Cake Decorating Techniques Archives - Page 2 of 4

Brides White Hot Wedding Cakes

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.

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.
Sweet Element by Jennifer Roberts
This violet-hued cake was a show stopper! Glistening luster dusted gumpaste sequins sparkled with luster dust.
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.
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.
Baked By Melissa provided a typographic display of mini cupcakes: pink cupcakes and ivory cupcakes topped with matching frosting.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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…

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Cake Stands!

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

Italian Flag Birthday Cake and an Update

By Cakeb0t 8 Comments

Oh! I’m bakin’ here!

My hubby and I have been busy moving back to NYC since I last posted. Also, we have been working hard on Cakeb0t’s new website. Those of you who follow Cakeb0t on Twitter have heard me talking about a redesign for quite some time. It is really almost ready. Really!

As soon as we got back to NYC, I had to plan for a cake. I made this cake for my [Italian] in-laws’ dual 50th birthday. I was very literal with the cake, as you can tell. And since Italians like it big, bold, and loud… I had to add the big sparkle candles!

This cake was made from a half sheet cake cut into quarters. Dowels were used for support in the bottom two layers of cake, and then topped with a board.

The cake was coated in chocolate ganache and covered using panels of fondant which were measured and cut to fit. The front panel had priority when it came to hiding seams, and was placed on last.

The topper was made with sheets of cereal treats that were stacked to 3″ thickness. Printed and cut letters were used as a stencil to cut the sheets. The numbers were covered in modeling chocolate. After painting them, skewers were used to place them in the cake.

The numbers and front panel were painted with luster dust paint. Disco glitter was used to dust the numbers to catch the light when the candles were lit.

Just as with the “50”, printed letters were used as a guide to cut through a thick sheet of fondant. Playing with thickness and depth gave the cake interesting shadows. Gotta love the drama.

The sparkler candles were placed so that they looked fanned out. They were also arranged symmetrically with the highest candle in the middle. It so fun to light the sparklers and watch them fizzle out. I recommend two or three people lighting them at once; they go fast! Also, they leave some dust behind.

My original “50” covered in modeling chocolate was actually left at home by accident (umm, by me). I made this one quickly with store-bought cereal treats, and covered it in fondant. I didn’t like the result as much. The fondant weighed the treats so they didn’t hold their shape as well. The one covered in modeling chocolate was so smooth, but I don’t think anyone noticed the fondant, except me. And you, of course! ( Let’s just keep it between us cake decorators.)

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Silicone Mold Dessert Eggs

By Cakeb0t 9 Comments

For Easter, try this festive take on stuffed egg hors d’oeuvres. Instead of deviled eggs, these pastry cream & cake dessert eggs are angelic and sweet. Like… me! (Mwahahahaaaa!) I found a new product to play with, and this was the result!

To make this dessert, use a silicone mold (this one is egg-shaped) to bake your favorite white or yellow cake. (The cakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean.) After cooling, level the cakes with a serrated knife.

Score and scoop out the center of the cake with a measuring spoon.

Make white chocolate egg cups with melted chocolate, brushed and cooled twice in the same mold (see How To Make Chocolate Cups). You can also use candy melts. Silicone molds make it easy to pop out chocolate and cakes without having to use baking spray. The silicone molds leave a shiny, polished finish on the chocolate.

Place the cakes in chocolate egg cups, using pastry cream to glue them in. (The pastry cream recipe is listed below.)

Dust the dessert eggs with confectioners sugar, using a small, fine-mesh sieve.

Pipe the eggy pastry cream center with a large closed star tip. Sprinkle the tops as you wish!

Cakeb0t Amazon Shop links: half egg silicone mold, large star tip set

[print_this]Pastry cream is comfort food. I love the sweet, steamy smell of the thickening sugar, milk, and yolks while you whisk!
Pastry Cream (Yields 1 1/2 cups of Pastry cream. This recipe may be doubled.)

1 cup milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with about 1/4 cup of the milk. Whisk the egg and egg yolks into the cornstarch mixture.

