot of colors. I bought a couple of the featherweights and a bunch of the disposable ones. I use the disposable when I am using strong colors like red so I can always dispose them.

Piping Bags (diposable)

Decorating Tips and Tools:

The following is a good set, Master Tip Set
Measuring Cups and Tool Set

Tips: Smoothing a Cake

2007-10-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

If you used meringue powder in your icing, wait 5-10 mins after icing the cake until this dries. Cut a large piece of wax paper and place it on top of the iced cake and smooth it with your hands by sliding your hand on top of the wax paper. Do the same for the sides of the cake. This will make your cake look smooth. Repeat steps if necessary.

Another method that I prefer very often is the "viva" method. Viva is the brand of a paper kitchen towel. Place smooth side of the towel touching crusted buttercream frosted cakes on top. Slide your hand in circular motion gently across the towel without pressing hard. Once you assess how much pressure you can use, then you can press slightly until you get a smooth cake. For me, this works better than wax paper and it is very easy to use. The towel doesn't stick to the buttercream, but always starts by using slight pressure until you get a hold of it.

Icing Color Bleeding

2007-10-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

I've been asked several times if I have something to say about 'color bleeding'. By using the frosting recipes shown here and gel food coloring, I have never faced this problem. However, color bleeding is caused by many reasons. During the cake decorating classes that I have taken, I have always heard that other's cake frosting or cookie decorations have faded.

The primary reason was that they were left to direct SUN-LIGHT EXPOSURE. Make sure your cakes or cookies are not exposed to direct sun-light as this can fade the colors.

Also, MOISTURE is not good for frosting as this may cause the colors to bleed. Make sure your frozen cakes are completely thawed before you decorate them with colored frosting. The moisture from the frozen cake as it thawes will 'sweat' and dilute frosting ruining its consistency and in some cases diluting the color. Also, when you store your cake, do not cover it in an air-tight container as the cake will sweat if the heat rises.

When using COLOR FLOW, if the outline color is diferent than the filling, make sure you let the outline dry for a couple of hours before you proceed to filling your piece as this may cause bleeding.

If anyone reading this has any more comments to add, please feel free to do so. The purpose of this blog is to share our knowledge, please help us achieve that.

Black Buttercream Icing

2007-10-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

I often hear people complain that their black icing did not come quiet black. Here is some good advice: a true shade of black cannot be obtained from white icing. The black coloring will reduce to a gray or a very dimmed black color. Before you start coloring, start with a chocolate icing, i.e., add cocoa powder to your icing before the black coloring.

Try working with gel colors (I like both Wilton and Americolor Gel food coloring), which to my opinion, pick up the color better than liquids and won't change the consistency of your icing. This become very handy when working with royal icing and fondant which can change the consistency or make it hard to work with.

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe (MMF)

2007-10-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

1 lb of Mini Marshmallows (easier to melt)
1 tsp Clear Vanilla Extract
1tsp No Color Butter Flavor
2 tbsp of Water
2 lbs of Powdered Sugar (sifted)
A little bit of shortening

Instructions:

Grease a microwaveable bowl with shortening. Add all mini marshmallows, clear vanilla, butter flavoring and water

Microwave for 60 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir until completely melted with fork

If all the mini marshmallows don't melt after stirring, return to microwave for 30 seconds and sitr (repeat in itervals if necessary) - this step is usually not necesary for me

Add the powdered sugar gradually (you might not need all the sugar) and process at low speed until well incorporated, then increase speed (if you don't have a stand mixer, mix with fork until well incorporated then knead)

Powder surface with powder sugar. Knead marshmallow mix (careful, it might be hot at this point so knead with fork until it cools down a bit. You can grease your hands if you like to avoid marshmallow sticking to your hands). Kneading should not take long.

If the mix is too sticky, then add more sugar until it becomes firmer

Knead into a loaf (it will be a little bit soft at this point but don't worry). Wrap in plastic and cool for one hour (it will get firmer then)

You can store on dry place or refrigerator (it will store for weeks)

TIPS:
- Roll MMF same day you made it when a little warm to get a really thin rolled fondant.

