tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59584310578675435552024-03-13T14:57:06.432-04:00Peace, Love, & CakeSharing my love for cake, cupcakes, cookies and all things edible.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-36260162853418021992018-12-29T16:06:00.001-05:002018-12-29T16:06:18.416-05:00How To Use A Silk Screen Cookie Stencil<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6xcbHWfX8qA" width="480"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-85404447291984133542018-11-28T11:05:00.000-05:002018-11-28T11:05:08.010-05:00Cute Little Reindeer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
All year I plan for Holiday Cookie Sets. By June I have at least twenty design sets in mind, by November I have to narrow it down to my favorite three, or four, ok...five .<br />
Every year these reindeer are my favorite. Maybe it's nostalgia, they were one of the first I was able to successfully decorate when I started out, or maybe it's because they are just so cute !<br />
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I use <a href="https://semisweetdesigns.com/2013/10/03/updated-royal-icing-recipe/" target="_blank">Semi Sweet Designs icing recipe </a>and it has never let me down. In my last post I go over icing consistency, it's the key to success!<br />
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Here is my video tutorial so you can give them a try. I used Sweet Sugarbelle's cutter for him, but you can also use a gingerbread girl or boy flipped upside-down if you don't have her reindeer cutter.<br />
It's great beginner design and also fast and fun for more advanced designers.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-50774346331495531082017-12-28T10:58:00.001-05:002017-12-28T10:58:53.174-05:00Consistency Is Key<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The greatest challenge for me as a novice cookie decorator is icing consistency.<br />
I'm trying to be patient, I can still remember when buttercream icing consistency was a challenge and now I can make it in my sleep .<br />
I tried quite a few Royal icing recipes and found <a href="https://semisweetdesigns.com/2013/10/03/updated-royal-icing-recipe/" target="_blank">Semi Sweet Mike's Royal Icing </a>recipe to be the best tasting and easiest to work with.<br />
In my quest for knowledge I kept seeing 5 second icing, 10 second icing, 20 second icing ....even with a visual that just didn't make sense to me. I judge my icing consistency by how it pours into the bottle. If it pours in easily it's too thin. If it gets stuck and clogs the bottle opening, it's too thick.<br />
Today I created a quick YouTube tutorial that shows how to mix the icing and how thick and thin royal icing should be to decorate cookies.<br />
I use the same consistency for both outlining and flooding and a thicker consistency for small details and writing.<br />
You can use bottles or tipless bags. Both work great, it's just a matter of preference.<br />
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<b>Troubleshooting:</b></h3>
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<li>Icing gets the dreaded air bubbles once it's on the cookie. - Let it sit overnight before using. For the random bubble pop with a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/PME-Scriber-Needle-Modelling-Yellow/dp/B00CZ68X1U/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1514476467&sr=1-1&keywords=pme+scribe+tool" target="_blank">scriber needle tool</a>.</li>
<li>Icing is running over the side of your cookie. - It's too thin. Add more confectioners sugar and re-mix.</li>
<li>Icing has bumps and dimples. - It is too thick, add water . The best way is to use a spray bottle and mix after each spray.</li>
<li>Details are running together. The border of the first color is not dry enough. Allow each color / detail to dry at least 1 full hour or more before adding the next .</li>
<li>Icing won't come out of bottle. - Bottles get air bubbles. Remove the top and tap the bottle on the table until the bubble reaches the top and pops. Also check the tip for clogs.</li>
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My advice for beginners is just to be patient and if it doesn't come out right the first time, keep trying. It took me at least 10 batches of icing before I figured out the consistency that works for me.</div>
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Enjoy!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-82567870530615011982017-12-16T12:12:00.004-05:002017-12-16T13:22:25.517-05:00Hey Cookie ! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For years I marveled at the beautifully decorated sugar cookies I ordered for my son's birthday party.<br />
I admired the artistry and wished I could make them.<br />
Last year I started to gather supplies and watch tutorials , I decided to give them a try.<br />
Christmas cookies were my first endeavor. I thought they came out great...looking back , they were just ok.<br />
I have struggled with icing consistency and a steady hand. I knew they would be difficult, I just had no idea how difficult.<br />
This year I made my second set of Christmas cookies, and although they are still nowhere near perfect, I was thrilled with how they turned out. I have tried numerous recipes over the past year and found this one , as long as the dough is very cold, holds it shape and doesn't spread while baking. It's delicious too with the crisp outside and soft inside.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FSTesjVK24g/WjVjK-B06hI/AAAAAAAADGE/PF3WRkE_Km4CqNDhwfebWO1sMGgKRkHqwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-12-16%2Bat%2B12.59.20%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="768" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FSTesjVK24g/WjVjK-B06hI/AAAAAAAADGE/PF3WRkE_Km4CqNDhwfebWO1sMGgKRkHqwCEwYBhgL/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-12-16%2Bat%2B12.59.20%2BPM.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The first set of designs I made using cutters and templates from <a href="https://semisweetdesigns.com/2017/11/15/make-snowman-cookies/" target="_blank">Semisweet Designs</a>. I printed the <a href="https://semisweetdesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/christmas-character-heads-cookie-templates.pdf" target="_blank">templates</a> in the snowman tutorial and used an edible marker to draw the lines on my cookies.<br />
I used his <a href="https://semisweetdesigns.com/2013/10/03/updated-royal-icing-recipe/" target="_blank">royal icing recipe</a> to decorate with.<br />
~I will be posting some tutorials on basic decorating techniques soon. ~<br />
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This is my end result. I gave Santa a wink, I feel like he looks a little jollier that way.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OqN7plrpnXA/WjVPwaNavYI/AAAAAAAADFU/QZu_974obWcvZe98whR0ToNSZdBYgLB6wCLcBGAs/s1600/DQu1bXXUIAMHRTD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1141" data-original-width="1200" height="304" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OqN7plrpnXA/WjVPwaNavYI/AAAAAAAADFU/QZu_974obWcvZe98whR0ToNSZdBYgLB6wCLcBGAs/s320/DQu1bXXUIAMHRTD.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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For my second design set I used another favorite set by Sweet Sugarbelle . These were done using her North Pole set that I purchased from <a href="https://www.flourboxbakery.com/products/north-pole-cookie-cutter-sugarbelle-set" target="_blank">Flour Box Bakery</a> .<br />
Her sets come with stencils and instruction cards which have been an invaluable tool as a new cookie decorator. I use an edible marker to mark the stencil and then I color in the lines with royal icing.<br />
If you are looking to get started with cookies, I highly recommend starting with a Sweet Sugarbelle cutter set.<br />
I named this set ' The Santa Express' and used a stencil from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/551220604/north-pole-express-large-stencil-dear?ga_search_query=santa&ref=shop_items_search_4" target="_blank">WestcoastStencils</a> to create the postage stamp. I used royal icing for the stencil and will be posting my royal icing stencil technique soon as well.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2FArSnUrWU/WjVRnfi4psI/AAAAAAAADFg/ORrRRfYeNowliKqA-RPR_lAOL_qSK6zXACLcBGAs/s1600/DQ2sEvKV4AAU4bA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1124" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2FArSnUrWU/WjVRnfi4psI/AAAAAAAADFg/ORrRRfYeNowliKqA-RPR_lAOL_qSK6zXACLcBGAs/s320/DQ2sEvKV4AAU4bA.jpg" width="299" /></a></div>
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I have really enjoyed my cookie journey, although challenging, it allows me more freedom than cakes do. I can leave cookies to dry in between steps and work on other projects. Cookies also stay fresh for quite some time heat sealed in cello bags so I can make then a week in advance without any freshness issues. The best part is I can easily ship them to friends and family.<br />
I still enjoy making cakes and will continue making cakes and cupcakes...but you will see a lot more cookies coming out of my kitchen. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-51317484738542158842016-10-01T23:00:00.003-04:002016-10-01T23:00:25.491-04:00A Change In Direction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was once told 'never make your passion your career or you will end up hating it.' I wouldn't say it has gone quite THAT far, I still love designing cakes, I love creating and I love the reaction I get from my clients when I deliver a dream cake. I just don't have the time to make them anymore. How did that happen ? I will tell you the story of how I came to the beginning of the end of my cake baking.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iEAC_zPsIjo/V_B0p5DR0XI/AAAAAAAADCk/jE0k9u3Nuf4KmOV7s8btPB_etrRFKfJ_ACLcB/s1600/IMG_1015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iEAC_zPsIjo/V_B0p5DR0XI/AAAAAAAADCk/jE0k9u3Nuf4KmOV7s8btPB_etrRFKfJ_ACLcB/s320/IMG_1015.JPG" width="320" /></a>Now that my friends are scattered all over the globe I often heard ' I wish you were closer so you could make my son/daughters cake ' . With that a light bulb went off in my mind. 'What if I shipped them the decorations and they used them to decorate a cake from their local bakery?!?'<br />
Just as my cakes started, so did my cake / cupcake decorating business.<br />
What began with my friends and family spread...now I am processing 60+ orders each week through my <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/PeaceLoveandCakeNY" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a> and sending my sugar art all over the world.<br />
Frozen cake kits to Australia, Xbox cupcake toppers to Japan...you name it, I've shipped it.<br />
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With the rapid growth of my <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/PeaceLoveandCakeNY" target="_blank">Etsy</a> shop I had to change direction locally.<br />
While I still volunteer to make cakes for children / families with medical emergencies or health challenges though Icing Smiles and Cakes for Kids With Cancer, my business has turned to cupcakes.<br />
I still crank them out hundreds at a time , but they require much less energy to bake and decorate than cakes.<br />
I can deliver 300 cupcakes locally and ship cupcake toppers and cake kits to 10 more cities all in the same day.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dQaUc37I7EQ/V_Bz-0lFpEI/AAAAAAAADCc/rz5NUOm629kBf63CDp2u3tJoYgPsmJHaACLcB/s1600/IMG_0552.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dQaUc37I7EQ/V_Bz-0lFpEI/AAAAAAAADCc/rz5NUOm629kBf63CDp2u3tJoYgPsmJHaACLcB/s320/IMG_0552.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm also excited to announce that you can now order custom cupcakes and cakes featuring my sugar art at the famous<a href="http://www.stuffedcupcakes.com/" target="_blank"> Jarets Stuffed Cupcakes </a>with locations in Endicott NY , and the NYC / NJ Metro area. <br />
If you are in their area check them out . I've heard they are the best cupcakes in the world, and I happen to know their cupcake and cake toppers are pretty awesome too.<br />
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Have I given up cakes forever? No! I still make family cakes ( and I have a huge extended family ) and as I mentioned earlier I still volunteer with some non-profit organizations to provide cakes for kids with health challenges.<br />
