Sunday, June 3, 2012

Miniature Roses

There are lots beautiful cake decorating ideas found in the internet today. But if you are searching for a tutorial on how to make miniature roses, you’ve come to the right website.

In order to make lovely miniature roses, you need to mix fondant with a bit of tylose powder to create a pliable paste. Take a small pea sized ball of this paste and roll it in your hands to form a small sausage shape. Take your rolling pin and flatten the sausage shaped paste thinly.

To make petals for your roses, you’ll need to pull the edges of the flattened paste with your fingers. To do that, position your fingers on each side of the paste and pull out the edges. Start from the bottom end and upwards. Use a cocktail stick or frilling tool to frill the edges of the paste and turn it over before rolling.

Start rolling the flattened paste loosely starting from the right end. Pinch in the bottom to secure the whole thing. Use your fingers or a fondant tool to gently open up the petals of your miniature rose. Once that’s done, you can cut the base of the rose using a scissors for a more finished appearance.

View the original article here

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Dog Cupcakes

Show your love to your pet dogs by making cupcakes in honor of them. Making dog cupcakes is not that hard to do. You just need to have the following items: cupcakes, black edible pen, gray buttercream icing in a piping bag with a tip #21, white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, red jumbo hearts, and white chocolate wafer cut in half.

The first thing you need to do is pipe in some frosting on your cupcake. Begin piping half of the cupcake beginning from the center to the left side. Next, pipe frosting on the other side starting from the center to the right side of the cupcake.

For the snout of the dog, pipe two layers of three not-so-straight lines on the lower center part of the cupcake. Again, use the above mentioned piping technique. Once done, you can now attach the white chocolate wafer for the dog ears on top of the cupcake. Position it with the round side going out.

Take your white chocolate chips and make a small dot in the middle using the edible pen. This will be the dog’s eyes. Once done, place the chocolate chips just above the snout. Take a chocolate chip and place it on the snout just below the eyes. For the dog’s tongue, take your jumbo heart and insert it on the bottom part of the snout with the top part sticking out.

To finish off the dog cupcake, you’ll need to pipe in some fur on the dog’s ears.

View the original article here

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Champagne Bottle Cake

I will be having a party with some friends at home and we will be toasting to some good news. I took this chance to make sure that I have the appropriately themed dessert. I will be serving wine and drinks together with the Champagne Bottle Cake I just created.

The Champagne Bottle Cake was made by stacking 3 fruit cakes together vertically. The cakes were secured using some skewer sticks before carving them into a round shape with a knife. To achieve a genuine champagne bottle shape, the fruit cakes were further molded by hand. To ensure that the cakes stay put, buttercream icing was used to stick each layer together. After coating the cake with several layers of dark tinted buttercream icing, it is then placed inside the fridge to cool.

To make the top portion of the Champagne bottle cake, an ice cream cone was coated with melted chocolate. Once cool, the cone’s tip was cut off and place upside down on top of the cake. Two large marshmallows are then placed on top of the cone and covered with frosting. The wine bottle label on the cake was made with fondant and some food coloring. The design and text could be customized according to the occasion that will be celebrated.

I wanted to surprise my friends even more so I placed some sherbet and bi-carb soda inside the ice cream cone prior to putting it on top of the cake. Upon serving, I will remove the marshmallow bottle top and pour some lemonade into the cone with the sherbet and bi-carb soda to achieve a realistic fizzing effect.

View the original article here

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Pony Birthday Cake

Are you ready to make your own pony birthday cake? Here’s how:

Prepare two 9-inch round cakes by cutting their domes off and placing them upside down. You’ll also need pony templates to ensure that the cake does come out looking as a pony. Position the body template on one cake and the head and tail templates on the other. Carve the cake carefully around the templates using a small knife.

Once you have the pieces, position them accordingly on the cake board and begin crumb coating the cake with light brown frosting before placing them inside the freezer for a few minutes. Once the cake has cooled, apply a final coating of frosting on the cake. Make sure the frosting is as smooth as possible.

