Cake Decorating Made Easy!

Transcription

Cake Decorating
Made Easy!
Volume 2
An Intermediate-Advanced Guide to
Baking & Decorating
Incredible Cakes
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 2
1
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Copyright © 2011 CakesMadeEasy.com All rights reserved.
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Legal Notices
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slights of specific people or organizations is unintentional.
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Table of Contents
Volume 2
Introduction – The Art of Cake Decorating __________________
Chapter 1 – SUPPLIES FOR THE EXPERIENCED STUDENT ____
The Royal Family of Icing ________________________________
Royal Icing _____________________________________________
Buttercream Icing ________________________________________
Fondant _______________________________________________
Gum Paste _____________________________________________
Supplies for Experienced Students __________________________
Where to Buy Specialty Supplies? __________________________
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Chapter 2 - FONDANT 101 ________________________________ 15
Traditional Fondant ______________________________________ 15
Rolled Buttercream ______________________________________ 16
Marshmallow Fondant ____________________________________ 17
“Mixing MMF” VIDEO _____________________________________ 17
“Preparing MMF 1 & 2” VIDEOS ____________________________ 18
Cover Cake with Rolled Fondant ____________________________ 18
“Preparing MMF 3” VIDEO ________________________________ 19
Poured Fondant _________________________________________ 19
Looking Good with Gum Paste! _____________________________ 21
Mixing Gum Paste _______________________________________ 21
Gum Glue ______________________________________________ 22
Preparing Gum Paste for Cut-Outs ___________________________ 22
Modeling with Gum Paste _________________________________ 23
Storing & Freezing Fondant ________________________________ 25
Chapter 3 - THE PIED PIPER ______________________________ 26
Decorative Borders ______________________________________ 26
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“Fleur de Lys” & “Ruffle Swag” VIDEOS ______________________
Decorative Techniques ___________________________________
Basketweave ___________________________________________
“Basketweave 1 & 2” VIDEOS ______________________________
Lattice Hearts VIDEO ____________________________________
“String Work” & “Apple Blossom” VIDEOS ____________________
“Daisy” & “Daffodil” VIDEOS _______________________________
“Pansy” & “Poinsettia” VIDEOS _____________________________
“Primrose” & “Rose” VIDEOS ______________________________
“Sweet Pea” & “Violet” VIDEOS ____________________________
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Chapter 4 - A SPECIAL CLASS OF CAKE ___________________
Black Forest Cake _______________________________________
Bûche de Noél __________________________________________
Cherry Cheesecake ______________________________________
Chocolate Mousse Cake __________________________________
German Chocolate Cake __________________________________
Swiss Roll _____________________________________________
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Chapter 5 - PARTY CAKES _______________________________
Two-Dimensional Cakes __________________________________
Happy Bird-Day, Monkey Cake _____________________________
Racetrack Cake _________________________________________
Hawaiian Beach Cake ____________________________________
Three-Dimensional Cakes _________________________________
Big Island Volcano, Doll Cake ______________________________
Golf Ball Cake __________________________________________
Cake Sculpture _________________________________________
Flower Pot Cake ________________________________________
Hat Cakes _____________________________________________
Madeline Hat ___________________________________________
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Baseball Cap Cake ______________________________________ 55
Baby Shower ___________________________________________ 56
More Special Occasion Design Ideas ________________________ 56
Chapter 6 - WEDDING (Tiered) CAKES _____________________
Cakes Fit for a Wedding __________________________________
Butter Cake ____________________________________________
Carrot Cake ____________________________________________
Chocolate Groom's Cake, Classic White Cake _________________
Traditional Fruit Wedding Cake _____________________________
How much cake should you make? __________________________
Baker's Wedding Cake Chart _______________________________
Design Ideas ___________________________________________
Wedding Cake Jewelry and Ornaments ______________________
Cake Building Systems ___________________________________
“Stacked Construction” VIDEO _____________________________
“Classic Pillars” & “Push-In Pillars” VIDEOS ___________________
“Pillars & Plates” VIDEO __________________________________
Combination Stacked & Tier _______________________________
Transporting Tiered Cakes ________________________________
Storing & Preserving _____________________________________
Icing Storage Requirements _______________________________
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Chapter 7 - CAKE DIVA DESIGN IDEAS ____________________
Airbrushed Cakes _______________________________________
The Right Stuff _________________________________________
Piping & Brush Embroidery _______________________________
Victorian Brush Embroidery_______________________________
Fondant Inlay & Cut Outs ________________________________
Topsy-Turvy Cakes _____________________________________
Class Dismissed !
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5
The Art of Cake Decorating
Nothing tops off a celebration like a great cake. Everyone
knows it would be a lot easier to buy a ready-made cake and
be done with it. But every cake decorator, from the beginners to the pros, knows that the extra time and effort that go
into making a homemade cake are worth it. Time is our most
precious gift and when we choose to spend it making a personalized cake for someone special, the cake is no longer
just a cake; it’s a gift.
There is a certain pride that comes from creating a spectacular cake from nothing more than a picture in a book or a
bright idea. Cake decorating is a wonderful way for expressing and challenging the artist in each of us. There’s a great sense of satisfaction
that comes from making a cake fit to stand on display whether at a birthday party
for a bunch of cake-crazy kids or at a wedding for a blushing (and stressed out)
bride.
The information in Volume 2 of “Cake Decorating Made Easy! will build on the
basic techniques you learned in Volume 1 (or from your mother …) and hopefully
inspire you to move ahead and try some of the more advanced techniques.
There are dozens of video demonstrations for you to practice along and see how
it’s done. Our hope for each of our readers is that you would learn enough new
tricks to boost your confidence (and maybe eventually sales!) and expand your
knowledge and expertise when it comes to cakes. Who knows? If you continue
slowly building up your skills, you may just decide to make a business out of your
passion for cakes!
Happy Decorating!
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Chapter 1 – SUPPLIES FOR THE EXPERIENCED
STUDENT
Before we make that last trip to the supply store, let’s look at the three main
types of decorative icings to give you an idea of what we’ll be working with. Royal icing, rolled fondant and gum paste are each suited for specific design and
decorating techniques. We provide for you here a brief description to better explain their purposes in life and to help you decide which one to use to ice and
decorate your cake.
The Royal Family of Icing
Royal Icing
Royal icing is limited by its cement-like quality to being used for making icing
flowers and other decorations that look great but taste, well, not so great. It can
be made with either raw egg whites or meringue powder well in advance of a
decorating project.
Made with egg whites, this icing must be kept in a closed container and stored in
the refrigerator, but if made with meringue powder, can be stored at room temperature. Once dried, royal icing decorations will literally last forever.
Pros
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Easy to work with. Piped flowers generally require less time to make than
hand molded gum paste flowers.
Makes a great glue for cementing decorations on a cake.
Its pure white color tints easily and produces true colors.
Cons
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Not suitable for icing your cake’s surface because it dries to a brittle hardness.
Extremely sweet and rather tasteless.
Sensitive to both high humidity and grease and will soften.
Buttercream Icing
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Buttercream is the most versatile of all the
icings. It can be used to fill and cover a
cake, pipe decorative borders, and make
icing flowers and other decorations. It performs all these functions and tastes great
too! Buttercream decorations are extremely
vulnerable to heat and humidity and will melt
away to nothing so treat your cake kindly and keep it in a cool dry
place.
Pros
 Can be spread and molded to a perfectly smooth finish.
 Tastes great! And can be flavored to match the type of cake.
 Suitable for every aspect of cake decorating and is easily spread,
molded or piped.
Cons
 Most susceptible of all the icings to heat and humidity and will melt.
 Fat content in the icing produces thicker and heavier decorations with
less definition and fine features.
Fondant
Fondant is a type of icing dough that can be used both for covering cakes and for
making icing decorations. It is manipulated much in the same way as play-dough.
It can be rolled into sheets and draped over cakes or cut and shaped to make icing decorations such as flowers, ribbons and bows. Fondant can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Pros
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Dries to a smooth and satiny finish and is easier to decorate than softer icings such as buttercream and cream cheese icings.
Dries to a softer finish and is less vulnerable to chipping than royal icing or
gum paste.
Cons
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Rather pasty and tasteless.
Its leather-like consistency means few people actually enjoy eating it. It is
common for guests to peel off the fondant layer before eating their cake.
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Gum Paste
Gum paste is fondant with a little added ‘gum’ to make it more pliable. If fondant is
the play-dough, gum paste is the modeling clay. It is ideal for molding and sculpting intricate figures and shapes. Gum paste not only could, but should be made in
advance as it gets better with age. Properly packaged and stored, dried gum paste
flowers will keep nicely for many years.
Pros
•
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Easily molded into three-dimensional decorations
and makes for the most life-like flowers.
Can be rolled out much thinner than fondant making it the better choice for finely detailed decorations.
Cons
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Maybe THE most tasteless of all the icings!
Dries to a brittle hardness and is susceptible to chipping and breaking.
Vulnerable to heat and humidity. Gum paste decorations will droop if refrigerated or left to stand out in the heat and humidity.
Supplies for the Experienced Student
Now it’s time for that last visit to the supply store to purchase a few pieces of specialty equipment to handle more advanced cake decorating projects. The following
list of equipment and supplies has been grouped according to their corresponding
craft. Royal icing, fondant and gum paste all require special tools and supplies to
transform bowls of icing and lumps of dough into beautiful cake creations.
Royal Icing Supplies
Bags Fit for Royalty – Due to royal icing’s sensitivity to grease, it’s a good idea
to reserve a set of permanent icing bags, or use a new clean disposable bag, for
your royal icing. Even the slightest bit of greasy residue leftover from buttercream
or cream cheese icing will cause your royal icing to go soft and runny.
Specialty Decorating Tips – Specialty tips come in a variety of shapes and sizes
each designed to produce unique designs and decorations. Maybe the most
popular are the Fluted tips (numbers 79, 80 or 81) which have a tightly curved
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opening and are used to make Lily of the valley and scalloped or ribbon borders.
Another fun specialty tip is the Hair tip (233 and 234) which make clusters of fine
strings and are fun to use for making hair (of course) and grass on novelty cakes.
There are dozens more specialty tips to experiment with. Pick some with odd
shaped holes and see what you get!
Flower Forms – These are curved plastic cylinder halves used for drying icing flowers of any kind. The curve of the plastic allows for the flower to dry with a more natural looking curve. Depending on whether the forms are placed U curve up or N
curve down, the flower petals will dry with either an upwards or downwards curve.
Flower Nail – This is a MUST for piping roses and
other intricate designs. Flower nails look very similar
to long, slender nails with a very large, flat head and
come in metal and plastic. They are used to support
and rotate the flower while it is being formed.
Cups and Bowls – Glass, metal or ceramic soup
bowls or good choices for mixing icing. Plastic bowls or containers can be used
for mixing buttercream icings but are not recommended for mixing Royal icing
(grease factor again!). Plastic tends to hold onto grease and even a clean plastic
bowl can have just enough greasy residue to ruin your icing.
Vinegar – This may seem like a strange addition to the list of icing supplies, but
vinegar is very effective degreaser. A 50/50 mix of vinegar and waters works well
for cleaning your icing spatula and decorating tips. To properly clean tips, set
them to soak in the 50/50 solution to remove any leftover grease, especially if you
are switching from buttercream to royal icing.
Baking Paper – Parchment and waxed paper seem to follow us from activity to activity! That’s because it’s useful for lining baking pans, smoothing icing on a cake
and also for covering the flower nail so you don’t need to clean the nail in between
each flower. You’ll notice in the upcoming videos that a small 1-inch square of
waxed paper is ‘glued’ to the flower nail to hold the flower. Once the flower is
formed, paper and flower are carefully transferred to the flower forms to dry.
Buttercream Supplies
Stencils –Stencils are a great time saver and are found on all kinds of cakes,
from fun, brightly colored birthday cakes to elegant wedding cakes with lacy,
powdered sugar designs. To use a stencil, allow your buttercream icing to crust
over and then position the stencil on the surface and dust, sprinkle or spray with
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powdered sugar, candy sprinkles or color spray icing. Add just enough to cover
the stencil or the excess will spread outside the lines when it’s removed.
Tip: Spray the stencil with a light coating of cooking spray. When the stencil is
lifted off the cake, any loose bits and sprinkles will adhere to the stencils and not
fall off onto your cake.
Stencils can be purchased at craft and baking supply stores, you can easily create your own from baking paper (there it is again!) or paper doilies.
Impression Mats – Used to impress your buttercream! This is a quick way to apply
a design pattern to your cake. Impression mats also work well on rolled fondant or
gum paste to create designs such as basket weave, cobblestone or brick.
Clear Flavorings – Add rich flavor such as vanilla, butter or almond to your buttercream icing without compromising its whiteness.
Brushes – Decorating brushes are used for smoothing icing details as well as
drawing and painting designs. They are useful when it comes to applying very
fine and shiny dusts and powders to highlight your icing decorations.
Comb – Another great grooming tool for smoothing your icing. The cake comb is
typically about the size and shape of ruler, except for its comb-like edge. You can
create various designs with this tool by pressing it into the buttercream and dragging it across the top or sides of the cake.
Rolled Fondant Supplies
Pasta Machine – Another strange addition to our shopping list!
As the name implies, this machine is used for making pasta,
but cake decorators have found another use for this machine
and that is to roll and press out perfectly even sheets of fondant and gum paste used to cut out fine flower petals. Especially suited for making long strips of fondant/gum paste for
fashioning ribbons and bows
Rolling Pin – We’re back to rolling basics with the rolling pin! A rolling pin is an
essential tool to have if you’re planning to work with fondant or gum paste. You’ll
be rolling out large sheets to drape over your cake and smaller swatches to cut
out your flower shapes. A wide rolling pin with an extra smooth non-stick surface
will work well to roll out sticky sugar paste. Plastic fondant rolling pins crafted esCake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 2
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pecially for this purpose are available at specialty baking supply stores. Textured
rolling pins are also available for imprinting designs into your sheet of fondant smocking, polka dot, floral or fabric.
Roll & Cut Mats – Measuring your rolled out fondant will be much easier if you
use a mat with pre-marked grids and circles. The non-stick surface makes this
mat also perfect for rolling out and cutting out fondant cookie-cutter shapes and
transferring the sheet of fondant from the table to the cake.
Fondant Cutter/Embosser – With this tool you can create fun or elegant
shapes. Shaped something like a combination paint roller and pizza cutter, it enables you to easily add beautiful textured fondant ribbons, stripes and bows to
your cake. Simple roll the cutter/embosser across your sheet of fondant and it will
simultaneously cut and emboss perfectly even ribbons of fondant.
Punches – Pack some punch into your decorations! These tools allow you to quickly
press out detailed two-dimensional shapes from rolled out strips of fondant (or gum
paste). Punches are come with interchangeable shaped discs and are used to make
everything from elegant diamonds and pretty paisleys to hearts and flowers.
