Superhero Cake

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About Nathen

Remember when I made this Superhero Cake for Nathen through Icing Smiles?
Nathen is still in the fight against cancer. He is such a strong, super boy! I encourage you to read more about Nathen here: http://www.facebook.com/nathentrueblood
 Consider donating a cake through Icing Smiles to help spread some happiness to a family near you.

Inspiration for this cake

Nathen was having a Superhero birthday party, which included three Superheros.
Since these heroes began as comic book characters, using comic for inspiration seemed a natural, artful fit. I went to the comic book store for inspiration.

The building

Superhero CakeThe building was carved so that it looked like a perspective drawing from a graphic novel - starting out wider at the top, and tapering at the bottom. The roof was carved at an angle to exaggerate the feel foreshortening. I outlined the building in black so that it looked hand-drawn. Notice the comic textures of ink dots and lines. These were all drawn with edible marker.

Colors

Like a comic book title, the color of Nathen’s name and the Happy Birthday subtitle had to pop, using color and thickness. I used a muted blue-grey color to simulate the background drawings in a comic. The windows, drawn in perspective, were painted a light white wash.
All the painting was done with petal dust paint: lemon extract mixed with petal dust.

The 6 bat signal

This was a really fun element on the cake. We used LEDs behind a gumpaste drum to create a bat signal, which backlit Nathen’s big boy age - 6! To learn more about lights, stay tuned for another post from a special guest, all about lights!

Ask Cakeb0t!

Any questions on this cake? I’ll be sure to include everything you want to know on the upcoming Superhero Cake Insider Video!

Brides White Hot Wedding Cakes

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I had a blast celebrating Bridal Fashion Week at the Brides White Hot Style Shop this past weekend feasting my eyes on these beautiful wedding cakes! I met with some of the decorators, who share some of their tips and techniques below.

  1. One Girl Cookies by Francina Stewart
    The only buttercream cake in the bunch! I love that the bright ribbon was actually piped onto the cake.
  2. Sweet Element by Jennifer Roberts
    This violet-hued cake was a show stopper! Glistening luster dusted gumpaste sequins sparkled with luster dust.
  3. Baked Ideas by Patti Paige
    Patti used royal icing and a tiny tip to pipe crazy detailed designs on each cookie. She says she got the idea for the diamond shaped cookies from a pattern on one of her favorite vintage coin purses.
  4. Mali B Sweets by Miche Bacher and Nanao Anton
    A very feminine and detailed cake. This rococo beauty was decorated from head to toe in flowers and feathers.
  5. Baked By Melissa provided a typographic display of mini cupcakes: pink cupcakes and ivory cupcakes topped with matching frosting.
  6. Lovely Cakes by Renata Papadopoulos
    I love this classic beauty! Renata used a hydrangea cutter and veiner to create the flowers. She says the flowers were made with fondant and tylose powder… an easy alternative to using gumpaste!
  7. Eat Cake Be Merry by Liz Shim
    Cakes by Liz are always so simple, clean, and beautiful. I always use her cakes for inspiration when I’m trying to make clean lines. Here’s a handy tip from Liz: she cut her chevron decoration and let it rest to harden a bit to have some control when applying it to her cake.
  8. Bijoux Doux by Ellen Baumwoll
    I love luster dust, because I think metallic accents on a cake are gorgeous. This entire cake has the Midas touch. It’s a beautiful champagne gold, decorated with gold leaves.
  9. City Sweets Confections by Deborah Lauren
    Regal and royal, this cake was larger than life. The barrel tier was pressed with a bold floral pattern and bordered with ivory leaves.
  10. BMQ Desserts|Cakes by Rodolfo Goncalves
    This cake took a lot of intensive cake architecture. This giant fashionable statement flower defies gravity! Rodolfo says he made the round mosaic-like embellishments by cutting out circles in fondant with a pastry tip. He then painted each one individually.

For more close up pictures…

Check out Cakeb0t’s Photo Album on Facebook!

Cake Stands!

Each cake sat perched atop a beautiful, bright colored cake stand from Sarah’s Stands. (I love these!!)

