Cornhole Groom's Cake Photo Tutorial

Whether you call it cornhole, bean bag toss, or Baggo, people are playing this toss game everywhere - tailgate parties,family picnics, and even weddings.  So I guess when a client asked for one as a groom's cake I shouldn't have been surprised.  And since it's basically a sheet cake on an incline, they're actually pretty easy to make.

 

We'll start with a board to fit our cake (a 12x18), a larger board for the cake to rest on (17 1/2 x 25 1/2) and a small foam wedge to give us our height (8 1/4 x 9 - 2" high).  Start by using the 12x18 cake board to determine where you want your cake to land on the larger board.  I have marked mine on the image above with some temporary masking tape.

 

Dry fit all your pieces together to make sure they all fit the way you want.  Make sure to mark the placement of your styrofoam wedge.  It should hold the top board flush against the styrofoam, while being centered across the board.  Once we start securing things down there's no going back!!

 

Normally, styrofoam and hot glue don't mix very well, but I didn't have any extra "gluing chocolate"so I put some down on the board and gave it a couple of seconds to cool down before I plonked down the styrofoam wedge.  Let it dry and make sure the wedge is very secure on that bottom board.

We don't want that old foam wedge to be seen, so the next step is to cut some black modeling chocolate and put it on all 3 sides using piping gel.  We now have the base to place our cake on!

OK, so now the cake is on our 12x18 board and has been iced smooth.  Place it on the board using your masking tape guides and make sure everything is sitting nice and flush.  Once you like what you see, put a couple dowels through the cake, board, styrofoam,  and bottom board.  This will add stability and keep your cake firmly in place.

Now we just simply finish decorating the cake, and that part can be as simple or complex as you like.  I put modeling chocolate (MC) panels on all sides of the cake, but I put a thin layer of black MC on top.  then I covered that with a regular piece of modeling chocolate, making sure my top extended over the edge of the sides, just for a realistic effect.  Use a cookie cutter to gingerly cut out your bean bag hole, and the black from underneath will look just like a hole.  Now just decorate with your particular theme or team until you've got it just the way you want it.  Don't forget to make a bean bag!!

McCallie Graduation Cake

Well, it's that time again... summer is just around the corner and millions of high school students across the US are closing one huge chapter in their lives and starting a new one.  Yes, it's graduation time!

This graduation celebration cake was made for a young man who went to The McCallie School in Chattanooga.  He was very into football and baseball and will begin his new chapter in life at Auburn University in the fall.

The bottom tier was all about his high school experience, his school's logo along with their team logo.  The sports memorabilia sits around and atop the first tier, as the great memories he'll carry into college.  The top tier contains the Auburn paw prints along with their battle cry "War Eagle!"  On top of the cake we made an Auburn University topper from modeling chocolate.  The graduate's favorite treat, peanut butter cups, adorn the entire cake.

The footballs, were made using chocolate molds, and I made the baseballs using a cakepop (cake and icing) mixture.  It was pretty firm and I thought it held its shape reasonably well, although after sitting for a while I got a little droopage.  The Tornado logo was printed on edible image, and that was really just because it didn't lend itself well to any other method.  All the other logos and text were cut from modeling chocolate using the cutting machine.

Tennis Shoe Cake

We made a pair of Air Jordon shoes and their box as part of a larger groom's cake.  We have made two other shoe cakes.  A pair of Converse All-Star's and a pair of fancy high heels with a shoe box.  Lucky for us, the bride let us pick the shoe design, it just had to be accurate as the groom was a collector.   The easiest avenue for any 3D cake is to have the item in front of you, or at least a 3D model (like a car).  I find it so helpful for all those little things, like accurate measurements!  We picked these because they looked easy compared to all the rest of the Air Jordon line.  Shoes are notoriously deceiving so keep that in mind when you're planning.  It took us eight hours to make the pair.  Some people may think that is crazy long, but I have not figured out a way to "hurry" on a project like these.

Let me tell you what I learned/did wrong with this project.

1.  Black fondant FADES!  I added extra black food coloring when I started but I truly believe that the fondant faded just in the time it was exposed to lights.  I saw these girls on "Amazing Wedding Cakes" practically working in the dark to avoid their black from fading.  I thought they were crazy!  I'm sorry ladies, you are sane and black fondant is stupid.  MAYBE if I was doing this exact same project again, I would airbrush the shoes before adding the soles and edible images.  MAYBE that would have helped.  They really didn't fade until I had the details on and at the point the air brush ship has sailed.

2. Make paper templates of sections so that all sides are exactly the same.  For example the side squares with the dots and without the dots.  I should have made all the templates and pinned them on one of the shoes before I started scoring the lines.  I wouldn't have gotten "off" had I done it that way.  Every cake has a backside!

