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How to Make Modeling Chocolate Part 1

October 1, 2014 by Sharon Zambito 3 Comments

Hello everyone! I’m excited that we have our guest blogger, Summer Stone of Cake Paper Party, back to share her wonderful knowledge of modeling chocolate with us! This is a three part series, so stay tuned for more how to with Summer and modeling chocolate!

Modeling chocolate is one of the most versatile and easy to use products in a cake decorator’s or sweet maker’s arsenal. It is rigid enough to hold its shape when cutting out intricate details yet pliable enough to mold into beautifully sculptured pieces. But modeling chocolate can be frustrating to make, yielding a lumpy or broken final product for no apparent reason. In this post I hope to demystify some of the problems common with modeling chocolate and give you the tools to create a perfect product every time.

In order to provide you with the most in-depth understanding I made 19 batches of varying types of modeling chocolate. Along the way I learned how to ruin and fix modeling chocolate by multiple methods. I also examined how varying the ratio of chocolate to corn syrup affects the consistency of the final product.

Let’s start by looking at modeling chocolate making basics.

1. Weigh. Measure out the amount of candy melts or chocolate you wish to use in a microwave safe bowl that will allow enough room for stirring. I weigh my chocolate on a food scale to allow the most predictable and desirable result.

2. Melt. Heat your melts or chocolate on high heat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes depending on your microwave strength and the volume of chocolate you are using. Stir and then heat again for 20-30 seconds and then stir to melt. If you still have lumps heat in 15 second intervals until you it is lump free. Be careful not to overheat. If you see chunky golden bits in the chocolate throw it out and start over or you will be sorry.

3. Add. Now is the time to add your corn syrup. The ratio of chocolate to corn syrup depends on your desired outcome. I will discuss this shortly and provide a chart of measurements. Some people like to heat their corn syrup briefly to warm it. I find it is unnecessary and squirt it straight from my bottle into the bowl of melted chocolate. I also weigh the corn syrup. It is less messy and more accurate that way.

4. Fold. Begin gently folding the corn syrup into the chocolate. I sweep the outside edges of the bowl and then swipe across the middle. You will see streaks of corn syrup intermixed with the chocolate that will grow more and more fine until it is all incorporated.

5. Watch. This is the time where you have to be cautious. Too little stirring and you will get chocolate chunks in the final product, too much stirring and your modeling chocolate will break and leach out liquid fat. Both extremes lead to lumpy modeling chocolate. Never fear! Either can be fixed (I will get to that!) but starting with the right consistency will make your life easier. Perfectly seized chocolate will loose its shininess and start to get chunky and firm but will not be extremely curdled or greasy looking. If you are going to err one way or the other it is better to over stir than under stir.

6. Remove. Scoop your modeling chocolate out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Try to avoid much manipulation at this point to preserve the state of the modeling chocolate.

7. Wrap. Seal up the modeling chocolate in plastic wrap to avoid drying on the surface as it cools. Allow the modeling chocolate to solidify or “cure” for a period of time. For candy melts, I like to leave it until the edges look a bit dull (an indicator the fats have become solid) but the middle is still a bit soft. This takes an hour or so at room temperature. For real chocolate, this takes much longer. If you mess with it too early it gets persnickety and will be sticky and clumpy. Let it sit at room temperature for several hours or overnight.

8. Knead. When you unwrap your modeling chocolate it will be firm and chunky looking. In order to smooth it to a useful product you will need to knead it for a couple of minutes. If the modeling chocolate was ideally seized you should eventually be able to pinch it between two fingers and not feel any chunks. You can use your modeling chocolate now or wrap it well in plastic wrap for a later time.

9. Fix. If your modeling chocolate is lumpy, now is the time to repair it.

If you feel you under stirred and you have very firm, opaque chunks that do not melt in the heat of your hand you will need to partially remelt the modeling chocolate. Spread the modeling chocolate out in the bottom of a bowl and heat in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. It should remain solid but have a slightly molten core (see above). Knead the product until smooth. If it starts to break, let it cool slightly and then knead again. Wrap the kneaded modeling chocolate in plastic wrap and cool to room temperature before using.
If you over stirred and the modeling chocolate broke emulsion, you will likely see an opaque border of fat around the edges when cooled. When kneaded the fat will often remain in solid chunks throughout. To reincorporate them you will need to briefly warm the modeling chocolate on high in the microwave for 4-6 seconds. You just want to soften the fat but not melt it. Then knead until the product is smooth. You can also use the heat of your hands to warm the fats and knead extensively but it takes much longer. Wrap the modeling chocolate and cool to room temperature before using.

Choosing How Much Corn Syrup to Use

Most modeling chocolate recipes give a set ratio of chocolate to corn syrup to use, but I like to vary the amount of corn syrup based on my project needs. These are some factors to consider.

Using less corn syrup yields modeling chocolate that is more firm and less elastic.
Conversely, more corn syrup yields a softer, more pliable and elastic product.
The type of candy melts or chocolate you choose will alter the amount of corn syrup needed. White chocolate is more firm than candy melts and dark chocolate is more firm than white chocolate. You will need more corn syrup in white chocolate than candy melts for a similar final product.
The ratio of melts or chocolate to corn syrup typically varies by weight from 5:1 (very firm) to 2:1 (quite soft).

Here is a chart of modeling chocolate ingredient quantities to make varying consistencies of modeling chocolate. Below is a recipe for medium-firm modeling chocolate.

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Modeling Chocolate

Ingredients

8 ounces (227 grams) candy melts or white chocolate

2 ounces (by weight) (57 grams) corn syrup (use 2.5 ounces [71 grams] if using white chocolate)

Instructions

Place candy melts or chocolate in a microwave safe bowl with enough room to stir easily. Heat melts on high in microwave for 1-2 minutes then stir. Heat an additional 25-35 seconds on high and stir to melts. If unmelted product remains, heat in 15 second intervals followed by stirring to melt.

Add corn syrup and fold gently until the melts lose their sheen and becomes firm and slightly chunky. Scoop the modeling chocolate onto a piece of plastic wrap and wrap to seal. Let cool until firm on the edges for candy melts or solid throughout for chocolate. Remove the plastic wrap and knead until smooth. Rewrap and let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or wrap well for later use.

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Happy Caking!

