Cake Inspiration : Succulents

Succulents; got to get me some of them.
Succulents; wow, how I love 'em.
Green, purple, a periwinkle blue,
Succulents, succulents: where, oh where are you?

Erica O'Brien got it right and then she scored extra credit with her gorgeous fondant cake, which she perfectly drowned with succulents. They look real right? Well, so do a lot of designer handbags in Chinatown, but they aren't and neither are these bad boys. Erica made them herself! Seriously, how talented is Erica! I can't wait to work with a bride who envisions succulents on her special day, and maybe she will have a cake that is as awesome as this! Enjoy...

DIY : English Trifle Table

The Bride's Cafe is a fun blog that I like to check in with when I have a few free moments. Today I came across DIY : English Trifle Table (courtesy of Off White Wedding), which is a perfect idea for many types of events. A baby shower shower came to my mind first but it would work as a dessert table for a birthday party, or even for a wedding. Not only does she give great tips on putting together the best trifle table but she also shares her recipes for Chocolate Kahlúa Trifle, Lemon Trifle and Strawberry Vanilla Trifle.

Cake Inspiration

Real Simple posted a new article on 6 gorgeous wedding cakes and I fell in love with this cake created by Cakegirls intended for a garden wedding. Their dainty confection is comprised of hexagonal tiers of lemon zest butter cake with layers of cappuccino mousse covered in soft ivory fondant. Handmade edible fondant flowers perch atop piped chocolate branches. Simple, sweet and sounds absolutely delicious!

Father's Day

Father's Day is celebrated to honor our fathers for everything they do for us through out their life. And when you start to think about it, there is a lot of things there...a lot! The holiday always falls on the 3rd Sunday of the month of June, and that day is rapidly approaching. Today I started to think about what to do this Sunday, and of course it is a perfect time to bake a beautiful cake!


In preparation, I've been checking out Martha, the original domestic diva, searching for inspiration. Her basic recipe for a yellow butter cake is always good to have on hand, along with her chocolate frosting and a lemon curd filling but I want more. Moist devil's food cake is always delicious but again, I want more.


Then I found the Turtle Cake, which consists of five tiers of dense double-chocolate brownies are glazed with caramel and trimmed with candied pecans and vanilla ice cream is served alongside.

A five tier cake is certainly not necessary for our family, but some version of this cake will be perfect! Stay tuned...

What are you doing for Father's Day?

Top image courtesy of Baby Jesse Caleb

Cake Inspiration

It's been a while since I have put up a picture of a beautiful cake. Well, the wait is over because I happened upon this delightful little cake by April Reed Cake Design out of New York today on The Knot. I absolutely love the sugar carnations placed perfectly all over this yummy dessert. Now ... how to make sugar carnations?

Raspberry Filling

Knowing how to whip up a raspberry filling is a must! This recipe is a chic and delicious way to bring some pizazz to a ton of dishes: baked brie, use this as a dipping sauce, for cake or pastry filling. Honestly, there are a zillion ways to use raspberry filling and it is easy to make. You tell me some creative uses!

What You'll Need:
1 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Instructions
Place the raspberries and lemon juice in a small sauce pan and bring berries to a boil. Strain the mixture through a sieve, pushing the mixture with a spoon or spatula to separate the seeds. Discard the seeds and return the mixture to the sauce pan and put over medium heat. Add the sugar and cornstarch to the mixture and whisk. The cornstarch will cause the filling to thicken. Once the mixture is well combined and thickened, remove from heat. If you are using this as cake filling, it must cool completely before it is spread onto a cake.

Photo courtesy of D K Images

DIY Marshmallow Fondant Cake Part 3

Photo credit Liz Denmark Photography
This is the third and final chapter in my DIY marshmallow fondant cake tutorial. When I reported last, all I had left to do was bake the real cake, frost it, cover it in fondant, apply the polka dots and add some real flowers. I like my use of "all I had left" as if it was just a little task like putting on some lip gloss, grabbing my purse and running out the door! Ha ha ha. This part took a little bit longer than anticipated; partly because I only bought one 6" pan when I should have bought two; partly because artistically applying polka dots is difficult for a perfectionist; and partly because I was exhausted. With that being said, I think the cake turned out fabulous.

Here are the rest of my instructions...

