Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Gum Paste Roses

This is my first try at making gum paste flowers.  I was able to buy gum paste at Walmart.  I used a small fondant roller to role the gum past into thin sheets and cut circles with a cookie cutter.  With the fondant roller I rolled the edges untill they curled. I used a candy stick and rolled the center onto the stick.  Then I added petals.  I used a round paint brush that was dampened with water and put several swipes of water against the base of each petal to help it stick to the center.  Then I placed the rose in a holder so it could dry. Gum paste dries fast so I was able to handle the roses quickly.
Making the leaves I used green food coloring to color the gum paste.  Then I rolled it thin and cut it out with a round cookie cutter.  I then cut the leave shape out by cutting the circle again to the left of center with the round cutter.  It makes a leaf shape.  I rolled the edges with the fondant roller.  I folded the leave in half and pressed the lower half of the leaf together to make the "vein".  I laid it in a flower cup holder to dry.  After it dried I brushed the leaf with a damp brush to shine it up.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Fall Birthday Cake

 This is my fall design for a Birthday cake or whatever.  I made it for my brother-in-law's birthday.  I wanted to do something for the season and I like the fall colors.  The cake is a white cake with blackberry and buttercream filling.  I made my own fondant and used that to for the leaves and covering the cake along with the trim at the bottom. 
 For the butterflies I used a Wilton cake/cookie cutter and gum paste.  Gum paste dries faster than fondant and holds it's shape better.  I think it is sturdier that fondant too.  I put the antennae on with buttercream frosting and small circle tip in my pastry bag.
 For the leaves I used leave shaped cookie cutters on rolled out fondant.  Then I hand painted the edges and the veins with a liner paintbruse and food coloring.  I didn't water down the food coloring. I used Wilton's food coloring and a damp brush.  It worked beautifully. I attached the leaves by painting water on the back of the leaf and then pressing it on to the cake.  It held great.  That process didn't work so well with the butterflies though. 
 To get the butterflies to stick to the fondant cake I used royal icing.  That dried quickly and held great.  I used Alton Browns royal icing recipe from the foodnetwork.com.  But I added a bit more powedered sugar because I wanted it to be stiffer than how the recipe makes it. I used sugar pearls for eyes and large round candy sprinkles for the dots on the wings.  Both are Wilton products. The fondant recipe I found at http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm
The white cake recipe is from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Simple-White-Cake/Detail.aspx.  I did have to adjust it for altitude.  Baking at 7600 feet makes things dry out faster.  So I brushed on each layer simple syrup to make the cake moist. I cut each layer in half making four layers total.  I used two cups of sugar to 4 cups of water and brought it to a boil.  When the sugar was disolved I removed it from the heat and let it cool a bit and then brushed it on.  Worked like a charm. I also used blackberry preserves between the top and bottom layer and buttercream icing between the middle layer.  I used this site for the buttercream frosting recipe: http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/ButtercreamIcing.htm. Once the cake is made and assembled I crumb coated the cake with the buttercream frosting and put it in the fridge overnight. A cold cake makes it easier to wrap in fondant.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Baby Shower Cake

This was my first try at a Baby Shower Cake.  My biller at the office is having a boy and we are having a party for her this week.  So no time like now to practice my fondant skills.  Actually I have made home made fondant before and I prefer it to store bought.  It is cheaper and better quality.  These are the first fondant flowers I have made.  I bought some cutters at a Michaels's in Denver.  They have a great selection of cake making stuff.  I reused some plastic trays that I bought at Walmart.  Flowers already made came in them and I saved the trays to make my own.  They worked perfectly for shaping the flowers and the leaves.  I used the hight altitude chocolate recipe for the cake.  You can google Hershey's High Altitude cake recipes and that is where I found one that works beautifully at 7600 feet.  I think it turned out pretty good for the first try, don't you think?
Of course Sebby had to make his own cake and decorate it too.  Turned out pretty good.