Saturday 23 December 2017

Snow Globe Festive Cake


This little creation started life as the idea for the Christmas "lights" and that was all I knew. I thought maybe a Christmas tree, but then no. I sat for weeks thinking of what else would handle these lights. Whilst searching for inspiration, I saw a snow globe ornament ... With lights on! From then on, and since September, I knew my sister would be having a snow globe cake with fondant lights!

I knew it had to be a sponge, so the globe could not be made from glass! It was difficult to find the perfect globe from lightweight plastic. But, as you can see, I found one. After it had been washed and cleaned, then a thin layer of edible glue was used to cover the inside of the bowl, then edible Christmas sprinkles used for the snow.

Initially, I was going to make a snow scene myself, from fondant, but when I saw this little robin, sitting of fur tree branches with pine cones etc, I had to have it. I didn't even bother checking if it would fit in the globe! Fortunately, with some fancy wriggling, I made it fit.

The sponge recipe is from my list of classics and baked in three size tins, a 4.5", a 6" and an 8". These we then sandwiched together with my basic buttercream and chilled. Once chilled, the sponges were carved and crumbcoated. Once frosted and chilled again, the pale teal fondant was applied on the top and the sides. I ended up removing the teal from the top in the end.


I rolled the white fondant, used the bottom ofna cake tin for size, then cut the long snow shapes then applied to the top of the cake and glued down the sides.

Using an extruder, I added the fondant "electrical wire" around the cake and made each light bulb, individually and fixed them to the "wire" and cake.

Once the dome was glued to the top of the cake I added some fondant to the top of the dome tomhide the fact that it was flat, due to being upside down.

A little edible pearl paint, some festive sparkle (ediible glitter) and topped the whole creation off with a double layered bow.

Transport was a little bit of an issue which I didn't account for. At a whopping 15" tall, no cake box I had was going to accomodate that! But I managed. I think my sister was happy with it.

This is the last of my festive creations this year. It's time for a little rest for me and maybe a chance to decorate my own cake.

Festive Cupcakes


These delightful, fondant topped, Christmas cupcakes are enough to delight any festive tea-time table.

I made two different batches, one set with frosting and a vegan batch which were frosting free.


The frosting ones and the unfrosted ones look equally amazing.


Check out my recipe book for all the information you need.

Thursday 21 December 2017

Father Christmas Sculpted Christmas Cake


This absolutely amazing ten inch Rich Fruit Cake had no cake topper prepared until after it had been decorated! I knew what I wanted to do, but work on the topper after the cake was covered in ivory fondant it was going to be!

Do you remember those PJ Masks 2D Character Faces I made earlier this year? Well, that's a variation of the exact same process. But instead of modelling the pieces flat, they were shaped, loosely, before adding to the cake then textured and finely shaped whilst in the cake.

The white "fur" was textured using a ball tool and painted in edible pearl paint whilst the hair was textured using a Dresden tool and "gliterized" with edible glitter. The eyes were shaped and some fine detail was added with an edible pen.

The rope effect edge was used, my favourite new silicone mould at the moment, an ivory "Merry Christmas" printed ribbon and a Christmassy holly and berries decoration was used to top this beauty off.  My friend, who received this one this year, was gifted this Cake in 2016


I am so pleased with this design and can honestly say, this is my cake of the moment.  I hope this inspires you too.



Santa in Chimney Pot Christmas Cake


Initially, this cake was to have been only a six inch cake, so the Santa emerging from a chimney pot was made specifically for that sized Rich Fruit Cake.

However, as people do, once my friend saw the topper, she thought it best she changed her mind and made it a ten inch cake instead. I wasn't sure how this was going to work. But it has.

After the white marzipan had hardened, I covered the sides in a light grey, hand coloured fondant then, layed some bricks! Each brick shape was hand cut and fixed to the sides, one by one. Just like a proper brick wall. I've come to realise ... I'm not a brickie (brick layer). "Perps and pojnting" are not my forte either. But somehow, it turned out terrific.

Once more, the snow on the top effect was used. 

I now had to work out how to make this ten inch cake pretend it was a six inch one, and be a chimney pot too! It was as simple a cutting a disk in pale grey and ensuring it was in the centre. Victorian chimney pots are usually ornate, so I added fondant, in a rope design, around the pot hole. I added a few snowballs and voilà! It worked amazingly!



Gingerbread People Christmas Cake


This eight inch Rich Fruit Cake, I found out before I started making it, was destined to be shared by two of my friends homes. So I had to try and mirror one side to the other. That way, they could both have the same cake!

This is why there are two little gingerbread people on the top. They are, however, made using chocolate fondant and not ginger flavoured.

I mixed some pale blue for the sides and decorated it in the same style as the previous cake, the festive mouse Christmas cake.




Wednesday 20 December 2017

Mouse and Tree Christmas Cake


This little sweetie was made for my good friends. It's an eight in Rich Fruit Cake covered in white marzipan and then white fondant.

The little mouse was made earlier in the month and the tree was a last minute addition.

Even though it was a festive holiday gift, they were tucking into it before I'd even got home. Their 2016 festive cake can be found here.

The sides were covered in green, not the top though, then I rolled out the white top, placed the bottom of the baking pan, I'd used to bake it in, on top of the rolled out sheet, then cut the wave shape bigger than the pan bottom. I them placed this on the top, smoothed it on as usual at the top, then hand smoothed the wàves down the sides and softened the cut edges when "glueing" them to the sides.