Smoother – Once you’ve draped the fondant sheet over your cake and pressed
it to fit, you will find bubbles, bumps and other imperfections. This is where your
smoother will come to the rescue. This tool, with its super smooth flat surface
and beveled edge will help to iron and buff out any imperfections to create a perfectly smooth and shiny surface.
Gum Paste Supplies
Confectionary Tool Set - You will need a basic set of confectionary tools for shaping, imprinting and stenciling beautiful life-like gum paste flowers, leaves and other
decorations. You’ll also need them for modeling with marzipan and other rolled icings. The basic set includes what decorators call the dog bone, umbrella, shell, bat
and veining tool. These tools are used to pinch, crimp, ruffle, design and otherwise
shape the edges of ribbons and bows and the tips of flower petals.
Cut-Outs – Think of these as mini cookie cutters for your fondant and gum
paste. Roll out your gum paste or fondant and simply cut out your shapes. If you
have used a roll & cut mat, your shapes will be easier to lift up and transfer either
directly to the cake or to the flower former.
Cut-outs come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes (and prices!) The list of floral
cut-outs is almost endless! You can create life-like and life-size flowers from
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large tropical beauties to summer time morning glories and springtime forget-meknots. Be prepared for a wide range of prices too, from $3 for some of the smaller flowers to over $30 for a large anthurium cut-out!
Cut-outs are also available in non-floral designs such as fruit, lace designs, special occasions and holidays.
Wires – Having a supply of cake decorating wires on hand is a must for anyone
modeling with gum paste. Wires are used for may different tasks; they are used
for hanging gum paste flowers upside down to dry, as underlying support for gum
paste “sculptures” such as fairies or trees, and for creating stems for your flowers. Individually wired flowers and leaves can be twisted and tied together to form
dainty gum paste floral bouquets. You’re sure to find many other uses too!
Decorating Dusts – Also known as dusting chalk and dusting powder, decorating dusts are used to enhance the natural features of gum paste flowers and provide special highlights for fondant cakes.
Dusting chalks can be blended with luster dust for a satin or pearl finish, or they
can be used more subtly for shading on flowers, bows, foliage, etc. Decorating
dusts can be used on anything that is made of a gum paste substance, including
marzipan and fondant. Dry gold and silver may also be added for a dramatic effect.
Like an artist’s paints, decorating dusts can be blended to achieve any color of
your choice. They can be applied either with artist brushes or airbrushes. They
can also be added to powdered sugar or mixed with flavorings (water, alcohol or
oil based) and then used for painting or highlighting sugar paste decorations.
Please note: While these are a mainstay in European cake decorating where they
are considered non toxic, they are not FDA approved in the United States. They are
intended to be used in their dry power form, but are frequently blended with flavorings, alcohol and piping gels to create a liquid medium for painting and highlighting.
Gum Paste Ingredients – The following ingredients are what put the ‘gum’ into
gum paste. They are useful supplies to have on hand in case you need to adjust
either the moisture or elasticity of your gum paste. Gum paste can be purchased
ready-made or you can mix your own at home.
Glucose makes gum paste more pliable and slows the drying time.
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Glycerin – If you make homemade bubbles for your kids, you’ll already
have this on hand. Glycerin works like a lotion to restore the moisture and
smooth consistency to dried out gum paste, fondant or icing.
Gum tragacanth is what adds the elasticity to gum paste.
Where to Buy Specialty Supplies?
Now that you have your list, it’s time to hit the shops! You may get lucky and find
all that you need by visiting your local specialty cake or kitchen stores, or the department store kitchen section. For the harder to find items, you could save some
running around and do your shopping online at www.candylandcrafts.com.
Based in New Jersey, United States, Candyland Crafts ships world wide and offers a much wider variety of cake decorating supplies than you will find when you
walk into a store. So bookmark that website and if you ever get stuck, help is only
a click away!
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Chapter 2 – FONDANT 101
Rolled fondant is a relatively quick and professional way to cover a cake making
a perfect background for either simple or elaborate decorations. Rolled icings can
be applied in one coating, unlike buttercream icing which requires several coats
for a really smooth finish. Here we introduce three of the more popular rolled icings – traditional fondant, rolled buttercream and marshmallow fondant. Using
rolled icings is becoming increasingly popular thanks to the increased availability
of ready-made fondant mixes and some easy homemade recipes.
Traditional Fondant
Traditional fondant is expensive to buy, and it can be a challenge to make. The beauty of fondant covered cakes is, for
one, they look so smooth and professional, and two, a fondant covered cake will keep for days if stored in a cool dry
place. One exception - if your cake contains perishable fillings or other frostings, it must be stored in the refrigerator.
Fondant is the best choice for cakes that will be sitting out in
hot weather for a beautiful summer wedding.
1 Tbsp. unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup Glucose
1 Tbsp. Glycerin
2 Tbsp. solid vegetable shortening
2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar
2 to 3 drops liquid food color and/or flavoring, optional
Stir cold water into gelatin and let mixture stand until thick. Using a double boiler,
heat this mixture until dissolved. Stir in glucose and glycerin, mixing well. Add
shortening and stir. Just before the shortening completely melts, remove from
heat. Cool mixture to a lukewarm temperature.
Place 1 lb. confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl and make a well. Gently pour the
warm mixture into the well. With a wooden spoon, blend in the sugar, stirring until
the stickiness disappears.
NOTE: Don’t worry if your fondant isn’t snowy white. It will turn white during the
kneading process. The kneading action will add air into the dough and bring it
back to white.
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Knead in remaining sugar (and icing color and flavoring if being used) and continue kneading until the fondant becomes smooth, pliable and does not stick to
your hands. If fondant is too soft add more sugar; if too stiff, add more water one
drop at a time.
You may use immediately or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If
refrigerated, the fondant must be brought back to room temperature and kneaded
until soft before using.
This recipe yields enough fondant to roll out and cover a 10" x 3" high cake.
Rolled Buttercream
Rolled Buttercream is an icing dough that can be rolled, molded or shaped rather
than spread like regular buttercream icing. It’s a little softer and more prone to
tearing than Traditional fondant making it more difficult to work with, but it tastes
a whole lot better!
1 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1 cup clear corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon fine grained salt
1/2 teaspoon citrus (orange,lemon) oil
2 lbs confectioners’ sugar
Paste food coloring, optional
Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl (including paste food coloring if desired) and beat until just blended. Reserve a small amount (1 cup) of the mixture
and keep it tightly wrapped in plastic to be used to soften the icing if it ends up
too thick. (Rolled buttercream cannot be thinned with water.)
If using a stand mixer, attach dough hook and knead at low speed for 2-3
minutes. If kneading by hand, turn buttercream out onto a countertop lightly dusted with confectioners’ sugar and knead for 2-3 minutes until well mixed.
To check the consistency, pinch off a small piece and roll it in the palm of your hand.
If it’s sticky, add more sugar. If it’s smooth and glossy and doesn’t stick, it’s done!
To store rolled buttercream, wrap in 2-3 layers of plastic wrap and then put it in a
re-sealable plastic bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. It will keep very well
in the refrigerator for weeks. Recipe makes enough to cover a 9" x 3” high cake.
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Marshmallow Fondant
Here's the recipe for Marshmallow Fondant which is the
latest and greatest fondant to work with. The recipe is
easy enough to follow and promises a better tasting and
better performing icing than Traditional fondant.
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1 pound of white mini marshmallows
1 teaspoon clear vanilla flavor
1 teaspoon butter flavor
2 tablespoons water
2 pounds powdered sugar
Grease the inside of a large microwavable bowl with
solid vegetable shortening (Crisco™).
*Note: Be careful with this first step. The melted marshmallows can get
extremely HOT!
Put marshmallows, flavorings, and water into the bowl. Microwave on high for 60
seconds. If marshmallows are completely melted, you’re ready to move on. If not,
stir and return them back into the microwave for 30-second intervals – stirring after each - until the marshmallows are completely melted.
Put powdered sugar into large mixing bowl. Fit stand mixer with dough hook. (If
not using a stand mixer, use a wooden spoon.)
Add liquefied marshmallow mixture to powdered sugar. Process at low speed until well incorporated, then turn speed up slightly and allow dough hook to “knead”
mixture until sugar is fully blended into the liquid.
“Mixing Marshmallow Fondant” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Turn your Fondant out onto your work surface that has been dusted with equal
parts of cornstarch and powdered sugar. Make sure your hands are well dusted
too. (If fondant is still sticky, knead in some more powdered sugar.)
Knead fondant into a loaf. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let cool for at least
one hour before using.
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View this process here: “Preparing Marshmallow Fondant 1” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
And, here: “Preparing Marshmallow Fondant 2” VIDEO (available in the
purchased version)
To store fondant, wrap in plastic wrap and then put it in a re-sealable plastic bag.
Squeeze out as much air as possible. Marshmallow Fondant will keep very well
in the refrigerator for weeks.
How to Cover a Cake with Rolled Fondant
Working with rolled fondant is a fine art and requires a LOT of practice to get perfect results. So if this is your very first experience with rolled icings, start with a
smaller project, covering petit fours or other small cakes, and have some patience with yourself!
Rolled fondant is ideal for cake decorating because it creates a silky smooth
canvas and flawless background for your cake creations. No lines, no seams, no
cracks. In theory, anyway. The truth is that there is no such thing as a perfect
cake; the pros just know how to either correct or camouflage their mistakes!
But to create a close-to-perfect fondant cake, the surface of your cake must also
be close-to-perfect since any imperfections will show up under the fondant.
Begin by leveling the cake and then glazing it to seal in the moisture. This underglaze will also work as a glue for adhering the fondant.
Once the glaze has dried, plaster the cake with a 1/4 inch layer of buttercream icing. And I do mean plaster, just as you would plaster a wall to prepare it for painting. You are trying to fill in every crack and cranny and smooth over any bumps.
When you are satisfied that your cake surface is as smooth as possible, allow the
buttercream to harden. Your cake is now ready to receive its blanket of fondant!
Dust your working surface with confectioners' sugar and knead the required
amount of fondant into a smooth shape.
To determine the amount of fondant, measure the top and sides of the cake, add
an extra inch or two for good measure and roll out to this diameter. For example,
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an 8-inch round cake with 4-inch deep sides requires fondant rolled out to a diameter between 17 and 18 inches.
Unless you’re using a pasta machine, roll the fondant out on a roll and cut mat
with a rolling pin, lifting and moving it as you roll, to a 1/8 - inch thickness. Add
confectioners' sugar as needed to keep the fondant from sticking. If it becomes
too dry, knead in some water, a drop at a time, to keep the fondant pliable. You
will know you have mastered the art of rolling fondant if your fondant is neither
too sticky nor to dry and lifts easily without tearing or cracking.
Gently lift and drape the fondant over the rolling pin, or lift it with both hands, taking care that it does not tear. Do NOT fold and do NOT press down! Position the
fondant loosely on the cake. Gently use your hands to smooth outward and
down the sides of the cake, being careful not to get any folds or creases, to
shape the fondant to the cake's surface. Make sure to smooth out any rolling pin
or other marks!
You can use a smoother to gently press the fondant to the sides of the cake, but
be careful not to damage the fondant's finish. Tuck and trim any excess fondant
with a sharp knife or a pizza cutter. If the edges are not as clean as you would
like, you can always add a fondant rope or pearls, or pipe a decorative edge with
buttercream icing.
Watch a demo on rolling out fondant and placing it on your cake in the
“Preparing Marshmallow Fondant 3” VIDEO (available in the purchased
version)
And voilà! You will have yourself a close-to-perfect fondant cake!
NOTE: It's best to let the cake stand until the icing sets before decorating.
If the cake must be decorated immediately, handle with care to avoid
marking the still soft surface.
Poured Fondant
Poured is the traditional topping for those pretty petit
fours we see at luncheons, afternoon teas and weddings. Unlike traditional rolled fondant, this fondant
glaze is quite palatable, making these miniature cakes
as scrumptious to eat as to view. Poured fondant provides a beautiful alabaster
finish for showing off delicate and dainty decorations – Swiss dots, flowers, bows
and butterflies.
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Here’s a simple recipe and the instructions for covering Petit
fours with poured fondant.
Petit Four Fondant
2 pounds sifted powdered sugar (8 cups)
2/3 cup water
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 teaspoons clear vanilla or almond flavor.
Food color (optional)
Combine all of the ingredients, except for the food color, in a saucepan. Warm
the mixture over low heat just until the sugar dissolves and becomes smooth.
If you want to tint your fondant, add the food coloring, one drop at a time. Use
very sparingly; a little color goes a long way and will darken as it dries.
Keep the icing warm while in use, but don’t let it go over 100 degrees F.
You can either dip or pour fondant to cover cakes.
The Big Dipper
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Using a dipping fork, lower the petit four into the fondant until it’s completely covered, and then slowly lift it out.
Tap the bottom of the dipping fork on the pan to allow excess fondant to
drip back into the pot.
Gently set the petit four onto waxed paper, using another fork to gently
slide it off the supporting fork.
If the fondant is too thick stir in some water, a teaspoon at a time, until you
have the right consistency and try again.
Between dippings, stir the fondant as much as necessary to keep a crust
from forming. If a skin does develop, pour in just enough hot water to cover
the top of the fondant and let sit for a few seconds. Pour off the water, stir
the fondant and continue dipping.
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The Pouring
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Line up your pieces of cake about an inch apart on a cake rack positioned
over a clean baking pan lined with waxed paper.
Slowly pour the warm fondant making sure to completely cover each piece
of cake.
Carefully transfer your cakes onto a sheet of waxed paper to dry.
The drippings can be collected, reheated and used.
Let the fondant set completely on your petit fours before decorating or moving
them.
Store your glazed petit fours in a covered cardboard box in a cool dry place such
as an air-conditioned room. If they contain perishable fillings, they must be stored
in the refrigerator. But due to the high sugar content, fondant is vulnerable to
moisture and will soften or dissolve with a build up of condensation.
Allow your refrigerated cakes to gradually warm up to room temperature. It’s
best to place them in an air-conditioned room but if that’s not possible, set them
up in front of a clean fan. An hour or two in the gentle blowing breeze should dry
up any extra moisture.
One Final Note …
Poured fondant can be used to dress up full size cakes too. True to its name, it
can be poured, as well as drizzled or brushed onto any cake for a fancy finish!
Looking Good with Gum Paste!
If you enjoy crafting or modeling with clay, you’re going to love gum paste! The
design possibilities are limited only by your imagination. With your new set of
gum paste tools, you’re well equipped to create any number of realistic figures
and flowers.
Mixing Gum paste
While you can buy ready-made gum paste, you can also make your own at
home.
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Gum Paste Recipe
1 heaping Tbsp Glucose
3 Tbsp warm water
1 Tbsp Gum-Tex™ or tragacanth gum
3 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar (save for later)
Paste Food Color (optional)
Place 3 cups of the sifted powdered sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the Gum-Tex™
(or tragacanth gum). Form a well in the center and set aside.
Blend water and glucose in a glass measuring cup, then heat in microwave on
high for about 30 seconds. Mixture will be clear when it is ready. Pour the water/glucose mixture into the well. Stir until well blended and very soft. Seal the
paste in a plastic bag and let sit for eight hours at room temperature.
