Time for some Golf! Happy 60th Birthday!

This cake was from last week and was a triple-layer lemon cake. Having made some lemon curd before hand, I mixed it with the buttercream, along with some lemon zest and juice to boost the flavour, as well as spreading a thin layer of the curd between the layers of sponge.

Contrasting to the usual method of levelling each layer of the cake for a flat top, this time I worked with the rounded top to the cake, shaving it back slightly. The purpose of this was to utilise the curve to help emphasise the the green in the centre of the cake. With the cake covered in dark green fondant, I cut a rounded piece of lighter green fondant as the golf green, to be placed on top.

This cake gave me the opportunity to test out pastillage for the first time. It's initial texture is similar to that of fondant, but dries quickly and rock hard. The flag, flag pole and golf club were made using the pastillage. The main reason though for using pastillage was to make a backdrop plaque to resemble the front of a pub in Cork; the Bishopstown Bar. First, I coloured the pastillage using powder dusts, which are better as they help maintain its original consistency. Using a photo as a template, I cut out the necessary layers of the plaque. Once dried hard, assembly and decoration was next. I used royal icing for the detail on the plaque.

Two Rowers & A Boat!

Chocolate, chocolate & more chocolate...triple layer chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream! 

There was a small bit of carving in this cake, just to recess the river slightly.  To cover the cake, I used M&B green fondant. Although this brand is great for strength of colour. However, I find it very soft and sticky, making it tricky to work with. Any suggestions on better brands, but still having strong colour, feel free to comment below!

For the river, I marbled some light and navy blue, white and black fondant, cut it in a curved shape, and smoothed it into the green fondant covering the cake. Lastly was the cake topper; a rowing boat with two rowers for the twins' whose birthday it was! All the components of this decoration were made from fondant strengthened with Tylo powder, and I used some wooden skewers for extra support. The final touch was to dress the rowers in the club colours of Cork Boat Club!

Happy 80th Birthday!

Here's the latest...a numbers cake to celebrate an  80th Birthday!

This was only my second numbers cake so some trial and error was done on the computer to get the right size for the numbers. Filling and layering the cake came first, then cutting around the templates. Once the shapes were created, crumb coating was next, followed by a stint in the fridge to firm up.

To cover the cake, I decided to go with a cream/ivory tone for the fondant; a bit warmer than white! This was also my first time using The Mat. It made transferring and applying the fondant so much easier! It also meant I could roll the fondant that bit thinner without having to worry about it sticking to the counter!

Finally...the flowers! For most of the roses, I used a technique from Youtube. For more, I used some PME cutters and plunger cutters and stacked the layers. Then for a few I just did some loose folds in fondant and formed some flowers. Originally I had hand made some leaves but they weren't great. I purchased the Blossom Sugar Art leaf cutter and mould set which worked really well in the end.

Orange Cupcakes!

Just a snap of some orange flavoured cupcakes for Dad's birthday :)

Basic vanilla sponge recipe with grated orange zest and a splash of freshly squeezed orange juice.
Topped with a swirl of buttercream with orange zest and juice.

Final touch; a sprinkle of finely grated orange zest!

"I am your father!"

Here's the latest cake! A very specific request this time for a Darth Vader cake! 

I worked with the cake mainly from online images of an actual Darth Vader tin Wilton make. I used it as a gude and reference for carving the cake and later adding the details. This was definitely a cool one to make, and not as stressful as I anticipated! One of the most enjoyable parts was actually in covering the cake board. I decided that rather than doing one solid colour I would try my hand at marbelling. So I took some strips of dark blue, light blue, black and white fondant, sprinkled in points with silver dust. With a few twists and turns and then rolling it out, I was pretty happy with how it turned out. It really made the cake stand out and also added some nice additional detail. For the Birthday message, I used the Clickstix Groovy lower case letter cutters I recently got.

All in all, a very enjoyable cake to make, and it looks fairly cool!

Belated Happy Easter!

Just a short post with a snap of the small cake I made for the family for our Easter Sunday meal! Quick few details...chocolate sponge with chocolate buttercream. The outside of the cake was just chocolate buttercream...left the fondant out this time. Had a first attempt at a buttercream smoothing technique using paper towels. It worked out okay but the paper towels weren't smooth enough so left a bit of a pattern, but it looked alright in the end! As a small decoration, I covered a cupcake in twisted strands of fondant using the Sugarcraft gun to make a little Easter basket, filled with some mini eggs! I cut an oval of yellow fondant and used letter embossers to write Happy Easter. Finally, I used the Blossom Hydrangea mould for some flowers, and hand cut some leaves.

Happy Birthday Grandad!

Just a quick post for the latest cake. This occasion; my wonderful grandfather's birthday! This one was a small square 2-layer vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and a layer of raspberry jam. I covered the cake in light blue fondant & the theme of the cake was a crossword, given his love of puzzles! The Happy Birthday message was displayed as words in the crossword, and had the added decorations of a fondant pencil and rubber. The finishing touch to the cake was a border to the bottom of the cake. Having recently purchased a sugar craft gun, this was my first opportunity to test it! I made two strips of different strengths of blue, and twisted for a two-tone rope affect for the border.