1. I used a boxed cake mix and store bought frosting, and I am glad of this! Or else, I would have been totally behind the eight ball whipping up buttercream frosting and mixing cake mix. I'll work on perfecting those areas later but the lemon cake and lemon frosting was a hit, EASY to work with and took no time to put together. As I baked my cakes in the oven, I made my own raspberry filling to use in the cake. Figured it went well with lemon cake, and is refreshing for a spring bar-b-q menu.
   
   
2. I took the same steps to cover the actual cake layers with fondant as I did to cover the dummy layer. This is another area where I ran into a little glitch. I used a 9 x 1 1/2 inch round cake pan for the middle tier, and a 6 x 2 inch round for the top tier. The extra half inch makes a difference. A HUGE difference. Be that as it may, I trimmed the top of the cakes to make them flat, spread my raspberry filling in between layers, frosted and covered the middle and top layer in the marshmallow fondant, trimmed the excess fondant off, smoothed the fondant out, stacked the layers on top of each other, wrapped them in ribbon and completed the cake!



3. At this point it was about one in the morning and I just forgot to take pictures. But I dyed my extra fondant using Wilton icing colors. I tried to match the colors from the invitation, which is tricky to say the least. I made an orange, fuchsia, yellow and lavender dough for the polka dots. Using Wilton round cut outs, I cut different size shapes from the different colored fondants and glued them onto the cake by lightly brushing one side with water. The bigger circles covered the corners where I tragically butchered the fondant, and the smaller circles covered any other blemishes. Next time I decide to use polka dots, I'll sketch out a pattern rather than deciding on the spot where to place them on the cake. My poor brain just doesn't function well under that type of pressure! A plan helps to make it perfect!
   
   
4. The last part of my tutorial is adding fresh flowers to the cake, which was done day of. My husband picked up a bouquet of flowers from the grocery store, and the colors he picked complimented the cake perfectly. Big kiss to my awesome husband!!! I cut the flowers and stuck 'em in my cake. They helped to really cover up anything that looked weird in the fondant. Then I poked the birthday candle in the center of the top tier and voila!

Photo credit Liz Denmark Photography
More on the amazing photography of Liz Denmark to come!!!
Like I said before, for my first time making a cake like this, I think it turned out fabulous! Were there imperfections...you bet. But the more you do something the better you become at it. So, I look forward to making more cakes and watching them improve!!! DIY marshmallow fondant cake was a huge success!

DIY Marshmallow Fondant Cake Part 2

Here is the second part of my DIY marshmallow fondant cake that covers making a dummy layer and covering it with fondant. This is my first experience working with fondant, dummy layers, multi layered cakes, and baking cakes in general. For the most part, this has been a very easy process. There were a few snafus here and there but nothing that would have forced me to abort my project!

1. Cut and place styrofoam blocks in the shape and size needed for the dummy layers.
2. Wrap the layer tightly in saran wrap.
3. Frost over the saran wrap.

A few suggestions I read: once the layer has been frosted, place the layer in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This allows the frosting to harden and will make applying the fondant easier and with less bubbles; after the frosting has hardened, smooth the surface with a paper towel, which will also help when applying the fondant.

4. When you are ready to apply the fondant to the cake, place it on the platter which it will be served from.
5. Now, to the dough! Sprinkle corn starch on the counter top, put the dough on the corn starch, take your rolling pin and start to roll out the dough. This is a bit of a work out at first, but it gets easier and easier as the dough becomes more pliable.
6. Roll the dough out to the size needed for your cake. I need 28 inches because the cake is 12 inches and there are four 4 inch sides. This is my first issue. Do not forget to keep sprinkling corn starch on the counter or the fondant will stick and tear. Also, throughout the rolling process, lift the fondant as you are rolling it out and slide your hand below the fondant to make sure it has not become stuck anywhere. Be mindful of your finger nails when doing this because they can snag the fondant.
7. To transfer the fondant I placed it over a large cutting board, carried it to the cake, and then gently placed it on the cake. This is another issue. I have a rectangular cake and smoothing out the corners was very difficult. I am sure there is a proper method to this, which I will have to research and learn. For now, I am going to cover my beat up corners with ribbon, flowers and polka dots.

8. I forgot to take a picture of the fondant rolled out on the counter top, and since there is only one of me, it was impossible for me to take a picture of the transfer but this is a picture of the dummy layer covered in the marshmallow fondant and wrapped with a ribbon. I smoothed out the fondant with a Wilton smoother, trimmed the excess fondant with a pizza cutter, and I think it looks pretty good. All that's left to do is bake the real cake, frost, cover in fondant, apply the polka dots, add some flowers and this DIY will be completed.