- Let the refrigerated fondant sit for a while at room temperature before use. You can speed the process by microwaving the fondant for 10 seconds and knead again.

- If it is too dry when you knead your fondant, add water and knead again.

Fondant Whimsical Cake

2007-10-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

I made this whimsical cake for a friend's reunion not too long ago. The top layer is strawberry cake filled and frosted with strawberry cream cheese; the bottom layer is chocolate cake filled with chocolate fudge and frosted with chocolate buttercream.

All decorations, and bow are fondant.

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe
More Fondant Cake Pics

Coming SOON
Theme Marshmallow Fondant Cake: Super Mario Brothers

Tiered Rose Fondant Cake

2007-10-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

Triple chocolate cake filled with chocolate and iced with chocolate buttercream seems to be everyone's favorite. So I made it again! I covered the cake with white fondant and pink fondant roses. The ruffle is white vanilla buttercream.

Full view of this 2 tier cake. Total number of roses are about 38.

Top view of upper tier.

A close up look of this wonderful fondant roses (and leaves).

I promise to post step by step instructions on how to make these flowers this week. I hope you enjoy making them and above all, displaying them!!

Click on this link to an earlier post for fondant information:
What is fondant?
Working with Fondant
More Fondant Pics
Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

COMING SOON
How to Make Fondant Roses

Working with Fondant

2007-10-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

You will use this puff when working with fondant to cover working surfaces or to thicken over-kneaded fondant.

Decorating with Fondant
In order to "glue" pieces of fondant to other fondant, it is advisable to use food flavorings (any flavor). Food flavoring contains alcohol, which evaporates (dries) faster than water. Remember, moisture is not good for fondant as it makes it sticky. Therefore, this will work perfectly.

When gluing fondant to cake frosting or cardboard, you can use piping gel. Piping gel is thick and it can help 'glue' fondant tightly.

Coloring Fondant
Since moisture is not good for fondant, avoid using liquid food coloring to color fondant. I use the wilton gel colors and this works great.

How to-
I pat the fondant into a little pancake. Place desired amount of gel food coloring in the middle. Fold halfway to make a half circle. Press until flat again incorportating the gel into the fondant. Fold again and press. Repeat process until you feel the gel color has incorporated into the fondant. Knead the fondant "dough" to color evenly. I like this process because it avoids getting food color on my hands. You can use disposable gloves (no latex) to tint fondant as well.

Where to Find Fondant
Fondant can be bought or made at home. I usually buy my fondant. I will try and make a couple of recipes and test them. If all goes well, I will post them with comments in the near future. UPDATE: Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

Have fun working with fondant and visit us soon. Let us know how informational this blog was.

Click on this link to an earlier post for fondant information:
What is fondant?
Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

COMING SOON
How to Make Fondant Roses

Fondant: Gift Wrapped Cake

2007-10-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

I continued taking more fondant classes to be able to share with you all.

Once again, the cake was a moist chocolate with chocolate chips and filled with chocolate buttercream. This was then covered with white fondant. Then decorated the cake with a pastel pink fondant ribbon (come back for later posts with techniques). Then accented the cake with small flower fondant cutouts with pink centers.

This cake can be done with a square shaped cake... even better, make it a stack of 3 gifts on top of one another!!!!

Picture 1: The front of the cake

Picture 2: The back of the cake

Click on this link to an earlier post for fondant information:
What is fondant?
Working with Fondant
Marshmallow Fondant Recipe
More Fondant Cake Pics

COMING SOON
How to Make Fondant Roses

What is Fondant?

2007-10-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Fondant is a paste often used to embellish cakes. In its basic form, fondant is made of sugar and water. This paste is rolled and flattened then placed on top of a cake previously frosted in order for the fondant to "glue" itself to it. In other words, fondant is a thick chewy form of frosting.
Fondant cakes are most often used to embellish wedding cakes. However, it can be used to decorate any type of cake. Specially if you want to create 3 dimensional flowers, bows and ribbons.