Knead the remaining cup of sifted confectioner's sugar into the paste. As you
knead in the sugar, the gum paste will whiten and soften. If you want various colors, you can knead in the paste food colorings to separate portions. Wear latex
gloves unless you want purple, green or some other oddly colored hands! For
one uniform color, add the food coloring with the water when mixing the paste.
Gum Glue
Used to assemble gum paste figures and flowers or to secure gum paste decorations to cakes. Here's the oh, so very complicated recipe for gum glue:
2 tsp Gum Arabic
2 ounces water
Mix them together and voilà! Gum glue fit to glue your gum paste figures
together!
How to Prepare Gum Paste for Cut-Outs
Using a variety of shaped cutters, gum paste can be stamped
to make all kinds of shapes for decorating cakes. The procedure is similar to making either pies or cut out cookies where
the dough is rolled and the shapes are stamped out using cutters. It’s an easy way to make perfectly formed flowers and
other figures and shapes.
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1. Begin with a smooth flat work surface, ideally covered with your plastic roll
and cut mat.
2. Some cake decorators advocate dusting the work surface, rolling pin and
hands with cornstarch, while others advocate using a white vegetable
shortening, such as Crisco™. If you’re going to be working with delicate
creations, you may prefer using shortening which helps prevent the gum
paste from tearing.
3. Break off the amount of gum paste you want to roll out, leaving the rest in
a closed, plastic or glass container.
4. Knead the gum paste with your fingers. If you’re tinting this piece, add a bit
of color with a toothpick, kneading it in until evenly colored. Or not if looking for a marbled or cloudy look. Form a ball with the gum paste.
5. Roll out the gum paste, turn it over, and give it a quarter turn on the work
surface. Then roll again. Repeat about two or three times until it’s the
thickness you want.
Use a small spatula to gently lift each decoration onto a sheet of waxed paper to
dry. If you’re making flowers, dry them in the flower forms to give the petals some
natural curves.
Once your gum paste creations dry and harden, you can use food coloring to
paint in some details or brush on some highlights with a little decorating dust
blended with clear lemon or almond extract. Once set and dried, glue your decorations in place on your cake or petit fours with small dabs of either royal icing or
gum glue. Beautiful!
Modeling with Gum Paste
More versatile and stronger than fondant, gum paste is a good choice for modeling three-dimensional figures and shapes.
You can shape gum paste with your hands as you would
modeling clay, using the confectionary tools to carve in fine
details. When you are creating something with more than one
part, such as this cute bride and groom, you create one part at
a time and then assemble them all together.
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The individual pieces to make this wedding couple include:
Molded pieces:
Bride – Body (wedding dress), arms, head, hair, eyes, nose and green
flower stems.
Groom – Black pant legs, white body, black sleeves (arms) hands, jacket
buttons, head, ears, eyes, nose, hat (in two pieces), and hair.
Rolled and cut pieces:
Bride – White flowers for bouquet and hair band.
Groom – Black jacket, triangle shirt collar, tie and boutonniere.
And the smiles were carefully engraved. The pieces were assembled and glued
in place using gum glue and ta-dah! The happy couple was born!
Gum paste is so easily molded into shape that it’s possible to make anything that
exists in nature (or in your imagination!) can be duplicated in gum paste form.
Here a just a few ideas: A cornucopia overflowing with miniature corn, squash
and fruit for Thanksgiving.
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A Halloween scene complete with jack o’ lanterns, witches, pumpkins and
ghosts.
An Easter egg basket filled with pastel colored eggs, baby yellow chicks
and spring flowers. You can add extra detail by decorating each egg with a
different cut-out pattern or design.
Add gum paste ornaments to an iced Christmas tree cake.
Create a winter wonderland with little snow people. People (snow, human
or alien) are easy to make when you remember to make each piece separately and assemble with some gum glue.
Give a river rat a birthday cake with gum paste rafts, paddles and little people atop fondant waves (create with small sheets of blue and white fondant).
Add an elegant ribbon and bow to the top of a gift box shaped cake
wrapped in fondant.
Make a bouquet with gum paste flowers to suit the occasion.
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Storing & Freezing Fondant
A buttercream or fondant covered cake will fair well enough in the refrigerator,
loosely covered in a cake box, for about a week. Sugar paste decorations, on
the other hand, do not fair well in the fridge. They tend to droop and lose their
shape and should be stored at room temperature.
The risk with refrigerating fondant in any form is the condensation that forms on
its surface once it is returned to room temperature.
To prevent condensation from forming, as soon as you remove the cake from the
fridge, place it in an air-conditioned (low humidity) room to warm up. If air conditioning is not available, place the cake in front of a fan to dry up the moisture.
Remember to rotate the cake often and allow a good hour or more before the final decoration and setting-up/presenting the cake.
Gum paste decorations can be made well in advance and stored in a cool dry
place ready to be used when you're ready to do the final decoration.
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Chapter 3 – THE PIED PIPER
(Continued from Volume 1…)
The following fun techniques will allow you to create elegant, beautiful borders,
figures and flowers on your cakes. While these are intended for royal icing decorations, many will work with buttercream as well. Keep in mind many of these
skills take some practice, but the end result and the satisfaction of having done it
are well worth it!
Decorative Borders
Fleur de Lys
Don’t let the fancy name frighten you. This traditional border design takes its
name from the French word for iris or for an emblem in the shape of an iris with
three petals. The fleur de lys is a variation of the basic shell border. Begin by piping out a basic shell: hold your hand at a slight angle slightly off the surface at
about a 45-degree angle. If you’re holding your icing bag with your right hand,
steady the bag with your left two fingers, squeeze and pull down.
The next step will be similar to creating the reverse shell, only instead of starting in
the middle you start on the outside of the first shell (just at the bottom of it) and curl
inward. Then you do the same on the other side, staring on the outside of the bottom of the first shell and curling inward. Begin your next fleur de Lys just at the bottom of the first, so they connect, and then continue repeating the above steps.
Click here to watch the “Fleur de Lys” VIDEO (available in the purchased
version)
Ruffle Swag
A tilting turntable cake stand is essential when making ruffle swags, as is the tip
104 and a medium consistency icing. But while you’re learning, practice on a flat
surface so gravity is working with you, not against you.
The best form is to have the fat end of the tip touching the cake, and the skinny
end lifted up just a bit. While you’re piping, jiggle while rotating your hand around.
The rotating makes it much prettier. Then if you want, accentuate every swag with
a zigzag on top using a number 16 tip.
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Click here to watch the “Ruffle Swag” VIDEO (available in the purchased
version)
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Decorative Techniques
Basket weave
These cakes are a lot of fun, and a big hit during the holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Easter. While basket
cakes are usually piped with two contrasting colors,
white on white is also lovely, especially on wedding
cakes.
These instructions use pink and white icing, but feel free
to experiment with your own colors. In the video demonstration we’ll be using a 48 tip with white icing, and a 5
with pink. But you could use a 47 instead of a 48, or you
could even use a 5 for both. Just keep in mind, that the
smaller the tip the more work and time it will take to cover the cake!
Start with a round cake that has been iced on top and crumb-coated on the
sides. Before beginning the piping, you’ll need to mark your cake with even divisions. Use a spatula to do this, holding it vertical to the cake and pressing with
the long edge. There’s no set rule for dividing your cake. For a tighter basket
weave, mark your divisions closer together, or for a looser weave, farther apart.
Here’s a few different ways it can be done:
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A cake board with scallops makes marking easy. If you make a mark on
your cake at every scallop, then you can rest assured you’ll have an even
number of divisions.
Some decorators can eyeball a cake for even divisions.
Or you can “divide” it in half, marking with your spatula, then quarters, and
so forth.
Another sure way to divide the cake evenly is to take a piece of parchment
and your pan, then trace around the pan onto your parchment and cut out
this shape. You can quickly then fold the parchment in half, then quarters
and so on. Then place this parchment on top of cake, and mark the cake
wherever there is a fold.
Divide and mark with a ruler to create basket weave on a rectangle or
square cake.
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Now that you’ve marked your cake, you’re ready to being piping. One word of
caution: Let your hand rest occasionally or it will shake and your basket weave
will uneven. So, allow yourself rest breaks! You’ll be using a tip 5, pink icing for
the vertical strokes and a tip 48, white icing for the horizontal ones. Using a tilting
turntable will greatly help speed your work.
Begin piping with tip 5. Start with a smooth down stroke, piping from the top of a
marked line and then down, leaning in at the bottom where you finish.
Then use tip 48 to draw side to side. Begin at the mark to the left of your pink
vertical line, continue piping across that pink, and end at the mark just to the right
of the pink. Then begin a second sidestroke at the same mark on the left, but
skipping down a row. Pipe a mark on each side of the row you will skip. You will
be alternating, piping a horizontal row with the white, then skipping a row, and
then piping another row, and so on until you get to the bottom. How many you
create depends on the size of the cake.
Then, returning to the pink, make a down stroke over the horizontal white icing
where you ended on the right.
Now, with the white icing, starting next to the pink vertical line furthest to the left,
go side to side again, bringing the white icing over the second pink line ending at
the marking to the right.
Then drop down just below the white icing vertical line you already made. Again,
beginning to the right of the pink line furthest to the left, bring the icing side to
side, over the pink horizontal on your right and ending at the marking.
Continue this process. All the white horizontal lines you just made should be parallel.
Next, look at where you ended the white, take your pink and do another down
stroke just over the ends of the white. Then repeat the process around the cake
with the white horizontal sidestrokes going over the pink vertical ones.
If you have an even number of divisions, the basket weave should all line up. If it
doesn’t, that is you have an odd number of divisions, don’t despair. Remember, a
good decorator makes things aesthetically pleasing, not necessarily perfect. So if
your final basket weave stroke is not going to match up, bring it down on a diagonal to finish. Turn it into the back of the cake, or better yet, cover it with some
cascading flowers, and no one will know!
Click here to watch “Basket Weave l” VIDEO (available in the
purchased version)
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Click here to watch “Basket Weave 2” VIDEO (available in the
purchased version)
Lattice Hearts
A heart shaped cookie cutter makes this easy, but you can draw them freehand if
you choose. Trace or draw your hearts on a piece of stencil paper. Make a few because the delicate lattice hearts are prone to breakage, and this way you’ll have a
couple back-ups. Then tape your paper over the outside curve of a concave piece
of plastic, such as a PVC tube that has been cut lengthwise or a flower tray. Be
sure to place your stencil paper around the outside of the curve. Then overlap inside for taping. Make it tight enough that it pulls out any wrinkles or folds.
For the piping, you’ll be using a 14 tip (small star tip) and a 2, plus any color of
your choice. In the demo, we’re using white. Remember to keep the bowl of royal
icing covered with a damp cloth as well as the tips of the bags you’re not currently using to prevent hardening.
Start with the string work, using tip 2 and a thin consistency icing. At the right
hand top curve of the heart, pull down at a slight diagonal to the right hand side
curve of the heart below. How close together you pipe your strings together depends on your personal preference. Keeping them tight helps to strengthen the
finished piece. Continue with your lines from top to bottom on a slight diagonal,
and then switch directions, bringing the strings across the heart. Turn the tube
towards you if this makes it easier.
When your string work is completed, add shells around edges with tip 14 and
medium consistency icing. Around the border, make small swirling shell motions
with loops going outwards. As always, remember to frequently wipe your tip.
Then again starting at the top go to the right. Move your tube around so that your
hand is comfortable. Let your lattice work dry for several days before removing
very carefully.
Click here to watch the “Lattice Heart” VIDEO (available in the purchased
version)
String Work
To perfect this technique, practice on a real cake or a work surface that is set up in
an easel type holder so that you are working against gravity. A flat surface is easier, but this won’t prepare you for the real thing. Using tip 3 filled with thin consistency icing, touch the cake and pull out and away from the cake and let gravity let it dip
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and then touch to end. Pull away from the cake and let gravity cause the dip rather
than putting the tip to the cake. Touch to end single drop string.
For double drop string go back and make a second string beginning at same beginning point for first but letting the string dip down below the first and then pulling up to touch at where the first string ended, and then again pulling out and letting it dip down below the first string.
You can also make these loops larger. And you can make them overlap beginning the second one in the middle of the first one. The effect is quite spectacular.
Click here to watch the “String Work” VIDEO (available in the purchased
version)
Flowers
No matter the occasion – housewarming, birthday,
wedding, Christmas – you can’t go wrong with flowers, the most popular decoration for a cake. Each
flower is made using a flower nail. Start by squeezing
a small dab of icing on the nail and press on a small
square of waxed paper, so when you’re masterpiece
is complete you can remove your flower leaving on the waxed paper until dry and
safer to move.
Except for the rose, which is made directly on the nail, without the waxed paper,
and is transferred directly onto the cake, you will want to slide each flower, with
the waxed paper underneath it, onto a curved flower tray to dry so that the petals
form a natural curve.
Also, have your Styrofoam™ block or upside paper cup ready, so you can stick
the flower nail into it when you need a free hand to wipe your tip.
Apple Blossom – These five-petal flowers, each about the size of a dime,
are a delight to make and look at. Using your number 101 tip with pink icing, squeeze and pull up slightly, turning the nail after each petal is formed.
You may need to wipe your tip at this point. When completing the fifth petal
in the circle, twist up, so that your icing doesn’t drag through the first. You
can use your fingertip to add highlighting by dotting with cornstarch in a
few spots. Then with tip 1, pipe five tiny, yellow dots.
Click here to watch the “Apple Blossom” VIDEO (available in the purchased
version)
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Daisy – This versatile flower is a nice pick for a summer cake, used with
other flowers or for a daisy chain that can encircle your cake.
We’ll be using tip 104 with yellow icing and tip 5 with white, but daisies are
beautiful in many combinations of colors. As always wipe your tip frequently, but more so with this flower. Hold your tip at a 45-degree angle, fat side
facing out. Place it down, squeeze and pull inward for the petal, from out to
center.
Keep adding petals, turning your nail as you add them. Then set the nail in
a Styrofoam holder while wipe your tip. Continue pulling all petals to the
center until the flower is solid and doesn’t break. Using tip 5, pipe a dot in
the middle, letting it build a bit and then lifting. Pat this down with a little
cornstarch on your fingertips (to prevent sticking) and you’ve got a daisy!
Click here to watch the “Daisy” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Daffodil – This flower takes a little bit of work, but its major ‘wow’ factor
makes it so worth it!
Try tips 1, 3 and 104 with parchment bags packed with yellow icing. Remember to keep the two not currently in use underneath a damp cloth so
the royal icing doesn’t dry out in the tips. Using tip 104 and beginning at
what will be the flower’s center, squeeze the icing bag and pull in for each
petal, continuing around, slightly overlapping each petal so they join.
Then dip fingers in cornstarch to prevent icing from sticking to your fingers
and shape each of the petals so the edges fold up and the outer tips come
to a point. Royal icing is very forgiving, so when you find little things that
seem out of place, you can often push them into place with a little cornstarch on your fingertips.
