Cake Decorating Ideas Blog

Chocolate Easter Bunny

April 3rd, 2010

Chocolate Bunny

Make a Chocolate Easter Bunny for an eye catching addition to any Easter basket!

Bunny in Basket

I have always had my heart set on making a chocolate Easter Bunny, so I set out on a mission to make a special colorful bunny, different from those that you can buy at the store. There were a few hiccups, but all in all I think that this Chocolate Easter bunny is an unforgettable addition to any Easter basket, and will surely bring a smile and Easter cheer to anyone who sees it.

I would caution that this project is challenging, and while I encourage everyone to try it, if you have not used a two part mold before, or worked with chocolate before, I would not recommend this as a first project. Begin with some simpler projects such as one piece molds using one or two colors of chocolate and then move on to this one!

To make this bunny, you will need the following tools -

~Two 12oz squeeze bottles

Candymelter Palette

~Paint brushes of varying thicknesses

~Candy melter palette

~Mold Clips (10) or Binder Clips

~Electric Skillet (optional)

You will also need the following Items -

~Bunny Mold

~1 bag (16 oz) milk chocolate candy melts

Electric Skillet

~1 bag (16 oz) dark blue candy melts (for overalls)

~2 white melts for the eyes

~2 black melts for the eyes

~2 orange melts for bowtie

~2 red melts for pocket

~2 yellow melts for kerchief

~1 pink melt for nose

~1 tan or peanut butter melt for muzzle (you can mix brown and white to get this color as well)

Step 1 – Begin by plugging in the candy melter palette and dropping in all of the various colors you will be using. Let the palette melt the colors while you get the mold and filling colors ready.

Chocolate Bunny Mold

Step 2 – Melt the filling colors. The main filling color is the milk chocolate. This is the color we will be filling the mold with and so we will want to melt this and have it ready for when we need it. Also since the overall color (dark blue) is the second most used color, you will want to have plenty of this color melted and ready for when you need it. I melt each bag of melts separately in a pyrex bowl in the microwave. To do this, I pour the entire 16 oz bag of melts into the bowl and microwave on defrost setting in increments of 30 seconds, stirring in between. Do this, stirring between each heat cycle, until the melts are completely smooth. Use a funnel to transfer the melted chocolate into a 12 oz squeeze bottle (all of the melted chocolate will fit). Do the same with the dark blue melts.

Cutting out Mold

Step 3 – Keep the chocolate warm. To keep these colors warm and liquid while prepping and painting the mold, I place the bottles on top of a couple layers of dishtowels in an electric skillet on the lowest setting. Monitor this carefully, as you do not want the chocolate to get too warm. Rotate the bottles periodically and add additional towels to keep the proper temperature if necessary. Do not leave this unattended as it is a potential fire hazard.

Clipped Empty Mold

Step 4 – Now you are ready to prepare the mold. The mold that I have is not yet cut out. This is fine if you plan to make two halves and stick them together, but to make a 3-D mold you need to cut the mold out so that it can be clipped together. Roughly cut out the halves. Place the halves together and begin to cut through both layers of plastic leaving about 1/2″ border all the way around the mold. Once I get this started, I begin to use the mold clips to hold the cut portion of the mold together while I continue cutting around the entire mold.

Stage 1 Interior

Step 5 – Separate the two sides of the mold and lay them flat on your work surface so that the interior of the mold faces you. Now you are ready to begin painting the details into the mold. Use toothpicks to stir the colors in your candy melter palette. Make sure that they are fully melted and smooth. There will be three stages of painting the chocolate.

Stage 1 Exterior

Chocolate Painting – Stage 1 – On the front interior of the bunny mold use your paintbrushes to paint black into the pupils of the eyes. Paint the pink nose, white teeth, and orange bowtie at this time as well. On the back interior of the bunny mold, use your paintbrush to paint the white tail, red pocket and yellow kerchief. You can use the same paintbrush by using a papertowel or cloth to wipe of the excess chocolate in between colors. Generally I designate one paintbrush per color so that there is no chance of the colors mixing. Whatever you do, do not wash the paintbrushes or get water anywhere near the chocolate work area. Water is the enemy of chocolate and will cause it to seize and become ruined. Use only dry or slightly damp towels or papertowels in the chocolate work area.

