Open peony, hydrangeas, filler flowers & buds on chocolate cake

I truly love creating life like sugar flowers. I get lost in creating them and it's very therapeutic. This beautiful cake took a week to be finished. It is inspired by my favorite sugar artist Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet. She is amazing! Her beautiful work continue to inspire me everyday.

The sugar flowers took 3 days to make. I created my own gumpaste using Nicholas Lodge's recipe which needed to set, the petals and leaves needed to dry overnight and finally dust/color them individually. I then organize them in groups as shown in the picture to make arranging easier.

Here is a picture of the open peony after assembling the petals.

One of the tips I received from Jacqueline when arranging the flowers is to fill the unsightly gaps with filler flowers and buds. This creates a more tight beautiful arrangement. Unfortunately, I used all of my  filler flowers and buds. So always make a lot more than you think!

This is the most beautiful cake I've created! It's not as neat as I'd like it to be of course. It's my first time arranging sugar flowers on a cake so please excuse the marks on the fondant. But I'm so pleased with the overall look. I honestly couldn't stop admiring my cake!

If you have any questions with how I made these sugar flowers please let me know. I'm far from an expert but I'll try my best to help and answer your questions. Thank you and have a great time making sugar flowers!

Peony Flower Cake

I have to admit...I'm obsessed with making gumpaste flowers! I especially love Peonies. While I'm still mastering the art of making these beautiful flowers, here's what I've taught myself to do. I wanted the cake to be simple and let the Peonies be the show stopper.

Not all Peonies are the same. I created these Peonies with a Celbud which makes for a smaller bud. You can use a 1 1/2 inch styrofoam ball as well but I did not like the way the buds looked. Here's a close up of a Peony using a Celbud.

And here's a picture from another cake I made using a 1 1/2 inch styrofoam ball. See the difference? Although they are both beautiful I prefer a more frilly bud. 

I used 35-37 petals for one, yes, ONE large closed Peony. That is a lot! I used a combination of Sunflower Sugar Art peony cutters and rose petals cutters. Since they are wire free I had to wait until all the petals are dry and continued to add the petals until I was satisfied with the way it looked. It took me 2 days to create one sugar flower but the results as you can see are worth the wait.

This is one of the main things I love to do. I will share a tutorial in the future as soon as I master them. Up next....full bloom roses!

Brush Embroidery Cake

I've seen brush embroidery techniques done on cookies so I wanted to try it on a cake. After watching tutorials and such I decided to give it a go. As you can see, my first attempt at this went surprisingly well. What a beautiful cake!

The brush embroidery was made using a small flat square brush with short stiff bristles. I tried different sizes and chose a smaller brush for more control. The consistency of the royal icing is very important. Too thick gives you a hard line to brush and too soft leaves you with a runny mess. To make things easier I used CK products royal icing mix rather than making my own. I used tip no.3 on this cake but most people use no 2. Use whatever works for you. After piping a flower with the desired number of petals, dampen your brush and brush the royal icing into the petal. Brush it in a second time to give it more of an "embroidered" look or more until the desired effect is achieved. Here's a close up of a flower....It takes time to do this. Practice on wax paper first until you're comfortable to do it on a cake.

I was a little hesitant to leave out the sugar flower. I just love how gumpaste flowers complete the look of a cake. In fact, I had a gumpaste Peony ready as a topper but I wanted to create something that could be as beautiful without one. By continuing the technique on top of the cake there was no need for a topper.

Brush embroidery is a technique I'm certain I'd use repeatedly. Another skill learned and surprised by my ability yet again. Oooh yes....nothing like a beautiful cake to make my day! 

Wow Wow Wubbzy Cake

It's always very humbling to receive a cake order. It's exciting and it gives me an opportunity to practice my skills. I was nervous about making this cake because first, I had no idea who Wow Wow Wubbzy is (my son is a total Sprout Channel addict and we're unfamiliar with Nickelodeon characters) and second, my customer is no cake dummy! She knows her cakes well for she is a very loyal customer of one of the best cake artist I know Pastrychik www.pastrychik.blogspot.com So when she requested a cake my first thought was "Dont' screw up!". I did my research and what a cute character Wubbzy is!

