My Next Purchase

If you like to bake and are at all interested in cake-decorating, you need to buy this book ($16.50 on Amazon). My friend Alicia sent me an email about it today and I was amazed at what is apparently relatively easy to re-create.  I can't wait for my copy to come in the mail and try some of these out.  Here are just a few examples of how creative this lady is...

Buy it!!!

Sweet Surprise

This weekend was an amazing one.  As a birthday surprise for one of my best friends, another friend and I bought her plane tickets to visit us for a girls weekend.  What do you need to complete a birthday/girls weekend/wine drinking bash!? Cake of course!

In following suit with the birthday theme, my vision for this cake was to make it look similar to a wrapped present. I initially wanted to do a porcelain blue icing with white ribbon but I figured that looked too much like a Tiffany box and we certainly weren't proposing to the girl. My next idea was a light green but of course my green dye had dried up; so purple it was! I used Funfetti cake again and cream cheese frosting. This cake took a several days to assemble since I had to start creating the bow a few days in advance.  I followed similar steps to my last post about making these bows and even listened to my own advice to make the fondant strips thinner. I used Wilton white fondant and rolled it out after folding Crisco into it and sprinkling the mat with corn starch.

I cut 1" strips from the rolled fondant, folded them into loops, placed them on foil, and let them air dry overnight before moving on to the next step of assembling the bow.  For more details on this process, please see 'Practice Makes Perfect'. 

To create the bow, alternating the direction each loop is laying can give it a more realistic look. I used vanilla frosting as glue, which made it much easier this time to hide since it blended in so well.  Once the bow was assembled, I put it in the freezer to harden.

The next step was the cake. I baked the cake layers two days in advance to make the assembling process much quicker. Contrary to what you would think, you can actually store a cake for up to a week depending on how you wrap it and how long you leave it uncut. After baking the layers and letting them cool for about two hours, I placed them in air tight gallon bags for the night.

Once it finally came time to put together this masterpiece, the first step was to make the cake layers the right shape. Whenever I bake cakes, I can never figure out why the top comes out so rounded so I usually end up shaving off the top layer to make it flat. I think my husband may now be a big fan of this step as he is the one who gets to taste test the leftover cake.

Next, I worked to make the cream cheese icing the perfect shade of purple. I didn't want an obnoxious shade of Grape Kool-Aid so I had to slowly add in the coloring to create a lavender look. It took much longer than I thought adding food coloring should, but I was very pleased with the end result. Once this was done, I pieced together my two layers of cake and attempted to ice the outside. This was actually very difficult because cream cheese icing is so soft and the cake kept "crumbing" on me, meaning that each time I applied icing, more of the cake would mix in with it. On top of that, it was near impossible to make this icing look smooth. For the future, I will stick to buttercream. Let's be honest, butter and cream can never be a mistake.

As this was the most frustrating part up to this point, I was ready to move on and put the ribbon on the cake. I made two long strips of fondant and crossed them across the cake, trimming the ends as close to the plate as possible and tucking them under the bottom layer. Finally, the beautiful bow!

The cake tasted delicious and I was surprised at how moist it was after several days. The best part (and the whole point of the journey): Patty loved it! The downside: now that the weekend is over, I am left with half of it still sitting in my kitchen and a goal to not eat it by myself.  Volunteers to help with this problem are welcome! Until next time, Happy Sunday Funday!

Practice Makes Perfect

The Fondant Bow

As I was looking at the gender reveal cake below, I was struck with the sense that I should probably practice making fondant bows before I create another cake with one.  I want to make them look as close to real ribbon as possible, but to really do that it actually takes two days to let the fondant set.  Waiting is never my favorite game but I fortunately had lots of free time after work this week. So let the fondant fun begin!

What you'll need:

Box of fondant, your choice of color

Powdered Sugar

Crisco

Rolling Pin

Pastry Brush

Icing

Work Mat, I use one by Wilton that's great because of the 1" grid lines

And the key ingredient whenever baking... WINE!

In order to make the fondant workable and less sticky, massage a small amount of Crisco into the fondant as you knead it. This will help to keep the fondant from sticking to the mat and rolling pin. The fondant should have the consistency of play-doh before you start working with it. Sprinkle a small amount of powdered sugar onto the mat. Unlike working with dough, do not rub the rolling pin with the sugar, you want to keep the top of the fondant free of all sugar. 