Fondant can be bought or home made. Fondant prices are a little bit expensive, but worth it. Please see later posts for fondant recipes and tips. Check the Pictures label to the left for pictures of fondant cakes I have made recently.

Click on this link to an earlier post for fondant information:
Working with Fondant
Fondant Pictures
Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

COMING SOON
How to Make Fondant Roses

Elegant Fondant Cake

2007-10-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

I made this chocolate cake covered with fondant. Everyone was fascinated by the texture and design. The drape and flowers are edible as they are made with fondant. Techniques and tips for working with fondant will be posted later.

About this cake: 'Ever so moist chocolate cake' covered in fondant.
Drape: fondant with 'gum text' tinted Ivory.
Flowers: vibrant flowers made of fondant with pearl stamens.

Check out the following links for more fondant related posts:
What is fondant?
Working with Fondant
Fondant Pictures
Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

COMING SOON
How to Make Fondant Roses

How to Decorate your Cookies

2007-10-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

Once you have your baked cookies, there are endless ways to decorate your cookies. Let your imagination fly!!!

For shiny smooth decorating (see the picture below), you can use COLOR FLOW. Check the Color Flow RECIPE by cliking here, check the Color Flow TECHNIQUE by clicking here.

You can also use the same color flow technique by watering down your Royal Icing recipe. The result will be similar to color flow, just opaque (i.e., not a shiny finish).

You can also use star tip decoration. I use royal icing for cookies because the buttercream doesn't really dry as well and can make the cookie soft. Also, royal icing and color flow work best if you want to wrap the cookie in plastic bags.

Cookie Bouquet ideas: Click on the links to see pictures

Flower Cookie Bouquet
Hallloween Bouquet
Valentine's Day Bouquets
Rose Bouquet

Color Flow Icing Technique: How to Decorate Your Cookies

2007-10-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

OUTLINING

**Use full strenght color flow to outline pattern.**

Fill a decorating bag with tip 2 with full strength color flow.

Touch surface, sqeeze and lift your decorating bag filled with full strength color flow icing and drop icing string to form pattern outline. Stop, touch the surface and pull away. Blend lines using a damp decorators brush softly.
Let outline dry a few minutes until it crusts.

If using a different outlining color than the filling color, let the outlinign dry for 1-2 hours to prevent bleeding of colors.

FILLING IN

**Use thinned color flow (Click here for "Thinning Color Flow" directions)**

Use a brand new decorating bag (or parchment bag), that means, no whole or coupler.
Fill the bag with thinned color flow.
Push the icing to the tip.

Cut a small opening at the tip of the bag.

Begin filling along the outlines first and let the icing blend by itself. Do not stop filling before completing the piece.

Once you finish filling, very quickly push icing to the unfilled edges with a toothpick.

Pierce bubbles with toothpick.
Color flow dries very quickly with a shiny pillow effect.

Let decoration air dry thoroughly at least 48 hrs. If this is used on top of cookies, it will dry overnight.

Cookie pictures: Halloween Bouquet

Links to:
Cookie Recipe and step-by-step instructions
Color Flow Icing Recipe: Cookies Glaze
Thinning Color FlowRoyal Icing as Color Flow: Coming Soon

Thinning Color Flow Icing

2007-10-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

In order to fill outlines you need to thin the color flow icing. To do so you must add water until you are able to spoon out a small amount of icing and let it drop back into the bowl. Then do the 10 second rule: when it takes a full count of 10 for the icing to sink back into the mixture and disappear completely, the icing is ready.
Other recipes will tell you to add the water with few drops at a time. Please do that because it is easier to fix a not very thinned icing than to fix a very thinned icing. I usually start with 2 teaspoons for a whole recipe then continue with few drops at a time.

Links to:
Color Flow Icing Recipe
Color Flow Icing Technique: How to decorate your cookies
Cookie Recipe and step-by-step instructions
Royal Icing as Color Flow: Coming Soon

Color Flow Icing Recipe : Cookie Decoration

2007-10-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

Full strength consistency. Yields 1 3/4 cup

1 lb sifted pure cane confectioners' sugar (4 cups)
2 tablespoons Color Flow Icing Mix ( I use WILTON Color Flow Mix
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon water.