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I miss designing the cakes but I do not miss the baking, cleanup, and time involved in creating them. Not to mention the delivery challenges . Cupcakes are just as much fun and so much easier to transport and serve.<br />
I love knowing on any given Saturday my sugar art is making numerous people happy at their special events in all corners of the world .<br />
That's how you turn your passion into your career and love it! Sometimes you just need to re-direct your energy....<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-15763682644971094692015-01-15T18:49:00.000-05:002015-01-15T18:49:30.357-05:00The Cupcake Dress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Cupcake Dress</span></h2>
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Every time I log into Pinterest there is a cupcake dress staring me in the face, and I LOVE THEM!<br />
I'm sure you have seen it made to look like everything from a wedding dress to Elsa's dress , to just a plain pretty pink dress.<br />
They have bows, flowers, beads, bling, you name it.<br />
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I am known for cake so I find too often people don't think of me for cupcakes. Because of this it took a couple years before my first request came through.<br />
Then it happened, my first cupcake dress order. I admit, I panicked a bit, it seems like everything that looks easy ends up being a fiasco for me.<br />
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I started 2 weeks in advance by ordering the wand, tiara , and necklace on ebay. I'm sure you can find them in the big box stores and possibly even the dollar stores .<br />
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For the base I used a 13x18 inch cake drum.<br />
For the cupcakes I baked 4 dozen vanilla cupcakes and mixed up a double batch of pink buttercream.<br />
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I started by creating my layout of cupcakes.<br />
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This was my basic layout, then I added a few more to fill out the shoulders and one more row at the bottom of the dress.<br />
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Put a dot of icing on the bottom of each cupcake , one at a time , to stick them to the board.<br />
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Pipe a rosette on top of each cupcake. To do this start your swirl in the middle and swirl out.<br />
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Swirl wide to fill in any gaps between cupcakes.<br />
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Set necklace, tiara and wand in place.<br />
I used sequined ribbon for a sash, you can use any ribbon, tie a bow, add some flowers, you name it.<br />
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For a finishing touch I decorated the bottom of the dress with a pink sixlet on each cupcake.<br />
So much fun I wish I could make them all day!!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-7285526295157815582014-08-23T13:31:00.002-04:002014-08-23T13:31:12.979-04:00Bake a Difference<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Recently I became a volunteer baker with a fantastic organization , <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CakesAgainstCancerForKids">Cakes Against Cancer</a>.<div>
My first cake was an urgent cake, for a little boy celebrating his birthday early . The doctors told his parents he would not make it to his third birthday which was two months away. </div>
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I had 12 hours to come up with a superhero cake for this amazing little fighter. Somehow I managed to pull it off, but not without shedding a few( thousand ) tears. </div>
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I hoped I would never have to do a heartbreaking cake again, although I am very honored to make these cakes, I just wish there was more I could do to help these children. </div>
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It's a very helpless feeling, but the minute you deliver that cake, you realize why you volunteer to make them. Heartwarming doesn't even scratch the surface.</div>
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Last week I received my second call to action, again, an urgent cake. A little boy battling cancer who had been sent home with Hospice care a week before his seventh birthday.</div>
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Again, my heart broke. What got me through this cake was the theme. </div>
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Hockey, but not just hockey... Detroit Red Wings hockey ! Being a Detroit girl, and loving all things Detroit ( except the potholes ) this was MY dream cake .</div>
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I never attended a Red Wings game despite living right next to where they played, but I have fond memories of ' hockey nights' and the Stanley Cup celebrations that breathed life into the city of Detroit.</div>
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I only had one day to make this cake happen so I had to design a cake where I could get away with only soft accents.</div>
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I decided on a hockey jersey cake. I had never made one before and was surprised on how easy it was.</div>
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I started out by making my templates.</div>
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I searched for athletic fonts until I found one similar to the Red Wings jersey font. Then I created the template on regular computer paper.</div>
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I made one template with his name and another with his favorite number ,13.</div>
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For the cake I baked an 11x15 sheet cake. </div>
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Once it was cool I leveled it and cut off 2 corners to contour the shoulders.</div>
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Then I iced the cake with buttercream and smoothed it before covering it in fondant.</div>
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I decided on the Red Wings away jersey due to the fact I am ' away' from Detroit.</div>
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Once my cake was smooth I covered it with white fondant and smoothed it out.</div>
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I used a ruler to make a ' seam' towards the top of the jersey.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sW5Z8yHdmg4/U_ghOz8gOQI/AAAAAAAAC7A/SfagrCm-Am4/s1600/IMG_5138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sW5Z8yHdmg4/U_ghOz8gOQI/AAAAAAAAC7A/SfagrCm-Am4/s1600/IMG_5138.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next I cut a strip of red fondant for the stripe on the bottom of the jersey.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DJ3uZuw1Zjg/U_ghOiAjn3I/AAAAAAAAC68/bdDHq1cchPI/s1600/IMG_5139.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DJ3uZuw1Zjg/U_ghOiAjn3I/AAAAAAAAC68/bdDHq1cchPI/s1600/IMG_5139.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I used the templates to cut out his name and number using red fondant. </div>
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I always flip my template over and cut in reverse. When I am done all I have to do is dampen the fondant and lay it in place while it is still on the wax paper. It eliminates trying to line up and perfectly space letters on the cake.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zXSDXF246TY/U_gherz-PaI/AAAAAAAAC7U/2Xwx-LWM18I/s1600/IMG_5142.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zXSDXF246TY/U_gherz-PaI/AAAAAAAAC7U/2Xwx-LWM18I/s1600/IMG_5142.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Red Wings place the players name on a patch on the back of the jersey so I made a fondant patch .</div>
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I placed the letters on the patch and added a strip of red fondant for the collar.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w8ZwFuqRuPs/U_ghryU1ZEI/AAAAAAAAC70/pJboEOKlg_Q/s1600/IMG_5145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w8ZwFuqRuPs/U_ghryU1ZEI/AAAAAAAAC70/pJboEOKlg_Q/s1600/IMG_5145.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The most important part of this entire cake is lining everything up even . Be sure to measure from the sides, top and bottom before placing any text on the jersey.</div>
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Once I had the lettering on the jersey I made the sleeves.</div>
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I rolled out more of the red fondant to just under 1/2 inch thickness.</div>
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I angled one end and squared off the other.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4MUixFgcGkk/U_giCbi_ZFI/AAAAAAAAC8U/1v5clyHOeKc/s1600/IMG_5149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4MUixFgcGkk/U_giCbi_ZFI/AAAAAAAAC8U/1v5clyHOeKc/s1600/IMG_5149.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Place the sleeve on the cake, attaching it with a brush of water. Give it a wrinkle , and smooth the shoulder . </div>
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I used another piece of fondant rolled into a ball and just kept rubbing the shoulder until it blended in with the fondant on the cake.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k7eMeF7V6Ys/U_gh4X-268I/AAAAAAAAC8E/Mvwa2ve3QEk/s1600/IMG_5148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k7eMeF7V6Ys/U_gh4X-268I/AAAAAAAAC8E/Mvwa2ve3QEk/s1600/IMG_5148.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Repeat for the other side and decorate according to your teams jersey design.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P5Q4-Ju3FC0/U_giCoTr5NI/AAAAAAAAC8Y/Mnm8d6NLHic/s1600/IMG_5150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P5Q4-Ju3FC0/U_giCoTr5NI/AAAAAAAAC8Y/Mnm8d6NLHic/s1600/IMG_5150.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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This is a great cake for hockey or football jerseys. </div>
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To make a football jersey just shorten the sleeves.</div>
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To add more Detroit to this cake I made a pennant out of an edible image attached to fondant, a fondant puck, and Stanley the octopus. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MzKw33oU7gg/U_gkP7m0rDI/AAAAAAAAC8o/0Pr3XpNmXdI/s1600/IMG_5153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MzKw33oU7gg/U_gkP7m0rDI/AAAAAAAAC8o/0Pr3XpNmXdI/s1600/IMG_5153.jpg" height="320" width="284" /></a></div>
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The family was thrilled with this cake and just as I was plotting my retirement from cake, their reaction inspired me to keep caking .</div>
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If you are a baker, please look into volunteering your time for this great organization .</div>
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It's heartbreaking and heart warming all at the same time. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-32634259151642616842014-04-27T10:00:00.000-04:002014-04-27T10:00:03.097-04:00The Bachelorette<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My friend Lauren is hosting her sister's bachelorette party.<br />
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I can't remember the last one I went to seeing as all of my friends were married decades ago.<br />
We whooped it up though, countless dance clubs, irresponsible drinking , poor behavior. </div>
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This bachelorette party is nothing like that. It is going to be a civilized trip to the casino to play bingo. Is that what they are doing now days?!?</div>
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Lauren asked me to make cupcakes for the party which will be given at the end of the night as favors. </div>
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I feel I have to bring some of what I know about bachelorette parties into the theme of these cupcakes.</div>
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Bright colors, zebra print and pretty drinks!</div>
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I couldn't go too overboard so I decided to make some zebra print fondant hearts.</div>
