I know I’ve haven’t written a Blog for awhile and I need to write a few of them for videos I have posted in You Tube, so here I am trying to catch up.
One of the videos I posted earlier was about doing a simple fix on a broken gumpaste flower. I remember years ago I was working at a custom cake store and one flower broke. I was about to throw it away and my good friend Maria told me not to. She said we can use it in the back of the cake and hide the broken part. So I adopted that way of thinking.
For cake shows and competitions this is not something I would suggest doing since judges do thoroughly inspect the arrangements to make sure that all of the flowers are done perfectly. But when you are dealing with weddings, some things are more forgivable and hiding a broken flower by using it as a filler works great, as long as you place it in such a way that the broken piece won’t show .
On a cake I was working on, the flower that broke was one of my favorites. Yes, I do have flowers that turn out better than others and I prefer using them for the front of the cake. A petal from the flower broke off and it was a clean break. When you get a clean break at the base of the petal, it’s a bit easier to fix and can be easier to hide. When done well, no one will notice the break. I do make sure to place the broken area in such a way that it’s less visible.
I remember when I was just starting to decorate cakes, there was a cake decorator who told me he used crazy glue to fix broken flowers. I just don’t feel comfortable using it near anything that goes in my cake. I know that gumpaste flowers are really not for eating but I still have my reservations.
I prefer to soften a small amount of gumpaste with some gum glue (click here for gum glue tutorial), and place it in the broken edge and let it dry. This usually works great but you have to let it dry well before you can use the flower. So if I am in a hurry and I can’t wait, I use a small piece of super thin gumpaste and add it with gum glue. Sometimes putting this super thin layer on one side will give you a strong bond but if you want an even stronger bond, I recommend that you do this on both sides of the petal.
Watch the video tutorial to see how I do it. I hope it helps when one of your flowers gets broken while you’re working on a cake.
I just got 2 new molds and I asked on Instagram which one you guys would prefer to see in a tutorial. I should have known that most of you would say both. LOL. I’ve decided to do both but I started with the rose mold first.
The Rosette Mold comes from a very popular design that creates beautiful roses by using stripes of fondant that are ruffled, and then placed strategically on the cake forming roses. This technique reminds me of the lace fabric I used to work with years ago when I designed clothing. Even though the design is so beautiful, you can expect long amounts of hours working on this design. It’s very time consuming.
I always love anything that shortens the length of work time when I am working on a cake. Not only can the customer save some money but I save time and earn more money too, so for me this is a win win. Now I can give the customer an option and if they want the original design, then they know they have to pay more for the work it involves, or just simply save some money and labor by using this shortcut.
I decided to see how the mold looks in a 2 tier cake and this is the finish product.
I finished the cake with some of my favorite flowers gumpaste Orchids and Roses with some filler flowers and tropical leaves. I have a tutorial on Orchids posted in the website already but soon I will be adding a section with advanced tutorials that you can access anytime and will include more flowers, plus I plan to add more tutorials to it.
And here is a close up of the pattern for the Rosette Mold.
I will do another tutorial as soon as I can using the other mold I got. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this tutorial. I am posting the links to the products below for those of you who ask.
Years ago I was designing a cake for a bride and somehow we came to the conclusion that she wanted to have the topper fully as a dummy so she could save it and use it for her first year anniversary celebration cake. These days I mention this idea to all my brides just so that they know that this is an option available to them to do for their cakes. I love making toppers that I know will be saved and will keep the memory of that special event. It’s a great way to save something from the event and use it with a fresh cake if they want to.
The topper can be saved in a box or even under glass, if you want to save it from getting dusty so you can reuse it. If you prefer, you can display it in your house as long as you protect it from heat and light. The light will make the colors fade and the heat might soften the gumpaste details, so I prefer to keep it in a cold and dry area and away from sunlight or UV lights. With proper care a sugar piece should last for many years.
I still have a topper I made from a class I taught years ago and it’s still in great condition. Of course it won’t last forever, but if you lightly dust it, it should last for a very long time. Having the option of saving a topper is something that brides love. Especially when it comes to using gumpaste flowers. When they have the option of saving the item for a longer period, they feel better about investing on what is ultimately a work of art. I do make sure to tell them to be careful when moving the piece and cleaning it since gumpaste is delicate.
