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Made this for a man's birthday. Featuring a wack load of new (to me) techniques including: hexagons applied with Jessica Harris wax paper transfer method, crackled fondant created with a kitchen torch as per Liz Marek's free online tutorial, and orchids/looped leaves/rocks created with a James Rosselle Craftsy class. Also, the borders were made with Wilton sugar sheets and a fancy punch, method learned from Jessica Harris on Craftsy. Overall I like the look of the cake but was disappointed with my orchids and leaves. The James Rosselle class was super frustrating since he never answered a single of my questions, his material list was impossible to fully source out in Canada (and boy, I tried!), and describing the centers as being "blueberry" or "pea" sized was confusing. The Nicholas Lodge Ultimate Rose class was SO detailed, including proper sizing for all components. That should be how the Craftsy classes work. On the up side, using sugar sheets and fancy punches to create such striking designs is something I can see applying to many a future cake project! Loved how that looks...
Featuring Wilton gold sequins on top and buttercream ruffles on the bottom (Shannon Bond Craftsy course). I also followed a Nicholas Lodge "Ultimate Rose" course on Craftsy which I highly recommend. Very simple and fast method but he gives so many tips to amp up the final product. I couldn't be happier with my roses. The stephanotis are as per the Wilton course I took 3 years ago, so fast. The violets were a major pain in the butt as I didn't have the cutter so ended up cutting down a plunger I had and pairing that with a round cutter. Not exactly on the same level as my other flowers but oh well. They added a touch of color and since violets and yellow roses are the "official flowers" of the 50th anniversary, I felt I needed to add them. Biggest challenge came with wiring all those flowers together. Of course I had two flowers with "easy to break" tips which caused a lot of cursing. If anyone can recommend a good online course for sugar flower arranging, I would appreciate the insight! Oh and the "50" was done with cake lace as I wanted something nice and thin.
My first sculpted cake! Ok, it didn't turn out exactly as planned but people loved it. Created for my home town's 100th anniversary. Made from carrot cake filled with cream cheese SMB and covered with a white chocolate SMB, except for the "boiler" which I covered with white chocolate ganache for extra stability. The boiler I had to make from 2 cakes baked in cans. I attempted a single can 7" long but the cake just would not bake! Hence why it is bent a bit since I didn't put a dowel horizontally through the middle until the ganache set up. I had sliced it in half to add my filling, hence the omission. And I just don't know why the cabin seems wonky. Anyhow, all pieces are cake minus the roof and front "cow catcher" which are Rice Krispies. First time also using confectioner glaze. Wow, that stuff is a pain to get out hey? I had no idea. A bit of scrubbing and lemon juice did the trick though. I also had to dowel under the cabin and under the boiler. Each boiler roof "topper" had a toothpick inserted to hold it in place but the Wilton candy melts I used as glue secured them. I just didn't want to chance it. Also, the bell wire is actual wire as I couldn't figure out how to make an edible option!
Characters made by layering fondant over top each other to create a 3D/2D effect. Wow, what a wack load of work! I can sculpt faster than these took but have to admit that the final cake is one of my favorites of mine :)
I was contacted 3 days before the event to make a simple birthday cake with the cues of: super chocolate, rainbow, lilac writing. So I use the Quintessential Chocolate Cake recipe from Cake Paper Party, used a chocolate simple syrup, AND coated the whole with chocolate ganache using Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate. Oh yeah, nailed the "chocolate to the max" theme. They were very happy with the cake although personally this is too simple for my taste. Customer is boss!
4" and 6" top tiers were Raspberry Pinot Noir cake (recipe from Cake Paper Party) and bottom 8" was Fudge Salted Caramel (recipe from Sweetapolita). Decor learned form Craftsy course by Jessica Harris. 4" was hammered copper, 6" was quilted appliques, and 8" was herringbone. All new techniques so it was quite a learning process! Oh and the chocolate labrador dog topper was, ironically, hand sculpted out of modeling chocolate! I need to take a course for that since I don't know how to avoid the "dry chocolate" patches. Steaming? Must be a decent course on Craftsy for that.
Yes, the mother of the bride decided to use a stand with 7 shelves, each holding a cake. I made 6 toppers covered with the fall colored gumpaste flowers they requested (roses, dahlias, carnations, and lily of the valley) plus red currants and leaves. The top topper was two "wedding owls", as per the invitation. That one I made out of Rice Krispie treats covered with fondant. Live and learn moment: this was my first wedding cake. I have known the parents for decades (the father is the director of the building where I work) and the mother does wedding cakes regularly. Her daughter asked her to make the wedding dress AND wedding cake so needless to say, the mother ran out of time! She still went ahead and baked the cakes, filled and coated them, and had them stored in the freezer at the venue. What I expected was to have 7 properly prepped cakes but what I got were soaking wet cakes that looked like a 5 year old threw on some buttercream! They were totally unlevel and, well, a total mess. She had left me a bag of icing but that too had been frozen and I didn't have the equipment to rewhip it to properly recoat the cakes. If I had been warned, I would have brought in a big batch of buttercream from home and my leveler to have nice even cakes. So, I spent 2 hours (until the bridal party showed up) trying my best to fix a complete mess. The toppers covered the top and the fall leaves I had made did the border (she didn't even pipe a border, which I had expected!) Still, so frustrating to spend that much time making 96 gumpaste flowers, 144 red berries plus a wack load of leaves only to be faced with a mess to place them on! Lesson learned....never trust someone else (even though they are experienced wedding cake makers and this was for their only daughter) to do an adequate job!
