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As previously stated, I have been working on my Gum Paste flowers. Two weeks ago my new niece was born and I was busy keeping her brother. My mother-in-law was busy at the hospital with her daughter and new granddaughter. It was a perfect time to sneak in an Anniversary cake for her and her husband. In the previous month I had sent out a number of questions about her likes: favorite color, flower, and fruit. Papa Stan had no idea why I was asking such odd questions with everything else going on. I got working on some yellow tulips. I did make them a few shades darker as gum paste will fade with time. They only took me about 2 1/2 hours total working time over about 5 days, to allow for hardening. I did some hand painting on these with chalk dust and vodka, as well as a small amount of luster dust followed with steam to seal it all on. The cake was a cinch, basic yellow with a milk chocolate icing colored like terra cotta.
However, the delivery was very hairy. The cake itself was about 8″ tall. I decided to deliver it when they were not home and leave a note. So when they came home, the two love birds could enjoy the note and cake in each others company. We had a tropical storm rolling through that day, August 20th. We, Kaighty and I, made it and delivered it safely. On the way home, a huge squall came through with a tornado warning. It was pouring so hard that visibility was almost zero. I was driving about 7 miles an hour in my Civic through 8″ of water. It took us an hour to drive our normal 20 minute trip. My knuckles were white when I finally pulled up in the driveway. It was a close one! Anyways, here are some shots of my handy work. Enjoy.
I have been working on my sugar flowers a lot lately, trying to perfect them. I had made some sweet peas the week before school started. I decided to surprise Kaightlyn, my 4 year old, with a cake when she got home from her first day of school. Now you may thing this is funny, pre-k, 3 hours a day, 3 mornings a week right? A big deal? Worth cake? Well, here in the south, pre-k is full time, held at a regular Elementary school from 8am-2:45pm M-F. It’s a big deal to us! Luckally she LOVES it! Really LOVES it! I am getting off track, back to my story, I had also just bought some comma pans, which I really wanted to try. So I decided to make a chocolate chiffon cake with buttercream filling and MMF topping. This gave me an opportunity to practice my piping skills and gave me a place to put my sweet peas. I think it turned out quiet nice. She thought is was “amazing”! 
I made this Care Bear cake for my daughter’s 2nd Birthday. She personally ate all the fondant roses. Unfortunately, she is not a big fan of cake. How is that possible? Having a Mom that wants to open her own cake bakery and two daughters that DON’T LIKE CAKE! They may stick their fingers in the icing, but they don’t eat CAKE! I know, it’s crazy. Have I failed as a Mom? Did I forget to introduce cake? Well anyway, back to the post….
I made Best Friend Bear in Chocolate Chiffon cake with Swiss Buttercream filling, and MM Fondant icing. It took me almost 3 days to prepare all the ingredients, as my 1st buttercream failed as well as my first fondant. I know better than to bake with kids around. I leave the room to break up a fight and 45 minutes later I realize my eggs and sugar in the bain-marie are fried! The actual construction, done after bed time, took only about 3 hours. Enjoy the pics!
My very supportive (loves to eat cake) husband, rolled the fondant for the first ever homemade fondant covered Bonobo cake. It surprisingly only took us two tries. A little gel coloring and we had ourselves a very pretty cake. We ate it at a family get together and man was it delicious. This is a Chocolate Chiffon cake with Oreo Swiss Buttercream filling and Rolled Vanilla Fondant icing. We were both very proud!
My dear friend Jennifer offered to watch my girls while her Mother-in-law, a trained sugar artist, taught me a few things. Gaynor Ernest, of Wales, has crafted more than 300 cakes of her own and is a very talented sugar artist. I was more than willing to accept this generous offer and spent about two hours soaking up all the knowledge I could. This was the flower I built from fondant while “in class” with Gaynor.
Not too shabby for someone with no rose petal, leaf, or calyx cutters. I came home and practiced using her advice with gum paste this time, for round two. As well as some wonderful tips from a fellow wordpress blogger and her you-tube “how to” videos. Thanks Donna! What do you think? I need your feedback. Am I any good at making sugar flowers? Please leave a comment!
