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This was my entry in the Advanced Adult, Tiered Cake - Wedding competition at the Oklahoma State Sugar Arts Show this year. The show is the largest cake show in the U.S. and is hosted by Kerry Vincent at the Tulsa State Fair. This was my first time to enter and I placed second in my category, for which I received a lovely red ribbon. The tiers were textured with a ribbed texture mat and I enhanced the furrows a bit with a bone tool. The gold sconces, green lacy tips, the tops of all tiers and the gold board were all made with those fabulous lacy leaf molds. On the tops of the tiers and the gold board, I pieced together the lacy leaves to make a covered surface. All the roses and rosebuds were handmade -- I used a tiny 5-petal cutter for the miniature roses and rosebuds. The pink swagged ropes are fondant that I extruded using Wilton tip 96 -- way fun to do! And after that pearl-covered board, I'm thinking I'm pretty much the Queen of Pearls at this point. The topper is roses with a little fountain of pearls in the center. The wedding bands are gumpaste. I spent two solid months on this green baby, but I'm proud of it and glad it's over!
This was a crazy cake I made last year in a class by Marina Sousa and Dawn Nemec during the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show. This was my first (and, so far, only) class and it was also Marina and Dawn's first class to teach. I loved every second of it, although I did not have enough time (in two days) to finish my cake. Their original design had a cup of coffee hanging off the top of the box and the whole thing was supposed to be just covered with all kinds of sweet treats. Since this was a two-day class and people had traveled to OSSAS from all over the country (actually, there was even one Canadian), the parts that would have been real cake are styrofoam. We made the ice cream cone from gumpaste and the ice cream is chocolate that we forced to seize with a tiny bit of water, then stirred in dried cranberries. That was cool! The blueberry pie -- mine was a disaster -- was all hand-rolled fondant blueberries covered with piping gel dyed blue. My favorite thing was the marzipan fig. I obsessed over it way too long. It was also fun to make the little tarts and saucers. This is the best photo (sorry so crummy) I ended up with and I snapped this in the hotel just before I dismantled the entire thing.
I was just playing around with my lacy leaf molds I bought at OSSAS last fall. They're from Diamond Paste & Mould Co. (www.sugarcity.co.uk) and I LOVE their molds! The center is from a mold I made from a cabinet door knob. Playing with molds and lusters -- what fun! Thanks for looking.
This is a large (6 in./2.5 cm.) cookie inspired by a circus-themed party plate. Except for the blue background layer, which was lustered, all other effects were colored with fondant only . I had a total blast making this and it felt great to be back at my work table playing with all my sugar toys. :-)
Sugar cookies decorated with fondant.
I spent sooooo much time on this tree, but it was a great learning experience. The ornaments started out as little dots of royal icing, but then I had to build them up & make them a bit rounder with thick gum glue. I made the tree "layers" with a tool used to make smiles on figures & painted the white snow with white airbrush paint thickened with Tylose. The garland is royal & all the decorations were luster dusted. The star came from a mold I made from a button & has alternating silver & gold points. TFL!
This was my very favorite cookie. I figured out the right proportions for her face, so that made a big difference. The polka dots are white non-pareils set in a little indention made with a stylus. The luster dust & sparkles were an afterthought, so it was pretty tricky getting that done around the face. Getting the thread on the buttons was also pretty trying, but I had a blast doing everything! Thanks for looking!
These two were my second favorites. I flavored the fondant for the candy cane with LorAnn peppermint oil. I cut out a white and a red candy cane, dusted the back of the white with cornstarch & stacked them, then cut diagonally through both so I ended up with two candy canes in one swipe. The holly on the candy cane & the wreath are from a lovely mold (one of those yellow ones from England - so easy to work with). I wasn't too pleased with the wreath bow, but let it go. Thanks for looking!
This Santa hat and the mittens were super easy. I made the furry accents by flicking out and up with the tip of my Xacto knife on not-too-dry fondant. The snowflake is from a First Impressions mold -- very tricky for me because I was too impatient to let the fondant set up long enough. Thanks for looking!
Way too much fun with Photoshop!! Thanks for looking.
These were fun. I love Patchwork cutters and the snowman and the bottom right tree were the first time I used them as I think they were intended -- cutting out different parts in different colors. It was quite tedious, but I just love the look! The non-pareils and sugar were adhered with corn syrup. Thanks for looking.