Make sure all utensils are grease free. ** Tip: boil egg beaters to remove grease. **

Mix all ingredients starting at slow speed (stay at slow if using a stand mixer) and increase to medium (if using a hand mixer).
Mix for 8 minutes.
Stir in desired icing colors (I use Wilton gel colors to keep full strength consistency).

Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth to avoid drying. Color flow dries pretty fast.

Cookie Recipe and step-by-step instructions

Color Flow Icing Technique: How to decorate your cookies

Thinning Color Flow

Cookies: Halloween Bouquet

2007-10-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Links to:
Cookie Recipe and step-by-step instructions
Color Flow Icing Recipe: Cookies Glaze
Color Flow Icing Technique: How to decorate your cookies
Thinning Color Flow
Royal Icing as Color Flow: Coming Soon

Cookies: Cookie Dough (Roll-Out Cookies) Recipe

2007-10-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Recipe:

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 large egg
1 tspoon vanilla
2 tspoon baking powder
3 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed.

Add egg and vanilla and mix.

Add baking powder then one cup of flour. Mix at low speed.

Add the rest of the flour one cup at a time and continue mixing.

The cookie dough will be dry and stiff, so try mixing with the electric mixer and finish by hand (if the dough is too dry then add 1 tspoon of water and mix).

Do not chill dough so it won't loose its freshness and consistency. It is best if this dough is used right away.

You can divide dough into 2 halfs and roll them separately.

On a floured surface roll each portion into a big circle and 1/8 in. thick. I use dowel rods on the side of the dough and under the rolling pin, to be able to tell whn to stop. The cookie dough will be as thick as the rods.

Dip cookie cutters into flour before you cut the cookies ( I recommend Comfort Grip cookie Cutter by Wilton). Cut your cookies.

Insert the cookie stick (I used Wilton Cookie Sticks on picture below) by placing your hand on top of the cookie. Wiggle the stick in half way through the cookie. Use your hand to guide the cookie stick.

**Double Click on Pictures to Enlarge**

Lift the cookie with spatula. Check to see if cookie stick is showing on the other side of the cookie, if so, cover up with dough.

Bake cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet on top rack of oven for 6-7 minutes, or until cookies are lighlty browned at the edges.

This recipe makes about 20-24 average sized cookies. For the cookies made in the Cookie Bouquet picture, it makes about 12-13 cookies.

NOTE: the cookie dough can be tinted with Wilton Icing color. Knead small amounts until desired color is reached.

CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Blend into dough 3 ounces of melted unsweetened chocolate.

LINKS
Flow Icing Recipe: Cookies Glaze
Color Flow Icing Technique: How to decorate your cookies
Thinning Color Flow
Royal Icing as Color Flow: Coming Soon

Buttercream: Basket-Weave Technique

2007-10-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Double Click to enlarge Pic

Materials

Tip: #47
Icing: Buttercream
Icing Consistency: Medium

Instructions

Prepare your cake: tort and frost with same color of icing as your basket.

Fill prepared tip 47 icing bag with medium consistency buttercream.

In order to create straight lines (if you are not ready to eyeball it) we have to imaginarily divide the cake in equal parts and mark the edges with a spatula.
- If you have a round cake, mark the half of the cake (or diameter) with a spatula just by touching the edge and making a small indentation.
- Divide another half across the diameter (that is, divide by quarters).
- Divide again by 8ths, then divide again by 16ths.
- I am sure you get the idea by now, so if you have a square cake or oval cake, divide it by equal parts.
- Place your spatula parallel to the side (wall) of the cake and indent a line where you marked the edge of the cake. Continue this around the cake to have 16 vertical lines (16th parts).