Now, it’s time to put in the pony’s mane and tail by using darker brown frosting. For the tail, squeeze the piping bag down and release the pressure once you’ve reached the end. Use the same technique in putting the mane.

For the pony’s blanket, you can use pink (for girls) or blue (for boys) frosting. Pipe a square on the body and smooth it using a spatula. You can also pipe in the birthday celebrant’s age on the blanket too.

You’ll also need to add details to the pony’s hooves by piping some dark chocolate frosting on them. Use a large chocolate candy for the pony’s eyes.

View the original article here

Saturday, May 26, 2012

How to Make a Patrick Star Cupcake Topper

Do you know who Patrick Star is? He is SpongeBob Squarepants’ funny best friend. He is a pink starfish and wears a vividly colored pair of shorts. If you have a fascination for Patrick, show everyone how adorable he can be by making a cupcake topper in his likeness. Here’s how:

Aside from cupcakes and the usual frosting, you will need star-shaped sugar cookies as well. To begin making your Patrick Star cupcake topper, you’ll need slightly melted pink icing and drying rack. Put your cookie on top of the rack and begin coating the top part with the pink icing. Make sure that the surface of the cookie is thoroughly covered. Shake the cooking on the rack to let the excess icing drip off. Sprinkle a bit of red colored sugar on the cookie and let it cool.

As for Patrick’s cute shorts, you will need neon green and purple colored buttercream icing. Use a pastry bag to pipe in the shorts over two points of the star. You can use a butter knife to smooth in the buttercream. Next, you’ll need to pipe in a few flowers over the shorts using the purple buttercream.

Use white icing to make Patrick’s eyes and black icing for the eyebrows, center of the eyes, mouth and belly button accents. Let the cookie dry completely before putting in on top of a frosted cupcake.

View the original article here

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

Here’s a cupcake decorating idea that would appeal to girls and women alike – Hello Kitty Cupcakes! It is very easy to make and very cute too.

The first thing you need to do is frost your cupcake with white buttercream icing. Take a large marshmallow and cut it diagonally in half using a sharp pair of scissors. The cut marshmallow should look like a cat’s ear. You might want to further cut them in half to fully resemble Hello Kitty’s ears.

Push the marshmallow ears unto the sides of cupcake. Take a dollop of white frosting and smooth it over the ears to secure it properly and to eliminate any gaps. If you have trouble smoothing the icing properly, you can dip in your spatula in hot water and then smooth the icing. Just make sure that you have wiped off any water before using the spatula.

Grab your piping bag with red frosting and pipe in Hello Kitty’s bow on the upper right side of the cupcake, near one ear. To make the bow, create to small circles and join them together by piping a smaller circle in the middle.

For Hello Kitty’s whiskers, use black frosting and pipe in three short whiskers on both sides of the cupcake. Use the black frosting for the eyes and a yellow colored one for the nose.

View the original article here

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Red Rose Petal Cake

Cake decorating ideas can come in many different inspirations. You might want to make a beautiful cake adorned with fondant animals because you had just came from a lovely farm or you could create a cartoon character shaped cake because it is your nephew’s favorite and you just love how his face lights up when he’s happy. If you absolutely love red roses, you might want to create a cake inspired by it too.

Here’s one of the most beautiful red rose petal cake you can create:
The first thing you need to do is mix ¼ to ½ lb of red fondant with a teaspoon of gum tragacanth or CMC powder. This will make the fondant very stretchable and pliable to ensure that your rose petals are very stable.

Roll the fondant thinly using a rolling pin. If you have a pasta machine, you can place the fondant it to make it even thinner. Once you’ve achieved the appropriate thickness, begin cutting rose petals using petal cutters. You will need to make a lot of petals to make the red rose petal cake stunning. Get your ball tool and ruffle the edges of the petals. Roll back the edges of the rose petals using a stick for a more realistic look. Afterwards, let them dry properly in a tray.