Stage 2 Interior

Stage 2 Exterior

Chocolate Painting – Stage 2 – Make sure that your Stage 1 details are dry before beginning stage 2. Do this by touching the chocolate. It should be set, and should not stick to your finger. For Stage 2, paint the white iris of the eyes. Paint all the way around and over the black portion of the eyes so that there are no gaps. Paint the muzzle tan. Paint the overalls on both cavities of the mold using a paintbrush with a wider tip. Make sure that the dark blue overall color adheres to all of the surfaces. Hold the mold above your head to look at the exterior side of the mold to see if the coverage is consistent. Add a thick enough layer of blue so that it is solid and you cannot see through it when looking from the other side.

Stage 2 Face

Chocolate Painting – Stage 3 – At this point make sure that all of your stage 2 details are set. If everything is set, proceed by using a wide tipped brush to paint the entire interior of both halves of the mold with a coat of the milk chocolate filling color. I do this as a precaution. In two sided molds, I have had the unfortunate experience of squeezing my warm filling color into a perfectly detailed mold and seeing my details melt and slide over out of place because the warmth of

Color Slide on Pocket

the filling chocolate caused them to detach from the surface that they were painted to. One solution to this is to use a cooler chocolate or refrain from rotating the mold. I find that if the chocolate is any cooler, it will not completely coat the mold as it should, and I have had sliding occur even when I am not rotating molds. At this point you have already invested a lot of time and effort into this bunny and I advise you to paint the insulating coat of milk chocolate to protect your details. If you have any tricks or solutions for this problem, please let me know.

Stage 3 - Chocolate Coat

Stage 3 Face

Step 6 – Make sure that the insulating coat of milk chocolate is set. Now you are ready to put the two halves together. To do this I use the milk chocolate filled squeeze bottle to fill the back interior of the mold with chocolate. Take the front of the mold and place it on top of the chocolate filled half. Clip the molds together using the chocolate clips. Rotate the entire mold to get the interior completely covered. Another option for filling this mold is to clip both halves together and fill the mold with chocolate through a hole in the bottom. This method requires you to make a hole in the bottom of the mold and make sure you have a container big enough to place the mold in vertically so that it stands upright while you fill it with chocolate.

Filled and Clipped Bunny

Step 7 – Refrigerate the mold until set. I refrigerated this mold for 30-40 minutes. Allowing it to set longer should not do any harm, and once it has set it should easily release from the mold. Just remove the clips and gently pry away the plastic.

Tools for Trimming

Step 8 – Don’t worry that there is an unsightly seam around the bunny. This is normal and can be easily removed using an exacto knife or paring knife (as long as these tools are sharp, they should work). Place the bunny on a piece of parchment or wax paper and use the exacto to remove the excess chocolate from the edges. Dust away any chocolate shavings that land on the bunny, and now you are left with a spectacular Easter treat!

Chocolate Bunny at Home

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Easter Cupcake Project for Kids

March 17th, 2010

Bunny Cupcakes

This is a fantastic Easter cupcake project to do with kids because it is simple and fun. All the kids I know love to bake and decorate, the trick is finding projects that match their attention span, and this one fits the bill. All of the ingredients and decorations can be store bought, and you could even use store bought muffins if you didn’t have time to bake up a batch of cupcakes.

I made these cupcakes with my neighbor, Grace, and she took them to school to share with her class. The idea for these Bunny Cupcakes comes from the book, Cupcakes Year Round by Sara Neumeier. I love this book! It came out even before the cupcake craze and has so many amazing recipes and tips. I make the Hot Buttered Rum Cupcakes every year for Christmas and this book also has my favorite Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe.

Iced Cupcake

To make the Bunny Cupcakes you will need the following:

~ 24 Cupcakes

~Two Containers (about 4 cups) Store Bought Creamy Vanilla Frosting

~Green Food Coloring

~ 24 Bunny Peeps

~ Narrow Ribbon (about 5 feet – 3″ per bunny)

If you want to go the extra step of making your cupcakes and frosting homemade, I suggest carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. It seems like the perfect fit for Bunny Cupcakes.

