July 2010 Morningstar Cakes and Treats

Where were you in the month of June?

During the month of June I was working at Target Bakery. Unfortunately I developed an issue with Dequervain's Tendonitis and had to leave that job. I did take pictures of some of the cakes I made while working there. Here is a link to photos of those cakes. :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061920&id=1095871167&l=03d0a84fba

Link to Corpse Bride Inspired Wedding Cake

Corpse Bride inspired Wedding Cake

This is the cake I did for a friend's wedding  that was celebrated May 1st, 2010. This cake is styled after the one seen in the movie Corpse Bride. It's not exactly like it but it resembles it quite nicely.

The cake is a four tier red velvet cake with vanilla icing covered in fondant with sculpted skulls and bones. The topper is also decorated  with fondant. The figures on the topper of the cake are made of gum paste. This was made by adding Tylose powder to the fondant. I used Satin Ice fondant on this project. I was pleased with how easy it was to roll it out thinly.

This cake was very labor intensive but worth every minute of it. The final product was very nice. :)

Thinking Outside the Cake Box

 I still had some butter cream fondant and decided to have a little fun with it. I made a special little cake for my family. I used cutters and impression molds I purchased from the clay art section of my local craft store. These leaf cutters are for working with Sculpey but they work really well for this medium. That is a good place to look for tools that can be used for fondant/gumpaste cake art. They were on clearance and I got quite a few different leaf styles for less than $6. Awesome!

I also use scrapbooking Fiskars tools for some of the things I make for my cakes. In particular I like the texture plates. They work really well with the fondant and gumpaste.

I have two more examples. First is my fondant rolling pin. It is really just a section of pvc pipe. It cost me $1.99 as opposed to the $21.00 Wilton wanted for their fondant rolling pin. Mine is longer and easier to handle. Works like a dream. :) Second is a high density foam roller that I use to smooth out my butter cream icing. It looks almost like fondant when I do it that way. A nice alternative for folks who don't really care for fondant but like the way it looks. Neither of these are cake decorating tools but they do the job quite nicely. Both are excellent tools.

Think outside the cake box when it comes to cake decorating tools. You might be surprised with what you can find in the craft store, or your local hardware store. You can let your imagination run wild. Just make sure you choose things that are non-toxic and dedicate those tools to only working with food.

Buttercream Fondant Recipe

The decoration of this cake was inspired by one of the cakes on the Mad Hatter's table in the new Alice in Wonderland movie.
BUTTERCREAM FONDANT RECIPE
Ingredients
* 1 cup light corn syrup
* 1 cup shortening
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
* 2 pounds confectioners' sugar
Directions
1. In a large bowl, stir together the shortening and corn syrup. Mix in the salt and vanilla flavoring, then gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar until it is a stiff dough. If you are using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment. Otherwise, knead by hand. If the dough is sticky, knead in more confectioners' sugar until it is smooth. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
2. To use, roll out on a clean surface that has been dusted with confectioners' sugar until it is 1/8 inch thick or thinner if you can. Drape over frosted and chilled cakes and smooth the sides down, or cut into strips to make bows and other decorations.

Butter Cream Transfer

This is our first attempt at butter cream transfer.

My daughter wanted to make a cake for the birthday of one of her youth group leaders. We decided it would be fun to try out the butter cream transfer method on this cake.

We started by choosing the image we wanted on our cake. We chose the symbol for Mosaic Church. It is a crown of thorns in case you were wondering. :)

To have the image turn out right we needed to reverse the image. We did this by tracing the image on the other side of the page.

We chose the colors for our image and labeled the image to avoid confusion. After labeling we slipped the image into a plastic sleeve.

We then traced the image using a #2 tip and butter cream we had tinted black.

We filled in the first color using a #5 tip and butter cream tinted blue. We then added the second color was piped in using a #5 tip and butter cream tinted grey.

Here is the completed reverse image.

We traced the outer edge of the image and then filled in the area with butter cream using the same color we had on our cake. We piped using a #10 tip and then smoothed it with a small offset cake decorator spatula.