Sharon

How Different Flours Affect Your Cake

September 13, 2014 by Sharon Zambito 2 Comments

Hey everyone! As a special treat for today, we have guest blogger, Summer Stone, from her blog Cake Paper Party, sharing her wonderful knowledge on how different flours affect our cakes. Take it away, Summer!

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For the baker, there is a wide variety of flours to choose from when making a cake. Some of the options include: bleached cake flour, unbleached cake flour, pastry flour, self-rising flour, unbleached all-purpose flour and bleached all-purpose flour, not to mention starch substitutes and hybrid variations of some of those above. It can be a bit confusing which is the best flour for cake baking. Here I hope to demystify some of the what’s and why’s of cake worthy flours.

To illustrate the affects of varying flours, I baked six cakes each with a different flour type or combination. These included: unbleached all-purpose flour (UB) , bleached all-purpose flour (Bl.), bleached cake flour, potato starch plus unbleached all-purpose flour (a common cake flour substitute), half cake flour/half unbleached all-purpose flour and half cake flour/half bleached all-purpose flour.

Before we get onto the results of the baking, let’s talk about the differences in the flours.

There are two major differences between flours:

Protein content: Cake flour is a low protein flour which means it contains more starch and less protein ounce for ounce than an all-purpose (plain) flour or a bread flour. In the figure above you can see how this comes into play in a cake. The structure of the cake made with cake flour is mediated primarily by swollen starch granules with some structural help from egg proteins and the minimal protein found in cake flour. All-purpose flour contains more protein and less starch by weight than cake flour and therefore the resulting cake structure is held together with more of a flour protein network.
Chlorination: Bleached flours have been treated with either chlorine dioxide or chlorine gas. This process not only lightens their color but also causes their starch granules to swell more easily and disperse fat more readily. Chlorination or bleaching also produces a distinct flavor that some people care for while others do not. The fact that chlorination leads to the accumulation of specific molecules in the body has caused it to be outlawed in the European Union and United Kingdom. Cake flour is usually bleached but King Arthur offers an unbleached variation.

In actual cake, these are how the differences translate:

Unbleached all-purpose flour and bleached all-purpose flour appeared similar in color with a moist but slightly coarse crumb.
The bleached all-purpose flour rose just slightly higher than the unbleached.
Both the bleached and unbleached all-purpose flour cakes held together well.
The cake made with cake flour was taller and lighter in color than the all-purpose flours but was also drier and more crumbly/sandy .
The cake made with cake flour was more compact and less spongy seeming than the all-purpose flour cakes.
The cake flour cake had a slightly finer crumb than the all-purpose flours.
The cake made with cake flour tasted somewhat of chlorination.

The unbleached all-purpose flour with potato starch was the shortest and darkest of the cakes but it had a moist, tender crumb.
The half cake flour/half all-purpose flour combinations were almost identical to one another, but the bleached flour/cake flour combination rose slightly higher than the unbleached flour combination.
Both of the half cake flour combinations held together well and had a moist, tender, fine crumb.

On the other hand there are times when someone may want the whitest, tallest cake possible and therefore cake flour may be the best option.

The flour choice is really up to you and your preferences. I hope this information will help you to make an informed decision!

Happy baking!

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3D Baseball Glove Cake

September 4, 2014 by Sharon Zambito Leave a Comment

It’s baseball season! Perfect occasion for a tutorial. Today we have a guest blogger Sandy Thompson to share with us her super cute baseball glove cake!

Materials needed:

(2) 9×13” cakes 2” tall

Foam Core Board for cake base

Cake board for final cake display (Tutorial has a 16” round base)

Ivory or White fondant and small amount of Black fondant

Buttercream (White and Black)

Airbrush machine

Airbrush colors: Yellow, Orange, Ivory

Palette knife

Xacto knife or scalpel

Veining tool

Stitching tool

Clay gun

Gold luster dust

Clear alcohol or lemon extract to mix with luster dust

Paintbrushes (one for painting with luster dust and one for water to glue fondant pieces)

Small amount of water for gluing fondant pieces together

Carving knife (I use a steak knife)

Round circle cutter (1 ½ inches…I used the end of a big icing tip)

Piping tips: 1, 2 3

Turntable for airbrushing

Transparency or acetate paper

Dowels

Modeling chocolate or Rice Crispy Treats

Red nontoxic marker

Step 1 – Using (1) ½” thick Foam Core Board or (2) ¼” thick Foam Core Board glued together draw two templates. Use the “back” of the glove to draw your first template and the “top” of the glove to draw your second template.

Step 2 – Bevel the sides of your templates – this will give the glove a “rounded” appearance on the side.

Step 3 – NOTE: Anytime you carve a cake, it should be very firm. Either refrigerated overnight or in the freezer for an hour or so. Position one of your 9×13 cakes face down, then lay your “back” template face down on the cake…now you’re ready to start carving along the outside edge. I like to carve an inch or so away from my template…that way if I make a mistake it doesn’t cause any issues. Once you’re done carving, then you can turn your cake right side up.

Step 4 – Position your knife at an angle so it lines up with the angle of your Foam Core Board and begin beveling the edge of your cake.

Step 5 – For the top of the cake, position your knife once again at an angle to smooth out the fine lines. We’re going for a rounded look along the top.

Step 6 – Making small cuts at first, carve a notch along each “finger”. Since you’ll be adding icing and fondant later, you’ll want to make the notches more pronounced during this step. At this point if your cake looks like an oversized “Big Foot” impression, you’re doing the right thing!

Step 7 – On the left side of the cake, cut an angled slice off the top, down towards the side of the cake. This will allow you to place the other 9×13 cake on top at an angle. (See side view of Step 7 for a visual)

Step 8 – Ice the cake. Icing a curved cake can be tricky so see the next step for a helpful hint.

Step 9 – Using transparency paper (also known as Acetate paper), cut a 3” square piece, then round the corners – you don’t want any sharp edges. Cup the paper in your hand as shown in the picture and gently smooth your icing. Be sure to wipe the paper after each smoothing…if you get icing build up on the paper, it will end up removing the frosting from the cake.

Step 10 – Note: Before rolling out your fondant, add about a teaspoon of food grade glycerin for every 2 lbs of fondant. This will keep the fondant more pliable and give you more time to work. Roll out white or ivory fondant in a rectangular shape.

