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Breaking out of my comfort zone! Fondant Poppies...

10/11/2015

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As the title suggests, this past weekend I had an order where I needed to make flowers...something I had not yet done without them being a simple cut and press type.

I needed to make poppies!
So as any self taught decorator would i started looking on Pinterest at Poppies others had made and on Youtube for video tutorials that would help me with this task.

As I only had whatever was in my cutter store to use for the flowers, it was finding the right tutorial and working out the best way to approach it.
I did however buy the poppy leaf cutters, as the leaf cutters I currently owned were not suitable and i wasn't going to do them all by hand!

One of the main images I found was to the Poppy/Rose cutters on the Pretty Witty Cakes website. I also found a great video for a simple tutorial on Youtube that uses this cutter (posted at the end of this Blog). This gave me a place to start...
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I had my Red flower paste, all my tools, Doctor Who on the TV and I was ready to begin...

I cut out the flower shape and them using a ball tool I thinned and stretched the petals to the shape I wanted them.

As I didn't have a veiner to add texture to the petals I used the Shell modelling tool to created the lines in the petals.

I also added a circle of black fondant to the middle of each flower, indenting the top as it would be on a real flower.

these were then placed onto my foam mat and shaped, where they would then be left overnight to dry.
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However they just didn't feel complete...something was missing...

...Poppies are not just a simple dot of black in the middle! Time to crack out the airbrush...
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Much better! It is amazing how just something so simple can completely change how something looks. I was much happier with them like this so, i carried on making the rest that would be needed.

The finished cake was a poppy covered birdcage for an 18th birthday, though it seemed kind of fitting to be making a poppy cake for Remembrance Sunday also.
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Happy Hallowe'en

3/11/2015

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Well....I had a very quiet week leading up to Hallowe'en (for a change) as I had decided not to spam the local selling pages to try and get orders in, this gave me the opportunity to try my hand at a cake I had been wanting to do since last year...a PUMPKIN cake (with or without a face).

I had recently purchased myself a bundt tin and was dying to try it out on this design. So I trawled though other cake makers blogs and youtube videos for advice and ideas and then set to work.

Having not used bundt tins before I chose to keep the recipe simple (vanilla) so I didn't have to worry about trying to scale it up or down.
So I baked a 4 egg mix for each bundt half, then when they were cooled i sliced them in half and sanwiched them together with orange coloured vanilla buttercream and crumbcoated them into a ball shape.

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I was being very generous with the amount of buttercream I used in the crumbcoat, as when it comes to molding the pumpkin shape into the fondant it will push the buttercream sideways slightly.
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I also wasn't happy with the height of the cake, so I also sliced an extra centimetre off the bottom once the cake was chilled and the buttercream was hard. This gave it a much nicer squat appearance.

As bundt cakes have the hole in the middle I placed a little 4" cake board over the top of the cake to seal it up, and also applied a thin coat of buttercream to it so it would stick and blend in, this central hole could also be filled with hard shelled sweets like a pinata cake...perfect for the trick or treat theme.

I allowed the buttercream to come back up to room temperature so it would be a little softer for the molding process, and allow the fondant to stick properly.

Having never covered a ball shaped cake before it actually took me 2 attempts to get it right, also keeping the fondant a nice thickness so it wouldn't tear when the features were added.
I used one of my modelling tools to push down the sides of the pumpkin, these do not have to be at regular intervals so no need to measure, just do whatever looks right. real pumpkins are also full of blemishes so no need to have it completely smooth.
I then used my fingers to lightly press and smooth down.

i then rolled out the remaining fondant into a long strip and covered the board, sticking it down with a a little water,  I didn't need this to be perfectly smooth as it was going to be a muddy ground so I just ensure it was pushed up against the base of the pumpkin.

The remaining fondant was shaped into the stem of the pumpkin and fixed centrally onto the top. Again using one of my modelling tools I textured this with a lot of lines, using my real pumpkin as a reference.

i then left this overnight to dry out a bit and firm up before I would start airbrushing it.
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I started by airbrushing the board brown, I kept this as neat as I could up against the pumpkin so there wasn't a lot of overspray, again it didn't have to be perfect as any brown on the bottom edge of the pumpkin would blend into the effect of it being sat in the mud, and the shadowing due to the shape.
I also made some areas darker than others, as I would later be blending in black and greens to darken it up a bit. This was a great opportunity to try my hand at mixing different shades.

The pumpkin was sprayed straight orange, and i then mixed a drop of brown into the orange to get a darker colour along the grooves and around the base.

The stem was then carefully sprayed with the brown, with a little bit of dark green, being careful not to overspray onto the top of the pumpkin.