Using the perfectly dried petals, make a large red rose. Prep your cake by carving a portion off to accommodate your rose. Cover your cake with white fondant. Now, it is time to put in the rest of the petals.
Begin sticking in the petals one at a time on the outer edge of the gash of the cake. Use sticky water to secure them. You might want to put sponges behind several petals to ensure that they don’t droop. Once you’ve covered a sufficient part of the gash with rose petals, you may now place your pre-made rose. Let the cake dry completely before removing the sponges.

View the original article here

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Doughnut Recipe

Speculoos (or BiscĂ´me?) Baked Doughnuts:

For the doughnuts:
1/2 cup (120 ml) any vegan milk (plain or vanilla)
1/2 cup (100 g) Sucanat
2 teaspoons ginger powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup (56 g) vegan butter, melted or 1/4 cup (60 ml) peanut oil or other neutral-flavored oil
6 ounces (170 g) any vegan yogurt (plain or vanilla)
6 tablespoons (90 g) speculoos spread (homemade or store-bought)
2 1/2 cups (300 g) whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast (or a packet [2 1/4 teaspoons] of active dry yeast, see Notes)
1 teaspoon baking powder
Non-stick cooking spray

For the speculoos-flavored chocolate ganache:
1/2 cup (120 ml) vegan creamer (plain or vanilla, I like to use unsweetened MimicCreme)
1 cup (176 g) vegan semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons (30 g) speculoos spread (homemade or store-bought)

About 10 vegan speculoos cookies, crushed to sprinkle over ganached doughnuts


To make the doughnuts: Combine milk, sugar, spices, salt, butter, yogurt and speculoos spread in a small saucepan. Whisk while heating to lukewarm on low heat, until the butter is melted. (If using oil instead of butter, just combine everything and heat to lukewarm.) Do not let the temperature rise higher than lukewarm, or it will kill the yeast. Use an instant-read thermometer to check that the temperature is around 100°F (38°C).

In a large bowl, combine flour, instant dry yeast, and baking powder. Add wet ingredients into dry, vigorously stirring with a rubber spatula for a couple of minutes until thoroughly combined, or using a stand mixer. Scrape the sides with the spatula and gather the dough in the center of the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 60 minutes. There won’t be such a noticeable rise during this rest, the doughnuts will mostly rise while they’re in the oven.

Coat two standard doughnut baking pans with spray.

Using an ice cream scoop. divide the sticky batter into the pans, about 3 tablespoons of batter per hole. Lightly moisten your hands with water to keep the sticky batter from adhering to them, and use the index of each hand to spread the batter evenly in each hole. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand another 50 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C, or gas mark 5). Bake for 16 minutes, or until golden brown.

Carefully remove from pan and transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the ganache: Heat the creamer in a small saucepan, on medium-high heat. Once hot, remove from the stove, adding the chocolate chips and speculoos spread, stirring until the chips are melted and the mixture is perfectly smooth.

To decorate the doughnuts: Dip the doughnuts into the ganache, letting the excess drip off. Sprinkle crushed cookies on top.

Yield: 12 doughnuts
Notes:
• You might have extra ganache leftover from this recipe. How about drizzling some on vanilla or chocolate ice cream, or refrigerating it for a little bit so that it’s spreadable on a piece of crusty, freshly baked whole grain baguette?
• If you want the dough to be easier to handle, just stir the batter after the first rise, cover the bowl with plastic wrap again, and shove the whole thing in the fridge for a couple of hours. You could also make it the night before and bake as-you-go, since the fresher the donuts/decoration, the better. Just make sure to give it all a little more time to come back to room temperature for the second rise.
• If you are using active dry yeast, you’ll have to proof it first: Combine 1/2 cup (120 ml) lukewarm milk, 1 teaspoon of the sucanat and the yeast in a small bowl. Let sit 5 minutes until bubbles appear, to ensure the yeast is active. Just heat the butter (if using), yogurt, remaining sucanat, and speculoos spread separately, just until lukewarm and that the butter is melted. If using oil, just heat the oil, yogurt, remaining sucanat, and speculoos spread until lukewarm. Combine with proofed yeast mixture, and follow the rest of the instructions to mix wet ingredients into dry.
View the original article here

Friday, May 11, 2012

Lavender Ombre Bat Mitzvah cake

Lavender Ombre Bat MItzvah Cake

This Bat Mitzvah cake includes an ombre color fade from light lavender at the top of the cake to a darker lavender at the base. The glittery swirls decorating each tier include a contrasting ombre pattern in the opposite direction.