Step 11 – Taking your time, smooth out your fondant and using your palette knife or other tools, tuck the fondant along the Foam Core Board. If you happen to get a little “elephant skin” that totally works for this cake…it is after all a well-used leather glove so it only adds character.

Step 12 – Using your stitching tool, make stitch marks along the entire edits of the cake and in between the fingers.

A quick note about airbrushing…..when it comes to airbrushing there are a few things to keep in mind:

Airbrush colors are transparent. Why does that matter? This means you can “layer” colors and achieve a very realistic effect.
This also means you can always add more color to achieve a dark color but you can never start with a dark color and go all the way back to a white color.
Whatever colors you use for your project, you’ll want to start with the lightest color first working your way to the darkest color last.
You’ll always want to test your colors before you use them. Sometimes a color may ‘sound” right but after your spray it, it looks different than you imagine. For example, for this piece the glove is a brownish color but to achieve the look, I actually went with Ivory rather than Brown.

Step 13 – Airbrushing fun starts now! This may sound crazy, but we’re going to start with a Yellow airbrush color. It may take several passes to achieve an allover yellow so take your time. You may even need to let the cake sit for a few minutes for the color to dry.

Step 14 – Next, spray a little Orange. It won’t take much…just a light layer over the entire cake…on the edges that would normally have “wear and tear”, go even lighter in those places and darker in the creases and stitching areas.

Step 15 – Now for your final coat on the bottom cake, using Ivory spray the entire cake until you achieve the desired color. Be sure to spray a little heavier along the stitching, crevices and the very bottom of the cake. You cake should now look like a giant ‘Bear claw” you get at the donut store.

Step 16 – While your airbrushed cake is drying, you can create your “baseball”. I used Modeling Chocolate but you can also use Rice Krispy Treats. Either way, shape your “baseball” then cut a slice off the top and the bottom so it will rest correctly in your glove. The bigger the ball, the wider the opening of your glove will be. Set your ball in place so you can mark where a dowel needs to be place. You’ll also want to dowel the left side of the glove so your top layer will be supported.

For the top layer of cake, just follow the exact same steps above (Steps 2-9).

Step 17 – Before placing the top layer of cake on the bottom cake, remove your baseball (we’ll add it back later).

Step 18 – Roll out more fondant in a rectangular shape and drape it over the top cake. Be sure the fondant goes all the way down the back of the cake. (This means you’ll have a double layer of fondant in the back)

Step 19 – Using your tools, tuck the fondant under the top cake (you can use a little shortening on your board or the back of the fondant to make it stick). At either end, fold the fondant so the edge has a nice appearance. Then make your lines on the fondant (based on your glove design).

Step 20 – To make the “webbing” of the glove, roll out more fondant and cut 1/4” strips. Then interlace the strips as shown.

Step 21 – Make the “facing” that goes slightly over and around the webbing. (It will look like an oversize pocket). Then cut out the center of the “pocket”.

Step 22 – First place the “webbing” on the cake, then lay the “facing” over it. Finally, airbrush your top layer of cake just as you did in Steps 13-15. If you airbrush a little on the bottom layer, no problem. To make the stitching and webbing really stand out, be sure to go a little darker in those areas.

Step 23 – Now CAREFULLY add your baseball back in (my baseball is small so the glove opening isn’t very big. If you go with a bigger baseball, you may want to color the bottom of the board holding your top layer. In other words, you wouldn’t want someone to see the white board).

Step 24 – As great as your cake is already looking at this point, now the real fun starts…adding all the details! Using your clay gun and the 2^nd to largest round disc, make the round “roping” that goes on the “glove”. Next, using the smallest rectangular disc, make the “laces”. Use your pictures or real glove to guide the placement.

Step 25 – Add more “lacing” along the top and use your veining tool to add “sew” marks.

Step 26 – Still using your rectangular disc, make a knot in the fondant strip and attach to the cake.

Step 27 – Work your way around the cake to add all the details.

Step 28 – More details….feel free to use your veining tool to make indentations at the end of the laces.

Step 29 – The glove I based my design on had black “grommets” on some of the “laces”. I used fondant but you can also use black icing.

Step 30 – Final fondant details…don’t forget your red logo circle, make your red stitching lines on your baseball and paint the gold buckle for the back strap. For small items like the red logo circle it’s hard to use a stitching wheel, instead use a toothpick.

Final cake – Using white buttercream and Tip #2 or 3, add the “R” logo to the red circle. Then using black buttercream and Tip #1 or 2, add the writing to the cake….this would be a great place to write a message to your customer as well.

Thank you Sandy!

What a great cake! If you guys make one I would love to see it!

Sharon,
SugarEd Productions

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Gelatin Sequins by Kara’s Couture Cakes

August 24, 2014 by Sharon Zambito Leave a Comment

Today we have a guest post by the Amazing Kara Andretta of Kara’s Couture Cakes:

About the Author

I am a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and have studied under some of the best pastry chefs and cake decorators in the world. I specialize in fondant covered cakes, gourmet cupcakes and cookies, custom designed to perfectly fit each client’s unique occasion. The only thing better than how my cakes look, is how they taste! Ask me about cake!

Kara’s Couture Cakes
making the world sweeter, one cake at a time.

Kara’s Facebook

Kara’s Blog

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Edible Gelatin Sequins

Oooh how I have been waiting for a project to use these beauties on! I first created these in January of this year while I was experimenting with gelatin for my She Dragon cake. It was a whim and mostly because I had some left over gelatin. But. BUT! I stumbled upon something awesome! Here it is 🙂

*** A side note before you begin: I used sheet gelatin simply because I have lots of it around. You do not need to have the sheet gelatin, it’s more expensive than powdered in general, and less available. If you have powdered gelatin readily available use that! I like to demonstrate how to use sheet because lots of people don’t know how to properly hydrate it. To substitute powdered gelatin click here for the how-to!

I’m using sheet gelatin so my method to hydrate will be different from the powdered. Begin with a bowl of cold water that is deeper than your gelatin is wide.

I used one weighed ounce of silver strength sheet gelatin. One weighed ounce of any strength gelatin will do.

I roll the sheets one by one and submerge them individually into the water so they don’t stick together and hydrate unevenly.

