Cake Inspiration Archives - Sugared Productions Blog

Chilled, stacked, filled and crumb coated cake – I like it chilled so there is no chance of the cake moving around at all while I’m finishing it. I also use swiss meringue buttercream to frost all of my cakes.
A turntable
Batch of buttercream
Offset spatula
Tapered offset spatula

Place your prepared cake on the turntable.

Using your offset spatula, apply a layer of buttercream to the top and sides of the cake. I left the top of the cake completely flat instead of adding any sort of texture. If you choose to do that, make sure to spend the extra time to make the top of your cake smooth and even.

The entire cake should now be roughly butter creamed with at least 1/4 inch of buttercream.

Grab your tapered offset spatula. I like to start at the bottom, though there probably is no reason at all why you shouldn’t be able to do the same technique from the top. I hold the tapered off set spatula almost flat against the cake, you don’t want to be gouging the cake as you rotate the turntable just leaving a slight indentation around the sides of the cake.

Gently rotate the turntable while keeping the tip against the sides of the cake. When you seem to be accumulating some buttercream build up, scrape off the excess buttercream from your spatula back into your buttercream bowl and place the tapered spatula right back where you left off. As I rotate I slowly begin to move my spatula up to create the next line around the cake. Keep rotating and moving your tapered offset spatula up the sides of the cake till you reach the top. Once I reach the top of the cake, I come back and “fix” any areas that don’t quite match up to the other areas of the cake.

But thats it really! Just a whole lot of spinning while indenting.

Remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect. That’s the beauty of a rustic design. Embrace your occasional glob of buttercream, your line that goes askew when the phone rings and startles you, and the large bump over a chunk of strawberry in your buttercream! These “imperfections” give your cake character.

If you have multiple tiers to do, just stack them up after completing the buttercream and allowing the tiers to chill a bit in the fridge. Super simple, super quick and super rustic!
As always, if you all have questions or comments, I’d love to hear them and will try to get back to you right away.

— The Fondant Flinger

The post Guest Post: Rustic Buttercream appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

Guest Post: Ruffle Cupcake Topper Tutorial

Sharon Z — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 07:00:05 +0000

Hi Sugar Babies! This week we have another guest post from our friend, the Fondant Flinger.

Let’s learn how to make some cute cupcake toppers!

Ruffle Cupcake Topper Tutorial

Just a rather simple tutorial with very few tools. Here is what you’ll need:

Round Cutters
X-acto blade
Square of foam
Cutting mat
Small Rolling Pin
Ball tool
Fondant
Powdered sugar to keep things from getting sticky on ya
Plastic wrap to keep fondant nice and pliable
Small paintbrush (I use a fine point paintbrush for these)
Small amount of water or sugar glue

Using your small rolling pin, roll out your fondant on self-healing cutting mat dusted with powdered sugar. I like my fondant rather thing so I roll mine to approximately 1/8? thick. Using a round cutter about 2? in diameter, cut out as many disks as cupcake toppers you are making.

Remove excess fondant and wrap tightly with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Carefully set aside the round disks to dry. You need to gently move them so your pretty little round disks don’t become misshapen ovals, unless you happen to love the look of misshapen cupcake toppers. If you do, feel free to haphazardly toss them aside to dry.

Take your excess fondant and again roll it out on your dusted cutting mat. I go fairly thin on the ruffles so shoot for 1/16? and you should be good to go. Once rolled out, take your X-acto blade (a nice, new, clean blade, mind you!) and cut a long strip about a 1/2? wide.

Again, wrap up the excess so that it doesn’t dry out on you while you work with your ruffle strip. Place the strip onto a foam square and using your ball tool, ruffle only the top edge.

I use a gentle “eraser” motion to make the ruffle, then I come back and every so often, place my ball tool half way off the ruffle and pull downward to pull the ruffle back towards the non-thinned edge.

Using a teensy, food-safe, fine point paintbrush apply a small amount of water or sugar glue to the fondant disk.

Take your long ruffle strip and on one end, fold the ruffle back and under to create a “loop”. Gently pinch the non-thinned portion to secure this loop. Place the loop on the first round disk so that the “seam” is under the ruffle.

To make the ruffles, continue to make “s” shapes with the fondant strip, and securing each loop by gently pressing down at the base of the ruffle. This also forces the little ruffle loop upward making it extra cute.

