Tuesday 16 June 2009

Dragon cake

This was for my little ones birthday. I wanted to make a 3D cake, and learnt a lot from the experience, namely don't make the head from cake, as it will fall off!



I cut out all the scales from fondant, but with the amazing gift of hindsight, should have made them much thinner, as I spent about two hours cutting out each individual circle and layering them over each other, only to find later that day they had all slipped down the cake.
This caused me a bit of a problem which is very visible, in that I had to replace the scales, but as the crumb coat underneath was chocolate ganache it now showed on the scales and could not be covered up!


The cake was a chocolate Madeira, with chocolate ganache. The cake itself was very big, and when I tried to move it even more ganache squeezed through the scales, so I thought it was prudent to leave it where it was.
 It didn't seem to matter to the kid's much though, as the party sparklers coming out of it's mouth and nostrils seemed to capture their attention.

50th Wedding Anniversary Cake


This cake was for my parents anniversary. The bottom was fruitcake, which was made by my sister, and the top was sponge. I marbled the fondant, and dusted it with gold luster dust. My parents loved it.

Topsy Turvy Cake








This cake was a challenge. Again it was a birthday cake for the same friends other daughter, she was not having a party, so I thought I would try a mini topsy turvy cake. Hmm, quite a challenge too, but loads of fun. I love mauve and lime green together, and thought it would great on this style of cake. I had recently bought a fabulous book by Lindy Smith, (Cakes to Inspire and Desire), and she shows you the engineering side of these cakes in the book.


So, with a little trepidation, and some excitement at using my new 4" spring sided, loose bottom cake tins, I made the batter, and again tinted it violet, pink and white, and baked each cake. When done, I cut the crusts off, and tried to cut the cakes so they would sit well on top of each other without too much of a slant. That done, I crumb coated, and covered them with the fondant I had tinted. Again I covered them with cutouts, and made the toppers with gumpaste that I had marbled. This cake was also a surprise, and I wish I had a photo of her face when I walked in with it, she was quite emotional, and didn't want to cut it at all. She was persuaded to by her friends though.

Tool Box Cake

This cake I made for my husband's birthday. The tools were all made out of gumpaste, and painted with edible silver paint. When I started I didn't know where to start as it were, so I got some real tools out of the garage, and just tried to copy them. I was really pleased with them, as they were my first attempt at modelling with gumpaste. The cake itself was a vanilla sponge traybake, which I cut in half and layered with buttercream until I achieved the size I wanted.

I covered a chopping board with marbled fondant to look like a work bench, and just piped onto the board. and placed the tools around sticking them with a little dab of buttercream. Have to say hubby was pretty happy with it.

First Fondant Cake


This cake was my first attempt at fondant icing, toppers and cutouts. I know that fondant is supposed to be called sugarpaste, but most people I talk to (apart from professional cake makers) call it fondant, so I will go with that.

I made this cake for my friends daughters 18th birthday. I tinted the batter pink, white, and violet, and when it was cut, it was incredibly pretty. She didn't know I had done it for her, so she was so excited to see it when I turned with it, as she thought she wasn't getting one, and I have to say, I got such a thrill from her being so pleased about it.

Making the toppers was quite easy, I used gum paste for these, and using my set of cutters, cut out the shapes I wanted, then put them onto the wires and left them, and they dried incredibly hard, so they can be kept as a souveneir.