While your gelatin is hydrating (which takes about 7 minutes for sheets) gather the rest of your supplies. I used Americolor Super Black to match my fondant, American Silver Disco Dust, and Super Pearl dust. Now… Before anyone gets worked up about ingesting disco dust or petal dust (especially after the news story recently of the wack-a-doo selling plastic pieces as edible glitter) know that they are non-toxic and can simply be scraped from the outside of the cake at service if you use them in your gelatin mix. You DO NOT need to add them to get the shimmery quality of the sequins. I just go overboard. And to be honest, since the little gelatin sequins are flavorless and mildly tough, people will most likely choose not to eat them anyways. But hey. We don’t eat cupcake wrappers either. Just take it off. (The wrapper and/or sequins. I’m not asking you to get nakey. You can if you want. Just keep it yourself. 🙂 )

A number 1 Wilton tip will restrict the flow of the gelatin when you’re dropping it so you don’t get puddles. It’s still big enough, however, to allow disco dust particles easily through.

If you use sheet gelatin you’ll need to squeeze the excess water from it as best you can. In the end you get less shrinkage and curling in the final dried sequins if there is less water that needs to evaporate. The more water, the more the drop will contract causing irregular waves and curls.

Place your squeezed gelatin immediately into a microwave safe bowl and warm it until it is just melted and there are no lumps.

You’ll want to skim these bubbles off the top of the gelatin before adding your colors. They can get mixed back into the liquid gelatin and create a foamy look to your droplets if it’s not removed. Unlike water or thinner liquids, the bubbles will not just settle out. They get themselves all tucked in cozy and stay put. Kind of like the in-laws. And y’all know how much you LOOOOOOOVE that.

Add drops of color sparingly until you get the desired strength. It really doesn’t take much. Keep in mind that they will seem to intensify in color as they dry.

After stirring in your color add any other sparklies that you may want. Again, you don’t have to.

Stir it up.

Pour into your squeeze bottle and drop by single drop size onto a non-stick surface like a SilPat.

Fill your sheet with little droplets. The less water in your gelatin the more you can fit on each sheet without them running into each other.

Let the drops dry over night…

And by the next morning they will be dry and mostly flat; some will be slightly curved.

Use a thin metal artists palette knife to scrape beneath the sequins to gather them into a pile. Keep you knife as flat as you can to the sheet or they will jump up at you. Spritely little buggers…

Ta-da! Sequins.

These are light, sturdy, shimmery, and ready to use!

See Part 2 coming soon on how to use powdered gelatin.

Enjoy!

Kara

Transferring an Image Without a Projector

August 23, 2014 by Sharon Zambito 11 Comments

Today’s post is from the very talented Krista Heij-Barber from Cookies With Character. I am excited to share this with you, because it’s not only adorable, it’s a great tutorial on transferring images to cookies without expensive equipment! Take it away Krista!

Kopykake projectors are awesome, we all have heard this. However they are not cheap. If you are a hobby cookie decorator or just not ready to make that investment, but want an easy way to transfer images, I have one for you… and all I’m going to use is tissue paper and a sharp pencil or food color marker. Yep, thats it!

Supplies Needed for this Project:

Baked Heart Shaped Cookie

Icing in Red, White, Black and pink- 15-20 sec.

Sharp Pencil or/and Food Color Marker

Tissue Paper

For this I used plain tissue paper that you use to wrap presents etc. Just cut a small square just larger than your cookie. Trace your image from a printed copy onto the tissue paper. I used the food color marker to start with and I will show you more later. However, you can use either pencil or marker at this point, it doesn’t really matter.

** Don’t mind the “grey” print. Yours should be black. My printer was low on ink and well, I was a tad lazy. 😉

Start by flooding a red heart on your cookie. *Very Important! LET DRY AT LEAST 8-12 HRS. Since we will be putting pressure on the icing, we don’t want it to cave in.

Place the traced image onto the dry, flooded cookie. Making sure it lines up with the bunny’s nose at the bottom tip. Now, you can choose either the marker or the pencil to trace. Just go over the existing lines that you just traced, once again.

You can see here that I did the bunny in marker and the wording in pencil. Since the red is considerably dark, the pencil “carving” shows up better than the marker. I was worried about the marker below bleeding into the white icing, so I tried using a pencil. Any sharp- yet not too sharp tool would work as well. Just make sure it doesn’t rip the paper too much.

Next flood the ears. While they are still wet, drop in some pink lines for the inside of the bunny ears. Let dry a while so you can get a nice definition between the ears and the head. Flood head shape, leaving a spot for the nose. While head sets up, place two black sugar pearls for the eyes or wait and pipe black dots later. I used these SUGAR PEARLS.

Pipe pink nose and one strand of hair a top his little head. While nose is still wet, drop a line of white icing into nose with either a scribe or a toothpick and pull it across.

Pipe paws in either two lines or one at a time. Leaving time in-between to dry.

Finish strands of hair and paws.

Now it’s detailing time. My favorite part! As you may notice in most of my artwork, I add eyebrows. It may not be needed most of the time, but I feel as though it adds just that little something. They can either be piped on or painted on. A lot of times when we decorate cookies, we use dot eyes for simplicity purposes. However, dot eyes can be very tough if you are trying to convey a certain expression. Without pupils to look to the left or up, it is the eye brows that can add so much!

*Although having said that, my poor little bunny looks more scared than innocent. Oh well, not every cookie is a masterpiece. Just eat it!

You can choose a lace border or dots. Its up to you!

As you can see from my supplies picture, I decided to challenge myself and NOT use any tips. I use these super soft decorating bags that were recommended to me by my friends Nadia (My Little Bakery) and Jill (Jill FCS). Nadi from My Little Bakery uses these bags exclusively and does the most amazing work!!! After decorating with these bags, I bow to her even more. They are fantastic if you want to throw out your 0 or 00 tip. I could never get them to work. But all this black piping was done with these awesome bags. So I will keep them for that and just choose to watch Nadia do her wonderful cookies!!!

Here is the printable template I used for the cookie:

Merging her lifelong love of art and baking with a career in illustration and design has given birth to Krista’s immensely popular cookie business and blog. After working in illustration for 15 years, she married that skill with her affinity for baking, and Cookies with Character was created. Krista’s fun yet refined designs have helped put her stamp on the cookie world.

Krista’s pages: Facebook, Website, Clipart and Tutorial Shop

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Grazioso Cake by Leyda Vakarelov

July 21, 2014 by Sharon Zambito 3 Comments

Hello everyone! Today we have a guest blogger! Leyda Vakarelov from Custom Cakes Atelier shares her gorgeous Grazioso cake!