Continue around the edge of the round disk to create the first level of ruffles.

When you reach your starting point, overlap the second ruffle leaving about a 1/4? of the first layer exposed.

When your first ruffle strip finally runs out, simply roll out some more fondant, cut a 1/2? strip, ruffle the edge, create your first loop on the end and continue this whole fun process.

I continue to do this until I get about 3 ruffle layers in.

Then, I make another long strip of ruffled edged fondant and create a long strip of the ruffle on my mat.

I then roll the ruffle up into a nice “center”.

Pinch the excess fondant on the bottom edge into a “log” and cut off the excess with my blade.

Use your paintbrush to add in some water on your prepped disk and gently set the center in the middle of your ruffles.

To get a more secure attachment, carefully insert the non-brush side of your tiny paintbrush between the ruffles in the center and push downwards.

And there you go! A ruffled cupcake topper just perfect to turn any everyday cupcake into something fancy schmancy.

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Mother’s Day Tutorial RoundUP

Sharon Z — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 04:14:13 +0000

Hi All!

Mother’s Day is just around the corner so here are some treats from around the web to help inspire you!

Marbled Fondant Cake

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

Rose Decorated Cookies

Mother’s Day Cake Pops

Raspberry and Champagne Cupcakes

Rose Cake Pops

Romantic Cupcakes

I really hope this helps you get inspired. Happy Mothers Day!

Sharon

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Mardi Gras Tutorial RoundUp

Sharon Z — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 03:53:15 +0000

Happy Mardis Gras! It’s Carnival time down here in my home town of New Orleans. It’s a great opportunity to crate some colorful and fun treats. Here’s a round-up of the some cutest from around the web.

Sugared Productions King Cake

King Cake Jello Shots

Mardis Gras Cupcakes

Mardis Gras Cake Pops

Mardis Gras Cookies

Mardi Gras Ice Cream

I hope these tutorials inspire you to get into this festive holiday with your family!

Sharon

The post Mardi Gras Tutorial RoundUp appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

Valentines Day Tutorial RoundUp

Sharon Z — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 04:35:14 +0000

Hello all! Valentines Days is coming up, so here are some of the cutest treats from around the web to get you inspired.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Valentine Teddy

Valentine’s Candy Box Cake

Bakerella Kiss Cake Pops

Linzer Cookies

Raspberry Heart Shaped Rolls

Royal Icing Transfer Cookies

Hope these give you some inspiration for the big heart day!

Happy Baking!

Sharon

The post Valentines Day Tutorial RoundUp appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

Buttercream Effects with the Leaf Tip

Sharon Z — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 05:03:31 +0000

Today we have a guest post from The Fondant Flinger. Check out this cool technique using a decorating tip you can find anywhere!

Ah, the leaf tip. Its just such a versatile piping tip and one I’ve been using quite a bit these past months. Most recently, I used it on this cake as part of a large dessert table for a church event.

I’ve used this technique on a few of my cakes so far and it is perfect for when the budget may be smaller or time does not allow for a full fondant ruffle technique done on an entire tier.

Its very similar to the technique used on my “Welcoming Spring” cake (below), however the angle of the tip is altered so that the tip is pulled up vertically, there was a bit more ruffling done during the piping and the rows are done a bit different to create the overall look of grass sprouting upward.

For the Great Gatsby cakes that were created earlier this year, the “feathery” look of the buttercream was achieved with the same leaf tip. I wanted to play off of the gum paste feathers that were painted gold and used as accents so with a quick change of the angle, the piped feathers were formed. Instead of pulling the piping bag up and slightly ruffling each one, I pulled the tip straight out from the cake and completed the rows in that way so that the tips of the “feathers” were predominately what you saw when viewing the cake.

Clearly, the color of the buttercream plays a tremendous role in varying the look of the cake as well.

Basically the only thing I changed for this past weekend’s cake for a dessert table is the top portion. Instead of pulling the leaf tip straight out from the sides of the next tier, I pulled them up vertically to give the cake a bit more “poofiness” (that’s a word, right?).

I used a Wilton leaf tip.

And when I got to the top of the cake after piping the feathers, I began making each leaf more vertical (sorry for the not so great photo. My hand had quite a bit of shakiness after all that piping!).

When it was done, it gave the cake a full and textured appearance .

Thanks to Rachel, The Fondant Flinger!

Happy Caking,
Sharon

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