Using your prepared tip 47 icing bag, place the tip with serrated side pointing upwards and make one vertical line (use the vertical lines that you marked in the cake to guide you). Since this is our first line we have to make another vertical line on top of this one (2 layers) to make sure it will be in level with the rest as we progress. *Double click on pics to enlarge*
Make a horizontal icing line across the vertical icing line (to make a letter T) using the width of your previous marked line until the next marked line (that is, cover two parts).
Use your tip 47 and pipe a small piece of icing to mark the width of spacing between horizontal lines as shown above (always mark spacing with your tip or you will end up with a loose basket).

Create your second horizontal line parallel to the top vertical line. Repeat until you finish covering your vertical line.
Make another vertical line (one layer from now on) on the secong imaginary line, now covered by the ends of your horizontal line and space markers.
Insert tip gently under previous vertical line (as shown in picture below) and create a horizontal line across second vertical line (tip: do not touch vertical line when piping, simply lift icing upwards and let it fall over vertical line - this will prevent the icing from sinking)
Repeat process. (step 7-8)
I am sure you get the idea now, repeat the process until you have completed the 16 divided parts of the cake.

Practice with an upright board if you want to get a more realistic feel

Variations

I like the serrated side of the tip as it gives the basket weave some texture. You can use the flat side of the tip to create a different texture for your basket (see picture below).

You can use a round tip (tip 7) to create the vertical lines and the serrated tip 47 to create the horizontal lines. This creates a wonderful basket as well.

Basket-Weave Cake

2007-10-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

In order to increase my knowledge in cake decorating I took a class to learn new techniques. I learnt in this class to create beautiful Royal icing flowers and basket-weave the cake with buttercream.

I would like to share with you the buttercream basketweave and rope border decorations that I used in this cake as well as these beautiful royal icing flowers.

Click on the links below for step-by-step instructions and/or information:
Royal Icing Recipe
Buttercream Icing Recipe
Basket-Weave technique (step-by-step instructions)
Royal Icing Flower Index

Coming Soon:
Royal Icing Flower Index with step-by-step instructions
Rope Border

About this cake: Chocolate, cinnamon and banana cake filled with 'dulce de leche'. Basket weave and rope borders made with buttercream icing. Flowers with royal icing: apple blossoms, daisies, victorian roses, daffodils, mums and violets.

Royal Icing Recipe

2007-10-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

By popular demand, here is the Royal Icing recipe by Wilton.

Stiff Consistency (Yields 3 cups)

Ingredients:

3 level tablespoons of Meringue Powder
1 lb. sifted pure cane confectioners' sugar
5-6 tablespoons lukewarm water

**Make sure all your utensils are grease free. Tip: boil egg beaters to remove grease.**

- Place confectioners sugar on a large bowl and add the meringue powder. Mix at low speed until blended.
- Add water and mix for about 8 minutes at low-medium speed until the icing looses its sheen (if you have been mixing for 8 minutes and the icing still has some sheen, don't worry about it, your icing is done).
- To prevent drying cover the bowl of icing with a damp cloth while you are working with it.

Stiff, Medium or Thin Consistency:

Stiff consistency- See recipe above

Medium consistency- Add a teaspoon of water per cup of icing above

Thin consistency- Add two teaspoons of water per each cup of stiff consistency. One teaspoon of water or milk per each cup of medium consistency icing.

To read more about icing cosistency, read buttercream consistency here which applies to Royal Icing.

Store in airtight container for up to two weeks. If you want to use it after a while, notice the the icing top layer has dried a little bit. Just mix in low speed to restore original texture. Sometimes you might need to add some water.

Buttercream Roses Cake

2007-09-30T17:45:00.001-07:00

Marble cake iced with buttercream and filled with dark chocolate mousse. Topped with 7 buttercream roses, dots and drop flowers on the bottom shell border.

This cake can be made using the following decorating tips: Delux Tip Set- 28 pcs or Master Tip Set-55pcs

Icing Borders

2007-09-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

Star Border

Hold decorating bag straight up (90 degree), slightly above the surface. Squeeze bag with heavy pressure and press out a star. Stop pressure and pull tip away. Increase or decrease pressure to change size of star. Do them close together for a border.

