Vintage Rose Cake

As you all know I'm obsessed with sugar flowers. And sugar roses have been my biggest obsession but I just can't seem to get it right. I wanted my roses to look as beautiful as Cotton and Crumbs and Leslea Matsis'. You have no idea how much gumpaste I've used practicing the art of making sugar roses. But alas! I think I've come close. Well not quite but let me know what you think.

I've had my piping tips for quite sometime and never used them. This was the first cake I actually piped on. As nervous as I was I think it came out well. The lace trim is from a craft store and I piped the dots on them as well using a No.1 tip. Now back to the roses...

There are many steps to making these as you can imagine. So if you have any questions at all shoot me an email. I'll be glad to help.

I could make these roses all day. So darn beautiful! Until next time...

Baby in a pod cake

I first saw this design from Anne Heap of Pink Cake Box and absolutely loved it. My gumpaste figure needs work but the finished look is still adorable nonetheless.

The leaves and tendrils are attached to a 30 gauge wire to keep it upright and the cascading leaves are made of gumpaste. To make the leaves I used a silicone veiner & I applied different shades of green luster dust to random parts of the leaves to make it look more realistic after it has dried. To complete the look I used confectioners glaze but you can steam it as well if you don't have the glaze on hand. Here is a close up. 

If you have any questions as to how I made this cake don't hesitate to send me an email. I'll be glad to help. Happy caking everyone! 

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...