Pour the rest of the milk with the sugar in a pan and set on medium high to boil. To temper the yolks, when the milk and sugar come to a boil, pour 1/4 of the pan milk into the yolk mixture and whisk.

Place the pan back on heat to boil. When the milk mixture reaches a boil, pour the yolk mixture into the pan, and whisk until it becomes thick, creamy, and smooth. Take the pan off of the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a stainless steel bowl or pan and press plastic wrap directly on the cream to cover. Immediately chill the mixture. When the mixture is cool, transfer it to a piping bag.[/print_this]

Two Tier Wedding Anniversary Cake

By Cakeb0t 22 Comments

Happy Anniversary to my parents, who married 29 years ago! My parents hadn’t planned on a party, but then my mom changed her mind and they needed a cake last minute. My husband and I are in the process of moving, so I scrambled and gathered what little supplies I had. I came up with a simple two tier cake (made from three cakes), which is a great cake to make for any occasion if you’re short on time.

I found this nice sunflower yellow in my stash. Normally, I would try and make gum paste roses, but I was short on time. The roses were piped and made with royal icing, and I was really pleased at how they came out. I did them two nights before the party, and they dried in a day! The branches are simply wire, tied together, and wrapped in white floral tape.

Cakeb0t tip: Use ganache when possible for nice sharp edges, and a great silhouette!

Happy Anniversary!

Snoopy Cake

By Cakeb0t 36 Comments

Hi everyone! Hope y’all had a good 4th!

Sculpted cakes are my favorite! I made this cake for my mom and mom-in-law who both have a June birthday. My mother-in-law LOVES Snoopy. I thought it would be a great cake to make; I love the Snoopy aesthetic! I thought giving the cake an illustrated look would be really effective. Enjoy the video! You can see me and my favorite assistant (my husband) in some of the shots! Cakeb0t tips & supplies are listed below! -Binky

Cake:
Chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, and chocolate ganache. Yum!

Gumpaste:
Used to make the roof, Snoopy, grass cut-outs, and Woodstock & his mohawk!
*Gumpaste is like fondant, a pliable sugar “clay”. The difference from fondant is that it dries hard.
*The roof was rolled out & cut to dry on a mold that was made from foam core.
*The dimensions of the roof were used to print the picture of Snoopy & Woodstock to scale. The gumpaste was molded against the picture for the proper proportions.

Edible Black Marker:
Used to draw on lines and features of the dog house, grass cut-outs, Snoopy, & Woodstock.
*These are great, especially for the illustrated look of the cake! It’s also a lot less sticky than food gel coloring, or black petal dust with vodka.

Petal Dust + Vodka
Used to paint the house, Woodstock, Snoopy’s nose, and cake board.
*Mix the pigment (petal dust) with some Vodka and you have edible paint!
*Lemon extract can be used instead of Vodka. Because of the lower percentage of alcohol, the Vodka gave this a more streaky, shinier paint look, as opposed to the matte look lemon extract can give. The streaks and shine, give the house an authentic look!

Fondant
Used to cover the house and cake board.
*For bright colors, color the fondant, roll it out, and then paint it in a matching color of petal dust with vodka or lemon extract.
*Fondant is rolled with corn starch so it doesn’t stick to the table.
*Shortening, cornstarch, and a bit of water can be used to smooth out seams.

Other tools
Fondant Smoothers
Dowels- used in top of every 4″ of cake for support.
Exacto knife
Scissor
Rolling Pin
Toothpicks - Used in Woodstock’s body to stick him on Snoopy’s belly, and used to stick Snoopy on the roof.
Wax paper- Used to roll out gumpaste. It was useful for transferring the roof from the mold to the cake.
Foam Core- The foam core was used for the roof and cake boards. Two boards were glued together for the base board. The roof was made after the cake had been covered in ganache and refrigerated.
Royal Icing- Used to glue on the roof and grass to the dog house, Snoopy’s nose, and Woodstock’s feet and hair.
Ribbon- Vinyl ribbon was used to cover the edges of the cakeboard.