Note the border on this cake:

Note that the rainbow is made of lines of stars:

Shell Border

Hold decorating bag at a 45 degree angle with tip slightly above surface. Squeeze with heavy pressure and slightly lift tip as icing builds and fans out into a shell. Relax the pressure in the bag as you pull the tip down to the right and you make the 'tail'. Stop pressure, pull tip away. When you make shells always work counterclockwise on the border of the cake if you are right handed. Start each new shell slightly behind the tail of the previous shell (avoid covering the tail of previous shell).

Zigzag Border

Position bag at 45 degrees angle to the surface, so that the tip is pointing to the left and fingers on the bag are facing you (if you are right handed). Allow the tip to touch the surface lightly. Steadily squeeze and move hand in tight side-to-side motion (please see clouds on rainbow below). Stop pressure and pull tip away to end. Make the zig-zag longer by moving the hand back and forth in desired length.

Tip: make another ziz-zag cloud on top of the larger one with a short zig-zag length for a 3D effect.

Reverse Shell Border

Position bag at 45 degree angle with tip slightly above surface. Squeeze to let icing fan out as if you were making a typical shell, then swing tip around to the left in semi circular motion (like if you are making an spiral shape- counterclockwise) as you relax pressure to form tail of a shell. Stop pressure, pull tip away. Repeat procedure, only this time swing tip around to the right (clockwise) relax pressure and form tail of shell. Continue alternating directions to create the reverse shell border.

Rope Border

Hold bag at 45 degree angle to surface with end of bag pointing over right shoulder. Touch tip to surface and sqeezing bag move tip down, then up and a little bit down to form a sideways "s" curve.

Ruffle Border

Snail Trail Border

Just added the last two pictures. Come back for instructions!!

Buttercream: Cake Decorating: Rosettes

2007-09-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

Rosettes Birthday Cake Picture

Tip: 16

Consistency: Medium

This technique is achieved in one continous rotation. They are used for border decorations, for toping a cake to achieve a modern look, as hair in some character cakes, and for candleholders on top of a cake.

Place the tip slighlty above the cake and form a big star. Move the tip sideways but on top of the star and complete a rotation (if you start at 12:00 continue pressure and rotation until you reach 9:00, relieve pressure and continue until 12:00 to complete rotation). Lift tip away and towards center of rosette. VOILA!!!

Buttercream: Rosettes B-day Cake

2007-09-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for a friend's birthday using the startip to make rosettes. She and the guest enjoyed it very much!!!! Added long sparkling candles to match the theme.

About this cake:

Cake: Marble cake with dulce de leche filling.

Frosting: Buttercream.

Decoration and color: Colored cake icing with 'violet' gel. Used white rosettes to top the cake. White shell border on bottom border. Sprinkled edible confetti.

Check out Buttercream Icing recipe and rosettes technique as shown on picture above. Imagine this on a 2 tier cake with rosettes overflowing the top tier...

Buttercream: Cake Decorating: Star Tip Decoration

2007-09-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

Use star tip to decorate cakes easily giving it a ridged icing texture. Use Medium consistency to make sure the stars stay in place and hold that sharp edge 3-D form.

Use start tip 21

Fill a bag with medium consistency icing.

Position the bag at a 90 degree angle (straight up) from the surface of the cake. Make sure the tip is not touching the cake. The tip should be about 2 millimeters away from the surface.

Squeeze the bag without moving the tip until you reach the desired thickness of the star (big or small). This will form your star.

Stop squeezing and pull away and up slowly (to make sure the icing stays on the cake and doesn't lift with the tip).

TIP- Star tip decorating for large cakes:

To cover a large area of a cake in a painless and faster way, use the Triple Star Tip. This tip will form three stars next to each other at once!!!!

Check out this tip sets: Master Tip Set-55 pcs and Delux Tip Set- 28 pcs.