Now for the details – Stick the flower nail into an upturned Styrofoam coffee cup or block. With tip 3, pipe a little spiral in the middle of the flower,
starting tiny and getting larger as you come up to approximate a daffodil’s
trumpet-like center. Make as many coils to the spiral as you wish. Use a
cornstarch-covered fingertip to help you along. Then with tip 1, an itty, bitty
tip, pipe a tiny zigzag all the way round the top of the coil. Now you’re
ready to place your daffodil in the curved flower tray to dry.
Click here to watch the “Daffodil” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
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Pansy - For this flower, you’ll need three parchment bags, yellow with a
number 104 tip, purple, also with a 104, and yellow with a tip 1. Of course
you can create pansies from several varying combinations.
Begin with yellow and tip 104. Make two yellow petals that take up half a
circle. Then swap to the purple 104. Make three dips on the other half of
the circle, so there are three purple petals opposite the yellow ones. Then
switch back to the yellow 104, and make two small yellow petals on top of
the two larger ones. Use tip 1 to add a little yellow loop in the middle. Voilà!
You’ve got a pretty pansy!
Click here to watch the “Pansy” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Poinsettia - Here’s an easy holiday decoration! You’ll need your tips 352
and 366. With red icing and tip 366 in your bag, squeeze and pull out for
each petal, continuing around until you have five. The wider end of the
petals will meet in the center. It’s ok if the middle is a little empty because
you will be adding more petals.
For your second layer, stagger the petals on top of the first layer. And, then
you may want to add a couple in between on the bottom layer. You may
add as many as you like. Then to make your poinsettia look more natural,
use tip 352 with green icing to stagger the green immature petals behind
the bottom layer of the red. This sets off the red nicely and creates an authentic Christmas look.
Finally, using tip 3, pipe a few yellow dots in the center. Buttercream poinsettias can be created this right on your cake after a little practice.
Click here to watch the “Poinsettia” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Primrose – Drop tips number 103 into one parchment bag and load with
pink icing, and tip 14 into the second and load with yellow icing. You’ll be
making five heart shaped petals on your nail. Hold your top so that the fat
end is in the middle, not flat, not up and down, but at an angle.
To make each heart-shaped petal: Squeeze, pulling out, then dip in, then
out, then in and close. The curves on the “heart” will face outward with the
‘point’ towards the center of the flower. Moving around, begin each one at
the end point of the last. Remember to wipe your tip after a few. When
closing the fifth petal, rotate upwards so the icing doesn’t mess up the petal beside it. Set your nail in a Styrofoam or upside down cup.
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Finally, using tip 14, pipe a tiny, yellow star in the middle. Sweet pea - For
this cute, country cottage flower, you’ll need a tip 104 with pink, medium
consistency icing, and a tip 3 with green, thin consistency icing. Place tip
104, fat end down, skinny end up. You’ll want the flat part almost straight
up and down, but tipped forward just a bit. Now, squeeze and pull back.
Next, placing the tip in the same starting spot, squeeze and pull outward,
and then squeeze and pull back on the opposite side. With your green icing, tip 3, start in the middle, squeeze, and let it build up a bit, then draw
downwards for a stem. There - you have an adorable sweet pea!
Click here to watch the “Primrose” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Rose – This classic beauty is a cinch to make after a little practice. And it’s
good thing, too, because everyone will want one on his or her piece
of
cake!
a
This is the only flower that is made without using waxed paper because it is
transferred directly onto the cake when completed. Instead you start with a
base of icing on the flower nail. The trick is getting the base right. As the foundation, it’s the most important part. Your roses can be any color you desire.
Starting with the base, take your filled parchment bag with tip 12, and holding
the tip slightly off the surface of the nail, squeeze. Let the icing build up and
then lift, slowly drawing upward and squeezing until you have a little cone.
Petals: Begin with tip 104, fat end facing down. You won’t be decorating
around the base; you’ll be decorating on top of it. Set your tip right into the
top of this cone, lean it in slightly and squeeze, wrapping it around itself,
and then pull down to end. You’ve just created the center of the rose. If
you got it right, the center will be on top of the base.
Now make rows of petals.
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First row, three petals: Place your tip vertically (straight up and down)-parallel to the cone you just created--so it’s slightly touching, squeeze and
pull towards you for each petal. As you move around the rose, slightly
overlap each petal as you begin a new one. Remember to keep your tip
straight up and down.
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Second row, five petals: Repeat the process you did for the first row, except this time point your tip out very slightly, so it causes your petals to
bloom, again pulling towards you for each petal.
Third row, seven petals: Tip your tip out just a little bit more, and make
seven petals, overlapping slightly. Don’t worry about the extra base that
shows because that gets left on the nail when you slide your spatula under
the rose and lift it off to transfer onto your cake. You may use a toothpick
or your finger to nudge it off of the spatula onto the cake.
Click here to watch the “Rose” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Sweet Pea - For this cute country cottage flower, you’ll need a tip 104 with
pink medium consistency icing, and a tip 3 with green, thin consistency icing. Place tip 104 fat end down, skinny end up at 90 degrees, straight up
and down, but tipped forward just a bit. Now, squeeze and pull back. Next,
placing the tip in the same starting spot, squeeze and pull outward, and
then squeeze and pull back on the opposite side. With your green icing, tip
3, start in the middle, squeeze, and let it build up a bit and draw downwards for a stem.
Click here to watch the “Sweet Pea” VIDEO (available in the purchased
version)
Violet – Blue violets are perfect for a wedding or anniversary cake because they carry the message, “I’ll always be true.” These dainty but bright
flowers are a nice addition to a spring bouquet cake, too. This flower is
made with the 59 or 59 s tip. You’ll only need a tiny strip of waxed paper
on your nail for this very tiny flower.
Poise your tip fat end down at about a 45-degree angle. Pipe out and in,
creating two super tiny petals. Then create three more that are just a bit
larger. Place on a Styrofoam cup or block and add two tiny yellow dots with
a number 1 tip. Don’t worry if these don’t look perfect. You can cluster
them for greater impact. Violets are great as an accent or filler between
spaces left by larger flowers.
Click here to watch the “Violet” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
One Final Note …
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Royal icing dries hard as a rock and presents better details than the tastier buttercream. Be sure to use royal icing for details that need to dry hard, such as the
lattice heart. Just remember not to put one next to the other, or the grease in the
buttercream will dissolve your royal icing. Also, remember to place a damp cloth
over your bowl of royal to prevent crusting and a damp cloth over the tips of filled
parchment bags.
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Chapter 4 – A SPECIAL CLASS OF CAKE
(A collection of World famous cakes!)
Black Forest Cake
The Black Forest region of Germany has brought us the
cuckoo clock, beautiful scenery, a rich mythology, and last
but not least the Schwarzwälder Kirsch torte—the world
famous Black Forest Cake. This scrumptious cake is a
beauty to behold and a dream to make. While recipes vary
from Americanized to traditional German, the following is
an authentic recipe translated and adapted from German cookbooks.
Ingredients
Cake Layers
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk
1/2-cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2-cup kirshwasser (cherry schnapps)
Filling/Frosting
1 cup confectioners, powdered sugar
1 pinch salt
1 can (0.5 liter) pitted cherries, drained
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp kirshwasser
Decorating
1 square semisweet chocolate for grating
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Preparing the Layers
Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F). Line the bottoms of two 8-inch round pans with
parchment paper circles. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set
aside. Cream together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well. Blend in vanilla. Add the flour mixture and milk, alternately, beating until
thoroughly combined.
Pour batter into cake pans. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. An inserted toothpick will
come out clean when done. Cool completely on wire racks, and then remove
parchment paper from cakes. Level layers and then torte them (refer to Vol. 1),
creating four out of the two. Finally, sprinkle your layers with 1/2 cup of the kirshwasser.
Preparing the Filling/Frosting
In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form, and then blend vanilla
and kirshwasser, and finally confectioners’ sugar with a pinch of salt. Beat until
all is mixed thoroughly.
Putting it Together
Spread the first layer of cake with one fourth of the filling. Then cover the filling
with one fourth of the cherries. Repeat with the next two layers. Frost top and
sides of cake with remaining whipped cream filling. Top cake with remaining
cherries and garnish with chocolate curls.
Guten Appetit!
Bûche de Noël
According to legend, France carried on the tradition of the Winter Solstice bonfire by cooking Christmas Eve dinner over a Yule
log in the fireplace. The logs’ ashes were believed to hold magical and medicinal powers that would ward off evil spirits in the
coming year. The classic Christmas cake known as Bûche de
Noël was born, according to culinary lore, when many new
homes were built without fireplaces in the late 1800’s, and a symbolic cake was
created to carry on tradition.
Most pastry chefs make Bûche de Noël by filling Génoise (chocolate sponge
cake baked in a jelly-roll pan) with a chocolate, mocha or chestnut flavored but-
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tercream and rolling it into the shape of a log. Traditionally the cake is frosted
and ridged with a fork or comb in the fashion of the tree bark.
The Yule log is then garnished with meringue mushrooms, marzipan holly and a
light dusting of confectioners’ sugar snow. Holly leaves are crafted with gum
paste, and red candies provide the holly berries.
Cake Ingredients
1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
6 large eggs (keep in refrigerator until ready to separate)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
Dutch-processed cocoa powder or powdered sugar for dusting
Preparing the Cake
Place the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 F. Grease a 17 by
12-inch jellyroll pan, line with parchment paper, and then grease and flour. Set aside.
Separate your eggs, placing the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Bring
the eggs to room temperature by covering the bowls with plastic wrap and letting
them sit about 30 minutes. While you’re waiting for the eggs, melt the chocolate in
a stainless steel double boiler with simmering water and set aside.
Combine the egg yolks and 1/4 cup of sugar; beat with an electric mixer until light
and fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. Test for readiness: When the beater is
slowly raised, the batter should fall back slowly in ribbons. Next, blend in the vanilla extract. Then add melted chocolate, beating only enough to combine. Set
this mixture aside.
Using a clean mixing bowl and whisk attachment beat the egg whites until they are
foamy. Add the cream of tartar, beating at medium-high speed until soft peaks
form. Then gradually add the 2 Tbsp of sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.
Now, lighten this mixture by gently folding into the egg yolk mixture a small
amount of the egg whites. Use a rubber spatula or whisk to do this. Then fold in
the remaining eggs whites, but be careful not to over mix. You just want to incorporate the whites into the yolk mixture. If you over mix, the batter will deflate.
Spread your batter, using an offset spatula, evenly into the prepared pan. Bake
until the cake is puffed, springs back when gently pressed, and has lost its shine.
This takes about 15 to17 minutes. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack to
cool, and cover with a slightly damp, clean towel.
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When your cake is cooled, it’s ready for rolling. Spread the cake with 2 cups of
your whipped cream frosting. Then gently roll the cake, peeling the parchment of
as you go. Frost, accent with meringue mushrooms and decorate. This cake can
be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days.
*Filling/Frostings
The recipes for the whipped cream filling, its chocolate variation, and the buttercream frosting are in Vol. 1 of this book. For the raspberry whipped cream filling,
follow this variation of the whipped cream recipe:
When beating the basic whipped cream filling, do so only until soft peaks form.
Add, a little at a time, a sweetened raspberry puree. Beat just until stiff peaks
form when the beater is raised. If necessary, fold in more sugar or puree to
taste.
Sweetened Raspberry Puree (for raspberry whipped cream)
2 - 12 ounce bags of frozen, unsweetened raspberries
1/2 cup granulated white sugar, to taste
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)
Raspberry liqueur to taste (optional)
Place a large finely meshed strainer over a large bowl, then place the raspberries
in the strainer and allow a few hours to thaw. After they are completely thawed,
create the puree by gently pressing the raspberries with the back of a large
spoon until all that remains in the strainer are the seeds, which you can discard.
Add the lemon juice, if using, and the sugar to the puree and stir. A bit of raspberry liqueur can be added to taste. Leftovers can be kept covered in the refrigerator up to a week, or in the freezer up to a year. You may want to use some of
this for the Swiss Roll. Makes approximately 1 cup.
Meringue Mushrooms (for garnishing)
2 large egg whites (room temperature and free of any speck of yolk)
1/2-cup superfine white sugar
TIP: If you don’t have this type of sugar on hand, you can grind regular
granulated sugar down to superfine by running it through a food processor
for about half a minute.
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Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (don’t use waxed paper because
the meringue may stick to it) and set aside.
Prepare two icing bags, one for piping the mushroom caps and stems and one
for gluing them together. Use a number 6 tip to pipe the meringue into stems and
caps, and use a number 3 tip to glue. To ease the transferring of the meringue to
the icing bags, fold down the top to forum a deep cuff on each bag, and then
place each bag in a tall, narrow glass for support.
Preheat oven to 225 F and place two oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of
the oven. Beat the room temperature egg whites at a moderately slow speed until
foamy. Add cream of tartar, beating at medium speed until soft peaks
form. Gradually add sugar, while continuing to beat. Gradually increase the
speed to high, beating the mixture until the whites are very stiff and glossy. To
make sure the sugar has dissolved completely, rub a bit of the meringue between
your fingers.
Use a rubber spatula to place about 1/4 cup of the meringue in the icing bag with
the number 3 tip. Then place the remaining meringue in the bag with the larger tip.
Piping the Mushroom Caps
Holding the pastry bag with the number 6 tip upright and close to the parchment
paper, squeeze the bag with even pressure and pipe the meringue, allowing to
build into an even round shape that is about 1 1/2 - 2 inch diameter and about
3/4 -1 inch high.
To finish the cap, sharply twist the bag and stop the pressure as you slowly move
the tip off the meringue. Dip your fingertip in a bowl of water and use to smooth
out any bumps in the top. Repeat this process until you’ve made all your caps.
Place the caps evenly on the baking sheet to encourage even baking.
Piping the Stems
Holding the pastry bag with the number 6 tip, position the bag upright with the tip
close the parchment paper. Squeezing with even pressure, pipe the meringue
into a cone shape, build up for the base and then lift up so the top of the stem is
narrower than the base. The stem should be about 1 inch high and standing as
straight as possible. As some may fall over while baking, this recipe provides for
more than you’ll need for your cake.
Baking the Meringue Mushrooms
Your meringues will need to bake for about one hour. They are done when they
are firm enough to be easily lifted from the baking sheet without sticking. To ensure they bake evenly, rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to
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back. Wait about 45 minutes before rotating because opening the oven door to
soon can cause the meringues to crack.
When your meringues are done baking, leave the oven on. Use a small, sharp
knife to remove them from the pan. While doing this, make a small hole in the
middle of the underside of each mushroom cap where you will insert the stem.
Then pipe, using your tip 3, a bit of meringue into this cavity and gently press in
the top of the stem.
Once all of caps and stems are joined, place the mushrooms, caps down, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake until the mushrooms have dried, about 15 minutes.
Variation: Instead of gluing with meringue and returning to the oven, you
can glue the caps and stems together with melted chocolate. Spread a thin
layer of chocolate over the underside of the cap and attach the stem.