Step 1 - Make your cupcakes and let them cool completely.

Step 2 – Add drops of green food coloring to your frosting to get the desired shade.

Step 3 – Use an offset spatula to frost the each cupcake.

Step 4 – Tie a 3″ length of ribbon around the bunnies’ necks to form a bow tie. If the ribbon is a bit long, just trim it. Grace added her own touch by giving some of the bunnies bandanas instead of bow ties.

Bandana Bunnies

Step 5 – Use the spatula to put a small dollop of green frosting on the bottom of your bunny and place the bunny in the center of the cupcake.

Voila! Now you have delicious and delightful Easter Treats to share!

Be creative and feel free to make variations on this project. I decided to make some similar cupcakes using the classic yellow chick Peeps and grass. I used grass tip 233 to pipe grass onto a cupcake. Note: Buttercream is best for this. You can use store bought frosting to do this but you will need to put the prepared (filled with tip and icing) into the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour so that the icing will set up enough to get good results with the grass tip.

Classic Peep Cupcake

I use lavender sugar pearls to dot the grass and place a big yellow chick Peep on the top of the mounded grass. Then I piped additional grass around the chick. To avoid the white exposed marshmallow spots that you will see when you cut the Peeps apart, cut two little ovals off of another Peep and stick these on to cover the white spots and serve as wings.

Another variation uses colored coconut as the grass. For this, put some flaked coconut in a bowl and add a few drops of food coloring. Stir the coconut and food coloring until the coconut is the desired shade.

Tinted Coconut

Now frost your cupcakes using an offset spatula. Now the fun part…turn the frosted cupcake upside down and dip it into the bowl of coconut so that it is completely covered. Now you have a grass covered cupcake and all you need to do is add a topper. Peeps come in so many different colors and shapes, you can chose any color combination you want.

Use the offset spatula to add a dollop of frosting the the bottom of your Peep and place the Peep in the center of the cupcake. Using your fingers grab a small amount of the coconut to cover any exposed frosting around the Peep.

Peep Cupcakes

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Ducky Cupcake Tree

March 3rd, 2010

Ducky Cupcake Tree

This cupcake tree is perfect for a baby shower or baby birthday. Guests will be in awe that the ducky cupcake toppers are cute and edible too!

You will need about 30-32 cupcakes to fill the cupcake tower. The three tier cupcake stand will fit approximately 28-40 cupcakes depending on how far your frosting and decorations extend beyond the cupcake. For the photo I fit 28 cupcakes on the stand.

To make the cupcakes you will need the following –

~Ducky Suckers (follow this link for directions and materials needed to make the Ducky suckers)

~Pastel Fluted Baking Cups (if you want all of the baking cups to be the same color (as shown in the picture) you will need two packages of these baking cups because they are an assortment and contain 20 each of the three colors shown.

~One batch of Buttercream Icing or other firm frosting or icing recipe (you need a frosting that will hold its shape). You will need about 9 cups.

~Disposable or Reusable Pastry Bag

~Tip 1M

~Orange Gel Paste

~Three Tier Cupcake Stand

Cupcake Setup

Step 1 – Use your favorite recipe or a box mix to make the cupcakes. You will need a recipe that makes at least 30 cupcakes to fill the tree. If you are using box cake mix you will need two boxes. Use a ¼ cup scoop to fill each baking cup. These fluted baking cups are slightly shallower than a regular baking cup so they take a bit less batter. Bake as directed.

Step 2 – Cool the cupcakes fully. If you don’t wait for the cupcakes to cool completely, the frosting will melt off of the cupcakes. If you haven’t already made your icing you may want to do this at this time. Color your icing with orange gel paste to get the desired shade.

Step 3 –Set up your 3 tier cupcake stand. This way you will have a place to put your decorated cupcakes. If you are traveling you will want to set the stand up once you get to your location and place the cupcakes on at that time.