Buttercream: Cake Decorating: Making Drop Flowers

2007-09-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

You will need two colors of buttercream icing (one for the petals and the other for the flower center)

Consistency: Medium

Tip: 2D

Directions:

Insert a drop flower tip to a decorating bag (no coupler needed).

Push the tip as far as you can to make sure the icing will not squezee out of the bag.

Fill your bag with medium consistency buttercreaml icing.

Cover your working surface with wax paper.

Place the drop flower tip on top of the wax paper (make sure the tip touches the surface and stays there while you are making the flower).

Squezee the decorating bag and turn the tip clockwise one quarter of the turn. Here is the trick, the moment you start squeezing you need to start turning. Do not stop squeezing while moving the tip. This will form the petals of your flower.

Stop squeezing and at the same time stop turning. Slowly lift the tip up.

In some cases there will be a hole in the middle where the tip used to stand. Do not worry about this, since this will be covered when we make the centers.

Squeeze a dot in the center to create a 'flower center' (use the color of your choice).

Continue making flowers as needed.

Let dry for 1 hour

Carefully peel off the wax paper and use the beautiful flowers for decorating!!!

Torting a Cake

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The 20 minute rule:

Allow the cake to cool 20 minutes after you remove it from the oven in the cake pan (this will allow the cake to take its shape and be easily unmolded). If you unmold the cake before the 20 minutes the cake may break, if you wait longer than 20 minutes, the cake can stick to the pan making it difficult to unmold. The 20 minute rule works perfectly every time.

TORTING:

Unmold the cake by turning it upside down.

Note that the base of the cake will be the top of the cake (the flat surface).

Allow 40 minutes to cool the cake. Do not tort a warm cake as it can crumb and not tort evenly.

If the cake is 3 inches tall, you only need to bake one cake per tiara. If it is 2 inches tall, you have to bake 2 cakes to form one level.

For a 3" Cake:

Adjust your cake leveler to mark the desired height of the cake (about half its height).

Position your cake leveler and hold the top of the cake with your other hand.

Slide the leveler as you slice through in a sawing motion.

Do not slice through in the same direction. You can take pieces of the cake out of the middle. Once you reach the middle of the cake, start rotating the cake leveler one way in a sawing motion. Once you cut through, rotate the other way and slice that side as well in a sawing motion.

Note that the base of this cake will be the top of your final decorated cake (the the smooth layer).

Grab the second half (the one with the crown) and adjust your cake leveler to the base of the crown.

Slice the crown off by using your cake leveler in a sawing motion as described above.

This slice will be the base of your cake.

Filling a Cake

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FILLING:

Place the base of your cake on top of a "cake round" covered in foil.

You can "glue" the cake to the cake round by using a dollop of icing.

Fill a decorating bag with Icing with a round tip size 12.

Squeeze the bag at the edge of the cake and create a "barricade" around the outside edge of the cake layer (a circle of icing). This will prevent the filling from spilling out and will help 'glue' the cake layers together.

Now fill inside the circle with icing, pudding or preserve.

Place the next layer on top, making sure it is level.

Icing a Cake

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ICING THE CAKE:

There are two ways to ice a cake. Using a Cake Icer Tip or by using a spatula only.

Using Cake Icer Tip:

Cut the bottom of a disposable 16" cake decorating bag to fit tip 789 (Wilton Cake Icer Tip). Please note that a coupler is not needed.

Fill bag with icing.

Starting on top of the cake, place the serrated side of tip to surface of the center of the cake and squeeze the icing in a continous spiral motion to cover the top.

For the sides of the cake, place the tip close to the cake and squeeze icing while rotating the the cake. Do this several times until you cover the cake.

Using your spatula, place the edge of the spatula over the iced side and rotate the cake to smooth it. Do not lift spatula. Make sure that the spatula only touches the icing and not the cake to prevent from lifting crumbs. Excess icing can be returned to the bowl with icing.

Smooth the top last by placing the spatula against the icing and rotating the cake. Return the excess of the icing to the bowl.

Repeat the procedure to make sure all sides are smoothed. You can apply icing to the cake as necessary.

