Gumpaste Blossoms by Jennifer Dontz

This Week's tutorial is on one of my very favorite cake toys, the blossom cutter / veines set. I LUV LUV this set! I think everyone should have it, so if you do not, you might want to put it on your wish list. I make out of fondant These Because first and foremost, I Always think of taste with my cakes. Sure you Can Make them out of Gump, But fondant is more palatable.

Here's a link to the set on Our Site: Sugar Delites

1. I roll my paste to # 2 on the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment. (Luv That BTW, if You Do not have one, get one! I had a manual for years and this Allows an extra hand in the kitchen :-) Cut out the blossom shape using the cutter in the set. We Also sell September 5 petal blossom Which makes for really cute little apple blossoms and cherry blossoms as well. That tiny little pinches in September has in it, Which Gives them a really cute edging.

2. Place the paste Vein Between the 2 piece, matching up the notches on the sides of the veiners. Press Gently, You Really Do Not Have to put much pressure at all. If You are not getting your subtle lines in the paste, press a bit harder. If you are cutting the paste, you are pressing too hard.

3. Then I open up the veines and with quick flicks of my fingers, Loos Each petal. If You Have Problems with sticking, just dust the paste a bit better. Then I pop the small kiss Into These formers. This little shapes in September Former them beautifully. http://jenniferdontz.com/viewproduct.php?itemid=for006

To finish, add a little dust or petal Simply airbrush them .... Adding to piped or dragee dot in the center. They are so cute and so easy to make! Here's a couple cakes I did using the blossoms: (On the cake Below, I Used petal dusts to add the pink color) See what I mean HAVING about "stock" flowers. You can do them in white color and add whatever you Need to the centers at the time. A real time saver When you are busy.

And, They last for months stored in boxes.

Below on the cake, I airbrushed the flowers. I Also Used frill cutters to do the chocolate lace around the top and the baby bootie booties in September for the sugar. If You Have Any Questions, you know I'm here to try and help.

I make them up ahead and keep them in little bowls .... I call them "stock" flowers. I can dust them or airbrush Any Color When needed.

Tutorial and Photography by Jennifer Sugar Delites Dontz-2010-all rights reserved

This tutorial Was Used with permission by Jen Dontz.

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

How to Make a Gumpaste Bow

In this tutorial I teach how to make a bow.

Hope you enjoy! ***




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Oops!! How Do I Fix That?!!

Have you ever had those days when it seems like everything keeps going wrong?  I was having one of those while I was making this cake for a bridal show.

I had so much trouble with my black fondant breaking and cracking and pitting!  Used the wrong type of coloring medium!!  Anyway...I was finally able to get my fondant to work and finished up this cake.  The last thing I put on it were the gems.  I did that right before I went to bed.  The gems felt securely on the cake, so off I went to slumberland.

In the morning....I found...OH NO!!!  What the heck!!  Several of the gems had slid down the side  Now what am I going to do!!!!!  I thought that since it was red on white, it would be impossible to remove that huge streak. 

Then I remembered reading somewhere that you can use vodka or lemon extract to clean up the spot!!  Yea!!

I used a Qtip and carefully started wiping the smudge area.  I used several Qtips because they would get really soak up that red and get dirty. 

Volia!!  Like new again!!  I then reattached the gems and was happy how this cake turned out!!

You can also use this method to clean up luster dust mistakes or smears.  If you are painting something on your cake with luster, make sure you think in terms painting a wall in your house.  Use paper towels or pieces of paper like you would drop clothes.  They can be butted right up to the area in which you are painted so that you don't get smudges where you don't want them.  Use very small paint brushes in small areas and wipe them off frequently.

Hope this helps someone in need!! 

Tutorial by Rhonda Christensen

2010

All Rights Reserved

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

Coloring Fondant to a Deep Hue

One of the biggest challenges I had when I started working with fondant was how to get a deep red, blue or black.  I usually ended up with a big sticky mess, finally deciding to go to the cake supply store and buy the premade colored fondant.   Using a large amount of gel can change the consistency of your fondant.