Isn’t it stunning?

Leyda will share her technique on making this cake with Marvelous Molds’ new onlays, and a stenciled “sheet music” that encases the middle tier! Take it away, Leyda!

Below are most of the tools that I used throughout this project. In this photo you will see the two colors of the fondant/gum paste mixture that I used. I advise you not to use pure fondant with these onlays. Fondant can be a bit sticky and this will prevent it from dislodging nicely from the onlays. Use a 50/50 mixture of fondant and gum paste to give the fondant some stability.

*Please note that when I work with the onlay molds and I say “fondant”, I really mean the 50/50 fondant/gum-paste mixture.

If you are new to Silicone Onlays™ you can watch the free master class video here.

Fleur de Lis Pattern Silicone Onlay™
Bird with Blossoms Silicone Onlay™
Rise Silicone Onlay™
cornstarch
black royal icing
edible glue (3 parts corn syrup to one-part water)
purple music sheet mesh stencil
Pasta Rolling Machine
pizza wheel
large dusting brush
small paint brush
wax paper
scissors
food safe blade
food safe pins
small roller
small spatula
rubber scraper
extruder
wooden skewers

I pre-made these fleur-de-lis with a single onlay (you will see the onlay later on), and then I airbrushed them in gold. These can be done a few days ahead.

SECOND TIER:

This is an 8’’ by 6” double cake tier covered with fondant. Here I used the Bird with Blossoms, and Rise Onlays.

I began by dusting generously the entire onlay with cornstarch. Then, I removed most of it by shaking off the onlay. You just need a thin layer of cornstarch to prevent the fondant from sticking. It is crucial not to rush this step if the onlay is new. The fondant will stick less to the onlay after using it several times.

The fondant needs to be thinned down before laying it on the onlay. I used a pasta roller to get it very thin consistently throughout. But first, I used a rolling pin to thin it enough to get it through the lowest setting of my pasta roller.

I started with setting 0 and past the fondant through to level 5. The fondant needs to be thick enough so that it is at the same level as the edges of the onlay once it is pressed down. It shouldn’t be below the edges, because otherwise it will not be high enough to touch the surface of the cake to stick to it.

I took the sheet of fondant and carefully laid it on the onlay. First, using my fingers, I gently pressed on it throughout the surface to secure the fondant to the onlay.

With a small rolling pin, I gently rolled on top of the fondant. I rolled through the entire onlay working on sections at a time. Don’t go from one end to the other in one shot. Take your time to work the fondant in every single grove in sections.

I removed the outer excess fondant once it cut through the edges of the onlay, and then I continued rolling the rest.

Once all fondant has been worked in to the same level of the onlay, then you can start removing elements of the design if you desire. A good way to know that you have rolled enough is when you can see and feel all of the teeth of the design. Here I am removing some strips and I will replace them with new ones.

For accent purposes in my design, I am replacing some strips with some gold ones that I prepared and airbrushed ahead of time using the same onlay. Right after I replaced these strips, I brushed the entire surface of the onlay with the glue solution and then I adhered the entire onlay onto the cake. I will show this step on a later photo.

On this tier, I used two different onlays: The one with the stripes and the one with the bird on the branch. I created this template and I placed it on the cake with pins to save the space for the bird onlay, and to also use it as a guide for cutting the stripes that will surround the bird. You will see this on the other photos.

Here I am laying the stripes that will surround the entire tier. This cake is 8’’ tall. So, two applications upwards of the onlay are required to reach the full height of the cake. Once you apply the first set of stripes, it is important to match up the second application lengthwise as close as possible with the first. In order to be accurate, I placed a pin that marked the end of the onlay during the first application. You can see this pin on the right side of the photo.

With a sharp blade and the template as a guide, I cut the strips on both sides into perfect curves.

With a straight edge and a sharp blade, I cut the strips on the back to fit nicely. Note that since the cake is covered in fondant and this adds thickness to the surface of the cake, it will almost always be necessary to make your own adjustments at the end. If things do not match up nicely, you can make this the back of your cake.

Here I am working with the bird onlay. I followed all of the earlier steps as with the stripes onlay. I am removing excess fondant and I am just leaving the shape of the design. It is important to roll the fondant carefully into the onlays that have more intricate detail so that you don’t distort your design when you are removing the excess.

If you look at the bird, you will see that I removed some segments of fondant to create more interest. This of course, is optional!

In order to place the onlay on the cake at the proper height, I used a strip of wax paper as a guide. I pre-cut this strip to my desired height (5 cm.) and I adhered it to the cake with shortening (not with glue). I also placed a mark on the side of the onlay and on the wax paper strip to keep everything centered.

You can see the final image on the cake. If it is a bit shiny where you had the wax paper strip, you can gently wipe the area with dry paper towel, and then you can mildly buffer it up with cornstarch.

FIRST (BOTTOM) TIER:

This is a 16” by 4” cake covered in fondant. Here I used the Fleur de Lis, and the Fleur de Lis Medallion onlays.

With this tier I wanted to add more interest to my onlay design by “printing” musical notes onto my fondant before laying it on the onlay. First, I rolled the fondant as before on the pasta roller through setting 5. Second, I used the sheet music mesh stencil to print the notes onto the fondant with black royal icing. The consistency of the icing should be thin, but still of piping consistency.

First, I applied the icing generously with a small spatula, and then I scraped most of it with a small rubber scraper.

I removed the mesh stencil gently, and then with a medium pizza cutter I removed the messy edges.

You can see the clean image on the fondant. The onlay is already dusted lightly, but thoroughly with cornstarch.

As I stated earlier, press the fondant onto the onlay with your hands first and then use a small rolling pin to work it all the way in. Make sure to do this all around the onlay.

After rolling everything nicely in the silicone onlay, I applied the glue all around.

After applying the glue, I removed parts of the design that I did not want. You can also apply the glue after you remove these parts out, but I find it easier to remove fondant once the glue has been applied even though you end up with some sticky fingers!

Here I am just doing some final touch ups before adhering the onlay onto the cake.

I am replacing one of the large fleur-de-lis with a pre-made gold fleur-de-lis. Again, this step is optional! If you do this step, remember to apply glue to this new fleur-de-lis too. If it is a bit stiff, microwave it for 15-20 seconds to make it a bit bendy.