Ducky Suckers

Step 4 – Prepare your pastry bag for decorating. Drop tip 1M (this is a large tip and does not work with a coupler) into the bottom of your decorating bag and fill the bag with frosting. Take one cupcake in your hand and begin piping blossoms all over the cupcake. Hold the tip close to the surface of the cupcake. Squeeze the bag firmly to make sure that the frosting will adhere to the cupcake. Stop squeezing and pull the tip away from the cupcake to form a blossom. Continue doing this until the cupcake is completely covered. I find that it is easiest to work from the center outward. Repeat this process to decorate all of the remaining cupcakes.

Step 5 – Place the Ducky Suckers on the cupcakes. Simply stick the lollipop stick into the center of the cupcake so that the ducky is resting atop the frosting. Remember – Ducky Lollipop sticks must be cut down by an inch to an inch and a half so that they will be the right height for the cupcakes.

Ducky Closeup

Step 6 – Place cupcakes on the three tier cupcake stand. When loading, be careful to place cupcakes on either side to balance the stand. Do not place all of the cupcake on one side as the stand may tip. Also remember this when unloading the stand. Slide cupcakes into the nooks in the center of the stand. Continue placing until all cupcakes are on the stand.

It is best to place the cupcakes on the stand once the stand is in its final position. This is because moving the fully loaded stand is difficult. If you have to move the stand lift from the legs not from the bottom tier as the bottom tier will rise up and smash your cupcakes.

Step 7 – Add a decorative border such as an eyelet ribbon to the sides of the tiers or leave as is for a beautiful display.

Buttercream Recipe

2 lb Bag Powdered/Confectioners’ Sugar
1 ½ tsp Clear Vanilla Extract (You can use regular vanilla if you don’t need the frosting to be white)
½ tsp Salt
1-1/3 Cups Boiling Water
1 ½ Sticks Unsalted Butter (12 oz) Cut into ½” cubes
3 Cups Shortening

Sift the powdered sugar and place in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Put whisk attachment on mixer. Add boiling water, vanilla, and salt. Mix until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is warm not hot. Add remaining ingredients and mix on high speed for about ten minutes.

Duckies

Posted in Chocolate Molding, Cupcakes | 1 Comment »

Ducky Suckers

March 2nd, 2010

Ducky Suckers

These Ducky Suckers are adorable favors for a baby shower, Easter party or other celebration. They can also be used to construct our Ducky Cupcake Tree.

To make the ducky suckers you will need the following –

~Ducky Mold (if you are making a large quantity I recommend you use at least two molds. The more molds, the faster the process will go.)
~4 bags yellow candy melts (this will make about 40 duckies – 1 bag makes approximately 10 duckies)
~2 white melts for the eyes
~2 black melts for the eyes
~2 orange melts for the beaks
~40 four and a half inch lollipop sticks

Tools needed for this project are as follows –

~12oz or 6oz squeeze bottle
~Very fine tipped paint brush
~Candymelter palette (optional)
~Electric Skillet (optional)
~Toothpicks

Candymelter Palette

While the candymelter palette and electric skillet are optional I highly recommend these tools especially if you plan on doing other chocolate projects. If you can get just one, get the candymelter palette first and the electric skillet second. The candymelter palette is one of those tools that once you get you will never be able to live without. It has made my candy projects so much easier! You plug the palette in, drop in one or two candy melts/wafers in each of the tiny aluminum cups and it melts them and then keeps them warm while you work. When I first started trying to do chocolate projects I would get all of the different colors I wanted to use melted and then just as I would begin to work I would realize that the first color I melted had already set up. This is so frustrating. The candymelter palette solves this problem and makes colorful candy projects much easier.

The electric skillet is also very useful and you may even have one of these at home already. You can use it to keep small cups of melted candy warm. I put mine on the lowest setting, put a couple of terrycloth dishtowels directly onto the skillet and then place my candy filled squeeze bottles on top of the towels. This keeps the chocolate warm so you don’t have to reheat it while you’re working.

Now that you have everything you need, it’s time to begin making the duckies.