Others who have tried using only powdered cake colors find it compromises the elasticisty of the fondant, making it unflexible and difficult to work with.

So I have found several ways to make a deep colored fondant...

I will show the different methods using different colors.

Let's start with the color

BLUE

This method is effective when you need a small amount of fondant for decorating.

Knead blue gel into your fondant until it is a nice robin's egg blue. Your fondant will be barely sticky. Once you find it becoming rather soft stop adding gel color.

Mix about 1/2 tsp blue candy/cake powdered food coloring with a tablespoon of confectioners sugar.

Knead into your fondant.  If you desire a deeper hue, sprinkle a small amount of color

on top and knead into your fondant until your fondant is desired color.

 Double wrap your fondant in plastic wrap and place in an airtight container. It will continue to

deepen in color as it sets.

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Here is a technique for making fondant

BLACK
This method is for achieving a deep black without a lot of mess. It will, however, taste like chocolate!

The easiest way to acheive a nice black fondant is to start with chocolate fondant.

 It is a very dark brown, so by the time you knead in black candy/cake powdered color you will have a nice dark black hue.

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Here is another method to make a deep colored fondant.

I will demonstrate the color

RED
This method is effective when you desire a larger amount of fondant to cover an entire cake.

This  is an easy and tastier means to an end.

Make red candy clay using red candy melts.*

It is easy to make candy clay by mixing candy melts with white corn syrup.

Use around 2 parts white fondant to 1 part colored candy clay.

Knead your candy clay into your fondant.

Once your candy clay in incorporated into the fondant, you can deepen the color by adding powdered food color. Knead into the fondant. 

Keep adding powdered color until you achieve a deep red hue.

If your fondant is too soft, knead 1 tablespoon of confectioners sugar at a time until fondant is desired consistency.

Wrap with plastic wrap and place in an airtight container until ready to use.

 I used all three of these methods to color the fondant  used for myThomas the Train pictured below.

Try experimenting with different color candy melts, gels and powdered colors. The more

you practice, the easier it gets to get that dark rich color for your decorating needs.

*

CANDY CLAY RECIPE

1 lb Colored Candy Melts
1/3 cup light corn syrup
Melt Candy Melts following package directions. Stir in corn syrup and Blend will. Place mixture onto waxed paper and let set at room temperature until ready to use.  When ready to use,  knead candy clay until malleable before adding to fondant.


Tutorial and photography by Jacque Benson. copyright 2010 all rights reserved.
This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

Fondant Camo Hat

Camouflage: No easy way out.

Raise your hand if your arms and wrists start to ache the minute you get a camouflage cake order.

Yep, I am seeing quite a few hands going up. Doing camo in buttercream is a rather tedious process. Piping blobs of icing in alternating colors, smoothing, repeat, repeat, repeat.... till either you finish your cake or your arm falls off. Whichever comes first.

A while back I got an order for a camo fishing hat for a little boy's birthday. I wanted it to look very realistic; like a real hat. I did not think buttercream camo would give me the look I wanted. So I started to brainstorm about a way to do it in fondant. An easier and less painful way than buttercream.

Guess what. It wast not easier nor less painful. It was more so. It took for-ev-er. My children had birthdays that I missed in the time it took to do this hat. It was very tedious and labor intensive.

BUT..... it looked friggin' awesome man! It looked like a real fabric hat! People were amazed that it was cake. The press came to my house to report about it. The President called to congratulate me. They put up a plaque in my honor at the Wildlife and Fisheries Museum here in New Orleans. Yes folks, it looked just that good.

Oh wait, none of that happened. That was the exhaustion induced dream I had that night.

Anyway, let me show you guys how to do this technique if you ever lose your mind enough to give it a try:

First I carved 2 layers of round cake to have a slight taper up the sides. I also carved some small indentations into the sides to give the look of rumpled fabric, like a truly worn hat. That was crumb coated and covered with a very thin layer of white fondant.