DIY Marshmallow Fondant Part 1

Okay, here we go! DIY marshmallow fondant, part 1.

Lauren Daversa's White Chocolate Marshmallow Fondant

1. 1 bag of mini marshmallows, about 16 oz
2. 1 1/2 oz of good quality white chocolate
3. 1 tsp of clear vanilla extract
4. 1 tsp of clear butter extract
5. 2 tbsp of H2O
6. 1 lb icing sugar
7. Crisco

Instructions

1. Grease a microwavable glass bowl with Crisco.
2. Add to the bowl the marshmallows, vanilla extract, butter extract and H2O.
3. Microwave for 60 seconds.
4. Stir mixture.
5. While stirring marshmallow mixture, melt the white chocolate in the microwave.
6. Add the melted white chocolate mixture to your marshmallow mixture.
7. If the marshmallows have not melted entirely, return to microwave and heat for about 30 seconds; continue until completely melted.
8. Start adding the icing sugar, a little at a time, and stir. This is a fantastic workout for your arms as the mixture gets oooey-gooey-sticky.
9. Continue adding sugar and stirring until the consistency of the mixture starts to become dough like.
10. Generously sprinkle icing sugar on a clean counter, remove the dough from the bowl and place it on top of the icing sugar. Start to knead, and knead and knead. The mixture may stick to your hands, you can grease your hands with Crisco to help combat this. Notice, kneading is also another great workout for your arms!
11. Continue kneading until the mixture is a dough, adding icing sugar to the counter and/or mixture when necessary.
12. Voila! You have made marshmallow fondant. Congratulations!!!!

This is as far as I've gotten. Literally, the fondant is wrapped and living on the third or maybe fourth shelf in my refrigerator. I've read as long as fondant is wrapped in saran wrap, and stored in an air tight zip lock, it will keep well. A few sites suggested rubbing the dough with Crisco. I didn't. I'm going to make the cake today and finish the project tonight! I'll soon see if not slathering the fondant in Crisco was a fatal mistake. Don, don, daaaaaaa...

DIY Fondant Cake

As I posted a few days ago, I am making a fondant birthday cake for my daughter's 1st birthday. And, as promised, I am going to post my DIY tutorial on cake baking. For now, here are my pictures of the cakes from which I am drawing my inspiration.

Top left cake is courtesy of Cake Central
Top right cake is courtesy of Cake Central

Bottom left cake is cake # 753 courtesy of Pink Cake Box

Bottom right cake is courtesy of Collette Foley

Cake Inspiration

Slowly, I am starting to obsess about cakes. Besides the fact I'm an event planner, and cakes and/or desserts play an important role in most every event; I'm also planning my daughter's birthday party and I've decided to make her a very special, 3 tier, fondant birthday cake! Of course, now everywhere I look all I see are cakes, cakes and more cakes!!!


I will post pictures of my DIY birthday cake when start the task next week, but for now here is the most darling cake by Kristine Bender out of Washington D.C. for K Rose Cakes. I came across it on Style Me Pretty. Simple, chic and pink! I hope some day I will be able to make a cake as beautiful as this!

Amy Atlas: Lavender Winter Wonderland

Amy Atlas is one very talented woman! She is responsible for all sorts of fabulous dessert tables. Though her blog is not updated very often, when it is, it's with something outstanding. Take for example the inspiration board above, which was a dessert buffet she put together that included a crystal wedding cake adorned with sugar snowflakes, opalescent barber poles, billowy marshmallows, and fondant snowflake petit fors. The table looked like a lavender winter wonderland! Not too shabby, right.

Photo Courtesy of Karen Mordechai

Ron Ben-Israel

If you don't know who Ron Ben-Israel is then stop reading this right now, and look him up! He is only the master of wedding cakes! A wedding cake artist. Seriously, I would have loved, loved, loved to have a Ron Ben-Israel wedding cake at my own wedding. All of his cakes are custom designed out of your dreams! It has been said that brides say to sample a Ron Ben-Israel cake is to experience the difference between mere cake and pure ambrosia. And really, how often does that happen?

Want a Ron Ben-Israel wedding cake? Though he will try to work within your budget, most clients choose wedding cakes that range from $12 - $15 per person and book their cake 6 to 12 months in advance!