Roll the fondant out to your desired size. I rolled it out into a rectangular shape so that I could cut strips for the ribbon. The Crisco you put into the fondant will keep the rolling pin from sticking. Once you have the fondant rolled out, cut the strips to the size you want. I used 1" x 5" strips.

That was the easy part. Now with one strip in your hand, brush a tiny bit of water on one end of the strip. Adding too much water will react with the sugar in the fondant and make it disintegrate, so less is more. Press the ends of the ribbon together to make them stick, pinching the corners together at the same time to connect the loop. 

Lay each loop on their side on a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil. Laying the loops on the side is important to prevent them from collapsing on themselves. They will need approximately 24 hours to become hard enough that they won't lose their shape once you start working with them. By the time I had already rolled out and cut the fondant I realized I would make the strips thinner next time for a more delicate look. 

 24 Hours Later

Take a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper and place a dollop of icing in the middle. This will act as the glue for your bottom layer of loops.

Place the loops in a circle for the bottom layer of the bow. Alternate the direction the loops are laying for a more dynamic look.

Once I took this picture, I realized I used a little too much icing. The icing is more visible from the outside of the bow than I was looking for.  Once you have the bottom later in place, put another dollop in the middle to act as glue for the next layer. Arrange the loops similar to the first layer, again alternating the direction they are placed. For the top loop that goes directly down into the bow, place a little bit of icing on the pinched end to secure it. Once you have the bow arranged the way you like, place in the fridge for another 24 hours to let the icing harden. After that, your bow is ready for the top of your cake!

My lessons learned for the next time:

- Make the fondant layer thinner. This will allow for a more delicate look and to include more loops in the bow. The flip side is that it will also make the loops more fragile to work with.

- Use less icing so that it isn't as visible from the outside. 

- Drink more wine!

Soft Sophistication

While I am working on a larger secret project, I needed a smaller, quick craft to mix things up a little. I find that if I stick to just one project for too long, I get too focused on completing it rather than perfecting it and enjoying the process.  I had bought packs of assorted fabric from Wal-Mart so I dug out all of my unused scraps of fabric and combined them with the packs to make a baby blanket for a co-worker. As the gender of the baby had not yet been revealed, I wanted to make something that could kind of be considered 'gender-neutral' and the fabrics I used don't give it the typical "baby" look, which I kind of love.

This project turned out well for a few reasons. While still not perfect and containing just a few areas where the seams don't line up perfect, like this:

I did a much better job at making the seams the same size and lining them up  than I had before, so that the majority of the blanket looked like this: 

Finally, in my mind, my greatest triumph was the hem around the outside. My other practice blankets had borders that weren't all the same size and had a stitching that seemed to be all over the place. I focused much more on the placement of the stitches and the size of the hem than I had before and to my great pleasure, it turned out wonderfully! Even my corners mostly resembled a corner and for the first time, I feel confident enough to actually give the baby blanket away as a gift.

The fabric I used for the backing is by far one of the softest fabrics I have ever felt and the texture is wonderful for babies. It's called Minky Fabric and can be found at Joanns and some Wal-Marts. I'm sure they sell it in other stores but these are the only two I have looked in so far. I do know that Amazon sells it so that is always my back up plan if necessary. The Minky fabric gives a great weight and warmth to the blanket that other quilted backings just won't do; and it is a great fabric to work with, especially for beginners. 

All in all, this was the perfect two-day project and it rejuvenated me to work on my secret one. And better yet, I have my gift for a baby shower in March already done!

Sew Perfect?

A year ago, I could sew a button and that was it. When it came to hemming, the double-sided tape and safety pins were satisfactory enough for me. Luckily, my MIL saw potential in me and bought me my first sewing machine as a bridal shower gift. For the first week or so, the machine sat on my crafting desk and stared at me as I walked by it every day. To those who don't sew, that machine with thread seeming to weave in and out of it and the knobs and bobbins and intimidating needles is sometimes just too much.

In order to tackle this new craft of mine, I decided my first project should be a simple baby quilt. Those who sew often and well are most likely thinking that this was yet again a very naive notion of mine. You would think sewing several squares into rows and just attaching them is a relatively easy process, but I caution you, you are way wrong and my first few projects were no where near perfection. While I was proud in my ability to match different fabrics and patterns, my ability to simply line up the seams was severely lacking. The lesson I have learned: it is vital to make sure every square is the same size and to make the size of the hem is the same as the others as much as possible.  Here are my first two projects, and yes both went to my dog and only one was actually finished due to my need for perfection. They were good practice projects and definitely helped teach me the basics of using my new machine and sewing in general.