Leave the mushroom (upside down) until the chocolate hardens.
Lightly dust the tops of the mushrooms with cocoa powder. You can use a
small paintbrush or pastry brush to give the tops a more natural look by
smudging the cocoa powder. Depending on size, this recipe makes about
24 to 30 mushrooms. The meringue mushrooms can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks.
Cherry Cheesecake
This old-fashioned Southern variety is as sinfully easy as it is delicious.
Ingredients
Crust
1/4-cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 ounces butter, melted
Filling
1 cup granulated sugar
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese
4 eggs
Topping
1 to 2 cups sour cream
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling
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Preheat your oven to 350° F. Mix together crust ingredients. Pack this mixture
firmly into the bottom of an 8 or 9-inch, spring form pan. Then blend together all
the filling ingredients and pour onto crust. Bake for 50 minutes and top with the
sour cream. Return to the oven for an additional five minutes. Remove from oven
and top with filling. Chill, serve and be ready to reply with a smile, “Why thank
you, but it was really very simple!” And it was!
Chocolate Mousse Cake
This version of the French classic is made without flour and calls for very few ingredients. The delicate crisp crust is a perfect complement to the moist chocolate
center. Less is more? We say a resounding, “Oui!”
Ingredients
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces.
6 large eggs, separated
1/2 -cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 275°F with the rack in the center. Butter a 9-inch
springform pan.
In a microwaveable safe glass bowl, microwave the chocolate and butter on high
for about 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds and then stir
again. Continue this process until the chocolate and butter mixture is completely
melted.
After cooling slightly, whisk in egg yolks and set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat
egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gradually add sugar to the egg white
peaks. Beat until stiff and glossy.
Then to first lighten the chocolate mixture, whisk in one fourth of the stiffened egg
whites. Now, very gently with a rubber spatula fold the chocolate into the rest of
the whites. Pour mixture into the pan, using a spatula to smooth the top.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes. The cake is done when it has pulled away from the sides
of the pan and is set in the center. Cool on a wire cake rack and dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.
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German Chocolate Cake
Nicht Deutcher! This cake is not German! Found in almost every American bakery, this cake’s namesake is a brand of a chocolate bar called German’s, created
for Baker’s Chocolate Company by an Englishman by the name of Sam German.
This type of chocolate is similar to milk chocolate and sweeter than baking
chocolate.
The first published recipe, submitted by a Dallas, Texas
homemaker to a 1957 newspaper, swept the nation and is
still a favorite in many families. Its buttermilk and pecan
ingredients suggest Southern U.S. origins. In the following
recipe we’ve kept original ingredients, complete with the
baker’s preferred brand names, but we’ve reworded the
steps for clarity.
Ingredients and Preparation
Layers
1 pkg. Baker's German’s sweet chocolate (4 oz.)
1/2 cup water, boiling
1 cup butter
2 cups white granulated sugar
4 eggs, separated
2 cups flour, all-purpose
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
Coconut-pecan frosting
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line three 9-inch pans with waxed paper.
Melt chocolate in water and cool. Cream butter and sugar together and
then beat in egg yolks. Stir in vanilla and chocolate.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, soda and salt. Then incorporate this mixture, alternately with the buttermilk, into the liquid mixture. Beat egg whites
until stiff peaks form, and then fold these into the batter. Pour batter into
cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly
pressed in center. Cool 15 minutes; remove and cool on rack.
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Filling and Topping
1 can (14 oz) of Eagle brand condensed milk (or a similar sweetened
1/2 cup water
condensed milk)
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 1/3 cups pecans, chopped, reserving 10 whole pecan halves for garnish.
1 3/4 cup Angel flake coconut
Heat the milk, eggs and water over a double boiler until thickened. Whisk
in vanilla and butter until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Remove from heat. Stir in the chopped pecans and coconut.
Chocolate Frosting (Optional)
1/4 cup butter, softened
9 squares (50 ml) Baker's German's chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups confectioners, powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
Optional: For a richer chocolate flavor, add cocoa powder or more German’s chocolate.
Mix butter and chocolate, and then stir in powdered sugar. Beat vanilla and
milk until smooth.
Assembly
After leveling your layers, spread one third of the filling over each layer as you
stack them. The top layer will also be covered with filling. If you’re using frosting,
only the sides get frosted. Garnish with the pecan halves by placing them around
the top edge. A maraschino cherry half can go next to each pecan half.
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Swiss Roll
Who can resist a pretty pinwheel design created by rolling yummy sponge cake
around delectable filling? No one, it seems, is immune to the delights of this classic culinary delight. This international sensation is known as a roulade by the
French, a jelly roll by the Americans and a Swiss roll by no, not the Swiss, but the
British! There are as many variations as currencies. Traditional fillings include
lemon curd, whipped cream, flavored whipped cream frostings, and fruit jams,
purees or preserves. You can use one of the fillings you learned to make in
Vol. 1. The raspberry whipped cream frosting used in our Bûche de Noël recipe is a fresh choice. Save some for a pretty garnish on top.
Sponge Cake
1/3 cup sifted cake flour.
3 Tbsp cornstarch
4 large refrigerated eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp white sugar
Preheat oven to 450 F and place oven rack in middle of oven. Grease a 12 by 17inch jellyroll pan, line with parchment, and then grease and flour. Set aside.
While eggs are still cold, separate two of them. Place yolks in a large mixing
bowl; whites in another. Add the additional yolk (see ingredients list) and the two
remaining eggs to your first two yolks. Cover this bowl and the one with the egg
whites with plastic wrap. Set aside for about 30 minutes.
While your eggs are warming up to room temperature, whisk together sifted cake
flour and cornstarch, then set aside.
Once your eggs are at room temperature, place the egg yolks/whole eggs into
your standing mixer bowl with paddle attachment. Add 1/2 cup of granulated white
sugar, and beat on high for five minutes, or until thick, pale, and fluffy. It’s ready
when you slowly raise the beaters and the mixture slowly falls back into the bowl
in ribbons. Now, beat in the vanilla extract. Then sift half the flour mixture over
the egg yolk mixture, folding in gently with a rubber spatula, just until the flour is
incorporated. Sift the remaining flour mixture into the batter and fold in.
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Next, set a clean mixing bowl into your standing mixer and attach the whisk. Pour
in the egg whites and beat until foamy. Then add cream of tartar and beat until
soft peaks form. Sprinkle in the remaining 1 Tbsp of granulated white sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. To lighten the batter, just as we did for the Bûche de Noël, gently fold a small amount of the egg whites into the batter. Gently fold in the
rest of the whites. Don’t mix--simply fold them in until they’re incorporated. Now
you can pour the batter into the prepared pan. Using an offset spatula spread the
batter evenly.
Bake for only 7 minutes or until golden brown. Right after you put the cake in the
over, spread out a clean dishtowel and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. When
the cake is done, a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean, and the
cake will spring back when lightly touched.
Timing is of the essence with the next step. Immediately upon removing the cake
from the oven, invert the sponge cake onto the powder sugar sprinkled dishtowel.
Then, very carefully remove the parchment paper and sprinkle confectioners’
sugar lightly over the cake.
TIP: If the parchment paper sticks, lightly brush the paper with a little warm
water and let it stand for a few moments. The paper should peel off easily.
Begin rolling up the sponge cake while it is hot and pliable with the towel. Allow it
to cool on a wire rack before unrolling. The towel will once again be underneath
it. Spread the cake with the filling of your choice. Then re-roll, without the towel,
of course!
Transfer your Swiss roll to a serving platter. You can serve immediately, but your
cake will be much easier to slice if you cover and chill overnight in the refrigerator.
Just before serving, dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar. You may also want
to garnish with raspberry whipping cream frosting or other filling. Toasted shaved
almonds can be sprinkled on top. Toast the shaved almonds in a 350 F oven until
lightly brown (about 5 to 7 minutes). Enjoy!
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Chapter 5 - PARTY CAKES
The best ideas for party cakes usually come from the guest of honor. Their likes,
dislikes, hobbies and favorite color generally make the choice and style of cake a
no-brainer. But what if you’re just starting out and don’t know where to begin?
Take a look at some of our deceptively simple starters in 2-D. You’ll be inspired!
Look for additional clever design ideas at the end of the chapter about hobby,
sport, and baby shower or birthday cakes.
Two-Dimensional Cakes
Happy Bird-Day Cake
With the ever-growing popularity of zoo-themed children’s
parties, the trend in “Happy Bird-Day” cakes is taking off.
These cakes can be the star attraction at get-togethers for all
ages and will be enjoyed by anyone who gets a big kick out
of birds and simple puns.
There are many ways to create a memorable Happy Bird-Day
Cake. The simplest is to purchase a cake mold in the shape
of a bird and use a star tip to pipe in the design or for your budding naturalist,
choose a rain forest feathered friend, such as a toucan or an owl with big, yellow
eyes that glow with yellow decorating dust.
The cake at left was made by freehand carving the shape of the cake from a 16”
square pan and iced with buttercream piped with the star tip.
Another method would be to purchase or make a buttercream stencil (see Chapter
1) that depicts your bird of choice, and then fill in the outline with frosting, sprinkles,
confectioners’ powdered sugar, or piping (tip 2 makes nice feathers).
Whichever method you choose, be sure to leave space on your cake for piping
“Happy Bird-Day!”
Monkey Cake
Here is an example of how pieces of cakes can be assembled together to make a
design, in this case, a cute monkey’s face. If it helps to look at a picture while doing this, find one of the Curious George books. Typically, this cake is created by
48
first frosting a round cake with dark brown frosting by piping
dark brown stars on the top and sides. The star tip creates a
furry effect.
Then for the face, a smaller round shape is placed at the bottom half of the cake’s surface by piping stars in a lighter brown
or tan. The mouth will go here. To add the top of the face, create a shape like the top of a heart (or two eggs shapes) that rises to the top of the
cake’s surface and at the bottom meets the circle. Use your star tip and light
brown or tan icing for this and all the other furry parts as well.
The ears can be ovals cut from a second layer and attached with royal icing to the
sides of the cake. Then go back with a round tip and pipe the facial features, using white for the eyes, dark brown for the rises of the eyes and two dots that make
the nose, and for the mouth.
The mouth can be created by piping something similar to a V shape at the bottom
of the face, with the bottom of the V’s curving, so it looks like a big open smile or
laugh. Then with pink, pipe a small tongue at the bottom of the mouth, in the
shape of a very rounded heart. Add semi-circles of pink to the ears, and you’re
ready to serve a whole gang of little monkeys at the next birthday party!
Racetrack Cake
This cake is a sure hit with the “Ricky Racer” in your family. And, better yet, it’s
as speedy to assemble as racecars in a pit stop. Ladies and gentlemen, start
your ovens…!
Ingredients
2 baked 9" round cakes
3 cups white frosting
1 to 2 cups finely crushed chocolate cookie crumbs
1 to 2 cups green sprinkles (or about ½ cup of green frosting)
White Good & Plenty candies
Checkered paper or ribbon
2 toothpicks and tape
New toy cars, washed
49
Preparing the Cake
Cut a small semicircular notch from one cake, so that one layer “joins” the one
beside it. This is to provide the base of your figure eight track. Cover the cakes
with white frosting. Now to create the track, place a bowl (about half the diameter
of the cake) in the center of each cake to use as a guide. The bowls must be the
same size, or use one at a time. Sprinkle the black cookie crumbs around them to
create the track.
After removing your bowls, create the grass on the insides of the track (where the
bowls were). You can either pipe the grass with your tip 233, or you can create a
grassy effect with the green sprinkles. Press the remaining sprinkles onto the
sides of the cake or frost the sides in green.
To create the lanes on the track, lay a dotted line of white Good & Plenty along
the track. Then pipe a white icing border around the edge of the cake.
For the racing flags, tape small squares of checkered paper (you can make the
checks with a black ink pen or marker) or ribbon to the toothpicks, and place them
on the track along with the toy racecars.
VARIATION – To make your racetrack cake completely edible, make the checker
flags out of fondant, and the sticks out of gum paste. Model the racecars by using
new, washed toy cars for gum paste molds.
Hawaiian Beach Cake
Make a big splash at a luau or birthday party. Instead of
the suggested decorations found with this recipe, you
can use your gum paste and fondant skills to create
your own. If you’ve found you enjoy modeling with gum
paste or marzipan, decorating this cake will be a fun adventure. Why not get the kids involved? It’s a fun introduction to cake decorating! Either way—surf’s up!
Ingredients and Accessories
1 baked half-sheet cake in the flavor of your choice (What about pineapple,
orange or lemon?)
2 1/2 cups blue frosting
1/4 cup white frosting (flavored with coconut if you like)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
Candy (or gum paste) rocks
Birthday candles
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Plastic hula dancer figurines (or gum paste figures)
Candy flower sprinkles (or use your fondant/gum paste punch with a flower
design disc)
Plastic palm trees (or modeled with gum paste or marzipan)
Fruit Stripe gum for the surfboards (or marshmallow fondant strips)
LifeSavers for inner tubes
Sour tape, cut into 1-inch lengths for the beach blankets (or multi-colored
fondant strips)
Paper cocktail parasols
Small dolphin figurines and/or gummy fish (Or model your marine mammals and fish with gum paste)
TIP: A quick search on the Internet for luau decorations will bring you lots
of online stores that sell specialty cake decorations.
After leveling your cake, cover top and sides with a thin layer of blue frosting. Add
extra blue frosting to about two thirds of your cake, creating a curving shoreline.
Swirl the frosting to make the ocean and waves. With your spatula bring the frosting
up to peaks for the waves. Pipe white caps onto the waves you want to crest.
For the sandy beach, sprinkle graham cracker crumbs on the remaining third of
the cake. Create white sand by mixing in some coconut flakes or confectioners'
powdered sugar to the graham cracker crumbs.
Now you’re ready to decorate! Use your imagination (and the kids’ if you have
helpers). Place some palm trees in the sand and park some beach blankets under
them. Add a few surfboards, inner tubers, surfers, dolphins and gummy fish.
There’s no set rule to how you decorate. It’s your beach! If you’re making your
decorations with gum paste, marzipan and/or fondant, you may want to start early, making them ahead of time.
If your cake is for someone who loves the island of Hawaii (known as the Big Island), the one with the live volcano and black sand beaches, here’s a fun variation: Create a black sand beach with chocolate cookie crumbs.
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Three-Dimensional Cakes
Big Island Volcano
If you’re looking for more ‘Wow!’ factor, try an unforgettable Erupting Volcano Cake.
Preparing the Cake and Assembly
Bake six 8-inch round cakes, preferably chocolate. Using a small, thin juice
glass, cut out a hole in the top two cake layers. Level cakes and stack on a firm
cake board or plate using chocolate or green frosting. Trim edges pyramid-style
to create the look of a mountain.
Cover glass exterior with aluminum foil and set into the well at the top of the volcano.
Remove glass and leave foil lining. Roughly cover volcano in frosting and garnish, if
desired, with chocolate cookie crumbs and crumbled sponge toffee for rocks.