This bottom tier is 4’’ tall like the height of the onlay. Notice how the bottom of the onlay has to be in direct contact with the table.

Note how the wavy edge of the side of the onlay fits nicely around the fleur-de-lis that is already on the cake. It is important to do this alignment carefully so that you do not end up with obvious gaps from one application to the next. Practice on a different surface before you do this on the cake. You can use the little openings on the onlay to guide you with this alignment. Before you remove the onlay, with your fingers press all around the surface of the onlay to force every piece of fondant to adhere to the cake.

Slowly take one end of the onlay and start removing it from the surface of the cake. Again, try not to rush this step and watch what is happening with the design the whole time. I found it helpful to exert some pressure on the onlay with my left hand as I remove it with the other hand. By doing this you are securing the covered part of the design to stay in place.

THIRD (UPPER) TIER:

This is a 6” by 4” cake covered with fondant. Here I used the Fleur de-Lis Medallion onlay.

I used this single onlay to make the gold fleur-de-lis.

I also used the single onlay to attach the fleur-de-lis properly on the cake. If the fleur-de-lis tends to dislodge from the onlay as you lift it up, dab a little bit of shortening on it just to help it stay in.

After pressing the onlay for a bit on the cake, the fleur-de-lis adhered perfectly.

FINAL TOUCH-UPS:

Here you can see the designs and minor alterations on the back of the bottom and middle tiers.

I extruded a thin fondant string to close the gap of the second tier. I did the same thing with the small upper tier with its respective color.

SHEET-MUSIC WRAP:

I created gum paste sheets (9” by 6”) with the pasta roller, up to setting 5. I printed the same notes design with the mesh stencil (surrounded with paper to prevent leaking). Then, I frilled all of the music sheets that will embrace the second tier. I chose gum paste (colored off-white) so that the strip they will make stays in place with very little support.

All the sheets were prepared just like this one. Note that I cut the sheets into trapezoids before frilling.

The sheets were joined together with glue to form a long arch that will then fold into a cone on the cake.

I placed some supports to hold the cone formed by the arch until it dried completely overnight.

Flawless!

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Leyda Vakarelov is the owner of Custom Cakes Atelier, located in Chapel Hill, NC. This small cake atelier specializes in unique artistic cake design with strong emphasis on artistic composition and detailed work.

— Leyda’s website

— Facebook page

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4th of July Round Up

June 29, 2014 by Sharon Zambito Leave a Comment

Hey y’all! It’s finally summer and with summer comes, picnics, barbeques, pool parties, and beach parties! What is more “summery” (if that’s even a word) than the 4th of July to celebrate our Nation’s Independence Day? And, well, you can’t just arrive empty handed to one of these functions, right? So, we’ve decided to help you with some fabulous ideas and tutorials from some of our valued contributors and some other neat ideas so that you will look like the hero of the party! Enjoy!

From Hungry Happenings:

Red, White and Blue Tie-Dye Cake

Red, White and Blue Fudge Stars

From Haniela’s:

Patriotic Star Cookies

4th of July Cupcakes

From The Partiologist:

Firecracker Cake!

Star Ice Cream Bars

Uncle Sam Cookies

From Woodland Bakery:

July 4th USA Flag Cupcake Cake

From Cookin’ Cowgirl:

Firecracker Cookies

From A Farmgirl’s Dabbles:

Patriotic Ice Cream Sandwiches

From Bakerella:

Snow Cones

From The TomKat Studio:

Patriotic Pinwheels

From Blooms Designs:

Patriotic Popcorn

And for my Canadian friends celebrating Canada Day on July 1st:

From Multi-Testing Mommy:

Canada Day Sugar Cookies

I hope this helps! I’m off to watch more fireworks! 🙂

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Fathers Day Tie Cookies

June 7, 2014 by Sharon Zambito 3 Comments

Hello everyone! Today we have a guest post by the fabulous cookie decorator, Semi- Sweet Designs. Check out these adorable tie cookies that hang on the side of Dad’s Cup!

Fathers Day Tie Cookies

by Semi Sweet Designs

Father’s Day is this Sunday and I have an easy cookie idea to share. If you want to make the dad in your life feel extra special on this special day, I say start his morning off right. Impress him with a dapper cup of joe with these Father’s Day mug hanging necktie cookies!

To make these cookies, first download this simple necktie template I created. You can either print the template directly on food safe card stock or use food safe template plastic like I did below. (Parchment paper would work too.) Any method will work. Cut out the template and use it as a guide to carve out the dough by hand.

Necktie cookie template:

These cookies require a kind of “hook piece” that will attach to the back of the necktie cookie. You’ll see what I mean by the end of the post.

Making the hook:

Cut out a circle about 2 inches in diameter. Use a cookie cutter for the letter “I” to cut out a small notch in the circle. (You can also carve out a notch with a knife if you don’t have an “I” cutter.) Cut the piece in half with a knife.

After you have cut out and baked the necktie and the hook pieces, it is time to ready the royal icing.

You will need:

White piping and flood royal icing. (I chose white to match the color of the mug.)

Piping and flood royal icing in the necktie color/s of your choice.

With white flood icing, spread a thin layer of icing over the top of the necktie cookie. IMPORTANT NOTE: Don’t do what I did in the photo and only cover the top half of the cookie. I didn’t account for potential spreading. If the dough does spread after baking (which it did for me), covering the entire top surface makes for a better looking cookie.

After the top, thin coat of icing is dry, it’s time to add the collar. If drawing the outlines for the collar free-hand scares you, you can use a scribe tool or toothpick to mark where the lines should go. Just cut the collar detail off of the template and use that as a guide to make your marks.

Once the markings are made, pipe over them with white piping icing, then fill the middle area with white flood icing.

After the collar area had time to set, it is time to do the tie details. Above shows the basic steps to do a solid-color tie. Pretty simple.

However, if your dad isn’t a solid-color-tie-type-of-guy, there are many other design options you can try. There are stripes…

Or polka dots…

The possibilities are endless. Here are a few examples I came up with, nothing too complicated. I just played around with the three colors I had on hand.

After the necktie cookies are iced, leave them to dry and harden completely before moving on to the next step.

Attaching the hook:

Once the icing on the necktie cookies are dry and hard, turn them over. Apply a center strip of relatively stiff icing on the back of the cookie with a #3 icing tip. Attach the hooked cookie piece on top of the icing strip. If the icing is stiff enough, the hook should stand upright on its own. Leave these cookies to set and harden for a few hours.