It was unusually warm in San Francisco when this cake was made. The heat made it so much more difficult to cover the cakes. The buttercream started to melt once I took it out of the fridge and the fondant became too soft and sticky to handle. Once the cakes were covered I couldn't make it as smooth or clean as I'd like.

Wubbzy was cut by hand. It's made of gumpaste and stands on a rice krispy treat ball. It's really unfortunate that I had not taken a better picture of this cake. It really looks so much better in person. I received great feedback from my lovely customer making the sleepless nights so worthwhile. 

Petunia flower cake

I made this cake with no particular design in mind. I bought a set of petunia cutters last year that I haven't used. And as always I was itching to make sugar flowers. I wanted to make something simple and pretty and this cake accomplished just that.

I made the petunias the night before as it needs to dry completely. To make the flowers I used the cutters purchased from Scott Woolley http://www.cakesbydesign.cc/ His cutters are sharp and cuts through gumpaste flawlessly. To maintain their shape I let them dry on an egg crate foam as shown. Another option will be to dry them in an egg carton.

I applied luster dust on each flower to define its lines. Sugar pearls were added to the middle as the bud with scant amount of sugar glue. Each flower was randomly placed on the cake and royal icing was used to attach the petunias on the cake as it provides a stronger hold. The lavender silk ribbon of course completed the look.

Petunias are such pretty little flowers. I'm looking forward to using them more often. Now on to the next sugar flower...

What a great year!

A year ago today I took my very first baking class. Little did I know that it will forever change me. I was never creative nor artistic, hell I can only draw stick figures. Cake decorating & baking introduced me to a whole new world full of possibilities! In it I'm happy, the only kind of happiness that people experience when they're doing something they love. In this world, I'm at peace, inspired and free.

There are so many amazing decorators and I can only hope to be as good as them one day. And without culinary training it's like doing it blindfolded. There's a LOT to learn and I've barely touched the surface. However, with generous people willing to share their knowledge I'm slowly finding my way. I learned that if you want to find out how it's done, you just have to do it yourself and practice, practice, practice!

I take pride on everything I make. But these creations are the ones that I'm most proud of and made me say "I can't believe I did that".

Scrollwork Cake

My first sugar flowers

Hydrangea Dress Cake

Single Peony topper cake

49ERS Helmet Cake

What a year it's been! I'm proud of myself with what I've accomplished in a year. I seriously do surprise myself sometimes. With each creation my confidence grows. I can't wait to find out what's in store for me this coming year...

Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends for their continued support. All your Facebook "Likes" and comments motivate me. My 2 biggest fans...my husband and my son. I love you both and thank you for EVERYTHING!

Gumpaste monkeys and bananas!

I had fun making these adorable monkeys. I need a LOT of practice making gumpaste figures so I thought I'd start with something easy. The bananas of course completed the scene.

Now for a close up of the monkeys...female monkey first.

The look of shock on her face as she watched her husband hog all the bananas is hilarious! I used the end of a paintbrush for her mouth and same goes for belly button. A toothpick was used for the nostrils and an X acto knife to leave indentations for the fingers and toes. The markings on the wooden crate was created with a toothpick.

Now let's look at this selfish little monkey!

The peeled banana on his hand made the arm a little heavy. I secured it with a wire but a toothpick could also be used. While it was drying, a cotton ball was placed under the arms to maintain it's position and shape. As you can see there are cracks on his hands. Gumpaste dries fast and I worked on his arms longer than I should have. Shortening helps with this problem but didn't want to start over because his arms were already secured. 

The smallest detail on gumpaste figures make all the difference therefore it's time consuming.  If something looks sloppy it would not look right. Just be patient when making them and most importantly don't forget to have fun!

* If you have any questions with how I made these, feel free to leave me a comment below* Thanks!

