Friday Night Cake Club For 1/30/15

Decorating By catlharper Updated 2 Feb 2015 , 8:32am by Magic Mouthfuls

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catlharper Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 3:22am
post #1 of 26

Opening up another session of the FNCC! Everyone is welcome to share their week, photos of their work, ask for help or provide help if they can!  

 

Cat

25 replies
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catlharper Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 3:25am
post #2 of 26

Hi everyone! I'm poppin all over the place tonight. I'm "hosting" a Jamberry party on Facebook, attending one there soon and doing this too! No cakes this week. We have Super Bowl this weekend (American Football) so there will be plenty of cooking but not much baking. I do have cakes the following 4 weeks tho...one for a friends b'day...one for Icing Smiles...one for Valentine's Day and the the big one is a Little Mermaid cake for my youngest daughter's 31st b'day! So full month!

 

Hope all is going well for all of you!

 

Cat

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julia1812 Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 3:46pm
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Hi Cat,

this seems to be one of a slow one this week.

Just got home from a friends baby shower (it's Saturday eve) and of course I brought a cake:

Baby shower cake Pregnant belly cake

It's a cappuccino cake with cinnamon swiss meringue buttercream icing, covered in fondant.

 

There was not much going on this week, which is good, cause next weekend is my son's birthday, so have time for preps...

 

Had some cupcakes for a friend, nothing special. Chocolate cupcakes with some simple buttercream flowers:

 

Hope to see some more cakes on here!!!

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autumnwind Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 4:13pm
post #4 of 26

Hey guys! Hope all's well with everybody! Not much caking lately but I stop by every week to check things out. Thank you for spending your time on FNCC, Cat! I look forward to it!

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mattyeatscakes Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 4:55pm
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AAww julia, that's a cute preggo cake :) i love making those!

Mine is a birdcage cake for a 2 yr old birthday :) i loved making it, and is def one of my favourite cakes so far. [IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3326405/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3326406/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

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freesia777 Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 5:15pm
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AHello all!

Great cakes so far. Julia, those are far from just "simple flowers" on those cupcakes. They're gorgeous! I don't have a lot of piping skills under my belt yet, and to me the variety of flowers you've created are wonderful.

On a similar note, Matty, your bird cage cake is lovely. I'm sure the birthday girl (and family!) loved it. Beautiful color scheme and flower placement.

I made a birthday cake for my brother-in-law on Thursday. I used a doctored white cake mix with American buttercream for filling and frosting. He asked me to use "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" for the buttercream and while I was hesitant about the flavor, it was better than I thought.

[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3326410/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

And here's where I realized I REALLY need to work on my piping skills, specifically writing. This is a pic of what was supposed to be the letter O, just moments after I panicked and tried to get it off the cake without gouging it. [IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3326411/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

But hey, my brother-in-law liked it, and it tasted delicious, so it all worked out in the end!

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catlharper Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 7:23pm
post #7 of 26

Good morning everyone! Chances are this month (February I mean) will start to pick up. January is usually a slow one.

 

@julia1812 I want that shirt for me in real life! How pretty! And the cupcakes have a very vintage feel...not in design but in color. I'm sure they were a hit. What are you planning for your son's b'day cake?

 

@autumnwind I love seeing all of the cakes you guys come up with. I do miss having a new piece to show myself each week but don't miss the hassle of being a professional even if we are missing the money. SIGH. Can't have it all. 

 

@mattyeatscakes That birdcage is just beautiful! I've been thinking of this design for my friends b'day next week. You have me inspired!

 

@freesia777 You were brave with the fake butter and the design! I will admit that when I have a single letter to pipe I usually cheat and use a cookie cutter to make it. My piping, especially since I broke my hand, is my weak spot. I've just never been all that good at it. I'm sure the cake was a hit!

 

I'm off today to run to a chocolate shop! I don't know if any of you heard the news but real Cadbury will no longer be imported to America. Hershey's (wince) will only allow their American Cadbury version to be sold in the States. SIGH. So I'm off to our local British shop to stock up then rewarding my efforts by lunching at the Cuban restaurant next door. A break before all the food/party prep that will happen after I get home again! LOL! Have a great weekend!

 

Cat

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petitecat Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 8:26pm
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Birdcage, buttercream flowers and belly cake is on my to do list!

