Yes, I spent way too much time on this cake, but my son only turns one once. The characters are all fondant. The cake is buttermilk devil’s food, iced in white chocolate cream cheese icing. The cupcakes are Funfetti with buttercream. The kids loved the cupcakes and the adults loved the cake!
My son’s 1st birthday November 24, 2008
Tiered Cake Practice August 23, 2008
There is a local website that allows brides to barter for services for their wedding. It is pretty new, but I discovered it and contacted the one bride who had posted for needing a cake. Since I only had pictures of one tiered cake, I made 2 this week and sent her pictures of one of them.
The first cake is a chocolate cake with fondant daisies. I was thinking since it was a miniature cake I could use a single cake for each layer, but the dimensions look weird I think. I thought all the daisies looked so neat laying on my counter, but I couldn’t seem to make them as random when I put them on the cake. I took this cake to a Bible study and all the girls loved it.
Next up was a fondant cake. I learned my lesson and used 2 cakes for each layer. I think I need more practice with fondant! I mixed fondant and gumpaste to make the monogram. I wanted to stick the monogram on top but I was out of toothpicks and couldn’t figure out a way to prop it up without seeing the props in the picture. Next time I may dry toothpicks in the letters to that they can stick in the top.
I redecorated the fondant cake a few different ways, but the best was using Skittles. I was inspired by a cake I saw on Flickr. This is the version I took to the Ronald McDonald House. I made my husband take it in, which was good since a bunch of people were hanging out in the kitchen. They thought the cake was gorgeous and I have trouble taking a compliment. Anyway, one little girl will be staying there so long she had to enroll in school here. Instead of leaving the cake out like they normally do, they are going to bring it out at supper tonight and give it to her as a “Back to School” cake. I thought that was pretty neat.
For anyone who has worked with fondant, I need help! I covered each tier separately before stacking them. What type of knife do you use to cut the bottom of the fondant? I am not sure if you can tell from this picture, but my edges were not very neat. There was no way I could use this cake without using ribbons to hide the edges of the cake. On the top and bottom layers, I ended up with overlap of fondant. I never could get the lines to disappear. I kind of filled it in with buttercream, which you don’t see in this picture, but what do I do in the future? I know I probably just need practice. This is only the 3rd or 4th fondant cake I have ever done.
Recent Projects August 14, 2008
One of my friends is relocating temporarily. These are sugar cookies I made for the trip to her new home. I cut out fondant shapes using the same cookie cutters as I used for the cookies. When the cookies came out of the oven, I placed the fondant on the cookies while they were still warm. I used buttercream for the accents. I decorated them while my son hung on my leg, so the lines didn’t turn out very straight. I was also in a hurry so I didn’t bother redoing them.
This was a chocolate cheesecake. I used cookie cutters to cut out the shapes for my husband on our anniversary. The cheesecake was a lot thicker than my cutters, which had a ridge, so I ended up using a knife to finish cutting the cheesecake. It worked OK, but the edges came out crumbly. Next time I’ll have to try a different method.
Froggy Cake July 22, 2008
Our church does quite a bit of volunteer work for the Ronald McDonald House in our area. In order to practice my cakes, and not gain 100 pounds, I decided to see if I could donate practice cakes to them. Lucky for me, they said yes, and I can just drop them off any time. It works out perfect considering with 2 babies I have no idea when I’ll have a moment to make a cake and deliver it.
Today I made a cake inspired by my son’s bath towel:
I had some cupcakes in the freezer so I used the remaining icing to decorate them too. They turned out pretty well, I wish the stripes on the cake were a little narrower, but I didn’t have a good way to cut them handy. When I made the buttercream, I substituted lemon juice for the vanilla. The hint of lemon is so slight that if I try it again, I’ll use lemon juice for all the liquid.
Wilton Fondant Class June 27, 2008
I completed the Wilton Fondant class last night. I used a recipe I found online to make the fondant, and it didn’t turn out very well. I had made the same recipe a couple years ago without any problems, but this time it turned out really greasy and kept tearing, although it was tasty unlike most fondant. I am not sure if the humidity was the problem or what. Anyway, that meant the cake looked a little funny to begin with. I did use the Wilton fondant and gumpaste for the rest of the decorations. I really like the daisies and can’t wait to actually use them for a real cake.
The Wilton classes are great for beginners, but I am not sure I’ll take any more, should more be offered in my area. I learned more in the past just reading others blogs, and through cake design books. The good part about the classes is that I did try some new tools that I probably wouldn’t have purchased on my own.
In speaking to my instructor I discovered that the first class he took was about a year ago. After he completed Wilton 1,2, 3, and the fondant class he filled out an online application, sent in some pictures, and a month later began teaching. The brief time I worked in the bakery taught me a lot and I think you really need to work with cakes outside of class before you teach others. Also, they aren’t really supposed to tell you about anything that isn’t Wilton approved, so it is a bit of a disservice to class participants. When I initially took the classes, I did learn a lot and enjoy the classes. That was several years ago and I was a complete beginner. I have yet to have an instructor who actually worked in a bakery or decorated more than a couple cakes a month. I know that there are instructors out there who are very experienced, I just haven’t met any yet.
Anyway, I did learn a couple of things that I wouldn’t have thought of anyway. You Tube has tons of cake decorating videos. Ironically as I was checking them out I checked my e-mail and discovered Donna, has some on there as well. I only watched one, but they are bookmarked it for future reference. I learned this is a great way to learn new techniques.
The other thing I learned is about meetup.com. It is basically a website to find groups in your area with similar interests. There are two cake decorating clubs that are over an hour away. They meet at exactly the same time each month and it is not convenient for me to get there. Maybe through meetup I can start something similar in my area where we can share ideas and techniques and learn from each other. I may even be able to find an experienced decorator who would be willing to teach a one time class.
More Old Cakes April 28, 2008
I found some more pictures of cakes I made previously. I am still missing pictures of about 30 cakes, but as I find them I’ll post them.
Baby sleeping, shower cake. This is a design I did freehand for a shower in 2006. It is buttercream.
Cow Jumping Over the Moon. Buttercream baby shower cake from 2007. I based this on the Hi Diddle Diddle cake in the 1984 Wilton Yearbook.
Care Bear Cake. I made this for a 1st birthday in 2007. I normally use boxed mixes, but this cake was a dense oatmeal cake, almost like a bread. It was tasty! It is decorated as usual in buttercream. The pan was a Care Bear 3D pan from the early 80’s.
This is a fondant baby shower cake I did in the fall of 2007. At the time I was working VERY part time at a bakery, it is my first fondant cake. I used cookie cutters to make the circle shapes, and molds to make the charms at the base of the cake. The bow was made using loops of fondant. At the base is a buttercream rope border colored to match the fondant.
The Plan April 23, 2008
So I took the Wilton method classes a few years ago and learned that I love to decorate cakes. The problem is that I haven’t made enough cakes to get good enough to make a living yet. Yeah, I’ve made some cakes, but to get good, you need to practice daily.
My goal is to take steps to improve my skills so that by July of 2013 I can make a decent living designing cakes.
The cake I made last night turned out OK, but not great. It was for a baby shower. I made a Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix baked according to the instructions in 2- 10″ round pans. I iced the two layers with pink buttercream made according to the Wilton recipe, only I add extra vanilla. The borders, vines, and peas on the base of the cake are also buttercream. The pea pod, peas in the pod, and the baby are all Wilton fondant that I colored with gel colors.