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I thought I would share these with you because not only are they fun and funky, they are easy and can be used with so many different themes.</div>
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You will need white fondant, black fondant , a sharp blade to cut the fondant and a heart shape cutter.</div>
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First roll out your white fondant, then your black.</div>
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With your blade cut thin waves in the black fondant, then cut those in short segments.</div>
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Place the black pieces randomly all over your white fondant keeping a zebra's stripes in mind. Place them pretty close together.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UM7vdKPe018/U1bax9Pzw2I/AAAAAAAAC2M/26JZlJdRNxQ/s1600/IMG_4309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UM7vdKPe018/U1bax9Pzw2I/AAAAAAAAC2M/26JZlJdRNxQ/s1600/IMG_4309.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Press them gently into the white fondant.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zxpHmhOD3hM/U1ba9RFa2UI/AAAAAAAAC2k/LcQT5CkAi7s/s1600/IMG_4310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zxpHmhOD3hM/U1ba9RFa2UI/AAAAAAAAC2k/LcQT5CkAi7s/s1600/IMG_4310.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Cut your hearts out and allow them to dry.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iPWJFnYnxLA/U1bbALzEKII/AAAAAAAAC2s/jPTqGaUQetk/s1600/IMG_4311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iPWJFnYnxLA/U1bbALzEKII/AAAAAAAAC2s/jPTqGaUQetk/s1600/IMG_4311.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I iced these cupcakes in bright pink and made some drinks to go with the hearts.<br />
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Back in my day we would have needed 6 of these for each guest to stuff in her face on the limo ride home in lieu of a meal. This party...each guest will receive just one.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kwEoG8XX9Fw/U1yce6JKSaI/AAAAAAAAC28/T5s4H5LeLLM/s1600/IMG_4346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kwEoG8XX9Fw/U1yce6JKSaI/AAAAAAAAC28/T5s4H5LeLLM/s1600/IMG_4346.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Times sure have changed, cheers to responsible bacheloretting !</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-4571016270522196022014-03-24T22:12:00.000-04:002014-03-24T22:12:01.483-04:00Giant Cupcake Tutorial<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Early in my blogging days I posted a giant cupcake tutorial. It was all buttercream with rosettes decorating the top of the cupcake.<br />
Now I will take on a giant cupcake covered in fondant.<br />
I love the look of the cupcake cakes and was elated when one of my friends chose cupcakes as a theme for her daughters birthday party. This cake is perfect!!!<br />
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I start out by making the 'wrapper'. <br />
Melt 1 bag of Wilton candy melts in the microwave. For this cake I tinted my white melts with blue food coloring.<br />
The Wilton Cupcake Pan came with a plastic insert / dust cover when I purchased it and<br />
I use that to make my wrapper but you can just use the pan if you no longer have your insert.<br />
I pour all of the melted chocolate into the bottom and them roll it from side to side to evenly coat the sides.<br />
As the candy melts start to firm up a little I use a spoon to pull and push it around so it gets in all the nooks and crannies.<br />
Once you have it covered, stick it in the freezer for about 15 minutes.<br />
Take it out, gently tip it upside down. Your shell should slide out so be ready to catch it.<br />
If it doesn't , you can pull the plastic away to break any attached pieces preventing the wrapper from releasing.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g8MSARkQEUw/Uv7WrIJh_kI/AAAAAAAACzU/5XiXYFDCrkg/s1600/IMG_3515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g8MSARkQEUw/Uv7WrIJh_kI/AAAAAAAACzU/5XiXYFDCrkg/s1600/IMG_3515.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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For the cake, use your favorite dense cake recipe and bake in a giant cupcake pan. I use the <a href="http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=2105-5038">Wilton Dimensions Giant Cupcake Pan</a>.<br />
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Level the top of your cupcake base so that is sits just below the top of the wrapper when you set it in.<br />
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Once it is level, remove it and ice with a thin coat of buttercream.<br />
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Not too much icing or it won't fit in the wrapper.<br />
Set cake in the wrapper again and smooth the top with buttercream.<br />
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The top of the cupcake is the fun part.<br />
Place the top on a cake board and use a poly dowel in the cupcake base for support so the weight of the cake and fondant don't crush the wrapper.<br />
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Ice the top with a thin coat of buttercream.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aDzJ1WDAUl4/Uv7ZlKz1iqI/AAAAAAAAC1I/B0aKdjqqj-Y/s1600/IMG_3519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aDzJ1WDAUl4/Uv7ZlKz1iqI/AAAAAAAAC1I/B0aKdjqqj-Y/s1600/IMG_3519.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Roll a long fondant rope.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tb_kYZLXbaE/Uv7Zfyj3NmI/AAAAAAAAC04/o4NPYwElJpo/s1600/IMG_3520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tb_kYZLXbaE/Uv7Zfyj3NmI/AAAAAAAAC04/o4NPYwElJpo/s1600/IMG_3520.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Swirl on the top of the cupcake to create the contour<br />
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Lay fondant over the top and smooth over the contours with your hands.<br />
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Trim the bottom and place on top of your base.<br />
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I added a little color to the top with a sloppy circle of purple fondant.<br />
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I also rolled the edges under to make it look like drips.<br />
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This cake need some sprinkles.<br />
To make these I piped different color ropes of fondant through my<a href="http://www.makinsclay.com/US/eng/products/ultimate.htm"> clay extruder</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nC3h4rE-v6o/Uv7ZBAhj46I/AAAAAAAAC0g/m1tiLTvM29c/s1600/IMG_3530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nC3h4rE-v6o/Uv7ZBAhj46I/AAAAAAAAC0g/m1tiLTvM29c/s1600/IMG_3530.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Cut the ropes to random sizes and attach to cupcake with water.<br />
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Last step... roll a ball of red fondant , and add a cherry on top.<br />
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Very fast, very easy, VERY fun cake!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-1514539043287518062014-03-10T09:07:00.000-04:002014-03-10T09:07:27.335-04:00It's THAT Time of Year!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's give away time!<br />
Your getting a Craftsy class, and your getting a Craftsy class, and your getting a Craftsy class....<br />
Well, actually, just one of you will be, I may not be Oprah, but I do love to give things away.<br />
Usually it's my advice ( unsolicited ) but this time it's a Craftsy Class!<br />
<br />
I LOVE Craftsy, I watch the videos after everyone has gone to bed, and even if I don't have a cake and all the tools in front of me, I gather all the info I need for when I do.<br />
They have great beginner - advanced techniques and the classes are presented beautifully!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">This class is my exclusive give away, other affiliates will be giving away other classes, this is the one I chose for you.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">It is a class in advanced fondant techniques taught by Marina Sousa that I took and loved.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">It is a great boost to anyone who has taken a Wilton class or any beginner that is looking to take their decorating up a notch. Even for someone who has a lot of experience, it taught me a few tips and tricks that I use all the time now. Proof you can teach an old dog new tricks.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So, to enter is easy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Just click the link</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<a href="http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=578997&u=731996&m=29190&urllink=&afftrack="><span style="font-family: inherit;">Enter to win a Craftsy class!</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That's it....no purchase required, no essay writing. Just click to enter the giveaway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At the end of the month Craftsy will use <span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 19px;">Random.org to choose a number, and the entrant that corresponds to that number will be the winner.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">If you are that lucky person Craftsy will email you a link to your class when the contest closes and the winner has been determined.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Please get all your entries in early, drawing will take place March 31, 2014.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">While you are entering my give away , take a minute to cruise Craftsy and see all the great classes they have. If you are like me, your cart will be runneth over in no time.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Enjoy!</span></span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-46428454777975972652014-02-27T12:58:00.000-05:002014-03-07T22:10:18.427-05:00Mermaid Cake Tutorial<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I live in the best neighborhood.<br />
You know how normally you have that one neighbor that you just can't tolerate?<br />
Not here...everyone is great!<br />
Every February one of my neighbors asks me to make her daughters birthday cake.<br />
This year she picked a mermaid/sea theme with a large starfish for the top of her cake.<br />
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For years fondant ruled the cake scene but now buttercream is making a big come back.<br />
Buttercream may not be as versatile in my opinion, but there is something wonderful about it.<br />
Back before fondant was big, buttercream was just buttercream. Now the key is to make the buttercream look like fondant.<br />
It's not as hard as you might think.<br />
Before I get started with the decorating tutorial I will show you how I get smooth buttercream.<br />
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After my cakes settle, I pipe buttercream on the top of my cake first. Circle the top, make sure it goes right to the edge.<br />
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Next pipe buttercream around the cake sides.<br />
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To smooth this I dip my spatula in a mug of boiling hot water.<br />
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First I smooth the top of the cake.<br />
Next, hold the spatula straight up and down, make sure you have it perfectly straight...no leaning of it will taper your cake.<br />
While holding the spatula with one hand, spin your cake on the turntable with the other hand.<br />
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You may have to stop a few times to wipe off the spatula and dunk it again in the boiling water.<br />
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After the first time around, I dip my spatula again in the water and give it a final smooth.<br />
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To level the top, scrape towards the middle of the cake.<br />
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Once you have the top level, allow the cake to sit a few minutes and let the buttercream firm up a little.<br />
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Once my buttercream crusts slightly I use Viva paper towels and my spatula to smooth out any imperfections.<br />
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O.K.<br />