I made a tutorial on how I did the base of this cake. I wanted this base to look like a modern style basket weave, so I decided to use this beautiful mold from Marvelous Molds for my base. The tutorial shows how to use basic molds in unusual cake shapes. I basically divided my cake into panels and added other details to complete and clean the final design. I love the combination of the black and Copper Petal Dustfor this fall theme topper.
Once you achieve your base, you can finish the topper with any flowers you want. You can do this type of base on real cake or on a dummy. I used a 6 inch dummy that had a V shape but I have also made this topper using a 4 inch dummy. This is another way to give height to a cake for a bride that is having a small wedding but wants a taller cake that makes a bolder statement.
I will post the links for the materials used in this cake below for those who are interested in them. Click to watch the tutorial.
I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Until next Blog, ta ta!
Edna 🙂
Here are the links for the products I used: Tri Weave Simpress
Beautiful modern weave pattern made
by Marvelous Molds. They have so many
to choose from.
Frame Mold
This is a frame mold from the Celcraft company.
They are called Celshapes. I have used this product for many
I posted a new cake tutorial for a cake design I made. I love to get creative sometimes and do cakes that are amazing but the truth is that most clients either can’t afford them or they just want something simple. And to be quite honest, simple cakes that are fast can sometimes make more money than all those super busy complicated cakes that take a lot more time to make. For as much as I love to get fancy, simple designs are heaven on a busy week.
Quilted cakes have been in style for many years. I have made so many of them with different patterns and I can say that to this day, brides still love them. They are simply classic and elegant.
I got this new mold from Marvelous Molds and I love the design. In the video I did the cake without using dragees and the cake looks amazing. The really cool thing about this mold is that you can actually place the dragees on the mold before placing the fondant.
Gold Dragees
I won’t lie, I was a bit worried about doing this. All I thought was that the dragees were gonna be rolling everywhere and they where not gonna stick to the fondant.
I placed each little ball on each hole and then I placed the fondant on top.
I used no glue at all, and to my amazement, all the dragees stayed in place. You know how many dragees I had to place in cakes, one by one with pliers or tweezers over the course of almost 22 years???? All I can say is that I was super impressed and I love the fact that this mold can be used with or without the dragees.
Since this was a square cake, I wanted to finish the borders with some gold details. I decided to use the Vibrance Brooch Mold. I wanted to cover the edges and this mold is the perfect height for this purpose. To finish it I painted it in Gold Highlighter. I also cut this mold and added pieces of it to the board to give it a finished look that made everything cohesive.
Vibrance Brooch Mold
Most of the time I like to finish my cakes with whatever color of flowers I have to use and then I combine them with filler flowers in other colors. But for this cake, the red roses made a beautiful statement. No filler flowers used unless it was smaller roses, buds or leaves. I have a tutorial on how to make roses with circle cutters that I made so many years ago and it’s still a great way to get started if you want to play with gumpaste roses and you all you have are circle cutters. I also have a DVD with 4 hours worth of roses that include different ways to make them; how to make leaves, buds, how to color them and even how to make thorns.
Marvelous Molds is giving away 3 of their new molds and the rules are these ones; Go to Instagram and follow Marvelous Molds and Design_Me _a_Cake. Marvelous Molds is choosing a winner that does all the steps above so make sure you do that and I will post the winner as soon as I find out. You can also get an extra entry if you tag a friend.
I love how the cake turned out and I know brides love this type of cake. Below I am posting the links for the tutorials or products I used to make this cake. Click on the photo for more info. Click here or on the photo below to go watch tutorial.
I hope you enjoy the tutorial.
Until next Blog, ta ta!
Seems like everyone is getting sick with the flu and there was nowhere to hide from it. But now that I am better I have to catch up with work. Last week I posted in You tube my latest Tutorial on Bas Relief.
Bas relief is an old technique that is being used a lot these days. Everything old is new again. You can do this technique all over the cake or you can do areas of it. It really depends on what you are trying to achieve. No matter what, it’s a busy look and I can call it even messy when it’s used all over the cake. You can use any mold to do this technique and you can mix them or just be repetitive with the same one.
In the tutorial I am using flowers. If you use smaller molds it can be more time consuming so I used this mold from Karen Davies collection that has big flowers that can cover a lot of area fast. A whole cake can be covered with this technique. But sometimes just one tier is enough to make a cake stand out. If you plan to cover a whole cake with this technique, make sure to add this to the cost of the cake as it will be time consuming.
