Sunday, October 17, 2010

Wedding Cake Top With Gum Paste Roses

This is a German Chocolate cake with fondant covering, buttercream frosting edging, and gum paste roses.  I first tried to make my own German Chocolate cake but I didn't calculate the altitude well, so I used a Betty Crocker box mix. What was nice about the box mix was there wasn't a need to altitude adjust.  I live at 7600 feet so I have to pay attention to this.  I did add 2 tablespoons flour to the mix and it came out perfect.  I also used Betty Crocker Pecan Coconut Frosting. 

This cake was fun to make.  These are the first gum paste roses I have done.  There are mistakes of course but I made a pretty cool "first" wedding cake.  I did pretty good at making the rose buds too.  For the green ribbon I made a strip of fondant and attached it to the cake by brushing a little water between the strip and the cake.  Then I brushed a light film of water over the fondant to make the ribbon shine.  Then I was able to apply sugar pearls, one at a time, to the edge of the ribbon.  Water makes the fondant sticky so that part was easy, it just took time to apply.

My problem right now is when I put the fondant on the cake I get air bubbles.  I need to figure out how to get those out before I decorate.  I think one way is to have the cake eye level and in good lighting so I can spin the cake around to make sure it is smooth.

This batch of fondant came out speckled.  Normally I wouldn't have used it but I kind of liked the textured look so I kept it.  I used butter cream frosting for the edging around the bottom.

I can understand why these types of cakes are so expensive.  One bakery charges $5.00 a slice for wedding cakes.  This is because the gum paste flowers are time consuming.  Each step takes time to make, dry, and apply.  I loved doing it and though there are flaws, this being my first wedding cake, I am really happy with how it turned out. 



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