Piped Lace Wedding Cake

I'm going to post a little quick entry today.  It's the first week of May and I have a BUNCH of cakes to work on!  We are getting a lot more requests for colored wedding cakes and I think that's great!  This a khaki color which isn't always the easiest color to achieve.  I sure wish I had one of the paint color mixing machines at Home Depot!

I used an Evil Cake Genius lace stencil and the piped an outline with a #1 tip.  I really like the look of the lace with that extra step.  The people at Evil Cake suggest putting a piece of tulle fabric  on the cake with the stencil.  I guess it's just to have a more realistic texture.  I personally don't think it's worth the effort, but that's just my taste.  My tip for the week is to add your edible pearls and silver dragees to your cake a few house before the cake is due.  If you put them on the day before they will break down and not be pretty.  OK, bonus tip!  Only make your pearl borders with Fondarific or modeling chocolate (or add 50% to your fondant).  The fat in those products will let you put the pearls in the freezer for just a couple of minutes and they will harden.  Then unmold them and they won't get all stretched out and disfigure.  When you see a really pretty cake with stretched pearls, it makes me a little sad that the decorator didn't know this tiny thing that makes a big difference.

Chattanooga Lace Wedding Cake!

Gold Sequin Wedding Cake

I'm so glad to make a cake that is new and not made from someone else's design.  I can't even tell you how this design came about.  I think the bride liked so many popular wedding cake trends that we just used them all.  All tiers were buttercream and about 5" high except for the gold tier which was about 3.5". We used an Evil Cake Genius lace cake stencil and outlined each piece with a #2 tip.  We then added some pearls and silver dragees on top.  The bottom tier was buttercream with fondant "fabric ruffle" look.  We didn't want to  cover the entire tier because it would have been too heavy looking.  It was a 20" tier, so it took a long time!  We made the fantasy flowers with gold button centers and the fondant teardrop shapes. 

I'm sure you have seen lots of tutorials on how to do a tier with a sequin-like look.  There are so many ways of doing this and since I've only done it once, I can't speak to the other techniques.  I used some very large quins.  I highly recommend buying them from  cakedeco.com because the 5 lb carton is a LOT and cheap!  These were 1/2" big and I tried to push a handful into the buttercream covered cake and it was just a mess!  I ended up having to put them on one at a time and that was big fun......not!!  So I then chilled the cake really well.  Some people use a paint brush to get these completely covered.   I then airbrushed this old gold and bronze over the entire tier.  I had to cover the neon colors and it took a while.  You want to do this is several coats and not in a couple because you will have drips.  Now, my complaints.  It looks a bit like scales, probably somewhat because I'd been looking at it a long time.  I may do it in smaller quins next time, but I've got 4 lbs of the giant ones left!   I was happy with the look of the cake, but I couldn't stop wondering what people must have thought of "the baker" if the were served a piece of the gold tier.   The quins were NEON COLORED on the backsides!  They aren't very tasty either.  I'm just saying, the more I thought about it, the more embarrassed I was.  I am not judging anyone that does this technique.  I am not saying I won't do it again if time is a factor.  Next time  I really want to make my own sequins out of fondant or something else.  I just don't want the wedding guests to think that the baker is crazy when they bite into the cake :) 

Ruffles and Lace Wedding

My area of the country follows trends, but about two years behind New York.  Currently we have a lot of brides wanting two main colors, but both neutrals.  Shades of ivory with white and shades of grey with cream both seem to be very trendy. Khaki, tan, ivory and champagne are the hardest colors to make in my opinion.  I've had art class, but I see.med to have forgotten that lesson.  if you just use the ivory color, it's too yellow.  Adding a little brown coloring in you icing makes a weird color, but it's not tan.  If you are short on time, know this:  GOLDEN YELLOW + PURPLE = TAN.  You can add some pink for more champagne of green for more of a khaki, but starting out with a nice tan instead of  a weird yellow is key.  I could give you many great articles on coloring, but here is one great one with links to other great ones.  Don't get mad at me if I send you down a wormhole of learning!

This is talking about royal icing, but we all know it's just the same to make fondant.  If you are coloring real butter-buttercream, take in to account that it is already pale yellow.  What I like to do is make a "color concentrate".  In this instance, I made a cup of a really dark khaki.  Then you can make a formula that is more controllable like "1 TBL color concentrate mixed with 1 LB buttercream".  This is handy because we often guess how much colored icing we need for a cake.  If we make too much, we are stuck with a color we may not need again for a long time (mix it into black!) or we run short and can't match the original shade.  You can also freeze leftover concentrate for later uses or just throw it away and you have only wasted a little.

I have been talking about color because there is not much exciting to say about this cake.  Sorry "my bride" if you are reading this but in the cake world this was not new or exciting.  It's classy and pretty just not AWESOME.  I made this cake before, so that was my "inspiration" but we changed the base color and broach color.  The advice for a fellow baker is to let your lace pieces chill before you un-mold them and maybe again before you apply them to the cake.  If you are pressing a soft piece of fondant firmly, you will loose some of the detail due to squishing.  I love Fondarific or these pieces because they get firm very quickly in the cooler.  Also, don't overfill the mold or the lace will be thick and that's just not attractive :)  Now go make some tan icing!