Once complete it was left to dry for an hour or so.
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Airbrush colours used...
Board & Stem: used brown, brown mixed with a drop of black, a dark green (made from blue and yellow).
Pumpkin: primarily Orange but also Orange mixed with a drop of brown for the shading in the grooves and around the base.

I had left a large overhang of fondant on the board to protect the edge and the turn table, this would be trimmed off once dry, and the ribbon added

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As it is usually the little details which can MAKE a cake, I chose to finish it off with a few leaves and vines made using an ivy leaf cutter and my fondant extruder, placing a few around the base of the stem and on the  board.
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And I know everyone in my office loved it!
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Not to mention everyone on my Facebook page!
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Birdcage Wedding Cake (Part 2)

15/5/2015

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I use the Kroma Kolors
One of my favourite purchases in the last few months is definitely my Cassie Brown Airbrush. 
This has become an essential tool for all cakes with a base colour that isn't white...tho I definitely recommend making a spray booth if you use one

Once covered the first step was to mix up a nice pale pink  for the cake itself as all the detail was going to be in white and dark pink.
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While the cake was then drying I was able to start on the birds, flowers and leaves that would decorate the cage.
These were made out of flowerpaste so they would set quickly and hold a shape.

The birds were also outlined in pink royal icing to give a little detail.
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Once the cake had dried it was placed on the prepared board and it was time to start assembling the final design.

I used a frill border cutter to get the pattern around the base, and a ribbon roller to get the straight ribbon of fondant that went around the top.
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Another essential purchase for the next stage of creating the cage is a clay extruder, the one I prefer for ease of use is the Makin Professional Clay Extruder.

once i had created the lengths I needed (could get 3 before having to refill the device), i would use a water brush to wet the line they would follow, and starting at the bottom frill in one of the gaps, gently press the fondant to stick it to the cake, once at the top just trim off the excess, it doesn't need to be perfect as the top will be covered up.

The top decoration was made by cutting out three circles in flower paste, so they set hard, these were stuck together with the smallest being rolled into a ball.
You could also create a loop as a "handle", there are a lot of great ideas on Google and Pinterest.

All the decorations were stuck with Royal icing that was made earlier to decorate the birds.

The birds were positioned and stuck to the bars of the cage...you may need to place them at a height where you can position a glass or something underneath to support them temporarily while the royal icing sets.

The rest of the flowers and leaves were then placed onto the cake, beneath the birds in particular to give them a perch, and then in key places to enhance the overall effect.
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The finished cake
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On the wedding table
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Birdcage Wedding Cake (Part 1)

5/5/2015

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With a family wedding on the cards what better gift could I give the happy Bride & Groom than their wedding cake :)

With the tables being set with birdcage centerpieces this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out a cake design I have been wanting to do for a long time...a Birdcage.

I did the usual trawl through Google and Pinterest for ideas and elements I wanted to include on my design (lots of beautiful cakes online to pull inspiration from) and I got to work.
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This cake begins in the same way as the minions I have done recently...but I did this with an extra layer to add a little more height...so using my 6" tins and pyrex bowl the baking began...

I line the pyrex bowl with strips of baking paper to help with the removal once baked.

All tins are also sprayed with Dr Oetker Cake Release Spray.



Mmmm smells delicious in my kitchen.
Once cooled and levelled it was time to start filling and crumbcoating.

Things to remember: when filling is to use a slightly thicker buttercream around the edge as a "Dam" to prevent the filling squeezing out under the weight of the cake when you try to cover it later on.
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Onto the first crumbcoat layer...this fills any gaps, and as the name suggests catches any crumbs from the cakes.

It then get put in the fridge for 30-40 mins to set a little before the second buttercream layer is applied.

This second layer will allow you to give more of a shape to your cake and also give you the smooth finish to apply the fondant to
Being a very tall cake i decided to try and cover this one in one go instead of in 2 sections (top and sides)....and I was VERY happy with my CAKE ARTE mat I had purchased at Cake International.

This mat allowed me to flip the rolled fondant over the cake and then peel the mat away, instead of trying to lift the fondant off the mat to cover...less chance of it tearing.
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Ok...wasn't the easiest shape to smooth down the fondant on...and i had a couple of creases along the bottom at the back

GUNGE to the rescue! (Link at bottom of blog)

For those of you who haven't used "gunge" before what you have to do is mix a little of your excess fondant with water til it creates a paste, then like a builder smooth it over any tears/creases/gaps that may have been caused while covering your cake.
Then once dry they become hardly noticeable, and you can continue decorating you nice smooth cake....easier than re-covering or trying to hide them under the decorations :)
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So now I have a smooth covered cake...it is onto the decorating....look for Part 2 of this blog soon :)
LINKS:
"Gunge" tutorial - http://ericaobrien.com/blog/gunge-its-a-miracle/
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