After the icing around the back hook had time to dry, the necktie cookie should be ready to hang off a mug.

I should note the color of the collar was chosen to match the color of the mug. This should give the mug the appearance it is the shirt to the collar/necktie cookie. If you don’t have a white mug, I would recommend trying to match the collar icing color to the color of the mug you plan on using.

I hope everyone has a Happy Father’s Day and a great rest of the week!

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Reprinted with permission

Standing Letter Cake

May 27, 2014 by Sharon Zambito 13 Comments

Hello everyone!

I want to share with you this cake I made for my son’s high school graduation. I was very pressed for time in getting it done, as well as preparing for the big party we threw for him, so this is not a high quality professional photo tutorial by any means.

It is more of an explanation of how I created the cake with a few craptastic photos that I took added in. This in no way represents the quality of tutorials I deliver in my online cake decorating school, LOL.

The method that I used would not apply to every letter of the alphabet, but hopefully you will be able to take away some techniques from this tutorial that you can apply to other cakes. So here we go!

(click to enlarge:)

The diagram above basically shows how the cake was constructed. The very bottom portion was Styrofoam cut from a 2 inch thick sheet cake dummy. Because the bottom of the letter has those cut angles on each side, I wanted to be sure that the base was strong enough to support the weight of the tall side of the J. I put a piece of regular cake cardboard on top of the Styrofoam for food safety reasons. Then I built the cake above that. This cake was about 17 inches tall, and after it was ganached and covered in modeling chocolate it was about 3 inches deep, (front to back). So it was basically a very tall and skinny cake. (caps and I would say it served 15 – 20).

I baked 2 inch high dense chocolate cakes in two pans: a 9 x 13 and a 12 x 18. I overfilled the pans so the cakes would bake over the top, so that when I leveled the cakes they would be as close to 2 inches tall as possible. I then cut pieces from those sheet cakes as I built the cake.

I used ¼ inch foam core to support the “tiers” of the cake. I did not want to go any higher than 6 inches of cake without internal support. I used bubble tea straws for support as indicated in the diagram above.

NOTE: I built the cake while it was actually lying flat on its back on a big board. Then I ganached it, partially covered it in modeling chocolate. And not until then did I stand it up, secure to the base board and finish it. You will see more of this process in the photos that follow.

I made a paper template in the actual size I wanted the finished cake to be. (photo above). I then used this as a guide to to make the foamcore ganache templates, and also used this as a guide to build the cake.

The photo above shows the section of Styrofoam cut out for the bottom of the cake. IMPORTANT: the size of this Styrofoam base is about a1/4 -1/2 inch smaller all the way around than the paper template itself.

The reason for that is that there has to be enough room around the cake, once built, to apply a thick layer of ganache. If you cut this Styrofoam piece exactly the same size as the template, and build the rest of the cake to the exact measurements of your paper template, you will have no room for ganache later when you use the cardboard templates.

Above you see two templates made from one quarter inch foam core. These were my ganache boards. These were covered in press and seal plastic wrap, and used as the guide for the bench scraper to ganache the cake after it was built.

This next portion I am going to explain, I do not have process photos of:

I built the cake lying flat on the bottom foamcore template. I had the entire thing lying on the larger foamcore board (that you see in the photo below). Once the cake was all “stacked” and built, I then put a layer of ganache on the entire top surface of the cake. While the ganache was still very soft, I put the top foamcore template (covered in press and seal) on it and pressed firmly down. I used a level while pressing down on the top template to get it as level as possible. I then left it alone for a while so the ganache would firm up. Then I took a larger foamcore board and put it on top of the entire cake and flipped the entire project over. I removed the previously bottom, but now on top, foamcore template. Repeated the process of applying a layer of ganache, putting the (press and seal covered) template board back on, pressing firmly and getting it level. I left that to set up until firm.

Then I ganached the sides of the cake and used the edges of the two templates on the top and bottom of the cake to guide my bench scraper, to give me the sharp outline of the letter. (We have instructional videos in our online school on making spreadable ganache, as well as using two template boards like this to create a perfect shell.)

I put a very thick layer of ganache on all sides of the cake, because I wanted it to be super stable once I stood it up. I wasn’t sure how the cake was going to react to standing up straight, so I went really heavy with the coating of ganache. (You can see here why it is important that the Styrofoam base and the entire cake once built, was smaller than the actual template boards. It left space for ganache to be applied around the outer perimeter of the cake.)

Remember that the top and bottom templates are covered in press and seal plastic wrap. The smooth sides of the plastic wrapped templates are against the ganache. Once the whole cake was covered in ganache, (as you see in the photo above), I left it overnight to totally set up. The next day, the templates popped right off and I repaired any divots in the surface of the ganache with some fresh ganache and let that set up totally before starting to cover the cake.

Next came the covering of the cake. I decided to use modeling chocolate so that I would have more workability time and be able to blend seams and such better than if I had used fondant. In retrospect, I’m not sure I would do that again. The modeling chocolate showed a lot of blemishes and was rather “delicate”. I wonder if I could have gotten a cleaner looking surface using fondant with tylose. (I realize that these photos do not show the imperfections in the surface of the cake, but there were many.)

Back to the covering of the cake: I first covered the sides of the letter. I rolled out strips of modeling chocolate and wrapped them around the sides of the cake. I did not cover the whole perimeter of the cake in one strip of modeling chocolate. I did it in sections and placed the seams in the inside corners of the letter as indicated in the photo above. Next, I covered the top surface with modeling chocolate, trimmed it, and blended the seems joining the side strips to the top piece with my finger.

Note: notice in the photo above that I did not cover the Styrofoam at the base of the cake. I did not want to stand the cake up onto modeling chocolate, because the weight of the cake would have caused it to squoosh out the bottom and not given a clean look.

Then it was time to stand the cake up. I slid the cake a bit so that the bottom edge of the Styrofoam was even with the bottom of the rectangular cardboard you see in the picture above. Then I put my hand under that cardboard and used that to stand the cake straight up onto the wood grain fondant covered baseboard. I put some melted white chocolate on the cake board where the bottom of the J would be standing on it.