3. CK Edible lacquer is super awesome!  The shoe had shiny parts and I sprayed some lacquer in a paint cup and used a small paint brush to apply it precisely when it was supposed to go.  Lesson here, the stuff dulls the longer it sits.  What until a couple of hours before the event to apply this if possible.  It won't go away over a day or two, it's just less shiny.

4.  Edible image paper is my friend!  Chad found a little dot pattern and printed out one page.  I used my templates to cut the pieces a tiny bit larger and then used a clad tool to bend them into the seam. 

5.  The sole is so important!  I used straight fondant for the black parts, but the red and white parts were 100% modeling chocolate.  The white part was put on as one big, thick piece and I took a ball tool and carved the lines and details in.  I should have spent much more time on the sole as the real shoe had more ridges, but I was out of time.....

6.  I have lost my ticking tool.  The one that makes it look like you have a sewn line.  I used some Wilton tool, but it just looked bad so I didn't add anymore detail with it, but once it's done you have to live with it. 

Remember to plan EIGHT hours or more and charge accordingly :)  Now I have to go and order my missing tool!

Bar Mitzvah Tennis Cake

This week I want to tell you about the Bar Mitzvah cake I made to go with last weeks Bat Mitzvah cake. What a big party these twins had! Huge decorations, beautiful lighting and great food all at The Chattanoogan Hotel. They had to have wonderful cakes to match the event. When I met the clients, the birthday girl knew she wanted a giant fancy cake. On the other hand, the young man was so easy going that it made a problem. He wanted a sheet cake with a score board, that was all. I suggested some options to make it more grand to be on scale with the girl's cake, but he wasn't having it. Long story short, the parents almost didn't book the cake because they didn't want to spend so much on a "sheet cake". I had sketched out a 3 layer rectangle tennis court (not exactly a sheet cake!), with bleachers on two sides and a scoreboard on one of the long sides. When I found out about their reservations, I decided to sketch out a whole new design concentrating on what would match the size/scale of the girl's cake and not limit myself to the original instructions. Everyone was happy! Then all I had to do was make the cakes....

The cake itself was not hard, just very large. I used a half sphere of styrofoam for the bottom of the ball cake. The darned thing still wasn't perfectly round. I didn't trim enough off the cake half so the middle was too long. I'm not sure if there is a way to check the exact roundness of the cake other than just eyeballing it. Anyone have ideas? We used strips of plain edible image paper for the lines on the court. I really like the look and the flatness of these kinds of lines on a field. I've done it with thin fondant "snakes", but they aren't as pretty. The rest of the cake was pretty plain so I added a few details like tennis balls.

There are things I'm very good at and things that I'm just not. I've still got a lot to learn on a several things, but especially making fondant figures/people. The birthday boy wanted a figure to look like him and one to look like Roger Federer. I should have started those crazy things two weeks earlier, but it did not go down like that. Have you noticed yet that there are no pictures of these figures? Well, I wasn't happy with them so there is no evidence! I have two pieces of advice, because I'm soooo awesome at making people! First, use good modeling chocolate. If it's too soft or on the other end of the spectrum, to cracky, make a fresh batch! Second, watch Artisan Cake Company, AKA Liz Marek, on You Tube. Her fondant figure tutorials are the best that I found! She is awesome! But remember, she makes it looks much easier than it is, at least for me!

Lions Football Grooms Cake

Football field cakes can be a great way to showcase a groom's interests and it's much more economical than a sculpted football helmet or stadium cake.  For this cake we used a combination of edible images and Cricut cut-outs as the main decorations.  The cake stand was awesome, and was made by the grooom's mother if I remember correctly.  We delivered this groom's cake to Trevitt Hall in Dalton, GA.

But I just fell in love with these chocolate covered strawberry "footballs".  I have seen them before, but this was my first time making them.

They are your basic chocolate-dipped strawberries, but with a twist (or a spiral!).  Once the chocolate firmed up, I used royal icing to pipe the lines and the laces on the "footballs".  I think you will agree that it is a pretty convincing effect!  And the word from the wedding party was that they were very delicious!

Any of you have any other ingenious disguises for chocolate covered strawberries?