Sugar Dress Pink Lace Cake

I have tried so many lace making products that I almost gave up.  When SugarVeil came out, I thought it was cool but all the mats were kind of tacky (just my opinion). It really did take a while for some better mats to be developed but they are expensive.  I have used SugarVeil in a piping bag so that I could pipe onto parchment with a complicated pattern underneath.  Once dried, I could pick it up and adhere it to the cake.   I can be a real chicken when piping black icing on a white cake!  The thing I don't like about SugarVeil is that it takes a while to dry and it dries out very quickly.  Keep your finished pieces wrapped well in cling wrap or it will be very brittle and fall apart. 

When I saw a video on Icing Inspirations about their new product, Dab, I bought six!  It looked so easy, is ready immediately and they said it stayed flexible.  I tried so many times but I could not get the STUFF to cooperate.  It is really hard on your hands! I still don't know how to make that product work.

Now I have found Sugar Dress.  It is easy to mix, I've even done it by hand. You can speed the process in the oven and it stays flexible for a long time. It is also very strong so when you take it out of the molds it stays in one piece.  It's a little pricey, but so are the two mentioned above.  You can find it on Amazon, so that is good for Amazon Prime members because free shipping!

The mat from this cake was purchased from All About Cake Art.  "Virginia" is the name of the mat and it's $48.50

They have some pretty ones.  I've also found several mats on Etsy that are much cheaper but don't always come in the sizes promised so read the reviews. 
https://www.etsy.com/shop/GLOBALPAFMOLDS
https://www.etsy.com/shop/RomanticCraft

Mad Hatter Victorian Cake

 Some nights I sit in bed waiting to get sleepy and I wind up trolling Pinterest on my iPad.  It usually just gets me wound up.  I see some new cake or craft idea and my brains explodes trying to think of some way to incorporate it into a new cake design.  When I saw this mini mad hatter tutorial on Seeing Things That Aren't Really There, I knew I would have to make one for a cake.

I made this cake for my friend Amanda's birthday.  I decided on a romantic Victorian design with a hint of steampunk.  For the bottom tier, I did buttercream ruffles.  for the second tier, I used edible image sheets to recreate a layered ruffle design.

For the top, I used some molds I got from Kara Buntin along with some button molds to make a small Victorian collage around the monogram.  I added a lace mold to to give it little more of a feminine touch.

I really wanted to make the hat edible, but time ran tight and I just just used the paper template directly from the Seeing Things... blog.  It went together pretty easily and I have have my sights set on doing it again, but out of gumpaste or modeling chocolate.

I really appreciate each and every one of you that stops by here and visits the blog.  I hope you have an awesome week!

Champagne Khaki Lace Wedding Cake

The holidays are over and the new wedding season has begun.  We've already had one big bridal show in our area and will have another next month.  A lot of brides get engaged during the holidays because smart men want to have all the family around and buy a present/ring that is a sure hit.  Since we are mostly doing taxes and consultations this time of year, I thought we had better find a cake that we had forgot to share. 

This "little" number is a 6/10/14" combo that was covered in a few lace fondant pieces.  It was a very heavy cake because it was carrot cake and cream cheese icing for a filling.  I don't offer cream cheese icing for the outside.  My crazy reasons are as follows:  Cream cheese icing doesn't get as hard in the cooler as 100% all butter icing and with the method I use to smooth cakes, I can't seem to get it as perfectly smooth.  Also, I have seen several of my cakes iced in cream cheese icing develop a "bubble" or "blister" as they are settling.  I've tried several techniques to avoid this, but it still has happened and I refuse to take a chance with someone's wedding cake.  Once a blister develops, you can often just push it back down after you put a pin hole in it, but if there is some intricate piping or stenciling you have less options.   My cream cheese icing is ofter very thick and will tear up fresh, soft cake when putting on the crumb coat.  People love the taste, so I haven't changed it....yet!  There are three new recipes out on my fridge just waiting to be tested!

The "trendy" thing about this cake is the champagne/khaki color.  I have taken art class and I own several color wheels, but yet this one puzzled me.  Many brides are using shades of these colors for their events.  If you know this, great for you, but I had the hardest time getting the right color.  I kept thinking it was just a light brown so I mixed, and mixed, and threw away.  Come to find out that these colors are made with (2 parts)yellow, (1 part)pink, and (1 part)blue.  I mean, come on, really?!?   Thank you Google!  I would have still been mixing!  Another chart I found said to mix ivory and violet (AmeriColor) but I haven't tried that one yet, but I will since it's less steps!

The lace were molds, as was the silver giant brooch on the middle tier.   Most of the molds are "Earlene's" in case you want them.  The middle tier was hard for me because it was supposed to be "messy" or organic.  I really like balance and order, so these are real challenges for me not to "fix".  Using Fondarific was a big help with this because of the unlimited work time and ability to stretch without tearing.  I love that stuff! 

