Birthday Cake - And I Can't Do Flowers
Decorating By auntmamie Updated 7 Oct 2007 , 7:16pm by MAGGISMITH
Seriously, every time I try to do flowers (out of bc or ri) they turn out as blobs that can't be distinguished. I have a cake due on wednesday (female coworker) - my pick on the design. I'm thinking of a light chocolate basketweave, but don't know what to do for the top. Any ideas? Maybe apples or something? But how would I do those? I have a can of gumpaste that I've never used, would that work? If so, when do I add the red to it? Or, any ideas on how to make the mixed red/green apples that are grown up here (I'm in Vermont)? Fondant won't work for me - I don't have a KA, and the only stuff that can be purchased around here is (yuck) Wilton.
Thanks for reading my million questions, and for any help.
Have you checked the wilton site. They give instruction on how to make flowers. Have you tried drop flowers - you take tips like 106, 225 there are a lot. You just keep your bag upright, squeeze a little while giving a little twist. Stop squeezing and pull up. Add a tip 3 dot in the center and you are done. If your flowers are looking like blobs then maybe your icing is too soft.
HTH
I have checked the site - and I've tried, alot. Maybe I'm just too left brained (LOL - I'm an accountant). I so wish I lived closer to a store that had classes - the closest one is two hours away. Maybe that way I could learn the flowers. But thanks for the reply.
A big cake basket ftopped with strawberries dipped in chocolate ganache would make me VERY happy for my birthday!!
Sounds perfect!
As for your flowers.. have you ever watched a video on how to make them? The rose isn't hard.. once you get the technique down. The biggest mistake people make is moving their arm around the flower nail when your arm should really be cemented to your side and the nail should do the moving. Second big mistake is not making sure that your tip is touching the rose base at all times. BC that is too thin is another biggie. It takes practice to get it down. My first rose that looked good.. I jumped up and down like an idiot.. LOL. It was for the smash cake for my DD's first birthday and I so wanted a perfect BC rose to sit atop it. Well after hours of trying and cursing like a trucker at the horrible, non-compliant BC.. it finally happened. I am still not good with drop flowers.. I can make anything out of gumpaste.. but BC gives me a hard time.. LOL. Keep trying.. you'll get it after a while.. and it will feel like sweet victory.
You mentioned not making fondant because you don't have a KA - I never use my mixer to make MMF - and it tastes really good. I always mix in my color to the MM goo before I add the sugar so it's pretty simply. Just knead it a little while and voila! However, I am with the others - strawberries sound absolutely wonderful!!!!
Wow - thanks for all the ideas. So, I called one of the girls that works under the birthday girl, and found out that she hates strawberries!!!!!! So there goes that idea, much as I loved it!!!!! I'm thinking of mixing up a small batch of gumpaste anyways, and seeing if I can make apples. At least I have until Tuesday to let them dry.
FYI - I saw a basket of apples on here somewhere - they used cupcakes for the apples (probably mini's) but I couldn't tell. You could also use RK treats. Of course, they were covered in fondant. I've never worked with gumpaste so I don't know if that would work. Good luck - let us know what you come up with.
You could do the basket with the apples and fall leaves. Use your gumpaste. Tint it after you add the water. You could even get some fondant (just a small pack of wilton would work great for leaves and apples) and mix 50/50 gumpaste and fondant for them. The leaves are easy with cutters and I saw some a set that I already have out at Walmart the other day with leaves. As for the apples, you could tint it green and then use a little red petal dust or even grated non toxic chalk and brush a bit on for the two toned look you are wanting. If you want some advice on the leaves, pm me and I'll do what I can to help.
Here's a link to something I've done.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1073193
Like that but with the apples instead of pears.
if you do decide to try MMF here is a link on how to make VERY EASY roses.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-482163-.html
HTH!
Wow! Thanks for all the suggestions.
After reading all the replies, I pulled out some wilton books, and found this: http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/wedding/harvestofhappiness.cfm
So, the cake will be a 10" round, double layer, torted, white cake with chocolate filling, Indydebi's BC, with a light brown basketweave and rope border design. On the top, I'm going to sugar some grapes, and if I can find them, kumquats and berries. Here's a new question though - the recipe link calls for cake sparkles, which are not available around here. I know that fruit can be sugared w/o cake sparkles, so what type of sugar can be used? truthfully, I think only regular sugars are available around here. Any help would be appreciated.
Sounds like you're in the same boat as me as far as getting cake supplies locally. Other than what I purchase at Sams, I buy nearly all my supplies online now. There are lots of sites that offer prices just as cheap as you can buy at a b&m store.
You really should keep working on learning to make buttercream flowers. I'm sure you can do it, it just takes time and practice.
I'm beginning to see lots of orders come in just because I can do them. With the popularity of fondant and gumpaste among decorators these days, it's becoming a lost art! We "old-timers" had no choice but to learn. Back in the day 
, we didn't have all these great new techniques and tools. You either learned buttercream decorations or you didn't do cakes.
It's funny how it's just a matter of what you're used to. To me, it's such a pain to drag out the gumpaste and all the tools and colors and this and that and sit for forever making each individual petal when I can pipe out a rose with a bag of icing and a nail in about 30 seconds.
it's becoming a lost art!
This is EXACTLY what Kerri Vincent said at the Baker's Convention last month in Vegas. She said that some new decorators think if they pop something out of a mold, then that makes them a cake decorator. She said, "We must not lose the art!" referring to BC creations and the talent it takes to do this.
it's becoming a lost art!
This is EXACTLY what Kerri Vincent said at the Baker's Convention last month in Vegas. She said that some new decorators think if they pop something out of a mold, then that makes them a cake decorator. She said, "We must not lose the art!" referring to BC creations and the talent it takes to do this.
Well I'm in good company then!
I have to get in on this one. Give me a bowl of buttercream and a 104 tip and I can give you almost any flower you want and in about 2 minutes. Years of practice, experimenting, and having fun have been very rewarding to me. The decorators of today do not know how much self satisfaction they are missing out on.
Love that Buttercream!
It may not be your icing, but the heat of your hands, that is turning your flowers into mush. I am the voice of experience on this one. I turn all piped icings into a "canned pudding" consistency. I resolved this problem by using smaller bags and refrigerating my bagged icing before using.
Theresa 
I second the idea for doing fruit in the top part. I did one (in my photos) for my aunt's bday. I didn't even do sugar on the fruit and to this day, every time I show my cake photos to someone, there favorite is almost always the "fruit basket"! It was VERY tastey too! I did white chocolate white cake with fresh raspberry filling and bc icing. One tip though, I put the cake in my cake carrier which is somewhat airtight and when I looked at it the next morning, a couple of the berries were starting to look moldy and the basketweave had pulled off the cake in one part. The berries have too much moisture! I just put a spoon under one end of the cover so it had some air flow and it was fine! Good luck and can't wait to see the finished product, whatever you end up on!!
I love to make buttercream flowers, too, although I've been at this for 30 years. You can make your own cake sparkles. Dissolve powdered gelatin (Knox) in water and brush it thinly onto the back of a sheet pan. When it dries, brush it again. When this dries, scrape it off with a knife into little, sparkly pieces. Then crush it with your fingers until it's as small as you want it. You can color the water to make different color sparkles.
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