Here is the back of the letter, right after the cake was stood up onto the board. Two wooden dowels were then driven through the cake and down into the baseboard as indicated above. I decided not to put a long wooden dowel down the tall side of the J because I was not traveling with this cake. If I were going to have to bring it to another venue, I would recommend doweling that side too. That being said, the cake was pretty stable once it was all assembled. I think the ginormous amount of ganache surrounding the cake made it very stable.

To cover the back of the cake: I rolled out modeling chocolate onto a piece of foam core, popped that into the freezer for about 10 min., then cut out the letter shape using my paper template. I popped that back into the freezer for another 7 min. or so to get it super firm. I used shortening, applied liberally, (as you can see in the photo above), as the glue to hold the back panel on. The back panel was very firm from being in the freezer, so I just stood it up and attached it to the back of the cake, being careful not to put too much pressure onto the precariously standing cake. I then used my fingers to smooth the seam where the back panel and the side strips of modeling chocolate met.

Here is a photo of the cake after it is standing up and doweled into the baseboard. The holes on the top of the cake created from the wooden dowels were plugged with little pieces of modeling chocolate and blended in as well as possible. (However, they were visible.)

NOTE: I wanted the front of the cake to have some dimension and have that “collegiate font” look. So I actually created another panel with red modeling chocolate in the shape of the J, but made it a bit smaller then the front of the cake. I applied that to the front of the cake, then I outlined that with black fondant using the semicircle disc of my clay gun.

NOTE: the woodgrain fondant board was made by putting fondant onto a cake drum. I scored it to create planks, used a wood grain impression mat, and painted it with airbrush color diluted with vodka. Once that was dry, I dusted it with brown petal dusts to give it more dimension. Glued a 5/8 inch black ribbon around the side of the board. (We have video tutorials on woodgrain boards as well in our online school. Shameless plug #2, LOL)

This photo shows the (broken) tassel laying on the board after we cut the cake. The tassel was made using a clay gun. I built it on an 18 gauge wire in the shape of an upside down L. That allowed me to insert the wire into the front of the cake, to give the illusion that the tassel was actually dangling in front of the cake. ( The wire was coated in white chocolate before being inserted into the cake.)

The bulldog was simply an edible image applied to a piece of fondant, and allowed to dry to create a plaque.

Now to cutting and serving:

The first piece was cut where indicated.

Then cut horizontally right along the top of the ¼ foamcore board that was holding up the top portion of the cake.

Continued to serve the top portion.

Then after the top foam core support board was removed, I just cut across to create pieces from the tall side of the cake. You can see the wooden dowel sticking out on the shorter side. All the cake has been served on that shorter side and right under that little bit of brown is the Styrofoam.

(I call this an action shot. I was moving so fast, the camera couldn’t keep up with me!) Terribly blurry picture, but you can see me removing a bubble tea straw as I came across it while serving.

Cake to ganache ratio is ridiculous. I did have emergency syringes of insulin on standby.

And in case that wasn’t enough sugar, I served it with whipped cream and caramel sauce 🙂 I had 911 on speed dial.

If you look close enough, you can see the patch on the top of the modeling chocolate where the other wooden dowel was inserted. They were visible and it did bug me LOL. The way to avoid that would have been to stand up the cake and dowel it to the baseboard before any modeling chocolate was applied. But I did not want to cover the entire cake with modeling chocolate in the standing position, so I chose the lesser of two evils. (But the patches still bugged me, LOL)

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And so that is it! I hope that this gave you enough information to help you to try to create your own tall, skinny standing cake.

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Happy Caking!

Sharon

Modern Mother’s Day Cake by Lisa Bugeja

May 5, 2014 by Sharon Zambito Leave a Comment

Today we have a guest post by the very talented Lisa Bugeja of Flour Confections:

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Make Mom something special – something she will remember. This modern Mother’s Day cake features a sophisticated houndstooth pattern created with my new houndstooth cutter set from my Flourishes line. It’s adorned with fabulous sugarpaste poppies – also made with my new life-sized poppy cutters.

Want to know how it was done? Here is a quick tutorial for you to learn & share! Enjoy

All supplies for this project can be found at our store www.flourconfections.com

You will need:

Black Confectioners Choice Gumpaste

Red Confectioners Choice Gumpaste

Groove Board

Poppy Cutter Set

Houndstooth Cutter Set

Corn Husk Veiner Set

20g White or Green Wire

Variety of Petal Dusts: Red Velvet, Red Rose & Poppy

Gum Glue & Glue Bottle

Small Scissors

Gelatin tinted with Red Velvet Dust

Fondant covered cake

For centres, use #9 ball of black CC gum paste & 20g wire – create a hook on the wire, dip in glue & wipe off excess, secure ball of paste to wire by inserting hooked end into paste.

Pinch a star like pattern on top of ball of paste using tweezers. Apply glue to pinched areas and dip into a mixture of gelatine and red velvet dust to create pollen centre.

Tape bundles of stamens around the dried centre – it’s easier to control smaller bundles at a time rather than the entire amount. When all taped, trim off excess at base to avoid build up and tape to completely encase stamens and wire.

Roll out a sausage of Red CC gumpaste and place along grooves of the groove board. Roll out until it’s thin, then flip over and cut out petals ensuring that the groove is 1/2 – 2/3 up the centre of the petal. You will need 4-6 petals per flower depending upon the variety of poppy you are creating.

Using 24g white wire, dip wire in glue, wipe off excess and insert into petal 1/3 of the way in. Thin edges on foam pad with a ball tool.

Place wired petal on one side of corn husk veiner, place other side on top and sandwich together, pressing firmly to get impression. Remove from veiner, place on foam pad and go over edges with ball tool to ruffle. Place petals in flower former to dry.

Using floral tape, tape dried petals tightly around centres. Adjust petals as you go to create the look you want.

Using petal dusts – colour petals front & back paying attention to highlights and shadows. Steam flower to set colours when done colouring.

Left: dusted & steamed completed flower. Right: un-dusted flower

Modern Mother’s Day Cake

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Lisa Bugeja is the award winning artist & creative force behind Flour Confections Inc. in Toronto, Ontario. Her work has been featured in numerous publications such as Brides magazine, Toronto Life, Fashion Magazine, American Cake Decorating, Bakers Journal, People.com and many more. She has also been seen on CTV’s Canada AM; and as assistant to Ashlee Perkins on Food Network Challenge, and assistant to Matthew Somers on Cake Walk.

Flour Confections