This is what the image looks like from underneath. Turned out nicely! :) At this point the transfer goes into the freezer for 45 minutes to an hour.

We flip our frozen image on to the cake and smoothed it into the cake. We carefully peeled the plastic off of our transfer.

My daughter then added the lettering. :)

Lovely results for our first attempt at butter cream transfer. Can't wait to use this technique again. It was fun!


Here's the video we watched to learn how to do this. :)
Butter Cream Transfer Technique

Cake Channel Link

I was looking for some new ideas and inspiration and found this site. There are some excellent photographs of all kinds of cakes. Follow the link to see them for yourself. Enjoy!

WEDDING CAKE PHOTOS AT CAKE CHANNEL

HAPPY EASTER

This is my second attempt at basketweave. The icing was a little too soft. I'm not perfectly happy with it but it's cute.

Monkey Face Cake Tutorial Video

Monkey Face Cake Tutorial Video

Link to Chocolate Cake Strawberry Pie Tutorial

Chocolate Cake Strawberry Pie Tutorial

Morningstar Cakes YouTube Channel

Morningstar Cakes YouTube Channel

I am working on setting up and launching our YouTube channel! It's all set up but I don't currently have content on it. I plan on putting some videos up in the next week or so. I will post a memo to this blog when we begin uploading videos.

I have gone ahead and favorited some videos you might find interesting. Go take a look at the channel and check them out.

If there is something in particular that you would like to learn how to do please let me know. I will try to incorporate your ideas and requests into the tutorials.  I'm looking forward to sharing what I'm learning with you.

Chocolate Cake/Strawberry Pie

Chocolate cake shell, whipped cream/meringue, and fresh strawberries.  Sweets for my sweethearts.

Click on the photo to see it enlarged.  :)

Hamentaschen!!!!!!

Hamentaschen Recipe

These are the Hamentaschen I made today in celebration of Purim. :)
The fillings were fig and black cherry. Follow the link for the recipe I used to make these little lovely things. Yummmmmmm.

Lemon Cake with Vanilla Whipped Cream/Meringue Frosting.

Native Drum Cake

8 " round. 3 layers (chocolate/vanilla/chocolate), Marshmallow fondant "leather" and drumstick made of modeling chocolate and marshmallow fondant.

I was finally able to correct the problems I was having with making mmf. Less shortening, more kneading, constant moving while rolling. :)

~ HAPPY VALENTINES ~

Chocolate cupcakes with yummy buttercream frosting, white Non Pareils, and purple sugar. Sweet things for the sweet ones in my life. :)

Skull and Bones Practice / Gumpaste

These skull and bone gumpaste details were made as practice for a future cake.

Native Drum Cake

Currently working out the details for a Native drum cake my Scouter son has requested.   The cake is for this upcoming monday so I'll be adding pictures in the next few days. Should be fun. :)

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my Alice Cakes. I might do the second one for Sunday evening. Not sure yet.

Frozen Buttercream Transfer

Interesting technique idea I just found on YouTube...

Frozen Buttercream Transfer Video

I'm going to have to find a reason to try it out. :)

Alice Cakes

I'm so thrilled about the upcoming Alice in Wonderland movie! Can't wait to see it. I was looking through some of the stills for the movie when I spied 3 of the loveliest cakes on the Mad Hatter's table. I think I just have to make them. It's madness but I can't help it. :)

I'll add photos of the cakes as I make them throughout the next couple of weeks. Even I can't wait to see them. The first one is baking up in the oven as we speak......

These three cakes will use a number of different techniques. On the first we have a four layer construction, iced and decorated. For the second cake we have a miniature tiered cake with colored icing and piping. On the last cake we have fondant covering, fondant leaves and fresh fruit topping. Each one comes with it's own techniques and challenges. Check back to see the three cakes inspired by the stills as I create them for my mad and wonderful family. I will be adding the pictures as edits to this post.