In the video I used a Mold from Karen Davies. Click on the photo to see if it’s available in Amazon. If they don’t have it,
you can check her website but if you live in USA keep in mind it will be an International order. But if you can’t find the mold, there are many options you can use to make this style of cake.
The photo to the left shows another beautiful mold that has different flowers that you can use to make this type of garden cake. I will be clear that I am not getting paid to sell these molds. I am just showing you a product that I used and liked. You can also use molds you already have at hand to make this type of cake.
I did a 2 tier cake where I show step by step how to decorate the cake and how to make the beautiful bow. I put the tutorial for rent and for sale so you guys can choose what you prefer. I want to do more tutorials but longer tutorials like that are very time consuming and the small amount I am charging will cover the cost of making the longer tutorials. I will still do my You tube tutorials but the advanced tutorials will be including all the steps on how to make a cake. I thought that paying for a tutorial as you want to see it is more convenient than paying a monthly fee and easier on anybody’s pocket. Plus you can choose which tutorials you want to buy.
I added more photos of this cake in the website. Click here to check them out.
If you want to see the Free You tube Bas Relief Tutorial Click here or on the photo below. To check the step by step tutorial on how to make the 2 tier Cake Click here or on the photo below. I hope you enjoy these tutorials. Until next one, Ta ta!
Edna 😀
This Blog is all about information on those gum products we hear so much about and use in cake decorating. I personally love Tylose. It’s less expensive, easier to find and great quality. But here is the info so you can choose the one you like the most. All of them are gums but as anything in life they will have some differences in outcome so your job is to find the one you prefer. I just did a tutorial to show you guys how Tylose helps change the texture of fondant and how to fix it to the consistency you need.Click to watch here.
Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC), is a thickener, binder and stabilizer in a variety of foods. Cellulose is the carbohydrate that makes up the woody parts and cell walls of plants. CMC is a thickening agent made by reacting cellulose (wood pulp, cotton lint) with a derivative of acetic acid. It is not absorbed or digested and is sometimes included in the “dietary fiber” on food labels. Commonly used in food preparation. It’s poorly absorbed by the body but if consumed in large amounts it can create flatulence. Something I would not worry with cake since we really use small amounts of it. The number for this gum is E466
Tylose is a namebrand for CMC. It’s the name I use mostly because it’s the brand I use the most. Tylose is found easier than other gums and the price for it tends to be lower. I have a preference on a specific brand of Tylose because I used others that I found were not of the same quality when I worked with the product. But like everything in life, we all have our preferences so test a few to find the one you like. But keep in mind that purified CMC is a white to buff-coloured, odourless and tasteless, free flowing powder. Less purified low assay types can be off-white to a light brown. I did try one time another brand and the color was less white and the quality of my gumpaste felt different. It was the last time I switch brands. Maybe I am just used to the one I use but I felt a big difference in quality,
Usually it’s often recommended to add 1 to tablespoons of Tylose to 1 pound of fondant. I will say that even though I add Tylose to fondant to create details, the consistency is not the same as if you do a Tylose gumpaste from scratch. It just doesn’t give the same texture or elasticity but some people get used to using it even for flowers. It’s just not my preference and if you are getting started making flowers I would not suggest it either. I think it’s more difficult. Even though you can make flowers from it, elasticity and feel is just not the same. But with that said, it works great for making decorations that need a stronger consistency or even if you need something to dry faster. Tylose works well in areas where there is a lot of humidity.
Gum Tragacanth is another gum. If you are looking for something natural this will be your choice. A bit more difficult to find and can be more expensive. Tragacanth is a natural gum obtained from the dried sap of several species of Middle Eastern legumes of the genus Astragalus. To harden fondant some people will say it takes up to 30 minutes to feel the change in texture. It’s advised to leave it to dry overnight for the best results. It’s recommended around a teaspoon of Gum Tragacanth per 1 pound of Fondant. Something you have to keep in mind is that it will give a yellowish tone to white pieces. This is one of the reasons I prefer using Tylose/CMC. The number for this gum is E413.
