Amazing Mold Putty

My MIL called to ask if I could make a baby in a shell for SIL's upcoming birthday. I said yes, without hesitation, then realized I didn't exactly know how I would make a shell. So, I looked online and came across the idea of a mold. I didn't have time to order one, so I turned to my trusty Michael's store! I had heard of Amazing Mold Putty, seen it demonstrated, and actually got to use a mold made from it...but I was a little nervous to try it out on my own. But it couldn't have been simpler!

I found the mold putty and a real shell and went to work. First, I mixed equal parts from both tubes, blended them together, wrapped it around my shell, and VOILA! I let it dry longer than the specified time because I was making such a big mold.

After the outside of the shell was dry, I made a mold of the inside as well, following the same steps.

Then I got to make my shell! I poured white candy melts into the outside shell mold, then laid the inside shell mold on top of that, squished it a little, scraped away any excess candy and popped it in the freezer.

It came out awesome! I had to repeat the process to get two shells, for the baby to lay in. Using some candy/chocolate gloves, I held my shell and painted away. My MIL wanted pink, so that's what I used. Then I added some super pearl dust for that beautiful shimmer! I made a little platform for the baby in the bottom half of the shell. I "glued" the two shells together with more melted candy and propped it up in the freezer. Then, I finally added the little baby inside.



So cute! I love the little baby mold, which can be found here. I made some additional little shells for the cake with a candy mold I already had on hand. I painted them as well to match the bigger shell. My MIL made the cake and icing, which tasted fantastic!

This stuff is so much fun! I can't wait to use it again!

Hope you had a great birthday, Cristina!

The Leaves Are Changing

Well, not so much here in Florida. But with fall in full swing, it always make me think of leaves. I used to live in Pennsylvania, you know, where they have all four seasons. Fall was always my favorite, the cool air blowing the multi-colored leaves on the ground, so later my siblings and I could make them into a big pile to jump in, then watch as they would fly all around, floating back down on you. They're kind of like the "snowflakes" of Autumn. Not to mention the sound, the crunching as you stroll down the sidewalk. Some kids loved puddles, for me it was leaves. It makes me a little sad that my girls don't really get the same privilege, but they do still like to collect leaves.

When I made a cake for the hub's work last year, I was definitely keeping leaves in mind! I made some out of marble-colored gumpaste. Then I used petal and luster dust to liven them up even more. At the time I didn't own a veiner, so I made my own by using a dresden tool.

I loved how they came out! So colorful! I accompanied them with some caramel and fondant acorns. I iced my cake with a (very stubborn) cream cheese frosting, then added a ribbon. Not too bad, right?

Hope you all are enjoying this season as much as I am!

Spanish Tiles

A friend of a friend was getting married soon! The bride-to-be's shower was to be held at an elegant Spanish restaurant, Mi Tomatina. Looking online, I found very little inspiration or help for the perfect cake. In the end I went with the Spanish theme and planned to match the invitation's design, but with brighter colors.

I decided on a square cake with handpainted tiles and gumpaste flowers. I started by picking carnations, as they are one of Spain's most famous flowers. I made red, orange and yellow carnations, following this video from Elaine MacGregor. I didn't, however, have the carnation cutter, so I just used a plain round one and cut little slits around the whole circle, just like Elaine did in the video. I was much happier with how these came out, compared to the only other ones I've made (for a Wilton class almost 2 years ago).

I then made the tiles out of a fondant and gumpaste mixture. I ended up with 23 of the larger tiles and 46 of the smaller tiles. After letting them dry for a couple days, it was time to "paint"! I handpainted each one, the tiles on the front matching the invitation. After working for about 2 hours on those five tiles, I decided to make the rest of the tiles using a less intricate design. After my flowers dried, the color faded quite a bit, so I painted them as well, which turned out much more vibrant. I liked the finished look, especially since the tiles and flowers matched better this way. What do you think?

I was just finishing up as my friend came over to pick up the cake, and the bride-to-be, Emily, was with her. She was so appreciative and loved the cake! Mission accomplished! This was probably the most time consuming cake I've done so far, and even though every detail didn't come out exactly as planned (which never happens anyway!), the result was worth it!

Congratulations Emily and Jeffrey!

Can't wait to see the wedding pictures!

The Cherpumple

I just saw this and had to share. For anyone that has not seen this yet, be prepared to be amused! If you can't view the video or it has problems, you can check out the video here.



Pretty neat concept, huh?! Not sure if I would ever really try this one...I am not a fan of pie. But many of my family members are, so maybe this would be a hit. Still, I love when someone creates something new. If I did this, I might only start with one cake to begin with and see how that goes.

Now, if this video has inspired you and you make a cherpumple, please send me a pic and a review...after you send it to Charles, of course!

Happy Baking!

Wrapped In Chocolate

I knew I wanted the cake to be special, since this was the first birthday cake I would make for my mom since I've been decorating cakes. But I really had no idea where to start. When I am in this dilemma, I usually begin by looking at all the favorite cake pictures I have saved. A short time ago, I had seen an amazing cake on Cake Central (suprising, right?) made by member misterc for Cake Central Magazine, of which, I currently don't subscribe (insert sad face here). But lucky for me, he had posted it on cakecentral.com for my viewing pleasure! When I saw this cake, I just thought it'd be perfect, with my own twist, of course!

I started out making a devil's food cake with a chocolate mousse filling, icing it with a sage buttercream (mom's fave color is green), then wrapping that in chocolate, topped off with a chocolate "S" (for Shirley)and a rose (for her middle name, Rose).