For sure-fire crowd-pleasing lava
In a small bowl beat one egg white with 11/2-tsp sugar and three drops red food
coloring until egg white is thick and foamy. Carefully, using tongs put a few cubes
or chunks of Dry Ice (consult yellow pages for a supplier near you) into the foillined well and add the egg mixture just before you are ready to serve.
Fill your juice glass with hot tap water as guests gather around to sing Happy Birthday. Before the final refrain, pour an ounce or two of water into the well and watch
your cake smoke and erupt edible lava to loud cheers from your amazed guests!
Doll Cake
Every girl at heart will love this stylish cake with doll’s head and bodice above a
floor length cake skirt. If you want to include a gift with the cake, you might build
the cake dress around a full-sized doll however, this is a little more complicated
to set up. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to have a plan for decorating your doll,
especially creating her dress before you begin.
If you don’t already have a style and colors in mind for the doll’s dress, you can
find lots of inspiration by looking at pictures of doll cakes on the Internet. If you
want to create a character doll, like Cinderella or Scarlet O’Hara, search for these
characters online and check out their dresses. Or just use your own imagination
and sense of style. Either way, your doll cake will be the bell of the ball!
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Preparing the Doll
Wash with soap and water, a new, Barbie™ size doll. Use plastic wrap or foil to
wrap the doll from hips down, the part that will go inside the cake. Then spray the
wrapping with a non-stick spray. If you dress your doll in a blouse that will match
the skirt you want to create, you can leave the top of the doll icing free, a nice
idea if the doll is a gift. Otherwise, you can pipe on the doll’s blouse or top of her
cake dress after she has been inserted in the cake.
Preparing the Cake
Bake two 8-inch, round cake layers, and then cool on wire racks. After
cakes are cooled, slice each one into three layers, so you have a total of
six layers. Now heavily frost, using a thick consistency frosting, in between
the layers so the cake will be as tall as your doll is from hips down.
Once your cake is frosted, wrap it in waxed paper, keeping the layers
straight. Freeze overnight or until solid. Working with a frozen cake helps
prevent breakage.
Assembly
Now cut a hole, with the same diameter as your doll, into the center of your
frozen cake, cutting all the way to the bottom. If you find when you begin to
drop the doll into the hole that she doesn’t drop down easily, do not force.
Forcing the doll will result in the cake cracking later as it defrosts. Instead
cut the hole bigger.
Next, shape the doll’s skirt by trimming the top of the cake. Then drop the
wrapped doll into the cake. Now remove the waxed paper from the cake.
Then spread frosting over the cake, creating your doll’s skirt. Once the skirt
is frosted, prepare your icing bags with the tips and colors you’ve chosen
and you’re ready to dress her up!
VARIATION: For an easier to assemble, but not as scrumptious doll cake,
use one cake instead of layers. Bake a sponge or angel food cake in a
bowl or dome pan that is the desired size of doll skirt. The shape lends itself to a hoop skirt. Then follow the above directions for preparing, inserting and decorating the doll and skirt.
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Golf Ball Cake
Ingredients
1/2 sheet cake
2 round cakes (8-inch)
Green frosting
Blue frosting
Light brown frosting or graham cracker crumbs
White icing
Black airbrush coloring (optional)
Here’s an eye-catching cake—perfect for a birthday or get-together-- with a
big enough “Wow!” effect to coax your golfer off the green. The tricky part
is making the larger than life golf ball, which is created from two round
cakes mounted on a half-sheet cake.
Preparing the Cake
Begin by covering your leveled, half-sheet cake with green frosting. Leaving room for the large golf ball in the center, swirl some blue frosting into a
small section with a curvy border. This is your water hazard. You can create a small, sand trap with brown frosting or graham cracker crumbs. Fill
in the rest of the cake’s topping with nice, green grass, which you can easily pipe onto the cake with a tip 233 and green frosting. Don’t forget to
make or buy toothpick flags.
Making the Golf ball
It is easiest to use a ball-shaped cake pan or baking bowl for a readymade ball shape. Otherwise, use two round cakes and a lot of frosting.
Setting the sheet cake aside, place your two 8-inch round cakes on a cake
board. Cement the layers together with icing. Trim the top edge of the cake
with a sharp knife. Then use these pieces to create a ball shape by
mounding them on top of the layer you just cut. Ice the golf ball with white
icing and smooth it.
Create divots (dimples) by pressing gently with the end of a wooden spoon
or by dipping the rounded edge of a large pastry tip into black airbrush coloring, and then drawing circles on the ball. These look more realistic then if
you pipe them. Place your golf ball in the center of the sheet cake.
TIP - To add a message, pipe onto a piece of clear acetate cake band and
then stand band on green in front of ball.
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Cake Sculpture
(You Won’t Believe They’re Cake!)
Flower Pot Cake
This is actually more of a pudding than a cake, but it’s a delightful treat for a budding gardener at a garden party.
Ingredients
1 new non-toxic (plastic or non-glazed clay) flower pot, about 8-12 inch diameter.
1 decorative garden trowel, cleaned
Gummy worms or icing worms
Flowers (plastic or some realistic, gum paste ones)
1 16-ounce bag chocolate cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups chocolate-fudge pudding
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups whipped cream
Preparation
Crush cookies into “potting soil.” Mix butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla; cream until smooth and fluffy. Set aside. Whip the cream until light
and fluffy. Fold the whipped cream into the pudding. Gently fold pudding
mixture into cream cheese mixture.
Assembly
Put a third of the cookie crumbs in the bottom of the pot. Top with one half
of the pudding mixture, and then follow with another third of the cookie
crumbs. Add the second half of the pudding mixture. Top with the remaining cookie crumbs. Refrigerate 10 to 12 hours. Remove from refrigerator
and decorate. Serve within 30 minutes. Use trowel to serve.
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Hat Cakes
There’s a hat cake for everyone—from the sports fanatic to the little lady next
door—and for every special occasion. The Madeline cake can be improvised to
create all kinds of pretty hats from Fourth of July birthdays to fancy teas and
luncheons.
Madeline Hat
Top off a Madeline themed birthday party for a young girl with her famous French
chapeau. Or create an elegant variation for a big girls’ luncheon or tea. Oh-la-la!
Ingredients
2 lemon flavored, baked round cakes, one 8-inch and one 9-inch.
4 cups of lemon frosting
1, 3-foot roll of strawberry fruit roll ribbon or, for a more elegant hat cake,
make your ribbon from fondant (marshmallow for the tastiest)
After your cakes have cooled, trim around the 8-inch layer so it's 6 inches in diameter, but don’t level the mound off the top of this one. Leave the 9-inch one as
is, except for leveling.
Place the leveled, 9-inch layer on a 12-inch cake plate or stand, and spread
some frosting in the middle. Then place the 6-inch layer on top. Frost both layers,
smoothing over entire hat. For a straw-hat look, score the frosting with a fork or
confectionary tool.
Now for the ribbon: If you’re using the fruit roll, wrap around like a hat band and
then loosely tie in a bow at the back, letting the ends trail down to the back of the
brim. With fondant (use marshmallow for good taste) or gum paste, you’ll create
your ribbon and bow separately and then attach with icing.
Variations: You can create various shapes by trimming the top layer even smaller, to allow for a wider brim. You can create different styles of hats by using different color schemes and decorations. For example, you might use for an Easter
hat, pink and white, or yellow and white, and then grace the brim with pretty gum
paste flowers. A Fourth of July hat could be red and white, with blue bow and ribbon or have stars piped with white frosting. Well, you get the picture. Just have
fun, using your imagination and your new cake decorating skills!
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Baseball Cap Cake
Ingredients
1 baked 8-inch round cake
1 dome cake (baked in a 1 1/2-quart bowl or 6-inch sphere)
3 cups frosting (blue and red)
Red shoestring licorice
1 red gumdrop
Red candy coated chocolates
Cut the 8-inch cake into the shape of a ball cap’s brim. Then place it up against
the bowl cake. With your spatula, frost the hat blue, and frost the brim red. Place
the gumdrop button, top center of the crown. Bring six licorice shoestrings from
the button down the crown, evenly space. Look at pictures of ball caps for an
idea of how to make this look. On the front of the cap, outline the birthday child’s
initial with mini candy coated chocolates.
Sports Cake Variations
Many of the ball sports cakes can made using the basic ideas from the golf ball
or the baseball cap. For example, a soccer cake can be created much like the
golf ball cake with a few variations, and football helmet can start with a dome
cake and chin strap.
Cakes with water sports themes can make good use of blue frosting or blue fondant. A swimmer can dive into a half sheet swimming pool cake, covered with
blue, marshmallow fondant. Use white and red (or other color that contrasts with
blue) fondant to twist ropes for the swim lanes. Create a gum paste diving board
with swimmer. Even if modeling with gum paste or marzipan is difficult for you,
whimsical, stick figures aren’t too hard to make, with the emphasis on whimsy.
Model them around cake wire for strength.
A river rat can plunge through a rapid made of high cresting blue frosting topped
with white icing for the whitewater. Rafts and oars (or kayaks and paddles) and
the people can be modeled with gum paste.
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Baby Shower
Since baby showers usually have themes, find out
what the theme is first and create a cake to match.
Whether the host is using bold or pastel colors, follow
suit. You’ll find many molded cake pans fitting for
showers, including teddy bears and lambs. Or you can
purchase/create a buttercream stencil and fill in the
outline with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar or by piping in details.
Taking a cue from the monkey cake near the beginning of this chapter, you can
create a yellow, rubber ducky cake by trimming two round cakes. Trim from one
layer, the rounded body that comes to a point for the tail (find a picture of a rubber duck online if you forget how they look). Then trim the round head and the
softly tipped bill from the other layer.
Assemble these together on a platter, frost with yellow and pipe cute details.
You’ve just made a cake depicting one of the most popular baby shower themes!
Baby showers lend themselves well to petit fours. Follow the how-to in Chapter
Two for the poured fondant, and pipe themed decorations onto these miniature
cakes. If the shower doesn’t have a theme, use your imagination; keep the design sweet, soft and cheery; and let your cakes lead the way!
More Special Occasion Design Ideas
With the skills you’ve learned and a few supplies, you can create a cake for any
event and any sport or hobby lover. Here are some more ideas to jumpstart your
imagination:
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•
•
Character cakes (like Scooby Doo, Sponge Bob, Little Mermaid) are always a hit and are easy to make with character cake pans. You can find
these separately or in sets, complete with directions, using the shopping
resource list in Chapter One. Dress up the cakes with your advanced decorating skills for a professional finish.
Royal icing roses are still a classic and beautiful adornment for a daughter,
mother or grandmother’s birthday cake, whether on a tiered or sheet cake.
Make part of the cake a gift by including quality figurines in the design,
such as a filly and colt for a little girl with a horse collection.
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•
•
•
•
If the birthday person is old enough that the number of candles will create
more wax than there is frosting on the cake, then you might want to create
the cake in the shape of the birthday numbers by trimming them each from
layers, placing them next to each other, frosting and adding second layers,
and then decorating. Place a candle in each so there’s something to make
that wish upon, a tradition we’re never too old for!
For the computer geek, two square cakes can be trimmed into the shapes
of a laptop screen and keyboard, and then frosted and decorated accordingly. Display the cake’s message on the screen.
For the rock hound, decorate a cake with rocks created from gum paste or
fondant. Use various colors, or use white and then paint them, following
the gum paste painting tips in Chapter Two. Decorating dust can add shine
to the “polished” ones. For an edible pun, serve rocky road ice cream with
your cake.
For the camper, create a camping scene with gum paste trees, fondant or
frosting lake. With royal icing and the following directions, you can add a
couple campers tucked inside their sleeping bags:
To create a whimsical camper in a sleeping bag, first use a tip 403 with icing the color you want the sleeping bag to be. Position your icing bag with
the open side of the tip down. Pipe the length of the back of the sleeping
bag back.
Then, turn your tip over and pipe the top of the sleeping bag, allowing icing to
fluff up a bit. Make the top of the bag a little shorter than the bottom, leaving
room for the camper’s head and pillow. After icing sets, use moistened fingertips to press the edges of bottom and top together at the seams.
Pipe the pillow with a tip 6, white icing. Use a tip 12 to pipe a ball shaped
head, and a tip 1 for the facial features and hair. Give your camper arms
with a tip 6, and hands with a tip 2. Thankfully, the rest of your camper will
be snug inside the sleeping bag, leaving less work for you!
Again, buttercream stencils or self-created stencils can make creating a
two-dimensional picture easy. Creating one based on a hobby could mean
simply tracing the picture off a book or magazine onto stenciling paper
(See Chapter One), transferring the picture of the computer, butterfly, dog,
bird, microscope, stamps, or whatever is the apple of your hobbyist’s eye,
etc. onto the cake and filling in with edible decorations, icing or confectioners’ sugar.
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Chapter 6 – WEDDING (Tiered) CAKES
At long last, the ultimate opportunity to test your skills and use your artistic talents to their fullest! A wedding cake will call into play every cake making trick
you have learned so far. Every ounce of knowledge, every bit of skill will be magnified and then placed on display for the whole world to admire!
Wedding cakes are generally made on a grand scale – large cakes with tall tiers
decorated with hundreds of perfect flowers. You’ll need lots of cake, lots of icing,
and LOTS of time and patience. Wedding cakes are not easily built in a day.
They require advanced planning and a set working order to make sure you have
enough time to complete each step. There are many decisions to be made and
tasks to be completed to bring a cake off the page of a wedding magazine onto
the display table at the reception hall.
The sheer size of these beauties can be very intimidating. But looks can be deceiving! Wedding cakes employ the same skills and techniques as smaller cakes,
they just do so on a much grander scale. With a little help and guidance found in
this next chapter, you’ll soon see that it’s all possible and creating your masterpiece isn’t nearly as hard as it looks.
Cakes Fit for a Wedding
Not all cakes have the buoyancy and mass needed to support the weight of multiple cake tiers stacked one on top of the other. The following cakes do!
Butter Cake
This is one of the classic wedding cake recipes. Butter cake has a firm, moist texture that makes it perfect for tiered designs. The almond extract is optional, but is
a very traditional flavoring for a wedding cake. You could also use vanilla, rum
flavoring, cognac or brandy, instead of the almond flavoring if you prefer.
1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond flavoring (optional)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
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Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour pans and line bottom with waxed paper.
In mixer bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time,
mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and almond (or other) flavorings. Mix
in flour with baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, starting with the flour.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes
in pan. Loosen sides and remove. Cool completely before decorating.
Makes 7 1/2 cups batter.
Carrot Cake
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each nutmeg, cloves, allspice and salt
4 cups (approx. 1 lb.) grated carrots
2/3 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans.
In large mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy; add oil and vanilla and beat well. Mix
together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and
salt; add to egg mixture and mix well. Fold in carrots, nuts, raisins and pineapple.
Pour into prepared pans and bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in
center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on cake rack and then invert on
rack to cool completely. Goes well with a white chocolate or cream cheese icing.