Gum-Tex is the name for the gumpaste powder sold by Wilton. Recently I saw that they added the name Tylose to the bottle. I have been giving the numbers for each gum I posted so you can see that all products are not the same. Wilton used to call their product just Gum-Tex but now they added the Tylose name to it. But Gum Tex is not made with CMC. Gum-tex is made with Karaya Gum. The number for this E416. It’s made from the dried sap from the trunk of the Stercuila trees which are native to India. Yes it’s a gum, yes it works to make gumpaste but here is my opinion. The gumpaste tends to feel grainy and dry. It’s not my favorite one.
All of these are gums and most of them have recipes that work the best with each of them or people have created their own recipes to use them. Some of them can be interchangeable but you might feel the difference in the outcome of the recipe. I have a recipe for Tylose gumpaste in my website that works wonderful with Tylose gumpaste.
I did made a mistake in the video on the amount of teaspoons ( I wrote tablespoons instead of teaspoons in the video 😦 ), so do make sure to read the tips and recipe in my website before you make it. This recipe was posted by the company that I buy the Tylose from and I was told it was created by a lady call Jill Maythan. It’s my favorite recipe and I used it for more than 21 years and will keep using it.
All this gums are food safe and used in many food items in the market. So you can use them in your fondant. Most of them are Kosher but do check the product you use to make sure they do.
In the video tutorial I show how adding Tylose changes the texture of the fondant as I work with it. It’s pretty neat to see. I know I am using a bigger amount of the powder for a small piece but even though you can just wait and let the fondant rest so it hardens, you can see that it would be ok if you add just a bit more and you don’t have to wait if you are in a hurry. It really depends on you. You can save time by using more or you can use less product if you would rather wait. Most of the time I do this it’s for pieces that need to dry fast like bows or maybe things I need to mold. Since I know it will get harder as I work with it, I just work fast and when I feel I can barely knead it, I add more fondant to it to soften it.
I will suggest to play with it and find the consistency you like for whatever you are working for. Also keep in mind that it might react differently depending on the fondant you use. If you are using for example Fondarific, which is chocolate based fondant, it will take a lot more. If you are using Satin Ice, it will take less since it has no chocolate in it. So if you are playing with a new fondant that you never used before, do a test and see how it reacts. If you add too much to certain fondant, it can make it dry, reason why I always suggest to do smaller amounts.
If you need to make a fondant that requires a lot of color, you can always add a bit of Tylose to it to avoid it getting softer. If you feel more comfortable, do a test first and see how your fondant reacts. Sometimes colors might change the consistency of certain brands of fondant. If you find yourself with a fondant that is too dry and cracks too much, add just a bit of glycerin. If the glycerin doesn’t help, try modeling chocolate. Add small amounts because if you add too much your fondant can get too soft and some people like softer fondant but other people don’t. To learn what’s best for you, you need to test what you like and all I can do is offer suggestion on things I use that work for me.
Once you have added Tylose or Gum Tragacanth to your fondant, you have to keep un mind that it will dry faster. You can store a regular fondant in a tub for months. But once you add Tylose to it, it can dry in a matter of days and that amount will change depending on how much you added. If you added just a bit it will last longer but when you add a lot, it will be hard as a rock by the next day. You can seal it in plastic wrap but also place it in a Ziplock bag so it lasts longer. You can also add more fondant to it to disperse the Tylose so it lasts longer. I prefer to do small amounts that I will use promptly and avoid having to deal with fondant that is dry hard as a rock.
I hope I have not forgotten anything in this Blog. It’s a lot of information but sometimes it’s better to have the knowledge than to deal with questions and problems that we don’t know how to solve. Hopefully you have some answers and this will help you conquer any problems as they arise. If you don’t have Tylose available in your area I always have it available in my webstore. Click here to get Tylose. I will post in the website under the video links to where you can find the other gums.
I just posted a new tutorial in You Tube. This is a basic tutorial on how to cover a board but I wanted to add a bit more detail on how to decorate it too. I love how a cake looks when the board is decorated. It brings the cake to another level.
I worked so many years decorating cakes and adding fondant to a cake board used to be something you do as an extra detail for high-end cakes. These days, although the regular people who buy cakes don’t necessarily know about this detail, the cake community has expectations for all cake boards to be decorated.
