Tag Archives: fondant

Hot Air Balloon

Creative Cakes, Decorations, special occasion May 1, 2011 Leave a comment

My middle child turned 7 yesterday.  She wanted a balloon cake.  After discussing it in detail, she decided that she really wanted a hot air balloon that stood up.  So that’s what I attempted. 

I started with rice krispie candy molded in a pail and a Pyrex bowl to make the balloon part of the cake.  After it was completely cool and formed to the bowls, I put them together with dowel rods and covered it with purple fondant.  After finishing the rainbow that my daughter wanted for the balloon, I added some stars in the same colors on the top of the balloon and 7s around the balloon with purple edible marker.

I then made chocolate cake (my daughter’s favorite) in 6 inch square pans.  I did a basket weave with peanut butter icing (again my daughter’s request) to make the squares look like a hot air balloon basket. 

To make the balloon attach to the basket, I sharpened the ends of dowel rods to make them stick into the cake board covered with fondant.  I drove them into the rice krispie candy and then put it into the cake.  I was so happy with how it turned out.  Jamie was thrilled that it stood up!  Thanks to my engineering husband who helped me with the design!

Happy Halloween

Creative Cakes, seasonal goodies November 1, 2010 Comments: 4

How about a fun cake for Halloween?  I decided to make a chocolate cake and decorate it for Halloween.  I tinted some vanilla buttercream violet and iced one 6 inch and one 8 inch cake.  I used black tinted buttercream and put some webbing onto the cake.

I made 3 spiders out of a black fondant/gum paste mixture and placed them on the webs.

I dusted the spiders with gold shimmer and gave them eyes.

Happy Halloween!

Computer Birthday Cake

basic cakes, Decorations October 8, 2010 Comments: 4

A customer asked if I could make a birthday cake for her husband who works at Hewlett Packard.  He fixes computer, servers, etc.  I asked what his favorite color is and went to work.  I started with a chocolate sheet cake with vanilla buttercream icing.  I placed the Hewlett Packard logo in the middle and used red tinted buttercream to fill it in. 

I made a laptop using graham crackers for the base.  I covered it with fondant and made the screen look like it had exploded with wires coming out…

I also used graham crackers to make a tower.  Again I covered it with fondant and made some wires to look like they needed repairing…

It was pretty fun to make computer parts for this cake.  Happy Birthday, Mr. A!

Elmo Gallore

Cupcakes September 25, 2010 Comments: 2

I had an order for Elmo cupcakes.  My customer wanted 3 dozen of them to look “fuzzy” and each one to be the same.  Her daughter was turning 2 and, as all of you know,  2 year olds need everything to be the same. 

The cupcakes are marbled chocolate and vanilla cake with red tinted buttercream icing.  I used white fondant for the eyes with black tinted buttercream pupils.  I used orange fondant for the huge noses and black tinted buttercream for the mouths.  I used the grass tip to make Elmo look furry.

I think they turned out nicely.  I hope Little A enjoyed them at her party!

A Shower of Hearts

Decorations, special occasion September 20, 2010 Comments: 2

I had the pleasure of making a baby shower cake this weekend. I was told the mama-to-be is very girly and is having a baby girl. My customer picked this cake saying it was perfect for her!

The cake is chocolate filled with light pink buttercream. Fondant square of pastel baby colors (yellow, blue, green, purple, and pink) applied to the sides of each cake in a patchwork fashion. I used the leftover heart cutouts as the topper.

It’s a fun cake and very girly!

Cake Project

basic cakes, Decorations September 1, 2010 Comments: 3

Yesterday was my last cake decorating class. I’m sad it’s over because I loved meeting the people in my classes plus I learned some really great things! This class I learned to work with fondant and gum paste. I had tried my hand at fondant before and realized that I had no idea what I was doing. Now I know how to work with it and manipulate it to do what I want. It’s pretty cool stuff!

This is my final cake project. We needed to bake a cake and have it ready to cover with fondant and decorate with fondant, gum paste, or a combination of the two. So I chose to bake a chocolate cake, torte it, and fill and cover it will chocolate butter cream. In class, I covered it with pink fondant…

Then applied light pink leaves…

And inserted dark pink gum paste roses which I made earlier in the week so they were dry. I also added some fondant/gum paste leaves to make the arrangement real. I placed the finished cake on the cake board I made with my imprint mat the week before. And my project was complete.
I had fun in this class and look forward to working with fondant and gum paste again!
***I apparently never gave credit where credit is due. I was fortunate enough to find a class at Michael’s. My instructor was Charity St. John who was awesome! I totally recommend taking a class with her. But if you are not in this area you should check out your local Michael’s or Joann’s. Good luck!***

Fondant

Decorations August 24, 2010 1 Comment

This week I learned to cover a cake base with fondant. I chose to tint the fondant green and use the Star Power imprint mat to make it fancier. I like the way it turned out. Plus it would be a great way to present a cake!

On top of the base are the flowers I also learned. The orange mum is one of my favorites. Perfect for a Fall cake. The other two are daisies. One is just flatter than the other and has a sparkle to the center to add a twist on the pretty flower…

The flowers are made of gum paste. Check back soon for my final project from my fondant class!

Roses and Bows

Decorations August 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I wanted to see what the Wilton rose would look like with buttercream icing. Since it is a softer icing and the flower is a heavy flower, I wasn’t sure it would work. Being pleasantly surprised, it did turn out. So I decided to decorate a lemon cake with white buttercream icing and yellow roses.

I also am working on learning how to use fondant and gum paste a little better. My first attempt at a bow wasn’t too bad…

While I’m not a fan of the flavor of fondant, it is easy to work with and there are so many possiblities with creating things for decorating cakes.
Here is a bonus for those of you who like the look of fondant but not the flavor…my instructor tells me that as a cake sits with fondant on it, the fondant takes on the flavor of the buttercream icing underneath. Also you can flavor fondant with flavoring oils. So I may have to give that a try and see if fondant isn’t that bad after all!
Be sure to check back for more fondant and gum paste creations!
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