Makes 5 1/2 cups batter.
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Chocolate Groom's Cake
Chocolate is traditionally used for groom’s cakes, but it’s also gaining popularity among brides for the main wedding cake.
2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter or margarine (room temperature)
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch pans.
Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Cream butter and sugar together
until light in texture. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture. Beat thoroughly.
Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each
addition. Add melted chocolate and beat thoroughly.
Pour batter into pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until top springs back when
touched lightly in center.
Makes 6 cups of batter.
Classic White Cake
6 cups sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
3 cups sugar
2 cups milk
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
12 egg whites
Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease bottom of pans and line with waxed paper.
Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar until
light and fluffy. Set aside. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Set aside.
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With a mixer at slow speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with
the milk. Beat well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Gently fold egg
whites into batter.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Makes 12 cups batter.
Traditional Fruit Wedding Cake
This recipe is just a stone’s throw away from being Christmas fruitcake. Fruit
cake makes very stable tiers and will keep “until death do us part!”
1 pound candied pineapple rings
1 pound each dates and figs
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 cups butter
2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
12 eggs, separated and beaten separately
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup fruit juice, wine, rum, or brandy
2 pounds seeded raisins
1 pound sultana raisins
1/4 pound each candied orange, lemon rind, and citron, (finely chopped)
1 pound candied cherries
1/2 pound almonds, blanched
1/2 pound pecans, unbroken
Brandy
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease and flour pans and line with waxed paper.
Cut and quarter each pineapple ring. Remove stem end from figs and cut in half
lengthwise. Stone and chop dates and then mix with 1 cup of flour.
Mix the remaining 3 cups of flour with baking soda and spices.
Cream butter, add sugar, then the well-beaten egg yolks and stir well. Add the
flour mixture alternately with the molasses and fruit juice, wine, rum, or brandy.
Gently fold in the beaten whites, then the dates and gradually the raisins.
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Pour in a layer of batter, add a layer of pineapple down the center, fill spaces and
sides lightly with citron, orange, lemon rind, cherries, and nuts; another layer of
batter, then a layer of figs, the rest of the fruit and nuts, and top with remaining
batter. (Or cut up all fruit and mix through batter, adding beaten whites last.) Fill
pans 2/3 full.
Place pans in oven in a pan filled with 1 inch hot water. Bake 1/2 hour, cover with
waxed paper, bake 2 hours longer, remove pans from water, and bake 1/2 hour
more. Remove from pans. Remove paper. Wrap in cloth moistened with brandy.
Store cakes in tightly covered tin box.
Makes 22 cups batter.
How much cake should you make?
There is no one recipe or baking pan large enough to serve all the people at a
grand event such as a wedding. However the charts below should give you a
rough idea of how many and what size cakes you need to make enough cake for
all your guests to enjoy.
The charts below show baking information and serving amounts for both 2-inch
pans and 3-inch high pans. The figures for 2-inch pans are based on a 2-layer or
4-inch high cake. The figures for 3-inch pans are based on a 1-layer cake, which
has been torted and filled to a 3-inch height.
The serving amounts are based on wedding-sized portions which are generally
cut to give a 2 x 1 1/4 inch (or 2 1/2 inch square) piece of cake. You may wish to
cut slightly larger or smaller pieces, depending on whether you are using a 4-inch
or 3-inch high cake.
The charts also provide metric conversions for pan size and batter and icing
amounts, as well as Fahrenheit/Celsius and gas number conversions. May you
be spared many hours of research and guesswork to convert your recipes into
the baking language of your choice!
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The Baker’s Wedding Cake Chart
2-inch deep pans
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The Baker’s Wedding Cake Chart
3-inch deep pans
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Design Ideas
According to Ron Ben-Israel, a New York City based wedding-cake designer, inspiration can come from location, fashion, nature, and/or the menu. We’d like to
add one more to this list – if the wedding has a theme, then this is also a top
consideration. Following these guidelines, you can decorate a wedding cake with
anything from a golden gate bridge topper to a Victorian trellis. As you begin receiving requests to design wedding cakes for friends, family, and maybe clients!
the most popular requests will likely include flowers, fruit, cake jewelry and/or ornaments. The following design ideas are just a few examples of how icing decorations and cake accessories can be used to add beauty and interest to your
wedding cake.
Flowers
These are a popular cake request no matter the season –
spring, summer, winter or fall, there are flowers to match!
The problem is that flowers can quickly wilt in noonday heat
at outdoor weddings in warm climates. Gum paste and royal
icing flowers to the rescue! These tough as nails flowers will
withstand the heat and keep their shape for the many hours
they will be out on display. Fresh flowers can also be used
provided they are set up with flower spikes.
When selecting flowers take into consideration the size of the
cake. Tiny flowers can be used on a large cake, but if used on their own, they’ll be
look puny and lost. Conversely, large flowers like bird or paradise will dwarf a
smaller cake. Poorly proportioned cakes and decorations look awkward rather
than beautiful. Also consider the style and formality of the wedding. Daisies are
more casual than roses, while stephanotis can swing either way. Here are few examples of how flowers can be used on a wedding cake.
•
•
•
Using white-on-white basket weave piping, create a pretty basket out of
your cake(s) and fill the top tier with royal icing or gum paste flowers. Arrange a few clusters of flowers here and there on the lower tiers as if a few
blossoms have gracefully fallen from the basket.
Detailed gum paste plumeria or orchids can be used to make a lei to drape
around each tier for a Hawaiian wedding while providing a beautiful keepsake.
For any tropical themed wedding, the larger tropical flowers, such as bird
of paradise, can be kept in fresh-flower holders can be fixed in between tiers if you’re using cake separators.
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•
•
•
Adorn your wedding cake with edible flowers, being sure that the flower
hasn’t been treated with pesticides. If you use the flowers with their stems
and leaves, be sure these are also non toxic. Don’t allow anything toxic to
come into contact with your cake. Pansies, violets, roses and nasturiums
are a few of the edible flowers that are pretty on cakes. These can be used
naturally or sugar frosted, using the technique you learned in “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Volume 1.
Create clusters of natural looking gum paste flowers that cascade down
and around the cake from tier to tier. Or create a cascade of deep red royal
icing roses.
Using flower spikes to keep live blossoms fresh, tuck them in among gum
paste or fondant lacy butterflies.
Fruit
Mother Nature provides many other attractive adornments for our cakes. Perfectly formed unblemished fruit on a wedding cake symbolizes the couple’s love that
is coming to fruition on their special day.
For a wedding cake, it’s best to use whole fruits rather than taking a chance on
the juice from sliced ones staining your frosting or fondant. Or you can make your
own assortment of fruit out of either marzipan or gum paste. Real or handcrafted,
adding a light frosting of sugar will provide some shine and shimmer.
•
•
•
Match sharp tasting fruits such as raspberries with a cake and frosting that
won’t compete such as white cake with almond flavoring.
Pick a fruit that complements the wedding’s location, the bride’s gown
and/or the dinner served at the reception. For example, marzipan grapes
would be a natural for a wedding with Italian food or a wedding that takes
place in wine country. Apricots with their pretty green leaves, clustered
around the tiers of an elegant white fondant covered cake, might be just
the right touch for a summer wedding where the bride’s attendants are
wearing apricot colored dresses.
Or go totally nuts and mix fruit with flowers. Gum paste strawberry flowers
nestled among real strawberries would look lovely for a late-spring or early-summer wedding.
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Wedding Cake Jewelry and Ornaments
Cake Jewelry
Tiara cake toppers, silver and jeweled monograms of the bride and
groom’s initials, stylized flowers made of silver and Swarovski crystal, cascading crystal flowers - these are just a few examples of the latest trend in
cake jewelry. Cake Jewelry works best at either formal or fairytale weddings with Cinderella gowns.
Wedding Cake Charms
An old-fashioned type of cake jewelry that is being revived from Victorian
times is the wedding cake charm. These charms are nestled between the
layers of a stacked cake, allowing the attached, pretty ribbons to drape over
the side of the cake. After the cake-cutting ceremony, bridal attendants pull
the ribbons and charms from the cake. Each charm holds a special meaning:
ring (next to marry), horseshoe and clover (good luck), anchor (hope or adventure), fleur-de-lys (love will flower), and thimble (old maid).
Wedding Cake Ornaments
You’ll also want to consider some of the more tried and true wedding cake
ornaments. Gold and silver leaves, tulle puffs, ribbons and bows, and butterflies never seem to lose popularity. Larger ornaments are set on wide
bases, so they don’t sink into the cake, while small ones can often be
glued on with royal icing or held in place with flower spikes.
Toppers
Last but not least, the wedding cake’s topper is a very
traditional part of the cake’s adornments. These have
come a long way since the days of plastic grooms and
brides in statue-stiff poses. Modern brides sometimes
prefer an alternative to a topper, such as a large orchid
or pretty bouquet. Once you master your gum paste
modeling skills, you can make your very own bride and
groom, and add in some character!
Wonky Cakes
These are the topsy turvy whimsical cakes that are quickly gaining popularity with
those looking for a more modern and fun cake. These stacked “lopsided” cakes
are fun and quirky and showcase the wedding couple’s sense of humor and/or
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whimsy. Here are a few design ideas for these wonderfully wacky and strangely
beautiful wedding cakes:
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•
•
The decorations on the bride’s tier (base) reflect her interests and her
wedding dress. Gum paste sculptures of books, feline friends and ribbons
and bows might be used. Then the middle tier sports the groom’s interests,
gum paste hockey sticks and pucks or gum paste cellos and music sheets.
Finally, the top tier brings the couple together
with decorations that portray their shared interests. Bride and groom figurines can go here
too, and they don’t have to be formal.
Create a whimsical, three to six tiered, tea cake.
Create the top tier, the anniversary tier, in the
shape of a topsy turvy tea pot and then place
the bride’s tea cup and saucer on her tier (base)
and the groom’s on his middle tier. In the style
of the wonky cake, the cups can precariously
teeter on the saucers. Decorate with marshmallow fondant and gum paste keepsakes that are
fashioned after things that complete the bride and groom’s tea party.
A wonky cake can have a touch of elegance. For example, the lopsided
cakes could be covered with elegant, white fondant and decorated with edible pearls, and pale, pink roses.
In Chapter 7, you will learn how to make these topsy turvy cakes!
To see some great examples of wonky cakes, check out Colette Peter’s “Cakes
to Dream On,” available at www.Amazon.com.
Groom’s Cake
Recipes for the groom’s cake began appearing in American cookbooks in the
early 19th century. Usually fruitcakes, these were heavier and more alcoholic
than the bride's cake (we’re not surprised!) Even today, a groom’s cake is traditionally a rich dark chocolate or fruit cake that contrasts nicely with a white wedding cake. But increasingly, the groom’s cake is simply his favorite kind of cake,
which is not likely to be fruit cake!
The groom’s cake is traditionally decorated to reflect his personality or his interests and hobbies. The wedding and reception are generally very focused on the
bride, so this is a way to honor the groom.
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You may be asked to create a groom’s cake in the shape of anything from a
football to a race car or piano. A look at children’s birthday cake molds and designs will often give you what you need to create a groom’s cake. The groom’s
cake can be served either at the rehearsal dinner or set up in the shadow (!) of
the bride’s cake and should be significantly smaller in stature not to outdo the actual wedding cake.
Cake Building Systems
Wedding cake tiers can be stacked for either a modern or Victorian look, or they
can be separated with pillars for an airy gracefulness. You can find floating or
satellite tiers along with conventional pillar and plate cake stands.
Stacked Construction
This is how the traditional Victorian cake is made, but stacked construction has
been adopted by more modern and unconventional (Wonky) cakes. With stacked
construction, one cake sits right on top on another - or at least that’s the illusion
you get. Cakes can’t actually sit on top of each other without added support or
they would all sink into the bottom layer. A system of dowels supports each plated cake player.
To assemble a stacked cake, first figure out where
your dowels are going to go by centering a plate the
size of the next cake to be placed on top of the bottom cake. Mark the spot by pressing down gently on
the plate. Insert four dowels evenly spaced within the
boundaries of the plate markings. (To ensure these
dowels are food-safe, they should come from a cake
decorating store and not the hardware store.)
Insert the first dowel straight down through to the bottom of the cake. Mark the dowel even with the top of
the cake. Pull out the dowel and cut off at the mark.
Cut three more the same height. Then push the dowels into the cake in the place you marked, so they
form a square inside the circle. Now place your
smaller tier on a cake board and then on top of the bottom tier. The dowels will
prevent the top tier from sinking into the bottom tier.
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Measure the next set of dowels from the bottom of the bottom cake to the top of
the top cake. You’ll want the dowel just slightly shorter. Cut it with the wire cutters, and then press it into the cake. It will stop when it reaches the cake board,
so you’ll need to give it a firm tap with a hammer. And then you have to be very
careful that the hammer doesn’t dig into your cake! To avoid this mishap, place
another dowel on top of the one you’re pushing in and hammer on the top one
instead, giving some space between the hammer and your cake. Finally, ice over
the little blemish – and you’re construction work is done!
Click here for the “Stacked Construction” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Classic Pillar
Classic pillar construction requires a set of pillars and plates. Use two plates that
are equal in size. Begin with a full size, doweled cake on the bottom. Then snap
your pillars into place between the two small plates and set this on top. Your next
cake goes on top of the pillar set. Add your borders and any other decorations
and you’re done!
Pillar and plate systems cannot be transported fully assembled; they will all come
tumblin’ down when you first hit the brakes. The cake must be transported in
pieces and assembled on site. Decorate each tier and prepare the bottom layer
with dowels before transporting, and then assemble on site. Pipe your bottom
borders and you’re done!
Click here for the “Classic Pillars” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Push-in Pillar System
With this system, the pillars separate and support the tiers. You begin by flipping
over the plate and pushing each pillar into place, making sure they are tightly
snapped into place . After you’ve snapped in all four pillars, flip the plate back
over and place it, pillars first, into your cake. The next tier goes on top of the pillars’ plate. There’s no need for dowels or any additional support with this type of
construction.
Click here for “Push-in Pillars” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
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Pillars & Plates System
This is another push-in pillar method. Attach pillars firmly to the plate. Make sure
they are all facing the same direction and that they are on straight and right side
up. Then connect the next plate on top pushing it into place.
These spiral pillars come with six plates of graduating size, but you don’t need to use
all six. Just use the sizes you want. (Using all six tiers is nice way to display wedding
cupcakes!) Try to get it really centered watch where your legs line up before placing.
The legs are about twice as long as they’ll be after inserting in the cake. Before placing a cake on one of the plates, have a cake base or a cake cardboard underneath it.
This will protect the plates from being scratched when serving.
Click here for the “Pillars & Plates” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)
Combination Stacked and Tier
The combination stacked and tier system allows you to stack the two bottom
cakes, and then add the pillars and separator, before adding the top tier. This
makes it easy to set the top, traditionally the anniversary tier, aside and cut your
pieces from the bottom cakes.