What do you think? I really liked how it came out, minus a few broken pieces. I was pretty happy with my rose too, which was the first one I've made since taking Nic Lodge's class earlier this year (yes, I am a slacker)!

I had made chocolate tiles/shards before, but never a chocolate wrap, especially one like this. But I had fun making it and it looked okay, even with some missing/cracked pieces. Plus it still tastes delicious! If you want to try your own chocolate wrap, here's some instructions! You're welcome. Now, for this kind of wrap, you don't have to spread the chocolate, just drizzle it over the paper. Very simple techniques, but people will be impressed!

Glad we could make it down, Mom. Hope you had a great birthday!

Busy as a Bee!

I have been busy lately...and loving it! I have recently made 2 cakes, but I'll post those later. This post is about an adorable little baby, a baby bee to "bee" exact!

I was lucky enough to have Jane, the president of my cake club, ask me to join her in viewing and then judging a cake challenge at our local JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store! She had asked me to bring my Nic Lodge flowers, along with anything else I may have, to display for our Sugar Arts Guild. Well, to tell the truth, I didn't really have much else than the flowers and some left over leaves from last year. Since the competition was Halloween themed, I thought I would make some Halloween-ish things to bring. I dusted my leaves, cut out some orange fondant/tylose pieces to make pumpkins, and then I made a baby and "dressed" it in a cute bee costume, which the hubs recommended (thanks honey)!

It really did come out cute, wish I could say the same for my pumpkins that broke. So I brought my baby and the leaves. I got a couple admirers, and one lady that kept coming over to the table, accompanied with a different person each time, that just "had to see this"! I was thrilled. Then I added my little bee to Cake Central and so far have 50 people that saved it as a favorite! Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!


As for the rest of the display table, Jane had brought in a gorgeous cake with masks and roses and her own ring box cake, both of which I have seen, but am still amazed by!

The Cake Challenge was so fun to see and judge! I was a little nervous to begin with, seeing as how this was my first attempt at judging, but I ended up having a great time! All the contestants were Wilton students and they did an outstanding job on their cakes. The winners are below.

Rod, who flew in from New York to compete, won "Spookiest Cake" with his toxic graveyard.

And Marissa was the big winner of the event, taking home awards for "Best Halloween Cake", "Customer's Choice", and "Judge's Choice" with her topsy-turvy cake!

Congrats to all the contestants. Hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did! If you want to see the rest of the pictures, you can find them all here! Enjoy!

Fit for a Princess!

I have seen so many castle cakes done that it kind of blows my mind! I have wanted to try one for a while, but was a little hesitant since it seemed like so much work. Well, my one and only niece (until next year, that is...Congrats Cristina!) was about to turn one and my sister wanted to throw a princess party. At first I had my mind on a couple other princess style cakes, but forced myself to try the castle cake instead. I absolutely loved making it; the towers, the brick impression, the flowers, and everything else for that matter! I still wanted to do more to it and next time I think I will try for more towers, I just took it easy this time. Here is the final cake...



I followed some instructions that I found on CakeBoss for how to make the towers. The rest of it is helpful also, I just did it a little differently. The cake was strawberry, filled with a Twinkie filling recipe I found on CakeCentral.

Then I also made a little smash cake for her to dig into. I think she liked it!

Happy Birthday Princess Abigail!

P-P-P-Poker Cake

My brother and his friends are really into poker and they play a couple times a week. So, I know when any one of their birthdays rolls around, it's poker cake time! As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't get a chance to make my brother's birthday cake this year (I know, I'm a bad sister), but I did get to make one for his friend recently. He told me he wanted a poker cake (obviously) and her favorite color was bright orange.

I had already been searching for poker cake inspiration, so luckily when my brother asked me for a cake with only 2 days notice, I already had an idea in mind! I found one I liked on Cake Central, from member tinabelle722.

I started by making poker chips and playing cards from a fondant/tylose mix to let harden and dry for a day. Here's where I incorporated her fave color!



After baking a chocolate cake, I frosted it with almond buttercream, then covered it with fondant. Next, I took edible markers and drew all the suits and letters on the cards and placed them on the cake. I put my borders on, using my clay extruder for the bottom one and hand rolling the top one. Then I stuck all my chips in stacks on toothpicks and pushed them into the cake. Here's how it all turned out...

I was pretty happy with this cake, and I heard Misty and her friends and family were going gaga over it! Hehehe!

Sidney Galpern

I made a little mistake in my last post. After searching online for Sidney Malpern, I realized I was really looking for Sidney Galpern. A little mis-spelling on the ICES flier. It's okay now, I figured it out!

If you read my last post, you know that Sidney was a demonstrator at the FL ICES Day of Sharing in Daytona Beach. When we first saw Sidney up at the demonstrating table, we were a little confused, and thought she was there with her mom, who we thought would be demonstrating. We we W-R-O-N-G! Despite her age, she had the most professional demonstration of them all. She was very organised, focused, and had us mesmerized by her skills, her humor, and her easy going demeanor. To say the least, I was so very impressed!

After finding her website, I am now even more impressed by this 15 year old sugar artist!

Her cakes

Her chocolate sculptures

Her pulled sugar
*All photos courtesy of Simi Cakes

And here are some links if you want to check out her work, plus some of her adventures!

Simi Cakes and Confections

Simi Cakes Blog

How amazing is that?! Sidney, keep up the great work! You have such a wonderful future ahead of you and I wish you all the best!