Gumpaste Roses II

Greta's Birthday Cake

My new sets of flower cutters - roses, ranunculus & peonies arrived not too long ago so I've been busy playing with my new toys.

I've tested out the ranunculus and rose set and really love the cutters! My next exercise is to try out the peony cutters with another gumpaste recipe I found. It's a really good gumpaste recipe - well, it works well for me. When I'm done using up all the gumpaste from this batch I have made I will try the next batch of gumpaste with egg white powder instead of fresh egg whites - I always have a dilemma with what I will do with the egg yolks and really hate wasting. I have tried making creme brulee with the egg yolks but it hasn't turned out well so I've decided to just pay the experts to make it for me to enjoy.

I made the cake for Greta's birthday today and used the roses I had made. The cake turned out to be almost a disaster as I had mixed vodka into the shimmer to paint onto the cake. The only problem was that the lustre was not the shade I thought it would be AND it was uneven all over the cake. I tried to save the cake in vain by using a puffer brush to dust the cake with just the lustre after the 'paint' had dried but it did not save the cake. I have another cake on 'standby' so guess what I'll be doing this weekend?!

Enjoy!

Buttercream Ruffles

I made this cake for my friend Jean since it was her birthday last weekend. I have to be honest and say that I didn't want to make a cake covered in fondant for her since she does them so beautifully herself anyway.

I got the idea of using the petal tip to create the ruffle look on the cake from Google Images. It's a really simple technique and it's so quick to do! Here is a video tutorial I found on YouTube if you would like to give it a go.

The cake is caramel mud and covered in salted caramel buttercream. It was a tiny 4" cake but by the time I had added the ruffles on . I don't know if she liked salted caramel but it was a recipe I had come across and thought it would be worth a try. The only thing I'd change would be the cake - I would make it a lighter cake rather than a mud cake.

This is getting me all hungry now.

Enjoy!