Alice Cake #1 Chocolate cake with vanilla chocolate chip icing. The first is this little cube cake with marshmallow details inspired by one of the stills. It's really cute. I baked a 10" chocolate cake and cut it into fourths to create a 5"x5" tower. I then stacked it using frosting between each layer. I added a wooden dowel in the center for stability before icing the outside. Had lots of fun shaping and smoothing it into a stylized (slightly mad) cube. Then I cut marshmallows and pressed them into the icing. Lots of mad yummy fun. :)
Note: I think this cake should be made of a sturdier cake if I'm going to cut and stack four layers. It was a little more difficult to make it do what I needed it to do with very soft textured cake. I might re-make this cake in the future with a different/sturdier recipe for the cake.
Alice Cake #2 Vanilla cake with Vanilla Butter Cream Fondant, raspberries, and LOVE. :) This cake is a 9" round one layer cake.

South Lake Flag Retirement Ceremony / Scout Cakes

The First Annual Flag Retirement Ceremony in Clermont, Florida on Friday, February 5th, 2010. The Flag Retirement Pit was built this year as an Eagle Project by Michael Sulsenti from Troop 551.

This year  marks the 100th anniversary of Scouting in United States.  In addition to that we will also be celebrating the Cub Scout Pack 551 Blue and Gold (Birthday of Cub Scouting) at this event.

Special thanks goes out to Sweetbay for donating all the materials necessary for making the cakes I made for this special Scout event. Thank you for supporting our Scouts and serving our community!  Pack and Troop 551 Clermont, Florida is honored to have you take part in this event.

Making Royal Icing Details

Step 1: To make my pre-made royal icing details I start by making the royal icing from the Wilton websiteWilton Royal Icing

Step 2: I choose the colors and and tint my icing.  Keep the icing covered as it dries quickly and will become difficult to work with.

Step 3: I draw out what I want to create on standard 8 1/2 by 11 paper.

Step 4: I slip the drawing in a plastic page protector.

Step 5: I choose tips and fill my decorator bags with the different colored icing. To keep the icing from drying out, use a rubber band to keep the contents in and place the filled decorator bags in a glass that has a moistened paper towel at the bottom. This keeps your icing from hardening at the tip.

Step 6: Pipe your decoration directly on the protector sheet.  Note:Trace the image first and then pipe decoratively.

Step 7: Let your creation dry at least 3 hours or overnight. (Overnight is best) Resist the urge to fiddle with it as it dries.

Step 8: You can transfer the decoration to your iced cake using a cake spatula. Transfer it carefully. If your decoration cracks, do not fret. Just place it carefully on the icing and gently slide it back together. These are quite fragile. Reserve some royal icing in case of "fatal" breakage so that you can replace the item if needed.

Scout symbol/flag

These are the royal icing center elements for the Scout cakes I'm making for our Flag Retirement ceremony/Blue and Gold this Friday. I think they turned out really well. Now to let them dry out so that they can be transfered to the cakes. :)

Jacob's Bionicle Cake

Bionicle Mask Birthday Cake / Jacob 9

This is the cake for my son Jacob's 9th birthday. It is a butter cake with cocoa butter cream frosting. The mask is made out of chocolate rice cereal treat covered in modeling chocolate and dusted with golden edible dusting powder. I decided to leave the smaller masks off of the cake.

100 Years of Scouting/Cake Decoration Idea

Gum Paste Bionicle Masks

Working on masks for the Bionicle cake my son requested. The task was proving a little more difficult than I hoped it would be. The masks are about 1 1/2 inches long and about 1 inch wide. I'm debating if they should go on the cake.

Dark Chocolate-Walnut Macaroons (Low Carb)

Super Smooth Icing Technique

Today was my 9 year old's birthday. He wanted a triangle cake. We made a square pan of brownies that we cut and stacked. The icing was the high humidity icing recipe from Wilton.  I tried a new method on this cake that I learned from Cake Decorating with Donna. The icing comes out so smooth that it almost looks like fondant. Wonderful smooth canvas for decorating! Thanks Donna for this fantastic trick!!!

Click on the image for a closer look. ----------------->

Cake Decorating with Donna