I will add fondant to cakes that are high-end. Most of those cakes are well paid and they do require a finish look. With that said there are other times that I don’t cover a cake board unless I am paid for. Package cakes for example, are cakes that are part of a deal that some venues add as part of the contracts with brides for their weddings. These cakes are low-budget cakes and in here that time that you might spend covering a fondant board will be used more wisely in making another cake that will make more money.
Covering a basic cake board can be done fast. But add the time of looking for the fondant, coloring it, kneading it, rolling, placing it on the board, cutting the excess, smoothing it and either the time that it needs to dry or the oven time you have to use to make it dry faster. All of this is time you use in making a board. Let’s say it takes 15 minutes overall to do all this, ( that’s without taking in consideration drying time). In those 15 minutes I use to cover that cake board, I can torte and ice a cake and with 10 more minutes I can finish a basic cake that I can charge around between $30 to $60 dollars depending on the size of it.
So taking all of that in consideration and adding to that you may have many other cakes to make, you do have to take in consideration that time and the cost of your time that needs to be paid.
I love a cake board covered. It makes a huge difference. But I do make sure I get paid for this. If it’s not in the budget of the bride, then is not in my budget either. I have had times where I have done a cake that the bride didn’t had the budget for the board and I decided to add the fondant to the board just because I wanted a great picture. But that I did because I wanted a great photo for me.
Boards are supposed to be covered for cakes that are high-end or cakes that are part of a cake competition, or simply just for show. But don’t feel bad if you are doing a cake for a bride on a budget that couldn’t pay for the board or just for a simple party cake. At the end of the day a custom cake shop need to make sure rent, paychecks and supplies are covered more than anything else.
For low-budget cakes, I use your regular cake drum that
you still need for a cake,
so the cost won’t make a difference when it comes
to that. If you are covering homemade boards with fancy foils, make sure to find the big rolls that are sold wholesale and much cheaper than the ones you get at craft stores. Some people use pretty papers and cover them with contact paper but be careful with this. Contact paper is not food safe so the cake should not be in contact with it at all.
At the end of the day, everyone has their own option. If you have the time and preference to cover your boards, go for it. If on the other hand youfeel that it needs to be paid as part of your time and not all people can afford it, then don’t stress about it. In 22 years of making cakes I have never had a person complain about it.
If they want a cake board covered, they will pay for it. If they don’t have the money, they won’t care about it. As long as you make them a beautiful and delicious cake, they will be happy.
If you make cakes for fun, go ahead and cover your cake boards and make your cakes look more amazing with the finish look. I know it makes me happy to see a finished cake from top to bottom, but I do understand why sometimes boards are not covered. There’s a whole different angle when it comes from smaller shops that are starting to make cakes or maybe are located in an area that pays less money and they need to count each penny they earn and use. Running a bakery is not an easy task and only those who are successful at running one, know the reality behind it.
Click here or in the photo to go see the tutorial. In the website I posted links for the products I used in making this tutorial in the tutorial page.
I had to make a cake a couple of weeks ago and I decided to use this new product from Marvelous Moldscalled Simpress.
I love anything that makes my work fast, pretty and easy. This product it’s pretty cool. It covers the cake fast with a beautiful design and it’s pretty easy to use. It comes in 3 different designs at the moment and I am hoping they come with new styles soon!
You can place this over buttercream or fondant and it joins really well at the seams. It measures 4 inches tall, so it covers your standard cake but you can stack each piece if you need it for taller cakes.
I used a dummy for this tutorial and I showed how you can apply the mold in 2 different ways. Since it was a dummy, it was covered in fondant, but the cake above was made in buttercream and it worked just as well. I do advice to place the cake in the fridge and let the buttercream harden up before you place the mold over it.
As you can see, the side edge of the mold it’s not even. This is so you can place the next mold side-by-side and align the pattern creating a continuous flow which eliminates joint lines. In the video I used the Jubilee Sequin Mold and I’m totally loving it.
In the tutorial, I show you a way to finish the back of the cake where the mold doesn’t meet. All cakes have a back side; I just tend to finish it in a straight line for those times the molds don’t meet at the back. Also, you can always add buttons, use an extruder machine to create a delicate rope or even cover it with single sequins if you want to hide it.
I finished the top edge with a line of cutout circles that I made with a piping tip #12. Then I made a hole with a needle. I did add a bit of Tylose to the fondant so I could move faster since the Tylose hardens the fondant and makes it easier to cut.