On to the decorating.<br />
This cake is for a 15 year old so using Ariel from the Little Mermaid would not work.<br />
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I used a 8 inch 2 layer cake for the bottom tier and a 6 inch 2 layer cake for the top tier.<br />
The bottom tier is my mermaid tier.<br />
To decorate this I mixed up 3 shades of aqua fondant and a small batch of light purple.<br />
With my 1 inch round cutter I cut circles in every color.<br />
Start placing these around the bottom of the cake in a random color pattern.<br />
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Offset your circles for the next row and work your way evenly to the top.<br />
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Once I had my circles all in place I brushed them with some Wilton pearl dust to give them some mermaid shimmer. I wish you could see how pretty these sparkled in this photo.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EBuK0IaM0D4/UvuyHUlUPRI/AAAAAAAACyc/Q-BnGoXbtPU/s1600/IMG_3479.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EBuK0IaM0D4/UvuyHUlUPRI/AAAAAAAACyc/Q-BnGoXbtPU/s1600/IMG_3479.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Insert some poly dowels for support, and put a dab of buttercream on top to glue the top tier on.<br />
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Here is the tedious part ( and you thought it was placing all those circles ;)<br />
Roll a strip of each of the shades of aqua fondant you used to make the circles ( scales) .<br />
Using 3 different size circle cutters, cut a lot of circles and roll these into balls.<br />
I used a round Wilton tip, a drinking straw, and the wide end of the Wilton tip for mine.<br />
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Start with the largest balls and work your way to the smallest as you go.<br />
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Keep them in a random pattern to look like bubbles.<br />
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Here is my finished mermaid / sea themed cake.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-21079254408925267562014-02-11T14:17:00.000-05:002014-02-11T14:17:19.847-05:00WWE Cake Tutorial<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Let's get ready to rumble!<br />
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My first try at a WWE themed cake. When I got the request I had the deer in the headlights look.There really isn't much out there in the way of cake and cupcake decor with the WWE theme. </div>
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It's actually quite surprising based on how popular it is.</div>
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At the last minute I decided to make a cake that looked like the ring.</div>
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For the cake I baked 3 - 8 inch square cakes.</div>
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I filled and stacked these before letting them settle overnight.</div>
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While those were settling I made the posts out of <a href="http://www.globalsugarart.com/poly-dowels-cake-supports-c-1168.html">poly dowels</a> covered with black fondant.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M0yHkrEiBwY/UvpzakoxMMI/AAAAAAAACvY/rQxqNzh3HvU/s1600/IMG_3451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M0yHkrEiBwY/UvpzakoxMMI/AAAAAAAACvY/rQxqNzh3HvU/s1600/IMG_3451.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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For the ropes I used bucatini pasta painted with red food color. <br />
First I tried licorice laces, then I tried wooden shish kebob skewers. Trial and error brought me to the bucatini which worked perfect!<br />
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Paint these and allow them to dry along with the posts.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V3equKd6Ch8/UvpzS9v1LcI/AAAAAAAACvI/PhESQDkJCLc/s1600/IMG_3448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V3equKd6Ch8/UvpzS9v1LcI/AAAAAAAACvI/PhESQDkJCLc/s1600/IMG_3448.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I made the # 12 using the <a href="http://www.dafont.com/wwe-raw.font">WWE RAW</a> font on dafont. Make this at least 2 days in advance so it will be nice and stiff when it comes time to stick the numbers on top of the cake.( I didn' t get a photo of this but you can see it in the final photo.)</div>
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I admit, I have an obsession with John Cena and I'd LOVE a little sugar version of him on this cake. Unfortunately this was a last minute order so I opted to use a number topper to populate the ring.</div>
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In the morning I iced the cake using black fondant over vanilla buttercream.<br />
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I covered the top of the cake with a square of white fondant.<br />
I printed a WWE logo with my edible image printer for the center of the ring.<br />
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I had planned on drawing it on the mat with edible pens, which if you do not have an edible image printer , will work beautifully.<br />
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Using the same WWE Raw font I made a template to cut out the " Raw" logo and the name. I cut everything in reverse so I can just wet the backs and stick to the cake. Then all I have to do is peel the wax paper off and my accents don't stretch or tear.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n0TjQnf0RCA/Uvpy66Zk7CI/AAAAAAAACuk/KvzuUPXgyRM/s1600/IMG_3444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n0TjQnf0RCA/Uvpy66Zk7CI/AAAAAAAACuk/KvzuUPXgyRM/s1600/IMG_3444.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I attached these to the sides with water.<br />
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I cut circles of black fondant with a large drinking straw.<br />
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Attach evenly to posts and insert the painted bucatini.<br />
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Next I stuck a post to each corner of the cake with some water.</div>
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Insert the # 12 topper and it's done.<br />
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All ready to rumble!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-4388834686284131352014-01-17T09:59:00.000-05:002014-02-24T11:58:29.530-05:00Lessons Learned in 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2013 was a HUGE year for me.<br />
I won my first international cake competition.<br />
I became a volunteer with Icing Smiles and provided four cakes to three wonderful families supporting children with health challenges.<br />
I was finally offered a commercial kitchen to work from.<br />
So many wonderful things, and of course so many lessons learned.<br />
The lessons are what I am going to share with you in this post .<br />
<br />
#1 If you are carving a cake with a tapered base, use more support than you think you may need. Physics will cause your cake to crumble at the base if not. I learned this with my Dr. Seuss hat caketastrophie<br />
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#2 If you are designing cakes for profit , throughout the year recalculate your costs. There was a considerable increase in shipping, butter , and the cost of my cake boards this year that went under the radar until I sat down with my receipts and started adding everything up.<br />
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#3 Always let your cakes settle if you will be covering them in fondant. I now allow mine to settle overnight. Level, fill, and let sit for hours. I also set a book on top of mine to force more air out if I am in a rush.<br />
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#4 To prevent the bottom of cupcakes from burning double up the cupcake pans. I haven't burnt a bottom since learning this trick.<br />
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#5 When making rice krispie treat accents allow them to firm up then smooth them with a fine cheese grater or zester.<br />
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#6 Pasta rollers are a cake decorators best friend. I don't know why I waited so long to give them a try. Mine has saved the wear and tear on my shoulders from rolling out fondant, allows me to roll my fondant to a perfect, even thickness, and I have noticed I use a lot less fondant each month now. Unfortunately this only works for accents and borders.<br />
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#7 Never devalue your work. You are not in competition with Walmart or your local grocery store. They do not make custom cakes, they make cakes, some are pretty pricey too.<br />
Try taking a picture out of a wedding magazine and requesting a unique cake from them...or a fondant cake.<br />
I realized our local grocery store charges 3 times more for this cake:<br />
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Than I did for this cake :<br />
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Lesson learned.<br />
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Also, imagine taking your friends out to a chain restaurant to celebrate your birthday or event, and each person orders a slice of chocolate cake for dessert. Previously frozen, mass produced chocolate cake with no customization, you are looking at at least $3.50 per slice. The last restaurant we dined at charges $5.50 per slice for a generic piece of chocolate cake. Multiply that by the 10 people that were with us celebrating and you pay $55.00 for 10 slices of cake. That should help put things into perspective if you find yourself devaluing your work as well.<br />
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#8 Everyone starts somewhere, do not get discouraged. Keep a photo of your first cake on hand to remind you how far you have come. Cake decorating is not easy, it is a challenge, and you have to continue to challenge yourself. I watch Youtube videos, read other blogs, belong to cake community forums online, take classes....anything I can to learn and keep with the times.<br />
Here is my first cake upon my re-entry into cake design:<br />
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(Fortunately it was for my son's welcome party)<br />
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Here is one of my last cakes:<br />
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Just keep learning, practicing and believing in yourself.<br />
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I'm sure I learned many more lessons this year, these are just the ones that stand out.<br />
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Have a wonderful 2014!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-92183422206310629462013-12-06T09:25:00.001-05:002013-12-06T09:25:39.319-05:00Salted Caramel ?!?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have to admit I had never heard of Salted Caramel until a year ago.<br />
Something in my brain would not let me try it. Salt and cake is how the message came through. Yuck!<br />
Now, almost a year later, I am giving in. It has become SO popular I have to see what the hype is about.<br />
Remember I did that with cake pops too and the outcome wasn't too pleasant?!<br />
I'm going to be optimistic though.<br />
I am going to pair it with a vanilla bean cake.<br />
The cakes theme is Harley Davidson and it's for a very close family friend, so close we consider him family.<br />
Mike battled and beat cancer, not 1 cancer, 4 cancers...and won!<br />
Turning 60 is a big deal and something the doctors didn't think he would do at one point. That was 25 years ago.<br />
<br />
Back to my Salted Caramel experiment.<br />
It all starts with Caramel Sauce. I made mine from scratch.<br />
It really isn't as hard as you might think. My trick is adding water to the sugar so it doesn't burn. Yes, it does take longer to turn amber, but at least I don't have to worry about ruining my sugar.<br />
I made 2 cups of sauce. I figure what I don't use in my icing I can use over ice cream.<br />
Caramel Sauce will not go to waste in this house.<br />
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Have everything measured out and ready to go, you will have to work quick.<br />
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I started with 2 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup water in a 2 qt sauce pan.<br />