TIP: If you used meringue powder in your icing, wait 5 minutes until the icing dries. Cut a large piece of wax paper and place it on top of the iced cake and smooth it with your hands by sliding your hand on top of the wax paper. Do the same for the sides of the cake. This will make your cake look smooth.

Using the spatula only:

Using a spatula place a large amount of icing on the top center of the cake.

Spread across the top pushing the icing to the sides of the cake. Use short strokes with the spatula to cover the top

Use more icing if needed to cover the sides of the cake. Place the edge of the spatula over the iced side and rotate the cake to smooth it. Do not lift the spatula, keep a steady hand. Make sure that the spatula only touches the icing and not the cake to prevent from lifting crumbs. Excess icing can be returned to the bowl with icing.

Repeat the procedure to make sure all sides are smoothed.

Black Buttercream Icing

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I often hear people complain that their black icing did not come quiet black. Here is some good advice: a true shade of black cannot be obtained from white icing. The black coloring will reduce to a gray or a very dimmed black color. Before you start coloring, start with a chocolate icing, i.e., add cocoa powder to your icing before the black coloring.

Try working with gel colors, which to my opinion, pick up the color better than liquids and won't change the consistency of your icing. This become very handy when working with royal icing and fondant which can change the consistency or make it hard to work with.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing Recipe

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Add to the Buttercream Icing 3/4 cup of cocoa or 1 oz. of unsweetened melted chocolate and 1-2 tablespoons of water or milk to the recipe. Mix until all ingredients have been mixed thoroughly.

HINT: to achieve a darker color you can use brown or black coloring on the recipe until you achieve the color desired.

Icing Consistency (Buttercream)

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Buttercream icing Recipe

STIFF consistency is used for making roses and flowers with stiff petals. If the icing is not stiff enough the flower petals will fall. If the Icing is too stiff the petals can crack.

This an example of a drooping rose (the consistency wasn't stiff enough):

Note that the petals are falling and the rose doesn't look natural.

Test the consistency of your icing to know when you have achieved STIFF consistency.

Take a small amount of icing between your fingers. If you can roll a little ball with no residue left in your fingers, you know the icing is TOO stif and your petals may break. Add a little more water and mix.

If you can roll a ball between your fingers and leave a small residue, the consistency is good to go.

A stiff consistency will allow you to make STIF peaks of icing as depicted in the picture below:

MEDIUM consistency is used for star tip decoration, borders, fiigure piping (3-dimensional shapes), flowers without stiff petals and bows.

The picture below are flowers made with medium consistency icing:

THIN consistency is used for icing the cake, lettering, outlines, dots, leaves and vines decoration.

Buttercream Icing Recipe (Yield: 3 cups)

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The recipe shown here contains shortening. You can substitute the shortening with butter (see amount below**). However, this wilton recipe with shortening is one of the best for making flowers and roses, since the shortening helps create a good icing texture and consistency for decorating.

Ingredients:

1 cup white vegetable shortening (Crisco)

2 tablespoons of water or milk (this amount of water will yield a stiff consistency)

1 teaspoon of clear vanilla flavoring (to keep the white color of the icing)*

1lb. confectioners' sugar (pure cane works best)

1 tablespoon Meringue Powder

A pinch of salt (optional-to cut down on the sweetness of the icing)

TIP: Sift your confectioners' sugar to avoid sugar lumps that can clog your decorating tip.

Directions:

In one large bowl, cream the shortening, flavoring, water. Add the sugar and meringue powder in intervals while mixing on slow speed until the ingredients have mixed. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a Rubber Spatula. Continue mixing at medium speed until all indredients have mixed thoroughly.

Consistency:

Stiff consistency- See recipe above

Medium consistency- Add a teaspoon of water or milk per cup of icing above

Thin consistency- Add two teaspoons of water or milk per each cup of stiff consistency. One teaspoon of water or milk per each cup of medium consistency icing.

Read more about Icing consistency here

* Substitute any flavoring to suit your taste (vanilla, almond, butter)

** Substitute shortening with 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter at room temperature