Frosting For The Cause

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Click on this picture to read my post on Frosting For The Cause!

A couple of weeks ago, I had another opportunity to contribute baked goods to my hospital through an online project called Frosting For The Cause:

Frosting for the Cause is a unique on-line project bringing together 365 volunteer bakers and bloggers from across Canada, the United States and beyond. Our goal is to raise funds and awareness for research into cancers affecting women. At the same time, we aim to share our baking talents with one another and our blog followers.

Each blogger pledges to donate $25 to The Canadian or American Cancer Society. By the end of this year, Frosting For The Cause members will have raised $9,125.00 towards research looking to find a cure of women’s cancers!

Click here to read my guest post about how to make cake pops on Frosting For The Cause, where I share the recipe I used, and I also include tips on an easy way to package the cake pops and give them as a gift!

Frosting for the Cause

Sugar Flowers vs Fresh Flowers

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White Rose Wedding Cake by S. Weinstock. Image from www.MarthaStewart.com

I recently wondered: why do we decorators go through all the trouble of making sugar flowers when fresh ones are perfectly beautiful (and natural)? I tend to lean toward a “natural” flower, rather than a replicated (however gorgeous) flower.

What decorators say

I took a survey on Twitter, and asked: “Do you prefer real flowers or sugar (gumpaste) flowers on your cakes?” and got some great answers:

  • “Sugar. How awesome is it to have people go right up to a cake wondering if the flowers are real or sugar.” @AtomikJen
  • “Both! Usually becomes a budgeting choice for my couples. Those on a tighter budget use real flowers.” Jennifer Roberts - @SweetElement
  • “Sugar! Some real flowers are poisonous.” Jaime Ho - @jaime_of_wicked

Gardenias can be eaten in the fresh or sugar form, but these handmade blooms are larger than life! - Cake from K. Sullivan, Image from www.CakePower.com

Some real flowers ARE poisonous

…and more great tweets. All with great points. Most importantly, like Jaime of The Wicked Little Cake Company said, some flowers are poisonous. Turns out there’s a really long list of poisonous flowers. Aside from toxicity, there are pesticides, dirt, and other muckety muck things to worry about. The flowers must be properly cleaned and handled before putting them on your cake.

Which leads me to change my mind about sugar flowers. I actually like to make them! Forgive me, gumpaste flowers, I lost my way!

Still, there are perfectly non-toxic, even edible flowers (if you’re into that sort of thing) out there - waiting to be sugared and set atop your cake. It’s probably a good idea to consult a florist before you use fresh flowers.

The two photos in this post are of cakes that have been decorated with sugar versions of flowers that are actually edible. However, can you imagine eating all those fresh roses? Also, the handmade flowers are perfectly customized for each cake. Food for thought. (Teehee!)

The verdict

Like Jennifer of Sweet Element mentioned, it might be better for the client’s budget to consider using real flowers. I’m still rooting for fresh flowers, but for maximum customization, the little-to-no-risk of poisoning your clients, and the fun factor, sugar flowers seem like the popular choice for decorators. Still, it’s all up to you as the artist. Jade Eye (@marzipandoll) of Marzipandoll tweeted: “as long as it’s not silk or plastic…”. So true. :shiver:

Your turn to weigh in!

Cast your vote in the comments - real flowers or sugar flowers?

Icing Smiles - For Superkid Nathen

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This past weekend, I made a cake for a super kid through Icing Smiles. Icing Smiles is a wonderful non profit organization that provides cakes for kids and families that have been impacted by a critical illness.

Nathen was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma when he was only 2. He has been living at the Ronald McDonald house in NYC, and just celebrated his 6th birthday. Being a nurse at an oncology institution, this cake was extra special to me. Words can’t express how happy and grateful I was to be able to help make his celebration a memorable one. He had a blast at his Super Hero themed party. Even Batman showed up!

Here is Nathen with his cake. Isn’t he the cutest?

You can learn more about Nathen and receive status updates on his Facebook page, Prayers 4 Nathen.

If you’d like to donate a cake, or if you know of a family in need, visit the Icing Smiles website.

I’ll be doing a video on how I made this cake later this week, so stay tuned!