It was nice taking a break with you, but I have got to get back to my taxes.  It's great wearing all the hats a small business owner gets to wear.  I just wish they were "fancy" hats like our friends in England. :)

Peach Monogram Eyelet Wedding Cake

Are you other decorators out there getting lots of requests for peach and coral wedding cakes this season?  They must be popular colors, because almost every couple I meet with has one of those colors in their mind.

This couple wanted some touches of that peach color in their wedding cake, and they wanted that eyelet lace look also.  For this look, Fondarific made this cake possible.  It's my go-to fondant when I need to cut shapes out without worrying about it stretching or deforming.  But it still has to be pliable enough to wrap around a cake without cracking or getting elephant skin.

Any cake that also features mine and Chaddy's initials also holds a special place in my heart.  Sometimes I wish that I was doing cakes when Chad and I got married, but then again, how could I have ever chosen a design??

New Wedding Cake at the Chattanoogan

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  I hope today finds you something sweet!

I was contacted not to long ago by the fine folks at The Chattanoogan.  They have an area of their consultation room that in front of a huge window that faces the street.  They were asking some of their favorite vendors to dress the window to showcase some spring wedding trends.  We sent a few e-mails and we finally settled on a turquoise and cream theme.

Since the cake is going to be in front of a window for a few months, I have to be careful not to add a lot of color to the fondant.  Some colors will fade right out with extended exposure to sunlight.  Cream fondant was a great choice for the dummy cake.

I used some white royal icing to stencil some swags and used a few molds to make some accessories for the cake.  I have worked with color long enough to know that there re several different shades of white, cream, and certainly turquoise.  So I bought a few different shades of turquoise and brought them with me.  Sure enough, I wound up changing it when I got to the venue, but the other ribbon looked so much better!  And best of all, worst case scenario?  Come fall I can replace that ribbon out for an orange or brown one and keep right on using it.

The styrofoam used in the dummy cakes aren't super cheap and they are time consuming to make, so why not get all the mileage you can out of them!?!?!

5 hrs - removal bel ribbon to get exct color - work w oth vendor turq & crm tried flowrs no place

Filauer Lake House Lace Wedding Cake

This weekend we were SO busy with wedding cakes, but our last stop of the day was at the Filauer Lake House in Cleveland, TN where we delivered this four tiered fondant wedding cake.

This cake was a deep champagne color, and the bride wanted lots of lace flowers on the second tier and a band of lace flowers on the bottom tier.  The bow and brooch are made from fondant, as well as the pearl borders.  I used every lace mold I had, cutting around the rest of the design to just leave the flowery bits.

The flowers (see pic below) are gumpaste peonies that the bride wanted a deep fuchsia to match her wedding decor.  I airbrushed them with several coats and colors of pink to give it just the right color.  And everything in the kitchen got a thin coat of pink overspray!  I should have used my little paint booth!!

Here's a picture of the entire cake for those that want to see the whole thing!

Rose and Lace Display Cake

It seems nowadays I don't get to do smaller cakes anymore, even though I do enjoy doing them.

So when I needed to do some new display cakes for the shop, I opted to do some smaller ones.  Smaller cakes still showcase my skills while taking up a lot less space (and that's a good thing!)

This cake is pretty simple, but I loved the way it turned out!  I must be honest here - I did not make those roses.  I only wish I could make roses that looked that good!  I got them on clearance from Cal Java.  The lace is from a new mold I got at Earlene's Cakes, and every time I use it, I am amazed by their detail.  Not to mention how easy they are to use!

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend!!

Lace Recreation Wedding Cake

I did this cake a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed doing it.  So much so that I am planning on doing a display cake in a similar fashion.

This bride wanted the ornate lacework on her dress recreated on her cake. She provided me with a scan of the lace pattern.  We printed it out and then traced it on copy paper.  From that black and white drawing, we could scan it in and resize it to fit the cake.

Once it was the right size, I went to work with my Sugar Veil icing tracing that lacework over and over.

My brother even made a new custom cake stand to place this cake on!  The bride liked it so much, she just decided that she would purchase it as a keepsake.  How sweet is that?

Black Lace Wedding Cake with Wedge Separators

This cake was my first experiment with Sugar Veil icing.  If you don't know, Sugar Veil is a type of icing, similar ot royal icing, that can be piped on parchment paper.  Sugar Veil will "set", but it still remains flexible.  This allows you to pipe intricate lace patterns on a flat surface and then place it on the cake.  I know there's a lot you can do with Sugar Veil, but I was pleased with our first partnership!

This was also my first wedge separator cake.  I used styrofoam wedges for the separators.  I ran my blow torch over r the surface of the styrofoam quickly and it really helped seal the surface.  I still covered them with cake foil, but that little blast of heat really helped it from shedding or pilling.  I then filled them with mini roses once on site.

I used plenty of dowels to make sure everything stayed together.  I had to carry it up the sometimes harrowing Lookout Mountain to the Grandview and it traveled just fine!