Stucco Finish

Want to know a secret? You can cover flaws in your fondant by giving it a stucco look!!

I was making a cake for a bridal show and for some darn reason the fondant wasn't working for me. It was just one of those days and you know we all have them.

So I sat there thinking "How can I cover this up without putting too much on it?" Then I remembered this stucco finish that I saw in one of the Wilton books. Can't remember which one though!!

All you need is some thinned down Royal Icing (RI) and a wad of wax paper. Make sure that you scrunch the wax paper a lot so that it is somewhat on the soft side instead of stiff, but not too soft or you won't get any definition.

Next, dip the wax paper into the RI and dab a little onto a paper towel or paper plate to remove excess RI and then start dabbing onto the fondant. Keep going over the fondant until you achieve the look you want. I also used a very small piece to get into the edges. Let dry and then decorate with a border you wish!! Very easy!

Tutorial and photos by Rhonda Christensen. 2009. All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced without permission from the author.

Carnation Tutorial

Here are some quick Carnations that I just made for a wedding cake topper. They were easier then I thought they would be!!

To start...hook a 22g wire and wrap floral tape several times. This gives the sugarpaste something to adhear to.

Roll out the sugarpaste thin and cut out a scalloped circle.

Use an exacto knife to cut around the edges as shown.

Place on a hard surface dusted with cornstarch. With your index finger, roll a toothpick back and forth around the scallops to frill them.

Turn over and brush center with glue up to the frills. Insert wire through the center and fold in half. Keep wire hidden. Brush glue below frills on the right side and fold past center. Turn around and repeat.

Pinch base to round the shape. Let dry.

Make a second cut and frill as before. turn over, brush with glue and slip wire through center. With index fingers and thumbs, pinch and gather the second ruffle around the first. Repeat for a third row. Let dry for about 15 to 30 minutes before adding each addition.

For a larger flower, increase size of cutter and/or add more rows of ruffles. For the ones used on this cake, I used 3 small, 3 medium and 2 large ruffles. If you wish to add color, hold upside down. With a flat brush, dust the edges with a darker color. I didn't do that with these because they matched the carnations that were in the table centerpieces.

Below is a close-up of the carnation topper.

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Tutorial courtesy of Rhonda Christensen
2009- All Rights Reserved

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are my families favorite thing to make. We try to make them for every occasion you can think of. My daughter and I are getting requests for these cookies now because they are so good but no one wants to take the time to make them. So if you have the patience and time, here is how we do our cookies!!

Rhonda's Sugar Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the butter and mix like you would pie crust.

In another bowl, beat eggs. Add sugar and vanilla and beat well. Combine with dry ingredients. The dough will be a little crumbly at this stage. I really like this recipe because you don't have to refrigerate it!! (I don't like waiting!)

This dough can be rolled out or shaped into balls and pressed with a fork or glass that has been dipped in sugar. We like to do both!!

Take some dough and knead it a little before you roll it out. I like to roll mine fairly thick. Thinner for crispy cookies and thicker for cookie bouquets.

I have to show you my "handicapped" rolling pin!! (I have RA). Cut out your cookies as desired and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.


Bake cookies in a 350 degree oven for around 9-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of your cookie. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, I take a fondant smoother, (or any flat, solid object) to make the cookies flat. The reason for doing this is so that the icing will stay on the cookie better and not run down the sides.



Cool the cookies for about 15-20 minutes and put them in an air-tight container.

I like to use this container I found at WalMart. It's a cake taker, but I use it for cookies and cupcakes.

Next comes the icing. I love to use a glaze most of the time but Royal Icing may also be used. Sometimes I do both!! The glaze recipe below is just for a small batch. I usually quadruple it!

Cookie Glaze

1 tablespoon corn syrup

1/4 cup warm water

1-2 teaspoons flavoring (almond, vanilla or your favorite)

3 cups powdered sugar

food coloring (paste)

Dissolve corn syrup in the warm water. Mix in extracts and add sugar until you have a smooth glaze. Add more to thicken or more water to thin. A lot depends on the humidity and where you live. Use the thicker for outlining and thinner for filling in. If you are familiar with color flow, it's the same technique. Your fill-in icing should disappear into itself at the count of 10.