The camouflage layer was made by putting "puzzle pieces" of the colored fondant together side by side. First I penciled the camo pattern onto a piece of paper, marked them the color I wanted each to be, and then cut those pieces out. Each piece was used as a template to cut out the corresponding color of fondant.

Each piece of colored fondant was stuck to a thin layer of white fondant underneath with a little water. This under layer of fondant was there to ensure that the pieces stayed together and did not fall apart when I picked up the larger finished piece. I kept the whole piece under plastic while I was working on it to prevent it from drying out.

When I got one piece big enough to cover the top of the hat, I used a slightly fabric textured mat on it to give a little bit more of a fabric look. That piece was then glued to the top of the hat with water. And the excess hanging over the sides of the top of the hat was cut off with an exacto knife.

The same process was followed to make a piece to apply to the sides. I used two pieces to wrap around the sides, and covered the side seems later.

Here is one side piece in place and the top edge trimmed flush with the top of the cake.

Here is the 2nd side piece in place, about to be trimmed on top.

The same process was done to cover a cardboard cake circle, which served as the brim of the hat. The cake part was put on top of this cake circle.

Then I used strips of green fondant, and some strings from the clay gun to finish off the cake and hide all of the seems. My stitching tool was used to put a stitching effect on the wider strips of green fondant.

The fishing lures and dog tags were made of gumpaste and painted silver.

I doweled the base cake and put the camo hat on top.

And here is the finished product:

Ta dah! Pretty cool huh? It really did come out great and had a very realistic and clean look. My client and I were both very happy.

Give it a try if you have a chance. If you are like me, you will do it once because the cake artist in you must conquer it. Then you will never do it again. LOL

Seriously, I hope you guys try this. It was time consuming, but very fun to watch it all come together. Be sure to send me pics if you do!

Happy caking,

Sharon

http://www.sugaredproductions.com>
 

The photography and tutorial by Sharon Zambito, SugarEd Productions, all rights reserved- 2009
The preceding tutorial was used with the permission of Sharon Zambito and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the author.

SugarEd Productions Presents!
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SHEET CAKE SECRETS DVD  Sharon Zambito shares with you all of her secrets for making fantastic sheet cakes. Learn four different methods for creating images on your cake, basic airbrushing techniques, borders in both buttercream and fondant, fondant decorations and a lot more. Watch Sharon decorate three cakes from start to finish. This 2 disc set includes special bonus items as well. Almost five hours of instruction at a great price!   CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO     BONUS LAGNIAPPE DVD   Sharon shares with you even more techniques that you can use to bring your sheet, single layer, and tiered cakes up to the next level. The techniques taught in this DVD compliment the instruction in the Sheet Cake Secrets DVD, but also stand alone and may be used on many different cake styles and shapes. Run time: 25 minutes.    CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO  NEW TOOLS USED IN DVD:  FENCE CUTTER ROPE TWIST CUTTER DAISY PLUNGER CUTTERS   CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO    VISIT OUR BLOG:   SugarEd Lagniappe Blog

Ooooh Baby! Easy sugarpaste booties by Jen Dontz

This week's tutorial is on the adorable and VERY EASY baby bootie.  It's lifesize, so much fun to make and will really impress your customers!

Step 1 - Roll out your paste about 1/4" thick.  You can use fondant or gumpaste.  I'm using gumpaste on these.  The set comes with three cutters.  Taking the sole cutter, cut one of the thick pieces for each shoe you want to make. 

 You can let these dry, but really don't have to.  I started working right away on them.  Since the paste is so thick you will not be able to totally cut through it with the cutter so just make an impression on top, then use the scissors to cut it out.

  By cutting the paste thick, I feel it's easier to put this together.  I'm sure there are many ways to make these, but this is my way.  :-)

 

Step 2 - I use my tiny little scissors and cut off about 1/4" from each end of the sole.  If you don't do this step, the final result looks more like a moccasin than a bootie.