Transporting Tiered Cakes
Tiered cakes should be transported in sections rather than trying to balance the
assembled cake and move it all in one piece. Place each tier in a separate cardboard box and place on a flat surface in the vehicle. Any loose decorations
should be packaged separately and placed on the cake once it is reassembled
on location.
Remember to bring along a decorating bag full of icing to make any last m inute repairs!
Storing & Preserving Tiered Cakes
A likely reason you will need to store the tiers of your wedding cake is that it generally takes a few days to create a wedding cake. There are often several tiers to
be baked, iced and decorated and all the work just doesn’t fit into one day. You’ll
likely spend the better part of a week to complete your cake. While you’re working on one tier, the others will need to be properly stored or you’ll end up with dry
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cake and soggy decorations. Here are a few tips to make sure your cake makes
it to the table in grand style.
Cautionary Tips
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•
•
•
Sunlight will alter your icing’s color, so keep your tiers stored in a covered
box, away from direct sunlight.
Humidity can easily soften royal icing and gum paste decorations. If you
have high humidity where you live, be sure to prepare your royal icing using only pure cane confectioners' sugar (not beet sugar or dextrose), add
less liquid and add 1 additional teaspoon of meringue powder.
Heat can wilt decorations and melt icing, so do keep your decorated cake
as cool as possible. Also, stabilize buttercream icing by adding 2 teaspoons meringue powder to the recipe. Protect your cake with a clean,
covered cake box instead of wrapping with foil or plastic wrap. These
wraps can easily stick to the icing, as well as crush delicate decorations.
If storing for more than three days, let the icing be the deciding factor in
whether you will store your tiers in the at a cool, room temperature, refrigerator, or in the freezer. If you freeze, remember that royal icing decorations are best placed on the tiers after thawing, so that colored decorations
don’t bleed or soften from condensation.
Icing Storage Requirements
Cakes iced with Buttercream can be stored at room temperature for two to three
days. Buttercream flowers will remain soft enough to be cut with a knife.
Fondant covered cakes should not be refrigerated or frozen. The tiers can be
stored at room temperature for three to four days. See Chapter 2 for tips on saving a fondant tier that has been refrigerated.
Gum Paste decorations shoud not be refrigerated. The moisture will cause them
to droop. They will last at room temperature for months. If your tiers must be refrigerated due to perishable fillings, then add the decorations last, after you have
all your tiers ready.
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Royal icing, once dried, will last indefinitely if not stored in a way that allows for
condensation. These decorations shouldn’t be refrigerated.
So, basically, if you are using a filling that requires refrigeration, it’s best to leave
all of the above icings/decorations off, with the exception of the buttercream, until
shortly before serving. Create your royal icing, gum paste and fondant decorations ahead of time, so you’re ready to go, but store them at room temperature.
When we’re talking about preserving a wedding cake tier, we usually mean that
top tier for the first anniversary. If you’re creating a wedding cake, it’s a nice
touch to hand your customer these tips for ensuring this top tier is as fresh and
delicious on their first anniversary as it is on their wedding day:
1. Remove any ornaments or large breakable decorations.
2. Replace an unwrapped cake board with one wrapped in foil to prevent a
cardboard taste. A plastic separator plate is fine for freezing.
3. Freeze the cake for 20 minutes to firm up the icing, so it won’t stick to the
plastic wrap you will be using.
4. Once it’s frozen, completely cover the cake with plastic wrap. Be sure it’s
airtight! Then wrap the plastic wrap covered cake with at least two layers of
heavy duty aluminum foil. The more protection, the less chance of a freezer taste or freezer burn. For extra protection, you can place the cake in a
storage container.
5. The day before your first anniversary, begin defrosting the cake in your refrigerator. Once it has defrosted for about two hours, remove all of the
wrappings and continue to defrost.
6. Let the cake rest at room temperature, then serve. Happy anniversary!
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Chapter 7 – CAKE DIVA DESIGN IDEAS
You’ve come to the final chapter, so it’s time for graduate school! This is where
you draw on the skills you’ve learned in Volumes One and Two, and apply them
to some post-graduate work. Many of these exciting projects, such as the topsyturvy Leaning Tower of Pisa cake, incorporate other forms of art, namely airbrushing, painting and embroidery. Once you’ve accomplished your master’s
work, crank up your creativity and have some fun!
Airbrushed Cakes
One of the quickest ways you can add color, a picture or an entire scene to a cake, is to airbrush it.
Whether or not you can paint freehand, you can
learn to airbrush.
If you are being paid to decorate cakes, the time it takes to learn this technique
and the money invested in a quality cake decorator’s airbrush (from about $75 to
$250) will be easily recouped.
As with any of the other techniques you’ve learned, the old adage “practice
makes perfect,” certainly applies. Here are some airbrushing tips to give you a
better understanding of what the process involves, and to help you get started if
you decide to try this time saving technique.
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•
•
•
Before you practice on iced cakes, use a children’s coloring book to practice airbrushing within the lines.
Practice free hand airbrushing on paper towels.
When you want a narrow, straight line hold the airbrush at a 90° angle and
close to the surface, but not so close it blows holes in the icing--this is
where patience comes in to play!
For softer lines, hold the airbrush at a 45° angle and further away.
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•
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•
•
•
To create a soft, background effect, hold the airbrush at a 45° angle about
6 to 8 inches from the surface. Then gently move your hand back and forth
while spraying color.
Begin practicing on cakes with easy designs, such as a whimsical floral
pattern. Airbrush the petals of several flowers, and then outline them with
piped icing.
After practicing airbrushing various types of pictures and designs, graduate
to airbrushing entire scenes. For example: Airbrush a mountain lake backdrop complete with fir trees and snow capped peaks. Create a Painted Desert scene complete with cacti and cowboys, or an ocean panorama with
beach and sailboats. You can glean lots of ideas from works of art, magazines and stencils.
Make use of stencils. Many of the professionals do so because they produce clean looking designs and prevent over-spray. You can purchase
stencils or make your own with paper, cardboard or plastic. Cookie cutters
can also be used for stenciling.
Use artist’s tools, such as palette knife or brush, along with piping gel, to
highlight, shade and finish details. For example:
Add sparkle to features, such as water, with piping gel.
Airbrush luster dust or super pearl dust for eye-catching detail. Add
it to a 2 ounce plastic bottle and fill with vodka. Shake well each time
before filling your airbrushes well with it, and turn the air pressure up
if needed.
You can use an artist-quality camel hair brush for things like creating
faraway trees or grass, and you can use your icing bag to pipe closer up objects.
The Right Stuff
If you decide to try airbrushing, be sure you purchase an airbrush that is suitable
for cake decorating. There are a lot of different kinds of airbrushes out there – for
make-up, T-shirts, you name it. Also when choosing an airbrush, keep in mind
that a single action airbrush is probably the most often used in bakeries. It sprays
color as soon as you press the trigger, and it allows you to adjust the amount of
color and the span of the spray.
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No matter which airbrush you may buy, remember to always keep your airbrush
scrupulously clean to prevent clogging and spitting. Follow the manufacturer's directions on how to properly clean it. To prevent damage to the airbrush, purchase only edible food coloring specially formulated for an airbrush.
Piping & Brush Embroidery
The gentle brushstrokes that are used with this technique create a soft and romantic look on fondant covered cakes, making it very popular with weddings. Inspired
by linen embroidery, brush embroidery is usually done on the smooth surface of
fondant. The name ‘brush embroidery’ comes from the embroidered look given by
brushing piped icing with a soft-bristled cake decorator’s or artist’s brush to create
tiny lines of icing that fill a design. Tip 2 is a good choice for brush embroidery outlines. Buttercream icing works well with this technique. Royal icing can also be
used, but—remember--it dries more quickly! A flat, size 3, cake-decorating brush is
a popular choice. Or, for a lacy look, square-tipped brushes are best.
Brush embroidered flowers can add a lovely, refined look or a whimsical touch to
any cake. For example, to create an apple blossom you would use round tip 2 for
the outline. Then apply the brush embroidery by brushing the icing inwards in
straight lines from the outline. The brush strokes of icing thin as you move inwards, so the center should be free of icing. Finally, you would use tip 2 for adding two dot centers to your blossom. Using royal icing and tip 2, you could pipe
string stems, and then use a tip 1 bead tip for flower buds.
The basic technique:
1. Plan your design first. This could be a rose with leaves (you can draw the
stem freehand), apple blossoms or whatever strikes your fancy.
2. Then imprint this onto your cake, or pipe it freehand on the covered fondant. It is easier for beginners to use gum paste cutters to create shapes.
But you can use other objects, including real leaves (non toxic, pesticide
free, of course) or stencils.
3. Outline the design, such as the flower, one area at a time, with thin consistency buttercream icing.
4. Before the outlines have a chance to dry, brush out lines of icing towards
the center of each object or flower. Use a size 3 brush and short, quick
strokes as if you were sketching.
When brushing your icing:
Use a dampened decorator brush.
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Clean your brush regularly as you go along. After rinsing the brush,
squeeze excess water out. The brush should be damp; you don’t want a
puddle in your flower.
5. Wait until the brushwork is completely dry before piping in details such as
stamens or veins in the leaves.
Victorian Brush Embroidery
This is a variation based on the more colorful look of Victorians linen embroidery.
Before this, embroidery was traditionally done with pastel shades on creamy linen. This type of brush embroidery calls for a slightly raised design, and a light
powdering with decorating dust. The Victorian method can be accomplished with
a little extra fondant (or chocolate clay) and a steady hand.
1. Imprint your pattern onto your cake.
2. Brush embroidery, as described above.
3. Wait for the brushed embroidery to dry.
4. Attach a thin piece of rolled fondant to each section that you want raised,
brush embroidering each piece as you go along.
5. Continue adding and brushing embroidering layers until you’ve achieve the
effect you want.
Fondant Inlay & Cut Outs
Using tools and techniques introduced in Chapter Two, beginners can easily create simple elegant cakes. However, with these new skills combined with the inlay
method, novice decorators can create elaborate tiered masterpieces.
Working with cut outs and inlay is fairly simple if you are placing the decorations
pretty randomly on your cake, such as on a cake with hearts or flowers strewn
across the sides and top. But with some planning, and careful measuring and
marking, you can create beautiful designs with stripes, dots, floral patterns, lace
and more with inlayed cutouts.
For the multi-tiered cake, you’ll want to cover and decorate your tiers before
doweling and stacking. Each tier can have a different pattern, or they can all
match seamlessly.
Cut out shapes from your fondant-covered cake, then replace the pieces with
your favorite colors, attaching with a damp brush.
For a more intricate design, first create fondant fill-ins. To do this as mentioned in
Chapter Two, use a smaller cutout to remove the center of your fondant decoration and fill in with a different color.
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For example, to create a gorgeous tiered wedding cake decorated with fondant inlay, you’d begin by first preparing your layers for fondant (Chapter Two). Then using either the rolled or marshmallow fondant recipes from that chapter, along with
the techniques covered there, cover your cakes with the fondant and smooth out.
TIP: For a flawless presentation, take a tip from savvy bakers and be sure
that your surface, rolling pin, and hands are clean and lint-free. Ensure that
nothing will mar the perfect smoothness of the fondant by taking off any
jewelry that could mar it, tying back long hair, and trimming long nails. And,
remember that once your fondant is rolled you have about five minutes to
cover your cake with it before it begins to harden.
Topsy-Turvy Cakes
Whimsical cakes have become increasingly popular since cake-decorating diva,
Collette Peters, made one in 1985 for John Loring’s book, “Tiffany Taste.” Peters
said in a recent interview on CBS’ The Early Show, that when she came up with
this idea, she hadn’t recalled seeing a cake made crooked on purpose but
thought it would be playful and ironic. Since then topsy-turvy cakes, sometimes
called wonky cakes, no longer jolt party and wedding guests as much as they did
three decades ago, but they still bring whimsy, fun and an element of surprise.
And, they’re still uncommon enough to bring a gasp or two with the proverbial
question, “How did you do that?”
How do you accomplish a teetering effect without having the cake topple over?
It’s all about wedges, staking and hidden support! Read on…
While smaller versions of these cakes can be created in a one-piece cake pan, if
you’re feeling adventurous and are at the intermediate or advanced level in decorating, why not learn how to create your own topsy-turvy design? There is a cake
pan on the market that will produce a 10-inch high cake dubbed the Whimsical
cake. It appears to have three layers all slightly askew. You may want to create a
towering, tiered confection, to have one or more layer more than slightly askew
as in the mold, or to use more than one shape of cake, and so on. So to help you
get started, here are the basics:
•
•
•
Keep in mind that there’s no set pattern for these cakes. They are created
in many different configurations, sizes and colors and for a wide variety of
occasions, from an elegant wedding to a Mad Hatter birthday party.
How do we keep the teetering tiers from falling? Lots of support! Insert
sharpened dowels into the tiers as you’re stacking them.
Have a plan! Create a design, sketch, and think it over carefully.
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•
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•
•
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How about those lopsided layers? Often this is an illusion created by inserting Styrofoam™ wedges strategically between the layers. You can
purchase these at a cake-decorating store.
And other times, those layers really are lopsided. To create crooked layers
with using wedges, cut an edge of cake off the bottom and/or top layers.
And sometimes, the layers look perfectly formed and are perfectly formed;
however they are placed in a teetering manner, like a precariously stacked
tower of gift boxes. This is also achieved using the wedges.
Whichever method you choose, wedges or trimming your layers, stack
your layers just as you would if your were building a perfectly normal,
stacked tier cake (See how-to in Chapter Six), adding dowels to each tier
(as detailed in Chapter Six).
After your tiers are all stacked and doweled, place one very long, sharpened dowel through the entire cake and into the base.
If possible, as with any tiered cake, its best to stack the tiers on site so
there’s no danger of a mishap during transport. And, as always, but more
so with a topsy-turvy cake, save the placement of top ornaments for on site
construction.
Here are a few more design ideas for topsy-turvy cakes:
•
•
Beauty and the Beast (the enchanted tea pot, candlesticks, and so forth),
Leaning Tower of Pisa (lavishly decorated of course with marzipan grapes
and other Italian treats)
•
Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, or another Dr. Seuss tribute.
•
Victorian tea party (tipping tea pots are brilliant toppers for these cakes)
•
Hat Boxes (the upper layer can be the lid, the one underneath it the box,
and using a wedge in between have the brim of a hat peeking out. Each
hatbox could have fondant ribbons or strings, and the hat could be decorated with beautiful life-like gum paste flowers. And, so on…
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Let your imagination soar, but be sure to carefully plan each step, and you’ll soon
be getting all kinds of requests for your fabulous one-of-a kind cakes! Cheers!
And so ends your journey through the Wonderful World of Cake! We hope
you have been both enlightened and inspired to go out and try a technique,
or to advance and improve upon the skills you already possess. We have
tried to answer many of the more frequently asked cake making questions,
but we’re sure that we haven’t answered them all! If you get to this last
page and still have a question you would like answered, just click off an email
to: [email protected] and we’ll do our best to send some help!"
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Cake Decorating Made Easy!

Transcription

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