Cook over med-high heat stir until it boils.<br />
Once it boils stop stirring and let it cook. Keep a close eye on it though, it can go from dark amber to burnt in a second.<br />
It should look like this when it's done, med-dark amber. Mine took about 5-8 minutes to get to this color.<br />
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Once it is med-dark amber add the butter cubes and whisk until they are melted.<br />
Remove from heat.<br />
Add heavy cream. Be careful , this will bubble up.<br />
Whisk until smooth.<br />
Add salt, whisk, let cool to room temperature.<br />
This can be stored in the refrigerator for approximately 2 weeks.<br />
It wouldn't last that long here anyways.<br />
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Once the caramel sauce is cooled I make the buttercream icing.<br />
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This was fabulous!!!<br />
My new favorite. Only thing I may do next time is increase the salt slightly to cut down on some of the sweetness and because I love salt . Also, I would pair it with chocolate cake .<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-83874740874696478282013-11-26T13:49:00.001-05:002013-11-27T21:47:22.921-05:00Easy Bow Tutorial <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Finally, as promised, my bow tutorial.<br />
Just in time for all those holiday package cakes.<br />
<br />
Since my last post I finally went out and bought a pasta roller.<br />
Why didn't I do that sooner ?<br />
Now all of my fondant is a perfect thickness and oh so easy to roll out.<br />
This only works for rolling fondant for accents , not to cover cakes but it's amazing how much time and fondant it saves me.<br />
Buy one...seriously.<br />
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So, to make the bow I start with a mix of fondant and gumpaste. You will want almost an even mix so this bow will dry fast and firm.<br />
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Roll out the fondant.<br />
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I use my ribbon cutter to cut the strips but for years I didn't have one of those either and I just used a knife.<br />
Cut the fondant into a long strip.<br />
The wider the strip the taller the bow and the longer the strip the wider the bow.<br />
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To form the bow you can use rolled up paper towels or the tubes from inside the paper towel roll.<br />
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Bring each end of the fondant strip to meet in the middle.<br />
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Pinch in the center.<br />
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Roll out a small piece of fondant and cut into a strip. ( This does not have to be perfect, mine is pretty pathetic and it still worked. )<br />
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Pleat it .<br />
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Wrap around the middle of the bow. You can push around the pleats and position them where you would like.<br />
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Let this dry at least 24 hours and remove your loop formers.<br />
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Let dry a few hours more and place on your cake.<br />
I attach with a dab of melted white chocolate.<br />
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If you would like to add ribbon tails you will need 2 more strips.<br />
Angle the bottom and pinch to pleat the top.<br />
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I set mine to dry a few minutes with some waves in them.<br />
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You can either attach them to the back of the bow or to the cake and then set the bow in place over top of them. ( that is how I prefer to do it )<br />
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They are my favorite accent. I use large bows as cake toppers, medium bows on the sides of cakes, and small ones as trim accents.<br />
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You can alter the size, shape, add zebra stripes or polka dots, these are very versatile and easy.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-11094862525547803672013-11-08T09:15:00.000-05:002013-11-08T09:15:00.629-05:00Fast and Easy Football Cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's that time of year again!<br />
Not only is it football season, but October is birthday season in my family.( we have 5 )<br />
Today is my father's, and he is a diehard New York Giants fan.<br />
We live 5 hours from Giant's stadium and he still has season tickets and drives to every single home game , no matter what the weather is.<br />
I don't love any sport or hobby THAT much.<br />
So, for his birthday I figured I should do something football/ Giants.<br />
In an earlier post I made a NY Giants helmet for a co-worker so I had to come up with something different.<br />
A football, basic and fun.<br />
For cake flavor I decided on pumpkin cake with cream cheese buttercream frosting seeing as he loves those pumpkin rolls. I figured this would be the same flavor in a different form.<br />
<br />
I used the recipe from Epicurious for a <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spiced-Pumpkin-Layer-Cake-240123">Spiced Pumpkin Layer Cake</a>.<br />
I left out some of the ginger just because we aren't huge fans of it but made it as the recipe is written.<br />
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I baked 2 cakes in my Wilton football pan.<br />
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If you want to make a tall / whole football I recommend filling the pans 3/4 full with this recipe. It doesn't rise like other cakes.<br />
I also only had to bake for 40 minutes in this pan at 350F<br />
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Once cooled I leveled my football and filled it with icing.<br />
I had to carve my cake a bit due to the short layers. If they had baked hight enough I would not have had to do this. ( better luck next time ;)<br />
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Once filled and carved I iced the cake with more cream cheese icing and let it crust up a bit.<br />
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I rolled out some brown fondant and using a small impression mat , imprinted the football texture. You can use anything bumpy for this, before I had a texture mat I used a meat tenderizer mallet to make similar impressions.<br />
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Once the cake was covered I added my detail lines.<br />
Draw 1 down the center of the top<br />
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Then one on each side of the football.<br />
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Last step of the football is the lacing.<br />
I poked holes in approximately one inch increments down the top on each side of the line.<br />
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and piped the laces with white buttercream in the order shown in the photo's below.<br />
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In hindsight , I would have used a larger round tip for this step to make a thicker lacing.<br />
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For the cake board I lined it like a football field with white fondant.<br />
Then I piped in grass with a wilton tip.<br />
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I saw this technique on Youtube and thought it would be nice.<br />
Time consuming, but I do like the finished product on the cake board.<br />
You can skip the middle where the football will sit. ( and you will probably want to after piping all that grass)<br />
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Set the football on the cake board, in the grass.<br />
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( see how lame my lacing is ?)<br />
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To bring in the Giants element ( or any team ) I decided to make a disc.<br />
Basic , blue fondant/gumpaste mix, cut with a 3 inch round cutter with the logo.<br />
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Once that was dry I leaned it against the cake and that was it.<br />
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This cake only took 1 hour to decorate which in cake decorating time is quite fast.<br />
If you are looking for a quick impressive cake for the football fan in your life, this is it!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-591220078500906102013-10-31T07:00:00.000-04:002013-11-03T14:43:26.633-05:00Mickey Mouse Pumpkin Cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you have been to Disney at Halloween time you have most likely seen these adorable pumpkins.<br />
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My challenge is to recreate this pumpkin in cake!<br />
I only need to make a small one so I ordered the Wilton Pumpkin Pan and the Wilton Multi-cavity pumpkin pan.<br />
These make small pumpkins, the large pan only makes approx a 6 inch cake and the small make a cupcake size pumpkin.<br />
I am making the ears out of rice krispie treat so they are light and won't be too heavy on the pumpkin cake.<br />
First I molded the Rice Krispie treat in the multi cavity pan.<br />
Once they firmed up I used a small grater to smooth the surface and covered them with orange fondant.<br />
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Insert a dowel in the bottom of each and set aside.<br />
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For the pumpkin part of the cake I made a dense chocolate cake so it would hold it's shape under the fondant.<br />
Fill and let settle overnight. You want to eliminate the possibility of a horizontal crease running across the middle of your cake so make sure it has a stiff dam.<br />
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After it has settled I iced it by piping vertical strips and smoothing them in that direction as well.<br />
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Use your favorite method to smooth the cake. I use the Viva method and used my hands instead of a spatula.<br />
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As I smoothed the cake I could feel where the ridges should be and used my finger to press the paper towel into them.<br />
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Cover in orange fondant.<br />
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I made a template for the face and cut the features out of yellow fondant and applied with a brush of water. This is the template I used. You may have to re size it for your cake.<br />
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Add some leaves to the top and the cake board for decoration.<br />
I made mine using a maple leaf cutter but you can use any leaf cutter you have or free hand them.<br />
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Finish the cake by inserting the pumpkin ears at an angle to the top of the cake.<br />
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Fast , fun and easy!<br />
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At the last minute I decided to make the ears out of fondant covered Styrofoam balls.<br />
I was concerned about the weight of the rice krispie treat ears and the road vibration transporting it to the party. I didn't want them to pull the dowels they were attached to down through the sides of the cake.<br />
I purchased 3 inch Styrofoam craft balls in the floral department.<br />
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Wet them a bit and covered them in orange fondant.<br />
I used a wood dowel to make the pumpkin impressions. Set it in the middle of the ear and rock it up and down gently evenly around the ball.<br />
I then used the wood dowels to insert these into the cake.<br />
They worked great and were incredibly light.<br />
I would use the krispie treat ears if I didn't have to transport this cake.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-7852321674725671432013-10-20T09:22:00.000-04:002013-10-20T09:22:00.469-04:00Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is my most requested recipe.<br />
I made them for my father's 60th birthday party two years ago and I'm still being asked for the recipe.<br />
I have already posted some fall flavor cupcakes that were fast and easy recipes.<br />
This one has a longer list of ingredients and a bit more prep time but it's a great scratch recipe that is so worth the time.<br />