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Since making those two blankets, my sewing projects became making baby onesies for the baby showers of family and friends. I have to warn you, these are beyond adorable and are a very addicting project to begin due to their simplicity and ease of completing them quickly. You don't actually have to even sew them onto the onesie, but I adore the effect of the stitching around the shapes. They have turned out so well and loved by everyone and for that reason they will continue to be my go-to gift for expecting mothers. Here are a few samples: 

While these are adorable, I needed to tone down the onesie-making and prevent baby fever. I left the house motivated and headed to our local Joann Fabrics. The store in Blacksburg certainly doesn't boast a wide selection but the deals are always fabulous. Amazingly, I actually found a fabric matching pillows we had recently purchased from TJ Maxx for our living room, so I quickly developed my plan to make a blanket for the back of the couch.  I got wise this time and decided to make the blanket simpler with stripes instead of squares. Once the blanket was completed, I realized I was actually a much bigger fan of the stripes as a more modern look. This project went by really quickly and within three or four days I was done! Where I continue to need the practice is the binding around the edge of the blanket but my husband tells me the "imperfections" in the blanket are things only I would notice. This was the end result and as you can see, often ends up on our bed at night. 

So this is where I leave you for now. For the future, my sewing posts will include a better play-by-play if you will and my lessons learned throughout. Check back for more of my sewing expeditions!

The Pursuit of Fondant

Let me start by saying this is a review of what I have already done. I promise future posts will not be this detailed as my one-year old lab requires far too much attention for me to type all night long.

Fondant. That thing that most people don't know what it is when you say the word but when seen on professionally done cakes earns "oohs" and "ahhs" and is a staple in the wedding cake industry.  For those who don't know, fondant is basically an edible play-doh made of sugar. While it is sweet, it doesn't necessarily taste the best but boy does it make for some pretty cakes. My journey with fondant began over two years ago when I thought it would be fun to make a cake for my friend, Charlotte's, birthday. Now that I think back to it, it was definitely a naive notion on my part that I thought I could pick up fondant for the first time and make a presentable cake. My inspiration and goal... a polka-dotted cake with a bow on top. After many hours of trial and error, this was the end result:

The bow actually turned out surprisingly well after half a dozen attempts; what I didn't like was the folding of the fondant at the bottom of the top tier and the less than perfect shape of both tiers. Aside from that, Charlotte was ecstatic and thankful for the homemade treat. 

Since then, I have done a few cakes including one for Mardi Gras and a friend's husband. My perfectionist quality consistently prevents me from loving the end result 100% but I have been happy with how much I have learned so far. Of course I didn't take pictures of the cakes I have made since Charlotte's, but just this past week I made a "gender reveal" cake for a co-worker. As this is a relatively new concept, a gender reveal cake is the center of baby showers and parties where an expecting couple surrounds themselves with loved ones and gets the surprise of a lifetime when they find out what they're having. I spent a week researching cakes in search of creative inspiration when I finally developed my plan and set out to Wal-Mart for the supplies. Cake making is a relatively cheap process and yes I do use boxed cake mixes. Funfetti is just too delicious for me to think I can do better. Where the costs come in is in buying the fondant. You have several choices in buying fondant; you can buy sheets (which saves the efforts behind the rolling pin), pre-colored fondant, or plain white fondant. The benefit to buying white fondant is the endless amount of possibilities in colors as you experiment with your own dye kit; the downside... the cramping in your hands as you knead in the color to perfect it. If you are ever looking for fondant, you can always visit your local Michaels or the cake-making section in Wal-Mart. I think it is also a special touch to put the cake on a decorative piece of metallic cardboard. 

After baking the cake, letting it cool, making cupcakes on the side, and icing the cake, this was the end result for the gender reveal. I wish I had a picture of the inside but I used Funfetti cake and dyed the cream cheese frosting a shade of baby blue. 

On a side note, not a fondant cake, but a pretty awesome ice cream cake I made for my husband, then fiance, for his birthday a year and a half ago. The several pounds of ice cream and crumbled brownie made for a very heavy, but delicious, cake. If you haven't tried it, making an ice cream cake is a harder endeavor than you'd expect.

This is just the beginning, please continue to check back for bigger and better cakes to come!!