Yellow Melts

Step 1 – Put the white candy melts, black candy melts and orange candy melts in individual cups of the candymelter palette and plug in. If not using the candymelter palette, melt these in small cups and keep warm in electric skillet or re-warm as needed.

Step 2 – Melt 1 bag of yellow candy melts. I do this in the microwave. I put the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl and melt on defrost setting in 30 second increments stirring each time. You want the melts to melt evenly and not get too hot or they may seize up and become difficult to work with.

Funnel & Squeeze Bottle

Once the candy is melted, I use a funnel to get the candy into my squeeze bottle. Some people prefer to melt the candy directly in the squeeze bottle. This is an option that I have tried but I find that it can be difficult to get all of the candy completely melted and if it is not fully melted, candy globs will plug the tip of the squeeze bottle.

You should have leftover candy in the bowl. I place this in the electric skillet to keep it warm until I need to refill my squeeze bottle.

Paint Black Eye & Beak

Step 3 – Use a very fine tipped paint brush to paint the ducky eyes. Begin by putting a small dab of black on the eye of the mold to serve as the pupil. Do this for all of the eyes on the mold. If you are using more than one mold, complete the pupils for all of the eyes on all of the molds before moving on.

Step 4 – Use a very fine tipped paint brush to paint the ducky beaks. If you have just one paint brush use a dry paper towel or cloth to wipe the bristles before changing to another color. Do not use water to wash the brush. Bringing water in contact with the candy melts will cause them to seize and become unworkable. Use the orange candy melts to paint the beaks. I try to get a droplet of orange candy and place it on the beak so that the beak is solid and not see through. You can also achieve this by doing multiple coats.

Paint White Eye

Step 5 – Make sure that the black has set up before painting the white over it to complete the eye. If you are using just one mold, you probably need to wait a few minutes. If you are using more than one you can probably proceed because by the time you are finished the first mold is probably dry. To test, just touch the black and if it is still liquid it is not set up enough.

Once the black is set, paint the white directly over the black and all around to form the iris. You will want to put a significant amount of white candy on the eye so that it will not be see through.

Frontview Ducky

Step 6 – Make sure that the eye is fully set as described in step 5. This will take about 5 minutes at room temperature. Now you can go ahead and fill in the rest of the mold with yellow candy melts. Use the squeeze bottle to fill each ducky cavity. Fill all of cavities in the mold. Keeping the mold level, tap the mold on the counter to fill in the cavities and to get the air bubbles to rise to the top. Note: Do not tap excessively as this may cause the colors to bleed together. You can hold the mold over your head to check and see if this is happening.

Fill Molds

Now insert the lollipop sticks. Poke the lollipop stick into the candy surface and then rotate to get it fully embedded. If necessary you can cover the lollipop stick with some additional candy using the squeeze bottle.

If you are using multiple molds, follow the above process for one mold at a time. If you fill the cavities in all of the molds the candy may have set up a bit before you come back to tap and insert the lollipop sticks.

Insert Lollipop Sticks

Tap Out Bubbles

Step 7 – Place the mold in your refrigerator until set. In my refrigerator this takes about ten minutes. The molds can also be set a room temperature on a cool day, but this will take a lot longer.

Step 8 – Release the duckies. If the duckies do not release easily and part of the eye or candy is left behind, the mold has not set long enough and you need to refrigerate it for a longer period of time.

Duckies in Mold

Step 9 – Enjoy! The chocolate ducky suckers will keep for a very long time (I have kept some for months). A benefit of making things with chocolate and candy melts is that they are stable and almost non-perishable. If you are using the duckies for the Ducky Cupcake Tree you will need to cut about an inch to an inch and a half off of the bottom of each lollipop stick so that they will be the right height for sticking in cupcakes. If you are making the ducky lollipop favors you will need 3”x4” Clear Treat Bags and approximately 12” of ribbon per lollipop to tie in a bow.

