Pastel Rainbow and Clouds

Bird's eye view of the cake

Over the rainbow

   

It has been such a long time since I last posted. My excuse? I had a little baby girl sometime in September last year so she has been keeping me on my toes and no time for caking. Well, I lie. I do have a bit of time but that is to tidy up the house after her and whatever else that needs done. I don't know how my mum did it with us and now I know that I've got my own wee little one I really appreciate all the things my mum has done for me - not that I didn't before.

Anyway, before I fill you in on my life story for the last year I better start on the cake I made this week for Anya's 5th birthday.

Anya's mum requested a simple cake and had given me all the freedom to design something for Anya. Do you know what this does to me?! I had so many ideas going through my head I ended up with doing something 'plain' so it would be a safe design. *Sigghhhh*

I only found out this morning that Anya was having a pirate themed party at Chipmunks!! *Kicking myself in the leg* If I had known, I could have done a pirate ship cake or a treasure chest or even a treasure map cake...the list goes on.

I did know that I would like to put the tutorials from Lesley at The Royal Bakery to some use so I incorporated the clouds and '5' into the design of the cake. I hope I did her tutorials some justice!

This is my first attempt at painting on fondant, it was a little nerve wrecking as I was worried I would make a mistake and that would be the end of it for me. Can you imagine how time consuming it would be to rip the fondant off the cake and re do it all?

There is a slither of hope that I can bake a bit more after my little one starts at daycare but I will also be back at work part time so maybe not. We'll see how it goes.

Enjoy!

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!

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!

Pink Gumpaste Peony

My first attempt at making a peony after my class at PC almost 4 months ago. Goes to show how much you can forget in the 4 months when you don't practice! I'd better get onto practising my roses soon before I really forget.

I made the flower paste from scratch - it's really not that hard or time consuming to make. The only thing I did find is that I was ripping the edges off my petals so I may have to add something else to my flower paste to give it a bit more elasticity. This will be my little research project for the next little while. There are lots of recipes out there for making flower paste (or gumpaste) so I will be on a mission to find the 'perfect' texture for me.

The usual flower paste I use would cost me about $40 for a 1kg bucket (cheap compared to the Wilton gumpaste) and I love using it but at $40 a bucket I think I should start experimenting.

Do you see any veins in the petals? I don't!!! I should really invest in a good veiner - I couldn't get any texture out of the one I have and it was pretty frustrating when I tried to create texture by using the veining tool and ended up ripping my petals! 

Now, I just have to wait until the weekend before I can bring home my 'sick' Kitchen Aid from the repair shop and bake a cake to go with the peony. My next dilemma would obviously be what cake to make - I've been thinking white chocolate with passionfruit filling and white chocolate buttercream but we'll see what takes my fancy when I have the time to bake.

Enjoy!