Leaf wrapped Monogrammed Topper

The highlight of the cake is a standing gumpaste letter “E” which is wrapped in green leaf decorations and accents of leaves and cascading vines. Decorations include crystal butterflies and small bunches of ecru and lavender roses and hydrangea.

Rose & Hydrangea Sugar Flowers

Flavors and fillings included purple velvet cake with vanilla buttercream and chocolate cake with raspberry chambord buttercream.

View the original article here

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Classic 60′s Groom’s Car Cake

1968 Fiat Spider Positano Yellow

Replication of a classic car, a 1968 yellow fiat spider, for a groom.

Front of Classic Car Cake

The entire car was almond cake with hazelnut buttercream. We delivered the cake to The Manor in West Orange NJ.

Details of interior of car cake

View the original article here

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Doll Face Silhouette Birthday Cake

Doll Face Silhouette Birthday Cake

The pink and black cake has this doll silhouette as the centerpiece for her party.

The three tier cake includes baby pink fondant on the top tier with various sizes stripes in hot pink, white and black. The middle tier is covered in hot pink fondant with polka dots. The final tier includes stripes in a coordinating color scheme.

Flavors and fillings included chocolate with oreos and cream buttercream, marble cake with chocolate buttercream and pink velvet with cream cheese filling.


View the original article here

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Alexis’s Sweet 16 Cake

Flared Damask Sweet 16 Cake

The top tier was covered in black fondant with gold swirls. The front of the tier included the celebrants name in fancy red font.

Red, Black and White Sweet 16 Cake with Gold Accents

The middle tier was decorated with red fondant and a glittery gold band with a bow and tails. The final tier was white with black damask decorations. Flavors and fillings included red velvet with vanilla buttercream, vanilla with chocolate buttercream and chocolate with hazelnut buttercream and chocolate hazlenut praline crunch


View the original article here

Monday, April 30, 2012

White Paisley Wedding Cake

Paisley White Wedding Cake

The theme of the cake centered around the distinctive paisley design.

The paisley design is incorporated across a variety of cakes through the years, and it is a beautiful design element for wedding cakes. The sideways teardrop design is of Iranian and Indian origin and serves as a great way for a couple to incorporate pieces of their ethnic origin into the cake.

Close-up of Paisely designs on wedding cake

“Persian pickles” is truly a historical term used to describe paisley or just a fictional offshoot of the popular “Persian Pickle Club” book.

What does seem to be accurate is that the actual origin of the word Paisley was derived by a town in Scotland of the same name. Other interesting derivatives of the name include Mankolam (from India) and Boteh Jegheh which the Persian translation.

Paisely Print Wedding Cake at the Park Avenue Club

The cake itself was covered in whtie fondant with piped paisley patterns on each tier in white with pearlized details. Flavors and fillings included chocolate and vanilla cake with oreos and cream buttercream, chocolate buttercream, coffee buttercream, and hazelnut buttercream.

Here’s another popular wedding cake design with a similar paisley design pattern:

Paisley Wedding Cake


View the original article here

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Baby Boy’s Christening Cupcake Tower

Baby Boy's Christening Cupcake Stand

The topper cake is covered in quilted light blue fondant with chocolate dots in each corner. The top is decorated in a white bow which coordinates with the white piped pearls around the base of the tier.

Blue Velvet, Chocolate, & Vanilla Cupcakes

Included along the cupcake stand are 25 blue velvet cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, 25 vanilla with lemon buttercream dyed light blue and 13 chocolate with chocolate and almond buttercream.

View the original article here

Friday, April 27, 2012

Cake Pops


Spring Cake Pops with Yellow Daisy

Cake pops are a great alternative to a cookie or cupcake favor!