These patterns come alive with some luster dust, so feel free to paint them with your favorite colors. To make this easy, I tend to have the base color as close as I can to the color for the luster dust I am using.I love how this cake turned out. Click here to watch the tutorial I made for this tool.
Click here to go watch video.
I hope you enjoy the blog and tutorial.
Until next time, Ta ta!
Edna 😀
*There are links posted in this Blog that I will earn a very small percentage of their sales. I only promote products I love and believe in, and products I use. The commission earned will be used towards new tutorials.
Hello to all my cake friends. In two weeks I will be attending the ‘That Take the Cake Show‘ being held at the Round Rock Sports Center in Round Rock, TX., where I will be teaching a 3 hour class with my great friend Karen Vazquez on February 26th, 2016 starting at 5:30 pm. The show itself starts Saturday, February 27th and ends on Sunday the 28th. This show is one of the best cake shows and I finally have the chance to go!
The theme as you can see represents the 17th – 18th century baroque style. Consisting of the dramatic exuberance of colors from today while bringing out the profound ornate elegance of the many fine detailed golden miniature flowers, swirls and pearls. The class will be separated into 2 part class for the 3 hours. Karen will teach the students on how to create the beautiful blend of colors on the cake, and I will teach how to accessorize the cake so it shines!
Gumpaste flowers can be time consuming, so you can imagine how much time it would take to create a dozen miniature flowers using cutters. Luckily for the class, I will educate the students on how to create this beautiful miniature flowers without the use of cutters. This, way I can move faster when decorating the cake and still accomplish that quality that the clients expect from me.
Also, I may mix freehand petals with cutter petals to give the class different approaches so they can choose what works best for them.
The roses can be made completely with no cutters or you can use cutters to finish them; totally based off preference. I will demo 2 kind of blossoms:
Small blossoms are actually the simplest blossoms to create. These flowers are great fillers for gumpaste flower arrangements.
Bigger blossoms have more delicate petals needing just a few more steps to complete them.
Once you know how to make this flowers, you can make beautiful arrangements with them like the swag in the photo above.
Since the class is a 3 hour class, we won’t be able to do a 4 tier cake, so we will have to make a one tier cake that includes the main parts of the design. Because of the limited time, this means that we will only be able to teach you how to paint the cake, create the oval frame, do a couple mini roses along with the leaves. This way, I can demo the rest of the details in the cake for the class so that everyone can see the outcome on how to create this gorgeous creation.
If we have time, I will also include a free demo a full size rose. With what you learn on the class you will be able to do the 4 tier cake shown above, on your time in case we run out of time here. One must not take haste when creating art, for it expresses the true identity and intent of the artist themselves.
If you are interested in the class, click here.
‘That Takes the Cake Show’ is one of the best shows in the country.
If you are interested in participating in the cake competition, take classes or simply just go to visit the show, go to: That Takes The Cake website.
Every year I do a Christmas cake. It’s a tradition I keep and enjoy. I used to make decorated cookies. But for the past few years I decided to make a cake instead of the cookies. I miss doing the cookies but time will just not allow me to do both.
I decided to do a blog to answer the questions that people ask me when I post a
cake. All the green letters are links to the products.
Here is the naked cake.
I wanted a Christmas style cake so I definitively wanted green in it.
The fondant I used for the green came from Renshaw. Most of you might
not have heard of them. They are a British company that over 100 years
experience in baking and cake decorating.
I was completely pleased with
this fondant. Often times dark
colors in other brands of fondant
tend to crack, but Renshaw did not crack, the flavor was good and
it was easy to work with.
For the bottom 2 tiers, I used my homemade white fondant. I will post that as soon as I can do a video tutorial on how to make it.
I used Luck’s Classic Gold Shimmer with my Airbrush to color the cake. I love to airbrush a cake but one thing you need to know is that airbrushing will make any small crack look more like a crater. Especially if you try to airbrushed too fast and make the fondant too wet.When it
is too wet it will begin to dissolve the fondant.
I suggest you give it a coat of color and let it dry in between coats to get a better finish. In between drying sessions I keep working with other details of the cake. This way I move faster.
For the bottom tier, I did a band in green. and I cut the top part of the band in the same swag shape I was using on top of it. This is the mold I used called, “The Ruffle Swag”. It’s from the company Marvelous Molds. The mold has two layers of ruffles and is topped with a string of pearls.