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First thing I do is process the crystalized ginger in the food processor until it's in very fine pieces.<br />
You don't want large chunks in your cupcakes.<br />
These have a very 'warm' full flavor and make a great dessert cupcake.<br />
I decorate mine with sunflowers for fall and these disappear faster than any other cupcake I make.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-67026145023553375732013-10-11T22:03:00.000-04:002013-10-11T22:03:00.243-04:00Monster Truck Cake Challenge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There is that one cake, the one that you take an order for and have no idea how you are going to pull it off.<br />
This was the one for me.<br />
A monster truck.<br />
There are plenty of monster truck cakes online, some are pretty good.<br />
Due to the design of them it makes construction a challenge.<br />
My first task was to design an elevated cake " stand" to set the truck on.<br />
I went to Michaels and bought a thick piece of wood and a birch dowel.<br />
Skip this step, I didn't use them.<br />
Plan B<br />
Buy a piece of foam core , a cake board and Wilton wood dowels.<br />
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For the cake I used the Wilton Cruiser Pan.<br />
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I never use character pans anymore , but the car ones are great when you don't have time to carve cake.<br />
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While my cake was baking I made the tires.<br />
Fortunately there was a tutorial on Jessicakes website which I followed ( for the most part ) and they came out great.<br />
The tires were made of Rice Krispie Treats that I molded in another one of my Wilton pans. I call it my min-bundt pan but I'm quite sure that isn't what Wilton calls it.<br />
It's this one though.<br />
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Once they were formed I covered them in buttercream and let that dry a bit.<br />
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While that was drying I discovered Jessicakes tutorial and discovered she had better ideas so I grabbed my 4 inch round cookie cutter.<br />
I shaped my tires with the cookie cutter shaving off the sides and making it all nice and even and round.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-afj40SkgxnA/Ujz5g8HlxpI/AAAAAAAACh8/DzBt91dV3Ro/s1600/IMG_2184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-afj40SkgxnA/Ujz5g8HlxpI/AAAAAAAACh8/DzBt91dV3Ro/s320/IMG_2184.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Once that was done I used a diamond shaped cutter to make tread.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rsuIsQCma58/Ujz5n51GSkI/AAAAAAAACiI/wi7272rdS4w/s1600/IMG_2185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rsuIsQCma58/Ujz5n51GSkI/AAAAAAAACiI/wi7272rdS4w/s320/IMG_2185.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Attach the " v's" to the tires.<br />
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Cover with black fondant.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uFcHEAZj4RY/Ujz5oQBMA5I/AAAAAAAACiM/e8ok-kMHMFg/s1600/IMG_2187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uFcHEAZj4RY/Ujz5oQBMA5I/AAAAAAAACiM/e8ok-kMHMFg/s320/IMG_2187.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-05RdNGFXpKs/Ujz5wtVKbMI/AAAAAAAACiU/jWcqhI0rlxM/s1600/IMG_2188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-05RdNGFXpKs/Ujz5wtVKbMI/AAAAAAAACiU/jWcqhI0rlxM/s320/IMG_2188.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Roll out some grey fondant and cut 1 inch circles for wheels. Attach those to the tires with a brush of water.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--ddnNaB2RV4/Ujz50V_DvWI/AAAAAAAACic/vo4SB4Nojfw/s1600/IMG_2189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--ddnNaB2RV4/Ujz50V_DvWI/AAAAAAAACic/vo4SB4Nojfw/s320/IMG_2189.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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With a small round icing tip decorate wheels.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qmr1MsWRsgY/Ujz54FQgG0I/AAAAAAAACik/eyXlqUXx3iI/s1600/IMG_2190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qmr1MsWRsgY/Ujz54FQgG0I/AAAAAAAACik/eyXlqUXx3iI/s320/IMG_2190.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Once the cake was cooled I placed it on the cake board and traced it.<br />
Set the cake aside and cut the cake board.<br />
Glue cake to cake board with some buttercream.<br />
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I made Grave Digger so I had to build up the back with some cake crumbs mixed with some icing and moulded onto the cake.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QV5qtYdpAyc/Ujz7KbR0rcI/AAAAAAAACi4/sjz_kP6LkVk/s1600/IMG_2191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QV5qtYdpAyc/Ujz7KbR0rcI/AAAAAAAACi4/sjz_kP6LkVk/s320/IMG_2191.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Cut out the wheel wells, I used my round cutter at a 45 degree angle to get nice even cut outs.<br />
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Ice cake and smooth.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e8-vwumt388/Ujz7Rc5GDGI/AAAAAAAACjI/hkaJ4dO4wwc/s1600/IMG_2193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e8-vwumt388/Ujz7Rc5GDGI/AAAAAAAACjI/hkaJ4dO4wwc/s320/IMG_2193.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Cover with fondant.</div>
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I found an image of the trucks decals and printed that with my edible image printer.<br />
These came out the exact size I needed without any resizing.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qcy9SGm7euA/Ujz8cy7H2II/AAAAAAAACjM/pgMdXgSowQA/s1600/digger_decals_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qcy9SGm7euA/Ujz8cy7H2II/AAAAAAAACjM/pgMdXgSowQA/s320/digger_decals_02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I applied these with a brush of corn syrup so they would adhere smooth and firm.<br />
I added some headlights made of fondant and I cut some windows and a windshield freehand out of grey fondant.<br />
Attach to truck with some water.<br />
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Ok, so the truck is done, tires are done, that leaves the cake board and the " stand".<br />
I had been dreading this part because I had no idea how I was going to pull it off.<br />
I was planning to use cake scraps to build dirt mounds but of course this was one of those rare occasions that my cakes baked perfectly even. ( I was making another birthday cake and had planned to use those. )<br />
Again, plan B.<br />
I baked one 8 inch layer of chocolate cake to crush to make the dirt mounds.<br />
For the cake board I started by covering it in chocolate buttercream.<br />
To make the supports to elevate the truck I cut the wood dowels 1/4 inch taller than my truck tires and sharpened one end to a point to pierce the cake board.<br />
I used 4, one to hide behind each tire and then I used 1 thin dowel in the middle.<br />
I covered all of these with black fondant to make them blend in.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--sT-mwdauwI/Ujz9umnoI-I/AAAAAAAACjc/w117zlps6iQ/s1600/IMG_2195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--sT-mwdauwI/Ujz9umnoI-I/AAAAAAAACjc/w117zlps6iQ/s320/IMG_2195.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Mound crushed cake scraps all around the cake board.<br />
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To reinforce the cake board the truck is on I cut a rectangle of foam core and covered that in black fondant to make it match as well.<br />
Place cake on that fondant covered foam core and then set on the supports.<br />
Set tires in place and add any details you choose.<br />
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I made a flag with a #4 on it because the birthday boy was turning 4.<br />
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Challenge complete.<br />
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It wasn't quite as difficult as I had imaged it would be and the structure was stable enough to hold it for quite a few hours.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-25508786300397151732013-10-04T13:36:00.000-04:002013-10-04T13:36:00.242-04:00Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cupcakes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
These guys have been around a long time and are still quite popular.<br />
Brandon's friend Cam is turning 5 and is in his TMNT phase right now.<br />
Cupcakes have been very popular this year so for the party his Mom and I decided on cupcakes with a small 6 inch cake to top the cupcake tower.<br />
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To make the Ninja turtle face I printed out this turtle face and made a template.<br />
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I cut it out and used clear packing tape to reinforce it.<br />
I would need to use it at least 12 times and I didn't want the paper to get sticky or damaged.<br />
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I rolled out a mix of green fondant and gumpaste to 1/4 inch and with an Exacto knife cut out 12 turtles.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t7AAMqoZSAA/UifYiEMJxFI/AAAAAAAACc4/Z_nnlG71EA0/s1600/IMG_2025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t7AAMqoZSAA/UifYiEMJxFI/AAAAAAAACc4/Z_nnlG71EA0/s320/IMG_2025.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I rolled out black fondant and cut out mouths with the open end of a 1M tip. I cut each circle in 1/2 and used 1/2 circle per turtle.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ikJg--UV3Bk/UifYdqupkDI/AAAAAAAACcw/oHZ9Dp2MvjU/s1600/IMG_2026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ikJg--UV3Bk/UifYdqupkDI/AAAAAAAACcw/oHZ9Dp2MvjU/s320/IMG_2026.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dtom_jUbO2o/UifYh9VHqYI/AAAAAAAACc8/HFdvRuVSbTA/s1600/IMG_2027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dtom_jUbO2o/UifYh9VHqYI/AAAAAAAACc8/HFdvRuVSbTA/s320/IMG_2027.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Next I made the impressions for their mouth and nose before my fondant got too stiff. I used an oval cutter to make these imprints.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TeA24KJc4OY/UifYwJJjHdI/AAAAAAAACdI/IuqotgETmOg/s1600/IMG_2029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TeA24KJc4OY/UifYwJJjHdI/AAAAAAAACdI/IuqotgETmOg/s320/IMG_2029.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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At the ends of the mouth imprint I used the open end of a decorating tip to add detail.<br />
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I rolled out come red fondant to finish off the mouth.</div>
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With the open end of a smaller tip I cut circles and cut those in 1/2 and used 1/2 per turtle for a tongue.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCFUSM9P9HA/UifZBRkGkrI/AAAAAAAACdg/AtYFvoAiI30/s1600/IMG_2033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCFUSM9P9HA/UifZBRkGkrI/AAAAAAAACdg/AtYFvoAiI30/s320/IMG_2033.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We are gettin' there...<br />
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Next I cut the mask out of my template to use to make the turtles masks.<br />
I had to google it but I found that I needed red, orange, blue , and purple masks to cover all of the turtles.<br />
I rolled out fondant in each color and with my exacto knife cut out masks for each turtle.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-erutNqqf15c/UifZW4valcI/AAAAAAAACeI/E921A7Kth3M/s1600/IMG_2036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-erutNqqf15c/UifZW4valcI/AAAAAAAACeI/E921A7Kth3M/s320/IMG_2036.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry for the vertical photo. If I could figure out how to flip it I would :(</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I used my smallest Wilton leaf cutter to make the " tie" in the back.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TBdPXSK3rgs/UifZpmZvaTI/AAAAAAAACeg/gY5AMlJ1kGU/s1600/IMG_2037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TBdPXSK3rgs/UifZpmZvaTI/AAAAAAAACeg/gY5AMlJ1kGU/s320/IMG_2037.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Use the open end of a large tip to cut off the bottoms in a semi-circle.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U8R9XXELG8w/UifZeccI-lI/AAAAAAAACeQ/MJaxX4WWp28/s1600/IMG_2038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U8R9XXELG8w/UifZeccI-lI/AAAAAAAACeQ/MJaxX4WWp28/s320/IMG_2038.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Attach everything with a dab of water.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-erutNqqf15c/UifZW4valcI/AAAAAAAACeI/E921A7Kth3M/s1600/IMG_2036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-erutNqqf15c/UifZW4valcI/AAAAAAAACeI/E921A7Kth3M/s320/IMG_2036.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry for the vertical photo. If I knew how to flip it I would :(<br />