The rope detail was shaped using a silicone mould. I added a fondant snowflakes to the larger spaces on the green and then glued on little candy pearls to simulate smaller flakes of snow.

I enjoyed the overall effect so much, I decided to replicate it once more for the next cake I decorated.



Little Christmas Cake with Bow


This tiny, little four inch cake, was made for my neighbour, as a gift.   

I used a reduced size mix from my Rich Fruit Cake recipe from last year, then crafted a little fondant bow for decoration.

As with all my festive cakes this year, they're all covered in white marzipan first, before the fondant. The little cake I gifted this gent in 2016, can be found here



Ruby Wedding Anniversary Cake


Butterflies and ruby red roses were the order of the day for this one.  A delicately flavoured sponge with white fondant, surrounded by ring of pearlised butterflies, along with some randomly placed ones to compliment the fabulous cake topper. 

The rose garland was made for me by my amazing posy make, the same one that helped me with the wedding and engagement cakes earlier this year.

Even I make mistakes! It seems I made a massive spelling error and possibly spoiled the day. So I'm going to stop here until I've gotten over being upset

Sunday 10 December 2017

Festive Mouse Cake Topper


'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a ...

Due to some camera and phone issues, I'm not able to bring you a pictorial step by step how to for this project.

However, as with my previous projects, they are all basically the same except, for this one, I made the head and body out of one piece of fondant.  If you check out the Festive Fondant Index and have a look at the Gingerbread People, this will give you a good idea.

You will need:
  • White fondant
  • Red fondant
  • A tiny bit each of black
  • Some pink fondant
  • A little green fondant
  • Edible glue / water
How to:
  1. Roll out your ball of white fondant, ensure it is fatter at the bottom.
  2. Lay your work on its side or horizontally 
  3. About 2/3 of the way up, using your finger, gently roll the ball with your finger only, pressing in to make an indent for a neck.
  4. If you find this two difficult, check out the Gingerbread People blog entry and make the body and head in teo pieces.
  5. Stand upright and insert a piece of spaghetti (if the topper is going to be eaten, or a cocktail stick if it's going to be kept for decoration.
  6. Shape the front of the top 1/3 of your work to a delicate point, for the mouse's nose.
  7. For the eyes - Make indents it the face for both eyes and a nose.
  8. Roll two balls of black fondant and drop these into the two indents you've made for the eyes. 
  9. Add a highlight using a tiny ball of fondant.
  10. for the nose -Use the same process for the nose as you did for the eyes
  11. Make two indents into the bottom of the nose for the nostrils
  12. Now add a line from the underneath of the nose down to where you want the mouth to be. 
  13. Make a mouth shape using a scallop tool.
  14. For the arms - Roll two thin sausage shapes and fix to the body near the neck and bring them down to the fron of the body
  15. For the feet - Take two small balls of pink fondant, roll them into tubes and flatten.
  16. Add some 'toes' using a blade tool
  17. Fix these under the body
  18. For the tail - Take the same pink and roll a ;ong, thin sausage shape.
  19. Fix under the back of the body and then shape into a curly tail.
  20. For the hat - Roll a cone shape of red fondant
  21. Make a dent in the bottom
  22. Shape so that the brim is bigger than the mouse's head and ensure it is in proportion.
  23. For pictures, check out the Gingerbread Person blog entry 
  24. For the brim - Roll a long, thin length of white, flatten, add some indents to simulate fur.
  25. Glue to the brim
  26. For the ball - Add a 'fluffy; ball to the point
  27. Fix hat to head
  28. For the ears - Roll two balls of white fondant and flatten
  29. Add two smaller pink balls to the centre of these and flatten.
  30. Using a ball tool, make two indents into the hat where you want the ears to be
  31. Pinch the bottom of the ears and fit the pinched portion into the holes.
  32. Add a sprig of holly to the hat with some red berries
  33. For the scarf - Roll out a length of red fondant, cut to the width you need 
  34. Check against your work for the length and trim
  35. Fix around neck
  36. Sprinkle with some festive magic - edible glitter
  37. Allow to dry

Friday 8 December 2017

XBox Birthday Cake


Not being an XBox user, I had a lot of advice and feedback from those that are.  I borrowed a controller to copy and downloaded the "X" logo, printed it, then used it as a template. The process I used for this was exactly the same process as the DIY Character Faces for the PJ Masks cake.


The young chappie that will be receiving this cake, loves my cupcake recipe, which just so happens to be my simple, basic vanilla sponge mix, it's so versatile!  The sponge was then crumb coated and covered in my vanilla basic buttercream mix before adding the fondant.


The fondant controller decoration was made, by me, by comparing a real one for reference. I was not able to get it exact because this is less than half the size. After all, this is only a six-inch cake.


Prior to adding all the embellishments like the name, the 'Happy Birthday' sign and the controller, I added geometric shapes, one by one, around the cake in white, black and the same shade of grey I had made for the cake itself.

Once this was complete, it was doused with some birthday cheer - silver glitter - and boxed up ready to go to the lucky birthday box.

There are a few different shapes of these cutters available by PME, these ones are the diamond cutters. Whilst I purchased mine from my local cake supply shop, the whole range can be seen and purchased here on Amazon.


I have every intention of collecting them all, but for now, I just have the diamonds and squares. The squares will be used for a Minecraft cake for my grandson next May I hope - unless Minecraft falls out of favour!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...