Peony Rose Wedding Cake

The peony rose wedding cake was a lovely cake to make. It was the first wedding cake I'd been asked to cover with royal icing, I have done some training on royal icing but that was in a class room with a teacher there to help if needed.

This cake was 12" fruit cake and 10" lemon cake with royal icing and large peony rose spray. The fruit cake was made a number of months before the wedding so that I could feed it, then a month before the wedding I covered it in marzipan and left it for a week or so before covering it in royal icing. I left it for a while just to make sure no oils from the marzipan came through onto the royal icing. To make the royal icing I used the recipe from Mary Berry's cook book with egg whites and icing sugar plus the addition of glycerine so the icing once dry didn't go rock solid. When applying the icing I used a palette knife to get it on the cake and around the edges, smoothed it slightly before using a side scraper that created a curved design.

To make the peony rose I started with three strands of thick wire and pushed them into an inch wide polystyrene ball. I used the ball so it would cut down on the weight, I didn't want the flower falling of the cake due to being heavy in the front. Like a standard rose I started with the small peony petals making sure the polystyrene was completely hidden. Then I built up the central part of the flower bud till there was an adequate amount of petal foliage. I left the middle section to dry for a day or two before dusting with light pink, yellow and a bit of red. For the outside petals they were placed on separate wires so that it gave the flower some movement. For these petals I used the two larger peony cutters and a thinner gauged wire. Once dried and before attaching to the middle section each petal was dusted, wires taped and then I began assembling, working from the medium petals up to the largest petals and securing with green florist tape. Then that's the peony rose complete.

The week before the wedding I baked the lemon cakes filled with a lemon butter cream, dirty iced then covered in white fondant. I let that dry out over night before covering in the royal icing and finishing of with the curved side scraper. I covered the lemon cake in fondant instead of marzipan as the couple didn't want it on the sponge cake so I needed to have a base for the royal icing to go on to, to stop any of the oil from the cake seeping out on to the royal icing. I finished of both layers with beading work.

Once all the royal icing was dry I pushed a flower pick in between the fruit and lemon layers so the flower could sit on the side of the cake. 

Christian Louboutin Shoe Box Cake

This cake took many hours to create. The shoe obviously took the longest. I had to make the shoe from a home made template as I do have the shoe sugar paste cutters but the heel on that is tiny which even if I had extended the heel, the insole would have been way short. So I started by making the heel, using a wooden stick to wrap the white sugar paste around so it had good support. While the heel was drying I cut out the insole twice as I used the cardboard cut out to go in-between the two sugar paste slices to create a sandwich so that it had a strong support. Before the heel dried too much I attached the insole to the heel with glue then left to dry completely with a support underneath the insole so that it would dry the right shape. I left the heel and insole to dry for a number of days.
Next part was the sides and front section. For the sides I started of with the sugar paste being quite high so I could use a Stanley knife to get the right curve without losing to much height as the pattern on the shoe was very intricate and detailed. After attaching the sides, I scrunched up a piece of kitchen paper to have ready for the front support. The front section I measured up so it would fit nicely without knocking the sides to much. With the sugar paste still soft I could mould the front and sides together to hide the seam. Then I left the shoe to dry completely for about a week.
With the shoe completely dry and solid I sprayed it red and left it to dry while I made the black ball details. Some of the detailing I had to do with a black pen.

With the shoe finished it was time to start on the shoe box. I covered the cake in a camel brown colour and added an inch trim around the top to give it a box lid effect. Finished it with the logo piped on in royal icing and added the roses to the box and board, as it was in the picture.

40 Birthday Cake

My next cake order was for a big number 40 cake. The lady who the cake was for loves old school disco and had the nickname MC Shar Shar so these elements had to be incorporated into the cake design. Main colour palette was purple, black and gold.
To make the cakes I hired the tins from my local Weighin shop, I don't get asked to do many number cakes so I tend to hire as the prices are reasonable and its an expense I can do without.
Once the cakes were chilled of I sandwich the two half together with butter cream, dirty iced them then covered it in purple fondant. To decorate I started with the records, changing the middles to add some contrasting colours. Next was the microphone another requirement to go with MC Shar Shar. To make the microphone I moulded some grey fondant so that it had a bit of a domed middle then used a circle cutter to get the smooth edge without losing the depth. I used the cutting wheel tool to create the mesh effect then applied a silver luster to make it look more like metal. The handle I made out of black fondant, placed the microphone head next to the fondant so I could work out how big and wide the handle needed to be.
The final part was the disco dancer in silhouette, this was my added extra. The top corner was missing something and I didn't want to put more records so I looked on the Internet for some images of dancers and this one popped up. I did my usual of making a template out of the print out. Finished the cake of with gold luster stars and gift label birthday message.   

Gardener Cake

The Gardener cake was originally going to be a floral design with a sugar paste poppy on the front that her mum could keep after the cake had gone, but after booking the cake we had to alter it slightly due to her dad buying an ornament that he wanted incorporating in to the cake design.

The first thing I made was the poppy so it could dry out in a flower foam mould before placing it on the cake. Then I made the cakes. After covering the cake in green fondant I placed the lady figure to the back of the cake top, then moulded a piece of brown fondant around the front section of the figure. On top of the soil (aka brown fondant) I covered it in different coloured flowers which I also placed a couple of the flowers in the two flower pots that were part of the ornament.

To finish the garden design of I used the picket fence cutter to create a fence to go around the cake, finishing of with the birthday message and sugar paste poppy.

I have to admit I'm glad the design changed, it ended up being a really cute design and the figure was a perfect size. I'll definitely being keeping my eyes open for other figures like that.

Fireman Sam Birthday Cake

I've not made many vehicle cakes so I was a bit apprehensive when asked to make Fireman Sam's fire engine, its usually the tyres that go a bit squiffy.
For the engine part of the cake I made it in a tray bake pan, once cut in half its the perfect size and starting shape for the fire engine. Before I started decorating the engine, I got the base cake decorated first. I wanted the cake to look like a scene shot from the new version of Fireman Sam, so around the side I built up the image of Sam holding the water hose tackling a flame. The hose I put on last with it being attached to the engine. For the top of the cake I laid a strip of grey fondant to look like a road for the engine to sit on.
With the base cake finished it was time to start on the engine. Before covering with red fondant I carved the top to create definition from the front of the truck which is slightly higher than the rear where the ladder lives. The other section I carved out was for the wheels. After carving and dirty icing I covered the cake fully in red fondant and then added the details. The only sections I cut out of the red fondant was for the windows, which I replaced with white fondant that I painted with light blue lustre dust.