Vanilla cross section of cake pop


Vanilla Rainbow Polka Dot Cake Pops




Dark Chocolate with Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch Cake Pops


Red velvet cake pops drizzled with white chocolate


Pink Velvet cross section of cake pop
View the original article here

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Belgian Chocolates Wedding Cakes



If you weren’t craving chocolate before… you’re welcome.

What’s better than a chocolate cake, enrobed in chocolate cigarettes and encircled with Belgian chocolates?  How about a chocolate starburst wedding cake topper?  Shut the front door!

This chocolate chocolate and more chocolate wedding cake would meet the craving needs of any chocoholic bride out there.  Apparently, once the cake had been served, the chocolates were passed around with coffee.

I love the idea of decorating dessert…with more dessert.  Beautifully executed, we think this would make a swell DIY project as well, and could be scaled back for a groom’s cake, or even a birthday cake.  I’m bookmarking it for my big day, in fact.  And if you lurve the idea of a chocolate wedding cake, check out these other two I’ve featured recently:  a chocolate truffle wedding cake (one of my faves) and a sunburst wedding cake, decorated with warm copper tones.

What are your ideas for decorating dessert with more dessert?

View the original article here

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Hostess Cupcake Groom’s Cake



What is with me and chocolate lately? Wait. Could there BE a dumber question?  Eh.  It is what it is.  And…what it is…is another chocolate cake from Brooke.

But look at it, will ya?  Like I could resist!  It’s a giant Hostess cupcake, perched upon the top of what we suspect is the groom’s cake for a lovely summer celebration.  And it’s perfectly executed and instantly recognizable.

Okay, so…confession.  I was never really allowed to have these as a kid, and I wouldn’t let my children touch Hostess products with a ten-foot pole, so they would have no idea what this is (other than a yummy giant chocolate cupcake, and really, isn’t that enough?)  But to my generation, this is instantly recognizable and completely adorable.  Decadent in its size, comforting in its appearance.  And I guarantee, much more delicious than the original.  I wonder if it’s filled?  Surely!

This adorable cake was made by The Hudson Cakery.

View the original article here

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

All White Roses Wedding Cake

I know.  Not the most cutting edge cake I’ve ever featured.  But really.  Look at it.  It’s beautiful.
There is something so wonderful about simplicity.  A single color.  A motif repeated over and over.  Color carried through various design elements.



I guarantee you that many people overlooked just how pretty this cake was.  ”Seen one white cake, seen ‘em all.”  But the artist really paid attention here.  See how the size of the sugarpaste roses gets slightly larger with each layer?  And notice that the whites match, and the bisque porcelain topper inspires the finish of the entire cake.

You may thing that simple equals easy.  Not so.  Sometimes, the meticulous attention to detail that a simple cake requires trumps the busiest of creations.  You can’t fake perfection with simple.  No siree bobby.

View the original article here

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Art Deco Square Wedding Cake

I started to make this cake a feature for Wedding Cake Topper Friday, on account that I heart Paris in the most longing way, and so of course I sighed and swooned when I saw this fabulous cake.  But honestly, the cake is so much more than that topper.  And so here it is, the star of its own post.



I’m a big fan of art deco anyway.  Have you seen Midnight in Paris?  Woody Allen’s 2011 Oscar contender straddled the line between present day and 1920s Paris.  I loved it immediately, and this cake, with its art deco motif and La Tour Eiffel topper, takes me right to it.  And there’s something so complete about the marriage in art deco of a structured, almost masculine background, softened with flourishes and decorative touches.  I suppose I love the balance and symmetry of it.

And this cake displays it beautifully.  The artist limits the color scheme to three colors:  off white, a deeper cream, and brown.  The motifs of dots and scalloped edges is repeated as well.  The meticulous buttercream is applied to the cake with sharp edges, thus further focusing your attention on the piping, and the setting in which the cake is photographed is equally perfect, as the creamy marble backdrop echoes the color and structure of the cake.  The bees’ knees, yes?

View the original article here