I love to use these squeeze bottles for the thicker outlining part. They are mostly used for candy making or condiments. I then thin out what is left in the bowl with a little water and spoon that onto the cookie. If using different colors, (one for outlining and one for filling in) let the first color dry for an hour or so before decorating with the second color. Otherwise, your colors will bleed. Once dry, you can then decorate on the top of the first layer with more glaze, royal icing or food coloring markers.

Outline first then quickly fill in so that there is no distinguishing outline.

Once you get the hang of it, just have fun being creative!! There are all kinds of possibilities!!

Photos and Tutorial by Rhonda Christensen. 2009. all rights reserved

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

Ice Cream Cakes

Supplies needed:

Springform pan

Cake pans

Small off-set spatula

Parchment paper

Cake recipe (of your choice)

Ice cream (of your choice)

Filling (if desired)

Icing (of your choice)

For this ice cream cake I used 8" round cake pans (used 3) and springform pan. Bake your cakes and let cool. Line the springform pan with a circle of parchment paper for easy removal later on. Add the first layer of cake.

Then hot fudge was added on top of the first layer. I also did the top cake layer at the same time so that it could be turned over onto the last layer of ice cream later on. Freeze for about an hour.

Let the desired flavor of ice cream sit out of the freezer for about 15 - 20 minutes to soften. Take out bottom layer and add ice cream, spreading it around with an off-set spatula. I then added the middle cake layer and put it in the freezer for another hour or two.

Now you can add another layer of ice cream and the top layer of cake that already has the hot fudge frozen to it. You can see how the springform pan is not tall enough, but as long as everything is frozen, it will hold it's shape.



Wrap the whole pan with plastic wrap and freeze over night or for a few days.


Take the frozen cake out of the freezer and remove it from the springform pan. I rubbed my hands around it a few times to help release it from the pan. Remove the parchment paper from the cake. Scrape off the excess ice cream that has run down the sides of the cake and to even it out. Place back in the freezer while your get the icing ready.



You can ice it with regular butter cream, real whipped cream, stabilized whipped cream icing, more ice cream or Cool Whip. Whichever you use, you must work quickly!! I gave the cake a crumb coating, just like you would a real cake, and then stuck it back in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Bring the cake back out of the freezer, icing it again and smoothing it with a bench scraper that I use only for cakes. Freeze again for an hour.

About an hour before I was ready to serve the cake, I brought it out of the freezer and decorated it with chocolate butterflies, flowers and I used Magic Shell ice cream topping for the squiggles and dots. Then right back into the freezer again until it's ready to serve.

You can see that I used more cake then I did ice cream!!

Here is another one that I did last year. This ice cream cake had spice cake, Dulce De Leche carmel filling, vanilla ice cream and iced in Cool Whip with sugar cookies around the bottom sides. The possibilities are endless!! Be creative and have fun!!

Tutorial and Photography by Rhonda Christensen

All Rights Reserved 2009
This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

How to Make a Giant Cupcake

This is the Wilton's Giant Cupcake pan. It's really easy to do and wasn't complicated like I thought it would be. I did do a few changes as how much to put in the top part of the pan (3 cups instead of 4 1/2 cups).



This is the cake recipe that I used:




Preheat oven to 325 degrees.


I Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake mix (or any flavor)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 small box Devil's Food instant pudding (or one that will compliment your cake flavor)
pinch of salt

Mix dry ingredients well. In another bowl, mix:
4 jumbo eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup butter, melted

Mix for 30 seconds and then for 2 minutes on medium speed. Put 3 cups batter in top section. 4 cups in bottom section or just to a little over half full

Bake for 45 - 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Frost and decorate as desired!!


For this cupcake, I used the chocolate icing recipe that comes on the can of Hershey's Cocoa. It's really yummy! Icing was put on before the top layer was added. Then I used a cream cheese icing and used a 1M tip to swirl it on. The decorations are made of fondant flower cutouts.







Author--Rhonda Christensen. 2009---all rights reserved.

________________________This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.___________________________


***And a handy tip from Mame ***

One thing I tell my students who may have hot hands...and/or also tend to trim their pastry bags too much [where a coupler slips right through] --

Instead of throwing those bags away, place it over another bag that has the coupler fitted right -It acts like a double insulation!