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</tbody></table>
Last are the eyes.<br />
Roll out some white fondant.<br />
I used my Atecco rain drop mini cutter for this part.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lbzmWiniCAQ/UifZ_KiSi5I/AAAAAAAACfI/1A3w9nM3OR8/s1600/IMG_2042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lbzmWiniCAQ/UifZ_KiSi5I/AAAAAAAACfI/1A3w9nM3OR8/s320/IMG_2042.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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After cutting them out I cut off each tip to a flat edge.<br />
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Attach.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pa4PBPjbN4Q/UifZ4rGUP2I/AAAAAAAACe4/CvcNA9yN2HY/s1600/IMG_2043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pa4PBPjbN4Q/UifZ4rGUP2I/AAAAAAAACe4/CvcNA9yN2HY/s320/IMG_2043.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Startin' to look like some Ninja Turtles now...<br />
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I rolled out some black fondant and with my drinking straw cut out a bunch of circles. Two per turtle to be exact.<br />
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Have fun with these, where you position the pupils really gives the turtle some character. I chose three positions, one kind of cross eyed, one looking straight ahead and one looking to the side.<br />
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Finished!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-83059447260815084412013-09-27T09:10:00.000-04:002013-09-27T09:10:00.600-04:00Minnie Mouse Cake Tutorial<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
FINALLY a Minnie Mouse cake.<br />
I am always searching through cake design websites and forums and they are full of Minnie and Mickey, but no one had ever asked me to make one.<br />
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This cake is for the sister of the little boy Michael I met through Icing Smiles.<br />
Siblings deserve a special cake too but unfortunately she did not fall into the age guidelines set by the organization.<br />
So, I decided I would take matters into my own hands and create an Icing Smile just for her.<br />
Minnie Mouse!<br />
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My favorite things about Minnie are her skirt, polka dot bow, and eyelashes. I had to get all of those elements on this cake.<br />
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A few days in advance I made her ears using a mix of black fondant and gumpaste. I rolled it out to 1/4 inch thick and cut 4 circles with my 3 inch round cookie cutter ( for the top of a 6 inch cake).<br />
I sandwiched a piece of floral wire between two circles the same way I make stars in my Avengers cake post.<br />
Let these dry hard.<br />
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I also made the bow which I have not yet done a tutorial on but trust me...it's coming soon.<br />
I used my ribbon cutter set quite wide and cut out a strip of red fondant and gumpaste.<br />
You want a lot of gumpaste in your bows to make them stiff.<br />
I fold each end to meet in the middle.<br />
Grab some paper towels and roll one sheet into a log, then fold it in half so it's not as long. Insert that into the bows loop to prop it up while it dries.<br />
Repeat on the other side.<br />
In the middle where the 2 ends meet pinch with your fingers to narrow it.<br />
Roll out a little more fondant / gumpaste and cut another strip with the ribbon cutter.<br />
I pinch in 2 pleats and then wrap around the middle of my bow to cover where the 2 ends meet.<br />
Let bows dry at least 48 hrs.<br />
I will be doing a pictorial on this in an upcoming post.<br />
Once my bow was dry I used the open end of an icing tip to make dots and applied them to the bow with water.<br />
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The bottom tier is Minnie's skirt.<br />
I added the lace petticoat by using one of my border / frill cutters and making strips.<br />
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Then I used a cocktail straw to make impressions in the strips.<br />
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You do not need to use the exact edge cutter I did, any one will give it some flair.<br />
Wrap the strips around the bottom of the cake until they meet. It's OK if you do these in sections.<br />
Repeat for a second row and stagger them with the first.<br />
My butter cream looks terrible but that's ok. The next step is the easiest way to cover that up...EVER!<br />
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For her skirt I rolled some red fondant out to 1/4 inch thick and draped it over the top of the cake allowing it to fall into pleats.<br />
With the open end of an icing tip I made more dots and attached them randomly to the skirt with water.<br />
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Insert support dowels and stack the next tier.<br />
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I gave her an abstract belt made of black fondant. Rolled out and cut with my ribbon cutter.<br />
If you don't have a ribbon cutter and you plan on making a lot of cakes it a worthwhile investment.<br />
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I found two Disney fonts, one was <a href="http://www.dafont.com/walt-disney.font" target="_blank">Waltograph</a> and one was <a href="http://www.fontspace.com/fontomen/walter" target="_blank">Walter</a>. I prefer the Walter font but check them both out to see which you prefer.<br />
I printed her name out on computer paper, rolled out red fondant, and cut her name out with an Exacto knife.<br />
I have three tips for cutting out letters from a computer paper template.<br />
1. cut out the insides of the a's , o's , d's etc first...do this while they still have stability from the outside of the letter.<br />
2. use a piece of wax paper between your template and fondant, the paper will stick.<br />
3. cut the letters in reverse. I flip my template over so the print is facing the wax paper and cut from the backside so that when I am done I can brush with water and transfer onto the cake while they are still attached to the wax paper. This keeps the spacing perfect and doesn't distort the letters from stretching.<br />
Press firmly and evenly onto the cake and then very gently peel the wax paper away.<br />
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I have a set of Mickey & Minnie cutters I purchased on ebay that I used to make her face, complete with those eyelashes!<br />
I also happen to know where you can purchase these faces already made on <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/122700329/mickey-and-minnie-mouse-inspired-fondant" target="_blank">ETSY</a> just request a custom order for however many you would like to add to your cake ;)<br />
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I attached that face to her skirt.<br />
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On top I set the bow. I use a little water to hold it in place and I also stick 2 tooth picks in the cake, inside the bow's loops to help hold it in place and prevent it from sliding off the cake in the event the water just wasn't enough.<br />
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Insert the wires of the ears into cocktail straws and trim to desired length and insert into the cake and you are done.<br />
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Minnie creates another Icing Smile.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-40383755751089010022013-09-20T19:06:00.000-04:002013-09-21T08:36:33.613-04:00The Flavors of Fall<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When is fall?<br />
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It's when Starbucks rolls out their pumpkin spice latte, forget what the calendar says.</div>
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Lately I have been asked to make a lot of cupcakes and I have to admit...I LOVE IT!</div>
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I was invited to a house warming / birthday party that I needed to bring a dish to pass. </div>
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I volunteered to bring cupcakes.</div>
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I was inspired by my pumpkin spice latte to test out some fall flavors I had found.</div>
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Both come from the Your Cup of Cake blog.<br />
So far I have had no disappointments with her recipes so I checked her blog first for some fall cupcake flavors.</div>
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I found a <a href="http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2011/01/caramel-apple-cupcakes_16.html" target="_blank">Caramel Apple Cupcake</a> and a <a href="http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2012/09/pumpkin-rose-cupcakes.html" target="_blank">Pumpkin Rose Cupcak</a>e recipe.</div>
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If you would like to try the recipe as written please click on the links.</div>
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I made some changes to the icing, other than that I followed the recipes as written.<br />
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For the apple spice cupcakes I opened my can of apple pie filling and stuck my sharp knife in and chopped the apples up right in the can.<br />
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Pour all the ingredients into a bowl.<br />
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Mix until smooth<br />
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Fill cupcake wrappers, I use my 1/4 cup measure to fill my cupcake wrappers.<br />
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Bake.<br />
I double up my cupcakes pans to prevent bottoms from burning so I have to bake a bit longer than the original recipe recommends.<br />
I baked mine for 19 minutes.</div>
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These cupcakes are a more dense cupcake, almost muffin like, but delicious!<br />
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I iced these with the cream cheese butter cream and left off the caramel topping ( only because I forgot to buy a jar at the store).<br />
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The vanilla spice cupcake recipe that is the base of the pumpkin rose cupcakes was fantastic as well.<br />
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Full of fall flavor and much less dense than the apple cupcakes.</div>
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I iced these with the same cream cheese icing I used on the apple cupcakes.<br />
I will try the pumpkin icing next time, it looks good but I was short on time and just made one large batch of icing.<br />
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The new fall flavors were a hit, they will be in my recipe box.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-35744129251169790952013-09-13T10:00:00.000-04:002013-09-26T23:34:51.081-04:00Calling All Superheros !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last year my son was head over heels for dinosaurs. Those have all been packed away and he is now convinced he is a superhero.<br />
His superpower...he can stop the rain.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">The last three times we have been in the car when it started raining here. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">Fortunately we were driving out of the rain every time so now he is convinced that he is Rainman and by singing </span> the " rain, rain go away " song , over and over <span class="Apple-style-span">he can make the rain stop.</span><br />
Ahh to be 4 again.<br />
Needless to say this years birthday party theme was Superhero's.<br />
Last year was his first real party with his friends so I went to an extreme, hand cutting and stamping the invitations, painting the goodie bags, cake, cake pops, chocolates, etc...<br />