Duckies with Ribbon

Posted in Chocolate Molding, Cupcakes | 2 Comments »

Ladybug Cake

February 26th, 2010

Ladybug Cake

This is a cake that I made for a friend of mine’s little girl’s 1st birthday. I love ladybugs and had just purchased a new Backyard Bugs cake pan that I wanted to use. I had a limited amount of time for this cake so I wanted a simple design. The birthday party invitation featured pink, white, and green so I thought I would use those for the cake. Using white as one of the colors saves time because it is one less fondant color to mix.

I started with a three layer 10″ diameter cake. I covered that with white fondant and made the green band that wraps around the bottom of the cake. I made holes in the green band before placing it on the cake. I then used the same small round cutter that I used to make the holes in the green band to cut out dots to fill those holes. I then made the wavy stripes and straight stripes using the fondant cutter tool.

The second tier is a 6″ diameter, three layer tier that I covered in green fondant. I made a band similar to the one on the bottom tier and then cut out tiny white flowers to place all over.

Ladybug

The cake topper is the Ladybug, and as mentioned before it is the Ladybug Cakelette from the Backyard Bugs cake pan. I baked the Ladybug and let it cool before decorating it with a thin layer of fondant. The eyes are royal icing.

In addition to this cake, there was a tiny little cake especially for the birthday girl to enjoy all for herself.

Mini Cakelette

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St. Patrick’s Day Cookies

February 18th, 2010

Lucky Shamrock Cookies

Fun to make & tasty too, these Shamrock Shortbread Cookies are sure to bring you good luck and brighten your St. Patty’s Day!

To make the Shamrock Cookies you will need the following:
~ Shamrock Cookie Stamp
~ Scalloped Cutter Set or 2 ¼” Round or Scalloped Cutter
~ Emerald Green Luster Dust
~ Lemon Juice

Tools needed for this project are as follows -
~ Rolling Pin for rolling the dough
~ Small Paint Brush
~ Cookie Sheet
~ 8” Angled Icing Spatula or other lifting tool
~ Small Dish for mixing Luster Dust and lemon juice
~ Toothpicks

Shortbread Dough

Step 1 – Begin by making the cookie dough. I used the Shortbread Recipe that comes with the Rycraft Cookie Stamp. This is a very simple shortbread recipe (I substituted superfine sugar for plain sugar) but you could use any kind or dough that is meant to be rolled and cut. The shortbread may seem a bit crumbly in the bowl, but you should be able to press it together with your hands to get it to form a ball.

Rolling Dough

Step 2 – Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface or piece of parchment paper dusted with flour. Roll the dough to about ¼” thick. The surface of the dough doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth or unblemished because you are going to use the cookie stamp to make an impression that will cover imperfections.

Stamping Cookies

Step 3 – Now that the dough is rolled out it’s time to stamp the cookies. To prevent the cookie dough from sticking to the stamp you can dust the stamp with a bit of flour. Make sure to tap all of the flour out of the stamp or use a toothpick to get flour out of the stamp. If the stamp is clogged with flour, you will not get a clean impression. Now stamp as many Shamrocks as you can on the dough you have rolled out approximately 2 ½” apart (center to center). This will ensure that you have enough space to cut them out with your round or scalloped cutter.

Step 4 – Cut the cookies out using a 2 ¼” Scalloped or Round Cutter.

Cutting Out Cookies

Step 5 – Remove excess dough from around the cookies.

Removing Excess

Step 6 – Using an angled spatula lift the cookies onto your cookie sheet. If you are not using a Silpat or nonstick cookie sheet, bake the cookies on a sheet of parchment paper so they won’t stick.

Cookies on Sheet

Step 7 – Once your cookie sheet is filled put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. This will help the shamrock design to come out more crisply and will minimize puffing. Turn the oven to the temperature indicated on the recipe.

Step 8 – Now it’s time to bake the cookies. Pull the cookie sheet directly out of the refrigerator and place in the oven. Bake as per the recipe. I baked these cookies for about 12 minutes.

Step 9 – Remove cookies from the oven and let cool. Move to a cooling rack.