White peony and purple hydrangeas on chocolate.

I've been working on Peony gumpaste flowers for quite sometime now and I'm so happy to have finally made a great looking one! Months of frustration, reading and watching tutorials that didn't work and LOTS of wasted gumpaste have finally paid off! Woohoo! It's not perfect but it's getting there. So here it is... my finished closed white peony along with purple hydrangeas and filler flowers on chocolate...

My inspiration for this cake is the amazing sugar artist Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Her gumpaste flowers are amazing and I could only wish to be as good as her one day. You can  check out her blog at www.petalsweet.blogspot.com.

A close up of the closed Peony...

Although some of the tutorials I've read provided me with helpful tips none of them actually worked for me. I used both peony and rose petal cutters. The bud is a 1 1/2 inch styrofoam ball (you can also use a different bud). I didn't use a specific number of petals and just kept adding them on until it looked right. I will give you more specifics next time I try. You can add or reduce the number of petals depending on how large you want your flower. An open peony could also be done. That will be my next project.

Another picture...

I was smiling from ear to ear as I assembled the flowers on the cake. This is one cake I'm certainly proud of. Until next time!

Vertical Ruffle Cake

My husband is my biggest fan. Always pushing me to finish a cake when I've given up, listens without hesitation about baking and gives me his honest opinion on my creations. So when he requested a "simple cake WITHOUT fondant" I couldn't turn him down. But how can I be creative with a simple cake and frosting? The result is this ruffle cake....

You can take this cake to any party and it's so simple to make! The cake is covered with my favorite frosting, Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It's not too sweet and oh so silky smooth. The secret to creating the ruffles is to use TIP #104 (petal tip). Take your time and practice. It took me 3 tries before I can create a decent line of ruffle. They might not look perfect but don't sweat it! Heck they're meant to be  ruffles after all! *You can also make this cake with horizontal ruffles.

Here's a picture of the cake without the gumpaste flower...as you can see the cake looks unfinished without it.

Why a blue flower you ask? The gumpaste flower is something I decided to add to draw attention away from the inconsistent line of ruffles. Ha! It worked didn't it? Although the cake is not as perfect as I'd like it to be I'm happy with the overall look. I hope you do too :D

Panda Cake

A coworker of mine ordered this panda birthday cake for her friend "Panda". An orange baseball hat and a baseball were added when I learned that he is a baseball coach and a San Francisco Giants fan. The panda is the emphasis on this cake so it was great to acknowledge baseball without it being too sporty. The cake board is orange and black to represent the SF Giants colors.

The panda is made entirely of gumpaste. I honestly wanted to have the panda standing rather than sitting but my lack of experience made it impossible. I tried to use rice krispy treats for the body but it still somehow flattened the panda's legs. And yes, even with reinforcements! The bamboo sticks were difficult than I thought to make. I had to figure out how to make them stick on the cake without breaking. After numerous failed attempts, inserting a 30 gauge wire inside the bamboo sticks solved the problem!

It is so frustrating making gumpaste figures. But practice makes perfect and I will continue learning until I master it. 

Hydrangea Dress Cake

I love hydrangeas! They are just so beautiful and these gumpaste hydrangeas are so simple to make. I had a different cake design in mind but decided to go with this design in the last minute. And I'm glad I did! It turned out to be one of the best cakes I've ever made.

The cake is covered with ivory fondant and airbrushed with a pearlized sheen. The top tier is piped with royal icing and the buttons are made of fondant which is lightly dusted with Super Pearl luster dust. The bottom tier has purple, lavender and ivory gumpaste hydrangeas. I applied luster dust on each individual flower to give the color more depth and finished the look with Super Pearl luster dust again.

I learned how to make the hydrangeas from the very talented Jacqueline Butler from Petalsweet Cakes. Here is the link to her tutorial and I hope you try them soon. 

http://petalsweet.blogspot.com/2010/01/hydrangea-tutorial-part-one-by.html