Wrigley Field Marquee Cake

I made this cake recently for our good friend John.  He is the host of our weekly trivia tournament, and an all-around super great guy. When we found out his birthday was coming up, one of the guys on another trivia team told us what a big fan John was of the Chicago Cubs.  Paul was the one that suggested the Wrigley Field marquee.  Chaddy and I aren't sports people at all, but once I saw the marquee, I knew we could knock it out of the park!  That's a sports saying, right?!? :-)

Chaddy went to work on the graphics, and determined really quickly that it would fit just right on a 12x18 cake.  He then cut the letters out with the Cricut, found a font and printed out the "LCD panel", and printed out a life-sized template.  I used the template to carve the top of the marquee, and to place the letters on the cake.  I extruded a small square rope for the edges of the marquee.  I made small pin holes in my template to help me place the letters and the lines.

After that, I thought the cake still needed a little something, so I put a small Cubs ribbon as a cake border (also an edible image).

And for the record, John was really stoked about his cake!

Thanksgiving Football Cake

This week is Thanksgiving week, so I thought this would be the perfect cake to showcase as many of our family members will be watching football as they fall in and out of turkey-induced slumber.

But it's also a time for self-reflection, and a time to give thanks.  I have so many things to be thankful for - I am thankful that my small business has thrived in a struggling economy.  I am thankful for the skills I have learned and the people that have supported me and my business.

When I first started, there wasn't a lot of information out there.  I bought every cookbook I could find, but there were still specific questions I had.  As far as I know, there was no CakesDecor or CakeCentral to fall back on.  Out of desperation I e-mailed a few specific questions to some well-known decorators.  Some I never heard from, but I was surprised that several answered me back with an answer.  I always responded back with a gracious "Thank You" and never pushed my luck.  I also vowed that I would "pay it forward" when my skills were more developed.

Nowadays I must get a couple of e-mails a day from aspiring decorators asking me questions, and sometimes I have to remind myself of my vow. Most people ask very pointed, specific questions and I try to answer than as quickly as possible.  Some people though ask questions like "I have never baked a cake in my life and I want to make a 4-foot tall sculpted animatronic dancing armadillo cake.  Can you please send me recipes and a step-by-step walkthrough with diagrams?"  OK, so that scenario is a little inflated, but you get the idea.  I'm never exactly sure how to answer these types of emails, and honestly more times than not, I just ignore them.

So please remember this next time you e-mail someone with a question, and they can continue to be thankful to share their information.  And don't forget to thank them if you get a response!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!  Spend some time with people you love!!

60th Birthday Golf Cake

I made this golf cake recently for my high school art teacher's husband.  Even though it's been a LOONNG time since I was in high school, I have always stayed good friends with Jeanne and her husband Ken.  Ken was turning sixty and was preparing for a big party with family and friends.

Ken's an avid golfer, so can you guess what he thought was so great about turning sixty?  Yeah, I had no clue either!  Well, once you turn 60, you get to golf from the golden tee markers, which are closer to the green, and the little hole I guess. 

This little golf scene includes some of the hazards of the game, as well as the green and those golden tee markers.  We also made some golden golf tees from fondant.  Ken was very happy with his cake and we were happy to be a part of the celebration.

Hockey Rink Grooms Cake

About 30 minutes before I started writing this, I was looking through my iPad at the last few weeks cakes to find the perfect one to write about.  And as I sat here in the sweltering Georgia heat, with record-breaking 100+ degree temperatures, this hockey rink cake called my name, as seeing it immediately made the room feel 10 degrees cooler!

This is a simple cake, but it holds TONS of sentiment.  You see, when Nick decided he wanted to propose to Meredith, he did so by writing his proposal on the ice rink.  Now I don't know how one goes about getting something written on an ice rink, but I bet it's not an easy feat to accomplish.  This groom's cake really shows the commitment this couple has made to each other; it really touched my heart!

Tomorrow we celebrate Independence Day here in America, and while it's not super patriotic, here's a quote I read recently that made me smile by Erma Bombeck:  "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."

Alabama Crimson Tide Grooms Cake

When I meet with couples, there's always a period of time where we discuss the groom's interest and what he would like represented in his groom's cake.

Not always, but often, his interests will lead into sports, and sometimes, just sometimes, I can see a glint of horror in the bride's eyes.  Now I can't be certain, but I think it might be her fear of a tacky sports cake bringing down her otherwise elegant wedding.

Now that was not the case with this couple, but there's always tasteful ways to bring a groom's interests into his groom's cake.

Take this cake for example.  Our groom was a big Alabama fan, so we brought in some of the colors in the banding, and I printed a houndstooth pattern on edible image sheets to bring in that element.  The logos were also printed on edible images and were kept small and understated.  And we topped it off with mini Crimson Tide helmet.

By the way, I have entered my World of Warcraft Beer Stein cake into InkEdibles Edible image contest.  They are looking for a cake that makes the best use of their edible images.  Right now, there's a Hello Kitty cake that's really kicking my butt!  I would appreciate your vote -  just click this link and then click "Like" next to my stein cake.  It uses Facebook so there's no registration or hassle.  Thanks! Y'all have a great weekend!