Three tiered fondant covered cake with silhouettes and custom topper. Bottom made with a silicone bark mould (best purchase ever!). Top tiers covered with egg yellow fondant. Oh and in the final cake I DID push down the topper so it was flush with the cake ;) Sunset effect created with orange Americolor Mist sprayed on then wiped with a dry makeup sponge. Silhouettes cut out of black gum paste rolled out then left to harder for about 10 minutes then cut with an X-acto knife. Topper chair made out of 20 cut out parts from tutorial found online (warning, if you use the same the parts are too short! I redid this three times). Man made out of gum paste/fondant mix. I again used an online tutorial for making a basic human figure using a template. I resized it to the size needed for the chair. Worked perfectly! Ball cap was a nightmare to make. I ended up molding a piece of fondant/gum paste mix over a half styrofoam ball then doing the stitching & top button over that. Then I made the bill using round cutters to cut a circle then a "chunk" out of that to make a suitable size. Glued it onto the rest of the hat then dried it on the figure's head. Trees made with black chocolate melts. I printed a template of trees then put wax paper over it to make the trees. Did the trunk first then each branch (drawing in towards trunk), then did a side to side swoop over the tree to make a nice full looking tree. Taped this over cake dummies placed sideways in a box, to get the curvature. I made the fishing line and skies/ski poles with extruded gum paste (thanks for the idea Sandy!) Bottom was ivory fondant covered then I painted over top with brown petal dust diluted with vodka. Leaves cut out marbled gum paste then veined with a silicone two piece veiner. I need work on using stencils! "Bill" was done with diluted paint, "Happy Retirement" with dry petal dust. That worked MUCH better with sharper edges.
This was a 10", 8", 6" cake made for the director of our building. It was based on some of his big "loves": red currant and blueberry picking, music, and his home town in Nova Scotia. The topper represented the Sambro Island lighthouse, the oldest working lighthouse in North America (in Nova Scotia). Decorations made with gum paste except "Happy 65th Birthday" and music notes made with cake lace (exercise in frustration since this was my first time using it!). Topper had a base of Rice Krispie treats. This was my first (and last) time using Satin Ice from using Fondx previously. I caved to "peer pressure" from seeing all the big cake decorators on TV using Satin Ice. Complete nightmare with tons of cracking and elephant skin. I tried kneeding in crisco but still no go. Never had any issues at all with Fondx so back to that I go!
Dr. Dave is one of my colleague's at the Living with Lakes Centre. He was nominated for and awarded the province's highest award, the Order of Ontario. This cake was made for a party thrown by the MPP for our Region, Glenn Thibeault.
Just discovered a sprinkle shop operated by Sweetapolita, lady who creates the most fantastic cake recipes! This is one of two "event cakes" made by me for my work this year. This one features Guittard Noire black cocoa. Love how dramatic it looks!
Just discovered a sprinkle shop operated by Sweetapolita, lady who creates the most fantastic cake recipes! This is one of two "event cakes" made by me for my work this year.
This was a mistake. I needed a larger cake so made a 9" and 8". In retrospect, I should have done two 9" and produced one larger "trunk". Live and learn! Got to use a new silicone mould which worked fantastically. Made last year for a colleague's birthday.
This was my first (and last) 6 layer cake! Nightmare to cut cleanly but it was made for my sister's birthday so all was well.
Made for one of our graduate student's defending their thesis. She was obsessed with "Beyonce/Queen Bee". Sigh....
To celebrate a coworker's special award for Environmental Stewardship in Sudbury Ontario
Commissioned by a coworker's wife to celebrate his birthday. Had to do extensive research on "Gruffalo" :O
My first 3 tiered cake! Made for one of our Graduate Student's defending their thesis. She studied fish, hence the "fish scales" and top fish design
Made for my boss' birthday in 2016
Made for a friend of the family in 2016
Special order for a lady turning 65
Made for a coworker's twins' birthday in 2015
For one of our Graduate Student's birthday in 2015
Another cake for a coworker's last day at work!
This was for two coworkers' birthday. Since I was the only student for Wilton Course 4 in September 2015, my teacher skimmed over wiring flowers together! So I winged it but definitely need to take a course showing me how to do this properly. Craftsy course perhaps?
Flowers made as part of my Wilton decorating course #4 requirements. Cake for my boss' birthday in 2015.
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