These Christmas cookies are my very first stab at cookie cutter cookies -- don't know how I got to be this old without the experience! I decorated about 72 of various designs with fondant for friends, coworkers, family and, of course, my mailman. I really enjoyed working on the smaller canvas and, unfortunately, the cookies were very delicious, which made it oh-so easy to eat my mistakes. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and have had time to put your feet up for some well-deserved rest.
This is for my boss's family. His wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer & had a lumpectomy yesterday. I didn't know the results of the surgery last night & as I sat down to decorate this, all I was really thinking was pink, hope & love. This morning he told me the good news that, so far, the prognosis looks very good. White cake with pink cherry butter cream filling & covered with pink ChocoPan & tons of luster dust -- border & topper just slightly more lavender so they'd stand out a bit. TFL!
I made these for a party with my family at my house last night. They're made from cake scraps from a half-sheet, to which I added a bit of ganache and chopped walnuts. I'm calling them truffle cakes. I molded them in mini-bundt pans and nestled them into some poured ganache and walnuts. The toppers are made from fondant. Thanks for looking.
This was a half white, half chocolate half-sheet cake. All decorations are fondant or gum paste. Thanks for looking.
These were my first decorated cupcakes -- treats for the office. For the toppers (except for the one that's a patchwork cutter), I found Halloween ornaments, made molds from them and molded from fondant, which I painted and airbrushed with a little luster dust. Thanks for looking.
This is for an Eagle Scout ceremony cake I'm doing for Saturday. The medal is oversized (about 3"x6") for a half-sheet cake. Needless to say, there was no mold -- nor anything to use to make a mold -- for any of these parts. In hindsight, I wish I had done the ribbon in fondant so I would have had more flexibility to gather it onto the ring at the bottom, but I used gum paste -- a tradeoff for the sturdiness of it. Thanks for looking.
Happy little jack-o'-lanterns, perhaps in need of orthodontics. Made from mini bundt pan (each about 3" in diameter) -- applesauce cake, butter cream filling and Fondarific (buttercream flavor). As if I actually knew what I was doing, I got out my barely used airbrush and touched them up a bit to soften the orange and highlight the ridges. Thanks for looking. I'm a Critique Subgroup Member.
I've been wanting to try a mini tiered cake and this is my first attempt. My pile o' flowers tendency resurfaced on this one. :| I also wanted to try Fondarific -- this is buttercream flavor and, to me, it tastes just like candy corn. Now I just need to find an itty bitty turntable and fondant smoother. Thanks for looking. I'm a Critique Subgroup Member.
This was such a fun cake -- my first bow and first time doing ANYTHING with royal icing (magic sugar super glue!). WASC with chocolate buttercream. Fondant bow, ribbons and dots. Gumpaste letters (Tappits) in flower center molded holders. Board is scrapbook paper covered with clear Contac paper and coordinating ribbon. Thanks for looking.
Just thought I'd post this drawing of the pink and brown dress cake I did last weekend. I ended up not putting a flower on the waistband since it was already embossed. It shows that I didn't carve the skirt as I should have -- next time will carve deeper folds and a better taper from the waist. Thanks for looking.
My first time carving a cake, first dress and first ruffles (I'm still working on getting the ruffles smoother). It was about 17 inches tall total. Cake is two 4x12s, white and chocolate with cookies 'n cream filling & covered in Choco-Pan. I covered the bottom of the cake pedestal with black fondant so it would appear to be the base of the dress form. Bodice and form sculpted from RKTs. Critique Subgroup Member. All comments appreciated. Thanks for looking. :)
Comments on other cakes from smart CCers prompted me to change some of the design features for this cake -- bands instead of pearl borders, strings instead of pearl connectors and color â and Iâm much happier with the new plan. Itâll be easier and looks less busy. Thanks to such helpful and creative minds out there in CC world!
This was for my daughter and her fiance's wedding shower, held at a funky Deep Ellum (Dallas) nightclub where he frequently DJs. All sides are edible images; the murals are painted on the club's outside wall. The cake wasn't nearly as lopsided as the photos show - had a hard time getting good photos. :( Two layers of chocolate fudge and two of WASC with buttercream. The couple and the guests loved it.
The top tier & disco ball will be displayed lit up & spinning during the reception. This cake is the reason I started playing with cakes and, thus, found THE artistic endeavor that has brought me the most happiness & satisfaction. Iâll make Mylar templates for each panel & mark pin holes for pearl & decoration placement. Thanks for looking! (The last time I uploaded this photo, CC went away for 10 hrs. Fingers crossed.) :)
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