Alabamas Bryant Denny Stadium Cake

Even though Chad and I had a great time making this stadium cake, it was still one of those cakes that I could have worked on for weeks.  There's just so much detail that you could just keep adding, ad adding, and adding!

My "inspiration" wall in the background

This was a recreation of Alabama's Bryant Denny Stadium.  It was to serve as a groom's cake at a wedding at the Read House in Chattanooga, TN.  How do you start to make a cake like this?  Well, I'll tell you how I did it.  The best way to make any sculpted cake is to start with a model.  I ordered a model for the cake, but unfortunately it didn't arrive until 2 days before the cake was due.  So what do you do without a model.  Hit the Internet!

We printed out so many pictures of the stadium (see my inspiration wall, above), but the most helpful for making our cutting templates was an aerial view of the stadium we got from Google images.  I used the free program PosterRazor to print the stadium out to my dimensions and then laminated it using packing tape.  Using this template I start cutting on the cake.  The trick to carving cake is to cut a little at a time, but don't be afraid of cutting it!

I made lots of pictures of the cake during it's making and it was my initial intent to place them all here for you to see.  Chad suggested that we put them together in semi time-lapse video... so I let him! ;)

Click below to view...
THE MAKING OF BRYANT DENNY STADIUM

Thanks, and have an awesome week!

Ultimate Fighting Grooms Cake

I make a lot of cakes, and almost every weekend I take my iPad and show my in-laws pictures of the cakes I have made during the past week.  Most of time, my father-in-law looks over them and says "Those are some pretty cakes".  He's the fisherman/hunter type and certainly not into baking, so I don't expect a lot of "oohs" and "ahhs" from him.  But when he saw this cake, he immediately perked up and said "Wow, now that's an awesome cake!  What did you charge for that, $1000?"

Unfortunately, I charged a lot less for it, but I definitely appreciated the sentiment.

Of course, this cake was for a groom and his favorite thing was Ultimate Fighting.  While it was no UFC fight, this cake presented a few challenges.

I started with a square cake and used a paper template to cut it into an octagon.  The cake was covered in blue fondant and then modeling chocolate panels around the sides made things nice and clean.  Chad broke out the Cricut and cut some UFC logos.  But what about the posts.  We sat down and did some brainstorming on that little bit.

We finally decided on extruding the posts from modeling chocolate.  We could skewer through the middle of the post and all the way to the base of the cake.  I used gelatin sheets and an edible black marker to make the fencing and cut slits in the sides of the modeling chocolate.  These slits would hold the edges of the gelatin panels.  We were certainly in untested waters, and luckily for us, it turned out great and held up just fine.

As always, thanks for stopping by!  I appreciate your comments, your readership, and especially your friendship.  Have a great weekend!

UT Vols Grooms Cake - Smokey the Dog

Click for a larger image

Sometimes a cake just needs one super wow element to take it from average to awesome.  On this cake, old Smokey the Dog is definitely the star!  And I have Chaddy to thank for him!

We have done sports logos before, but Chaddy said that this was the most intricate we have attempted.  Most of the logos we have done previously allow for a lot of layering; placing one color on top of another.  This design really didn't allow for that though; everything had to be inlaid.  It was one GIANT modeling chocolate jigsaw puzzle!!

From start to finish, he worked on the design over 3 nights for a total of 8 hours.  He spent about 2 1/2 hours the first night just sorting out the graphics.  That means taking the logo and not only breaking it down into its separate colors to make cut files, but also mapping out a strategy for how each color will fit together or layer onto each other.

As a side note:  I just found out last week that due to legal actions taken by the makers of the Cricut Cake that current versions of neither SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot) nor MTC (Makes the Cut) will cut on the Cricut.  This is truly sad news indeed, as I wouldn't use my Cricut near as much if I couldn't cut custom graphics.

An in-progress shot of the black logo after the charcoal inlay.

The rest of the time was spent making the various modeling chocolate colors and cutting them out and then putting them all together!!

Since the resulting topper (do you even call that a topper?) came our so great, we wanted to really go all out on the photo.  I have been contemplating "propping" my cake pictures for a while, and this was the first time I really did it.  We got 2 yards to Vols fabric as a backdrop and used the football helmet I bought long ago to use as a model for a sculpted helmet cake.

How about you guys?  Have you used props in your wedding (or just regular) cake pictures?  If so, what worked well for you?

