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!

Gumpaste Roses

Jumbo Rose No. 1

Jumbo Rose No. 2

Side by side

Who would have thought! Another post on gumpaste flowers.

I'm on this little mission now to practice or have a go at making different types of gumpaste flowers. How I wish I could pack my bags and hop across the ditch to learn from Greg Cleary or fly all the way to California to learn from Jacqueline Butler. Then there's also Paddi Clark in the UK. Ok - I know, the list can go on and I know that I will not be travelling anywhere so I'll just be doing some self-teaching.

After dusting off the tools, I made 2 jumbo gumpaste roses this week. They are about 11 cm wide and fits nicely into the teacups I have at home. The first one I made should have been thrown into the bin but I thought I'd take some pictures first. The second jumbo rose looked better but I know there is still a fair way to go before it's pretty enough for me. I've got plenty of homemade gumpaste left so I'll just have another go at making another jumbo rose before I move onto my next flower.

My next flower - a magnolia or perhaps a poppy?

I'm now craving for a sweet little something...more specifically - a sticky toffee cupcake!

Enjoy!

A busy week in the world of Planet Cake

Front of cake

Back of cake

What came back with me to Auckland

I took a week off from life in Auckland and headed across the ditch to Sydney, Australia to do a week long course in cake decorating at Planet Cake with 2 brilliant teachers - Jessica and Luigi.

This course was a birthday present from my husband - I'm so spoilt! So, I bought the top tier back to share with him :)

It was 'hard work' but I enjoyed every single minute of it my time in class and have learnt so much from the 2 very talented teachers I had. I had Jessica teach me in the beginners course and was secretly hoping she'd be teaching me again in the intermediate course - luck was on my side and I did get her again :)

I designed the cake in the pictures and had a bit of help from the teacher with putting it all together. It took 3 full days from design to completion and I enjoyed every part of it - except of course for the back pain from standing most of the day. This cake is made out of 5 cakes. All the flowers are hand made with love!

This course has given me so much more confidence in designing cakes and putting it all together. I hope to be doing more cakes like this in the future. I would love to just sit in the kitchen and practice making more of those jumbo roses and peonies!

Enjoy!!

Lets' Celebrate Fiona's Birthday!

This second cake is for Fiona, it was her birthday earlier in the week.

I wanted to make a cake which was light and fluffy so I settled on making a red velvet cake covered with cream cheese icing.

Do you like the quilted look?! I do. I made the quilted look with the help of my new 'diamond design' tool and am so impressed by it.

A Big Bunch of Flowers

I've been busy in the kitchen with making these cupcakes.


There's a few different flavours - carrot, red velvet and my favourite orange & almond. I had run out of time to whip up a batch of the white chocolate cupcakes! 


I made these cupcakes for a local temple's 10 year anniversary celebrations last weekend. The flowers took me quite a few nights to make and by the end of it I was all flowered out BUT the most important bit was that I enjoyed making the flowers.


I was supposed to have had the afternoon off from work to finish decorating the cupcakes and have them delivered by 4:00 pm before the 'Friday after work stand still traffic' but an external work meeting went right into overtime and cut into the precious hour I needed to pretty up the cupcakes so some of the cupcakes does not look like i've put much effort into them.


I've got heaps more of the flowers I made so I am going to whip up a batch of cupcakes, pretty them up and give some to my family.