Disgard the end scraps.

Step 3 - Cut out one of each of the other two pieces for each shoe you want to make.  You can use any thickness of paste, I cut mine on #4 on the Kitchen Aid pasta machine.  The next part we will apply is the part that looks like a little helmet.

Step 4 - Take the sole and moisten the edge with gumglue or water and wrap the "helmet" part around the sole, making sure the paste edge goes right to the bottom of the sole edge.

Step 5 - Take the longer piece and moisten the edge shown by the brush, just this straight edge.

Step 6 - Wrap this back part of the shoe around the back part of the sole.

Step 7 - Using a clay gun, make some tiny strings for the ties of the bootie.

Step 8 - You can make whatever little tie like finish you want.  You can make a bow or just leave the untied strings.  You also can use your imagination to decorate these in numerous ways.  I used the little daisy punch and the snowflake cutters to embelish the ones below.  You might have to stuff some plastic wrap or a cotton ball in the shoe until it's competely dry.  I guarantee your customers will LOVE these, especially when they find out they are made of sugar :-)  If you have any questions at all, please contact me, cakebabe1@aol.com  All of these cake toys are available through Sugar Delites, I'll make a list of just what I used and post it below.  Aren't these just to cute for words?  I LOVE using them on my baby cakes.

Equipment used to make the booties:

Click on item to order:

Jem baby bootie cutter  -

Daisy punch cutter -  

(I used a tip #7 to cut out the center of the daisy)

PME snowflake plunger cutters -

Rainbow disco dust (brilliant) -

Sugarcraft clay gun -

Tiny scissors -

Tutorial courtesy of Jennifer Dontz
2010
All Rights Reserved

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

Remy Stirs the Pot

Hello Sugar Friends!

 I thought I would show this cute cake I made a few months back for the daughter of a friend. She was having her party at one of those little chef places, so the theme of the cake was just perfect!

When the mom asked me if I could make Remy stirring the soup pot like in the movie, I said sure I can! Then of course, after I hung up the phone, my thought was : How the heck am I going to do that? The pot I can do, but figure modeling is not my strong suit. So I just jumped in and went for it.

I used a real chopping board for the cake base, and I love the effect that gave.

Here is the first body parts of Remy drying. I find this image quite disturbing. He scares me. But not as much as possums.

I put on his face and arms, and then used a bubble tea straw to simulate the spoon he would be holding on the real cake.

Hands make holding the spoon a tad easier for him. His little chef hat makes him official!

Here he is drying so he would have the proper body position for the cake. He no longer scares me. I think he is pretty dern cute now.

Here are 3 layers of cake iced with thickened ganache as I described in this post.

Here are the pot handles drying. An Aussie friend gave me the idea to use aquarium air tubing wrapped in fondant. I taped them down to the table so they would dry in the proper curve. I have no idea if that is food safe, so do some research before you do this.

Here I am working on the cheese and veggies, all made of fondant with tylose.

Cute little carrots.

Swiss and aged Gouda. Tee hee.

I wrapped the cake in white fondant, added the top trim and the handles, and then airbrushed it with copper luster dust. Buttercream makes the soup, with little fondant veggies sprinkled on top.

Despite using the straw to configure his arms, when I put the real spoon in the cake, I could not get it to line up with his hands correctly. After a few choice words, I just decided that he was shifting the spoon from one hand to the other, and my picture caught it mid-shift. Yep, I like that story.

I also chose to ignore the fact that he is walking on the soup more than he is standing on the edge of the pot. (Rat bastard.)

Sometimes things just don't go as we plan, and we have to suck it up. I hate when that happens.

But overall, I was very pleased with the cake, and mom and daughter went crazy over it. Mission accomplished!

 

 

 

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Tutorial and Photography by Sharon Zambito. All Rights Reserved. 2009

This tutorial was used with the expressed permission of Sharon Zambito. Content of this post may not be reproduced in any form without written consent of the author.

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