Mixing Luster Dust Paint

Step 10 – Once the cookies are completely cool, it is time to decorate! This is my favorite part! Begin by mixing together the luster dust and lemon juice. The lemon juice is used because it is clear and will help to make a paint out of the luster dust. You could try other clear liquids. Clear vanilla and vodka work as well. Mix the luster dust and lemon juice to the desired consistency. I wanted the emerald green to be a vibrant and saturated with color, so I used very little lemon juice to luster dust. Try 1/8 tsp luster dust per 1 drop of lemon juice. From there you can add more of either depending on what shade you want. Use a small paint brush to mix the luster dust and liquid.

Step 11 – Paint the Luster Dust paint you have just created onto the cookies. Make more paint as needed. If the mixture dries out, add more lemon juice.

Painting Cookies

Step 12 – Let the cookies dry for a couple of hours before stacking so that the paint will have set up.

Now you have beautiful St. Patty’s Day treats to share. I love the look of the shimmery green luster dust paint that decorates these cookies. These cookies will last for a long time (at least two weeks) when stored in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Tags: cookie, cookies, decorate, luster dust, recipe, shortbread
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Farm Animals Cake

February 11th, 2010

Farm Animals Cake

Fondant Animals

I made the Farm Cake for my Sister’s baby shower. She loves cows and the shower was farm themed, so I thought this would be fun.

The animals are made of fondant colored with gel paste colors. Debbie Brown’s 50 Easy Party Cakes helped to inspire me for this cake. Instructions on making the pigs and sheep can be found in this book and the barn is similar to a barn shown in the book. Other items such as the cow, chick, and vegetables are also made of fondant. The sculpting set helps to make these figures and it just takes patience and trial and error to see what works. I recommend making the animals at least 3 days in advance and preferably a week to a month in advance so that they have set up by the time you put them on the cake. I use a small paintbrush and a very, very tiny amount of water to attach fondant to fondant such as when attaching the ears to the pigs and cow. These figures must then be left to set so that the fondant will bond.

Once the fondant figures have dried, they will be easier to move around and attach to the cake. I attach all of the figures to the cake using a basic royal icing recipe.

For the barn I bake a sheet cake and cut it into rectangles to make four layers. I put 4 lollipop stick supports through the first two layers of this cake, and cut a cake cardboard to fit and place this on top of the second layer. I then place the next two layers of cake on the barn and frost it using an 8″ Angled Spatula. I placed this in the refrigerator to set up. The barn is covered in fondant strips that have been etched with a wood grain using the point on the end of a ruler.

Posted in Farm Animals Cake, Fondant Cakes | 1 Comment »

Circus Cake

February 3rd, 2010

Fondant & Chocolate Circus Cake

I made this cake for my nephew’s 1st birthday. The birthday party included a trip to the zoo so I wanted to include animals. This cake is fondant and chocolate (candy coating). The peanuts, elephant rocking horse, and animal plaques that surround the cake are all made of candy coating/chocolate melts. I use the candy melter palette to keep many different colors of chocolate warm at once so that I don’t have to keep rewarming as it solidifies. Using a small paintbrush I paint the different detail colors into the molds. I let the detail colors set for at least five minutes before using a squeeze bottle to fill the background color of the mold. I attach the chocolates to the cake using a basic royal icing recipe. This cake went for an hour and a half ride in the car and nothing fell off, so the royal icing is pretty reliable. This cake drum is simply a white cake drum. It does not have any thing attached to it. I use fabric glue to attach blue rick rack to a 5/8″ yellow grosgrain ribbon and use it (attached with hot glue) to cover the base of the cake drum. This is one of my favorite cakes; I like the simple color scheme, retro feel, and the combination of chocolate and fondant decoration. This is one of the few cakes that turned out the way I intended. Also it is one of the easier cakes I have made and this is partially because the chocolates were all made in advance so the final decorating involved getting the fondant on the cake and then just attaching and placing the animals. Happy decorating!

Posted in Cakes with Chocolate Molds, Circus Cake, Fondant Cakes | Comments Off

Cake Decorating Ideas Blog

Chocolate Easter Bunny

Easter Cupcake Project for Kids

Ducky Cupcake Tree

Ducky Suckers

Ladybug Cake

Farm Animals Cake

Circus Cake

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