I decided to paint those pearls with a Gold Highlighter. (click here for gold).This gold is meant only for decorations that can be taken
down before cutting the cake.
There are lots of highlighter golds out there but none of them are edible. I have seen some companies say it’s approved, but the reality is that none of them are approved. There are other golden tones that are non-toxic but they don’t have the true gold color that the highlighter gives. If you need a true gold for a full cake,
then you can either use edible gold leaf or buy 24 carat luster gold.
This option is a bit more pricey, so I stick with airbrushing.
In between the ruffles I added this mold. This one is called, “Grand Tassel Drop Mold”. This one I finished with the highlighter Gold as well.
At the top of each tassel, I added a simple Blossom like the ones I made in my tutorial, “How to make Simple Blossoms”.
This mold has the same ruffle detail as the swag but it’s on a straight line. The molds connect easily so you can connect them and make them look
like a one big piece. I painted the ruffle part on both the swag and this
one with Super Pearl Luster Dust.
Some people may wonder why I used a mold when I can do bows so easily without the mold. Well, the reason is simple. It’s just a different look and it can be a fast approach too. But basically for me it’s just part of the look I wanted
for the cake.
For the tier that I airbrushed, I added cutouts that look like ornaments.
I don’t have this available at the web store at the moment but if you are
interested in them, feel free to leave me a comment below so I can order some.
They are really easy to work with and I hand painted them with Gold Highlighter.
For this tier, I used thePerfect Pearl Mold
to finish the base. I wanted to bring some of
the white, green and gold to it. This way I
have a color flow between all the tiers.
In the first and last tier, I used anExtruder
to finish the border. I kept those borders
green because I wanted them to blend
with the background.
For the topper I used a Poinsettia. I teach how to make these flowers in my DVD, How to Make Gumpaste Poinsettia”. In the DVD I explain how to make fantasy Poinsettia like this one. I added some gumpaste snowflakes, finished with some disco dust and a cutout Christmas tree dusted in Gold Highlighter.
The Christmas tree cutter is made byXimena (click here for cutter).
On another note, I added a Newsletter button at the top of the blog for those
who want to receive an e-mail newsletter. I don’t like my email to be filled with
daily newsletters and I don’t plan to do that to you guys either. But I can send
news for a new tutorial posted, or a special sale at the store or even a contest.
Plus I plan to do more advanced tutorials too.
I would love for you to share any ideas you may have with me. Do you
guys like basic details on how a cake was done, or do you want
full step by step tutorials? I ask this because I can do basic tutorials
but the ones that are step by step are more time consuming and I
might have to charge a small fee for those. Do you prefer PDF
files or video tutorials?
Any ideas that you have will be great for you to share with me.I want
to do either A video or blog, where I answer questions you have.
So any ideas you have, comments and questions, feel free to
post here or go to my Page in Facebook and post them there.
You are my cake family and I have always tried to help in areas that you
need help. Hopefully with the new year I can finally finish the new website
and not have to stress about it anymore. I want to dedicate more time to
what I truly love, making cakes and teaching. Hope you guys help me with
all this work I have! lol
And don’t worry about misplacing recipes. The new website will have all the
recipes I have and I will add more to the list. Maybe some of the links
will change but all will be there. Even cakes I never posted from my earlier
years.I will leave my old cakes so you can see how much I have
grown through the years. I want people to know that to achieve better
cakes you need time and practice. Giving up is not an option.
Hope you had a wonderful New Year and wish you the best ahead.
Lots of hugs from my house to yours. Thanks for being my cake family!
was about to throw it away and my good friend Maria told me not to. She said we can use it in the back of the cake and hide the broken part. So I adopted that way of thinking.
I prefer to soften a small amount of gumpaste with some gum glue (click here for gum glue tutorial), and place it in the broken edge and let it dry. This usually works great but you have to let it dry well before you can use the flower. So if I am in a hurry and I can’t wait, I use a small piece of super thin gumpaste and add it with gum glue. Sometimes putting this super thin layer on one side will give you a strong bond but if you want an even stronger bond, I recommend that you do this on both sides of the petal.
Frame Mold
Vintage Art Decor
Cake Dummy
Gumpaste Flowers
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Design Me a Cake 