 

All fab cakes everyone!

 

Cat, I sure hope you're right. My business is incredibly slow anyway, I do so few cakes, without an really bad month to slow it down further! I really hope February will be more fruitful!

 

I made this cake for my friend's birthday a few days ago:

 

 

I meant to 'spray' the cake with gold using a toothbrush and gold lustre dust, but I forgot. Hey ho! Tulips are my friend's favourite, so that's what she got on her cake :)

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catlharper Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 8:47pm
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@petitecat Things start to pick up again in February due to Valentine's Day. Then baby showers and wedding planning begin. Toss in a few birthdays and Bridal Showers and Easter as well and you get a bit more business leading up to summer and all the weddings that fill up those three months. It took me a few years but I got some regulars when it came to birthdays/anniversaries. Summers just got sucked away by the business tho' and last summer was crazy nuts...sorta broke me. I was just done. But I still love to decorate cakes and my family has come to depend on them for our parties so it's still tons of fun to do that part...it's the whole business part that I don't miss. I think I just over complicated my "part time" business till it got to be too much. So schedule it out gently so you don't have your whole life taken over by it...unless that is your goal. Mine was never to make it a full time job, just part time. It quickly grew to be full time and that is so not what I wanted. 

 

Your cake is gorgeous! I agree that the gold would have added more dimension but I don't think it's "missing" it, if you know what I mean. The tulips are divine, delicate and lovely. They make it a simple clean and elegant cake. The gold would have been pretty but it would have changed the "feel". What that means is that, in the future, you can make the cake again and use the gold and have a totally different look! YEA! 

 

Cat

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petitecat Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 9:18pm
post #10 of 26

AThanks Cat! I'll settle for something in between- busy but doesn't take over my life :D

Lol yes definitely will be spraying a different cake.

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mattyeatscakes Posted 31 Jan 2015 , 10:08pm
post #11 of 26

AOh my goodness petitecat! That is so beautiful :) the clean lines, hand drawn tulips! Bet your friend loved it! Simple designs are trully more difficult as you won't have decorations to hide any flaw..

Cat, i'm in canada and where i live, we don't get hershey baking cocoa powder :( we don't have alot of brands that i read about on here. No satin ice, fondarific, tylose powder.. I can order online, but the shipping fee get pretty expensive :( so i make my own MMF. So far so good! :)

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Pastrybaglady Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 8:58am
post #12 of 26

Wow, Julia, Matty and petitecat such beautiful work as always!  I absolutely LOVE the tulip cake, it is so perfect!  No cakes for me this week just some fun stuff.  My daughter had a sushi themed birthday dinner so I made chocolate cake sushi bites and we were having friends over so I looked around my kitchen and there were perfectly aged bananas so banana cake bites with dulce de leche and topped with matching ddl buttercream.

 

 

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petitecat Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 12:45pm
post #13 of 26

AThanks Matty and Pastry.

Matty same here in the UK we don't get every brand available in the US.

Loving the sushi cakes.

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SweetShop5 Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 3:02pm
post #14 of 26

I haven't posted in so long, I've been busy with school and other things! But I still make cakes every week, so here's mine from this weekend:

 

It's a superhero themed smash cake :)

 

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remnant3333 Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 3:16pm
post #15 of 26

All the cakes are awesome!! I especially love buttercream flower ones!!

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petitecat Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 3:28pm
post #16 of 26

Sweetshop, great smash cake.

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julia1812 Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 6:10pm
post #17 of 26

Wow, and I thought this is going to be one of the slow ones!!! 

Coming back on here today is such a delight. Lovely cakes! And sorry @freesia777 that happend to you :(

@Petitcat, did you airbrush the tulip? Love it!

@Catlharper: My boys love the minions. So, it'll be minion cupcakes for school (great, that's easy!) and a minion cake for the party next saturday (yikes!). Am panicking a bit, since I actually don't have the right tools for it I'm afraid. Thought of making a siting minion with a "gelato" in front of him, but in order to serve all the kids (about 25 plus siblings) I will have to use a 6" round pan, which means the cake will be at least 8-9" high (I serve 23 year olds, so tiny portions). I can't get a support system here, not even 6" plates, not to talk of (centre) dowels. AHHH! What did I get myself into??? LOL. Could cut an 8" plate (cardboard, takes me forever to cut and normally has ugly edges since it's super stiff), use a bamboo skewer down the center and some as support for plate holding the top 4-5inches. Trying to avoid thinking about it, but it's inevitable. Suggestions welcome! And no, I can't "quickly order everything" because it'll take forever to get here (if it does) and cost me an arm and a leg. 