This year I ordered the bags, ordered the invitations, ordered the pizza, ordered the capes and went with just a small cake and cupcakes.<br />
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I know how much Little B loves the goodie bags he gets at parties so it's important that I load his up with some good stuff.<br />
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My first idea was capes and masks for the little superhero's to go on an adventure with.<br />
I found the masks at Target and the capes I had Brandon print with just lightning bolts and stars. These can now be found on <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/163945906/kids-superhero-cape-party-pack-of-5?ref=shop_home_active">Etsy.</a><br />
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Superhero's can't fight the bad guys without any ammo, so I loaded a can of silly string in each bag. ( we are a no gun, sword, knife kinda home )<br />
I found some bubbles , glow sticks, and superhero coloring kits at Michaels crafts on one of my many cake supply runs.<br />
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The goodie bags I found online at <a href="http://www.birthdayexpress.com/browse/_/N-i/Ntt-superhero/results1.aspx?q=superhero" target="_blank">Birthday Express</a>, where I also found some great superhero photo frames.<br />
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These frames gave me the great idea of doing a photo booth.<br />
<a href="http://www.birthdayexpress.com/browse/_/N-i/Ntt-superhero/results1.aspx?q=superhero" target="_blank">Birthday Express</a> also offer a cardboard stand up building scape that we used to create the scene.<br />
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With our digital camera and photo printer we took a photo and put it in the super cool , super hero frame for each of the kids to take home.<br />
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Time for the cake, I wish I could say I designed this with my own creative mind for my son and filled it with love but I didn't .<br />
Truth is, he saw it on a website I was scanning through looking for party ideas and said " I want that cake" period.<br />
The little man has spoken.<br />
I had planned on just making cupcakes, but he insisted on a cake too so I decided to make a small 8/ 6 inch cake.<br />
I didn't take photos of each step. This was actually a very easy cake to make.<br />
The bottom 8 inch tier was iced in blue fondant. I made a template out of computer paper for the red fondant piece.<br />
I used a clay extruder to make the " webs" and the spider is a toy I found at the dollar store. I inserted a toothpick in the cake and hung the spider off that.<br />
The top 6 inch tier was iced in yellow fondant.<br />
I googled " wolverine mask template" and chose <a href="http://images.celebrateexpress.com/mgen/merchandiser/58548.jpg?zm=1600,1600,1,0,0" target="_blank">this</a> one.<br />
I printed it out, rolled out my black fondant to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out the mask.<br />
I let that dry a bit before applying it to the cake with a light brushing of water.<br />
The eyes were made of white fondant, rolled out and cut with an oval cutter. I then cut the tops of the oval off at an angle and piped a black fondant " eyelid above it.<br />
Next I rolled out some flesh colored fondant to 1/4 inch thick and used my mask template again to cut out a piece to fill in the bottom of the mask for his face.<br />
His mouth and teeth I did free hand.<br />
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These are the cupcakes that I had originally planned on being all that I was going to make.<br />
These were such a hit I have added the toppers to my <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/122700595/superhero-fondant-cupcake-toppers-4?ref=shop_home_active" target="_blank">Etsy store</a>.<br />
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Whew, another successful birthday party.<br />
Time to start planning the next one.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-2068651059471339032013-09-06T18:40:00.000-04:002013-09-08T13:11:14.667-04:00Icing Smiles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A year ago I signed on as a baker with a wonderful non-profit group<a href="http://www.icingsmiles.org/" target="_blank"> Icing Smiles</a>.<br />
This group has assembled a large network of bakers who are willing to donate their time and talents to provide special children their dream cakes.<br />
These children have been born with some pretty serious health concerns and deserve something over the top for their birthday.<br />
All the parents have to do is contact Icing Smiles and they call on a volunteer in that area to provide a special cake for their child, FREE!<br />
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Finally, I got my call to action.<br />
Again, here I go with the coincidences. The little boy Michael, who I was asked to make a cake for, shares a birthday with my son.<br />
What are the odds of that?!<br />
Have I mentioned my life is full of coincidences.<br />
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Michael loves Caillou and his Mom requested a Caillou cake for his party.<br />
I know A LOT about Caillou, my son went through an extended phase of only wanting to watch that show.<br />
With that being said, I aspire to have the patience and nerves of steel that Caillou's parents have.<br />
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This was to be his " dream cake". Each child is allowed one and it's to be either a tiered or carved cake to serve up to 40 people.<br />
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I went with a tiered design and had planned on two tiers but this is a dream cake so I upped it a tier.<br />
I had some pieces to make in advance, like stars on wires, a Caillou figurine and the number 2 so I made them one week in advance out of a fondant/ gumpaste mixture.<br />
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For the bottom tier of the cake I made a 10 inch round.<br />
Following Caillou's color scheme I cut red, blue, green and yellow stripes to decorate it.<br />
I used the frill edge on my FMM ribbon cutter to make the stripes look snazzy.<br />
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I placed the frilled stripes on the cake and then added some thinner stripes piped with my extruder.<br />
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The middle tier is a 8 inch round. I made a sign similar to Caillou's name plaque and<br />
using the <a href="http://www.fontyukle.net/en/DownLoad-FuturaLight.ttf" target="_blank">Futura Light</a> font I cut out his name.<br />
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I added some edible dots for some subtle color.<br />
I make these out of fondant in advance so I can color match the other accents on the cake.<br />
I used to just buy the pre-made Wilton " sprinkles" but they never seemed to match anything I was making.<br />
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The top tier was a 6 inch round decorated with color coordinated stars.<br />
On top I set the number 2 and the Caillou figurine.<br />
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The stars I had spray from the bottom and middle tier.<br />
If you use this cake as inspiration for your own please remember not to stick wires in your cakes. When I have a cake iced in white or light fondant I use Bucatini , a hollow pasta , to slide my wires into before inserting into the cake.<br />
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Normally coming up with the design and decorating is the challenge. Not with this cake. Mike has a nut allergy so I had to take all the necessary precautions.<br />
I started by washing down all my surfaces and tools with hot soapy water ( even though they were already clean this is very important.)<br />
I found many products that warned that they may have been produced in a facility that also processes peanuts or tree nut products.<br />
I had to make sure no nuts were consumed in our home while I was making this cake as well.<br />
Cross contamination is serious business and it's best to not introduce an allergen for any reason.<br />
I did find that Satin Ice fondant is nut free so that was not an issue and instead of scratch I used a Pillsbury white cake mix .<br />
I was amazed to find that my brand of flour was not guaranteed to be nut free so scratch baking was " scratched" .<br />
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I had a wonderful time with this cake and was so happy to help.<br />
My heart melted when Michael came in, saw his cake, smiled the most amazing smile and said " Caillou!"<br />
Every hour, every minute, every second of my time and energy was worth making that little guy smile.<br />
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Please check out <a href="http://www.icingsmiles.org/" target="_blank">Icing Smiles</a> and give them some support. They are doing some great things for some wonderful children.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5958431057867543555.post-37745739589530518652013-08-26T20:35:00.000-04:002013-09-12T08:49:28.667-04:00Minecraft Birthday Cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am now aware that the video game Minecraft has captured the hearts and minds of young people everywhere.<br />
I had never heard of this game or played it until my friend requested a cake for his son's birthday.<br />
The theme...Minecraft.<br />
Again, Google saved me from complete failure.<br />
He only needed 20 servings but wanted the WOW! factor of a two tier cake.<br />
I decided on a 8 and a 4 inch square cake for 24 servings with nice clean lines seeing as the game is made up of pixels.<br />
I went about making this cake the same way I did the baby in a box cake with side panels made of a 60/40 mix of gumpaste and fondant.<br />
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I made these to the height and width I planned on making the cake using a template made of computer paper. This one is from minecraftbuildingideas.com.<br />
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Let them dry overnight.<br />
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Next I needed to make some pixels to pattern the brown panels.<br />
I was making a dirt block so I needed 2 shades of brown, 2 shades of green, and 2 shades of grey.<br />
I rolled out some fondant in each color and using the template I embossed lines , then with a ruler and Exacto knife I cut out the square pixels.<br />
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Again I used my template to lay out the pattern seeing as I have no clue how these patterns come about in the game .<br />
I attached the little squares to the brown panels with a small dab of water.<br />
Let these dry as long as possible.<br />
Fortunately I had about 4 days.<br />
For the top tier I decided to make a dynamite block or at least that's what I am calling it. Sorry Minecrafters if that isn't correct.<br />
I made four red gumpaste / fondant panels for the sides and allowed them to dry.<br />
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Once my 8 inch cake was baked, cooled, torted, filled and iced I roughed up the buttercream and stuck the pixel-ed panels to the sides and top.<br />
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If they have any overhang trim with a sharp new Exacto knife blade.<br />
If you have any gaps, fill them in with buttercream in a similar color.<br />
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Finally I stacked the dynamite on top. I used 1 dowel rod under this cake seeing as it was only 4 inch .<br />
I downloaded a<a href="http://www.dafont.com/minecrafter.font" target="_blank"> font</a> similar to the Minecraft logo from dafont to make the birthday boy's name and ' TNT ' for the top tier.<br />
Cut these out and set aside.</div>
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I iced and covered my 4 inch cake and placed a layer of red fondant on the top.<br />
Attach the red gumpaste/ fondant sides, wrap with a white band made of fondant and add the letters TNT.</div>
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A 10 year old's dream cake.<br />
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Very simple to make, yet very tedious.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16014546272877927474noreply@blogger.com0