UGA Chocolate Drizzle Groom's Cake

I really enjoy doing these chocolate drizzle cakes.  The drips look random, but don't let that fool you - I control each one of them!!

I start out by icing the cake as normal (leave those edible images and other decorations off for now) and putting in the fridge to get nice and cold.  Then I'll begin pouring the ganache on top of the cake, spreading it just to the edge.  It will start to go over just a little and you want it to, but the cold cake will start to firm that ganache almost immediately.  For the long drips, I'll put some ganache in a small squeeze bottle and apply each one.  Again the cake is cold, so the level of control you have is much better than you would expect..

Once you're done, then you can apply any graphics or borders and the cake will be ready to go!

Have a great weekend!

UGA Bulldog Groom Cake

A whole back we delivered this groom's cake to Walnut Hill Farm.  Sports themed groom's cakes are all the rage and seeing as we are in Georgia, UGA is one of the most popular designs.

We do what we can to switch things up and do each UGA cake a little differently.  In this case, we started with a two tier square chocolate cake and alternated sides on each tier with edible images of the bulldog and the Georgia "G".

We then hand-dipped strawberries in Belgian chocolate and used them to bring a little extra splash of red (and black, I suppose) to the cake.

Have a great weekend and don't forget that you still have until Sunday (aka Chaddy's Birthday!) to register to win a tin of handcrafted marshmallows!  See this post for all the details!!

Troy University Groom's Cake

We had a really great time creating this unique groom's cake that was delivered to the Dalton Freight Depot!  Our groom here was a Troy alumni and wanted a cake that reflected the Trojan logo, while keeping things fairly simple.

We made a template and cut the cake out in the Troy "T" shape.  I gave the whole thing a good coating of buttercream.  I cut out long ribbons of fondant and used them for the outline and base of the cake.  The Cricut Cake cut out the lettering with great precision.

Now of course this picture doesn't show it, but to jazz up the cake we added chocolate footballs and soccer balls to the cake board and also the bride purchased a Troy mini helmet to place next to the cake.

Thanks for visiting and have a super awesome weekend!

Nebraska Huskers Grooms Cake

Neither I nor Chad have ever been big sports fans, so when we gets sports cake requests, sometimes we have no idea who the team in question actually is.  I'm still not exactly sure if this is a football or basketball team!  LOL!

But we had a great time making this logo cake nonetheless!  I put Chaddy to task making a cut file for the Cricut from their logo.  He worked his computer magic and imported all the pieces into SCAL. 

I have talked about how I like using the Cricut Cake to do logos before.  Even though their basically still a flat decoration, the layering gives some measure of dimension to the cake.  I thought the angle of the picture above really shows the layering effect nicely.

Have a great week!  Who's planning on getting up early to see the Royal Wedding on Friday?  I know I am!

Georgia Bulldogs Groom's Cake

Guys like sports, so it goes without saying that I do a lot of sports team cakes for my grooms.  And since I do a lot of wedding cakes in Georgia, Georgia Bulldog cakes are all the rage!  And since every couple has different needs, I try to offer something that can fit any couple's wedding budget.

This oval cake is a great option.  Simple buttercream cake with fondant ribbon edge on top and bottom and a "G" topper cut from black modeling chocolate.  Even a simple design can make a big impact!

Thanks for stopping by and check back in on Tuesday to see who won the Money Cake System Giveaway!  You still have until Friday 5:00pm EST to register!

Notre Dame Groom's Cake

 

This past weekend, I delivered this groom's cake to The Chattanoogan Hotel.  This is the mascot of Notre Dame's Fighting Irish.  I don't know if this fella has a name, but he's far too cute to be mean, right?

I made the logo by taking a graphic from the web and converting to a Cricut Cut file using my Sure Cuts a Lot software.  I broke the logo into 4 parts: navy, yellow, green, and white.  For the navy layers, I cut the entire image, one big blue Irishman (about a foot high).  Then each of the colors got cut and placed on top of the navy layer, just  like a great big jigsaw puzzle.  It made it look like the navy was outlining all the other pieces.

This was by far my largest and most elaborate Cricut project to date.  If you're attempting something like this, my advise is to put all the pieces together and get them just like you want them and then go back and "glue" them down with piping gel or tylose.

West Virginia Groom's Cake

Any Mountaineers in the house?  How about peanut butter fans?  If so, you are in for a real treat!

I started with a 16 inch square cake and carved away a lot of excess using a template I made by printing out the logo to the appropriate size.  Then I used that same template to cut out the the yellow and blur top from fondant.

I then cut up an entire case of Reese's Peanut Butter cups to fill the cake board.

This groom's cake was delivered to Trevitt Hall in Dalton, GA.