We have a "Wilton supplier" in the capital whom I contacted and he has some good stuff, but only basics. NOT EVEN DOWELS. BOO HOO! Checked for bubble tea straws in the supermarkets - nope. Nada :(

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petitecat Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 6:24pm
post #18 of 26

Julia, thank you. I used edible dust for the tulips.

 

I made a minion before. I don't think you necessarily need centre dowelling if the cake isn't going to be travelling. I just used regular straws as dowels to hold the upper tiers, bought these straws from Ikea. But equally the skewers are good as dowels too. Use cereal boxes for cake cards, cut circles the size you need, glue 2-3 pieces together (glue 4 pcs together is the cards still don't seem rigid enough) and they should be sturdy enough to use as cake cards.

 

Did you mean 2-3 year olds :)

 

If you had any food safe paper, or just use several layers of parchment/baking paper, use it to wrap a suitable object- chopping board/ bread board/ wood/ etc, and use that to place your cake on. If it's wrapped neatly enough, it should look quite good.

 

Best of luck!

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julia1812 Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 6:54pm
post #19 of 26

Hey Petitcat,

thanks for your quick response.

I have cake boards to place it on, but nothing which I can place on top of the first 4" before I place the next 4-5" on. So, cereal boxes is a good idea! 

Do You mean you use regular straws??? Aren't they quite soft? Found some paper straws the other day. They feel very hard, but not sure if they will last once inserted in a cake since they are made out of paper...

 

And yes. my sn is turning 3 years old ;) But he's got an older brother (5 years) who's kind of influencing him when it comes to movies. We don't have TV, so they are allowed to watch a DVD in the evening. My husband loves the minions too and we made it our rule to watch what we all like. So, it's anything from Frozen, Lion King to animal documentaries. They don't know Tele tubbies or Mickey Mouse or whatever kids watch these days.

 

Thanks for your idea! Feeling more relaxed now. Cake will move exactly 10 metre, from the kitchen to the terrace. Think that'll be alright ;)

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petitecat Posted 1 Feb 2015 , 7:36pm
post #20 of 26

AHappy to help Julia. Yep, regular straws. If there are enough of them, they all manage to hold the cake on top without buckling under the weight. For my minion cake I used 5 straws each for the bottom and middle. The cake measured 6" in diameter. I would use different and much stronger dowels for heavier cakes but for sponges I've not had any problems with straws. I wouldn't use the paper straws, too much moisture in the cake! You can do it :)

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sha1col Posted 2 Feb 2015 , 1:04am
post #21 of 26
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Magic Mouthfuls Posted 2 Feb 2015 , 6:09am
post #22 of 26

T'was a "Naked" Wedding Cake for me - baked and iced on Friday, assembled and fresh flowers added on Saturday.  It was a rustic location, log cabin style room with eucalyptus forest all around.   I took a huge gamble and some creative licence and added pink ribbon to hide the cake boards.  I get to the reception to find the all decor (chair covers, flowers, candy buffet, bonbonniere) had the same pale pink!  Divine intervention me thinks.

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julia1812 Posted 2 Feb 2015 , 6:30am
post #23 of 26

AWow! That wedding cake looks awesome! Is it just crumb coated? Brilliant! Love rustic themed wedding. And lucky you choosing the right colored ribbon

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Magic Mouthfuls Posted 2 Feb 2015 , 6:46am
post #24 of 26

Thanks Julia, yes kind of a super minimal crumb coat (I'd never fondant over that tho).  I used SMBC with tonnes of vanilla - hence the ivory colour on a chiffon sponge.  In hindsight, I wished I had cut 4 layers instead of 3 layers for each tier - a bit more cake and a bit less icing would have been a prettier look. 

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petitecat Posted 2 Feb 2015 , 8:00am
post #25 of 26

Ooo love the rustic wedding cake!

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Magic Mouthfuls Posted 2 Feb 2015 , 8:32am
post #26 of 26

thank you :smile:

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