Archive for March, 2010

Last January, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Jackie Shaffer of Cake Central Magazine. She wanted me to create a cake for their fabulous March Issue. The inspiration? A beautiful and colorful floral dress.

I know, I know. I told you this will be my last cake with buds and birds. I did this cake way before the Sweet Country Birthday Cake.  Anyways, Jackie wanted a cake with a dark base and colorful accents. I would have used bright flowers but since I only had a few days to work on this cake (shipping of supplies took days to arrive), I settled with the gumpaste buds instead. 

I love the look of chocolate on chocolate–I think it gives the cake a contemporary aura. I added stripes to create texture without the busy appearance. The stripes were easy although time consuming. If you are a cake decorator, you’d know how difficult it is to make a single band straight. The rest of the elements are made of gumpaste (yes, it is all edible). I then used a Martha Stewart cake stand to add some extra height. 

Overall, I’m very much satisfied with the cake (although I wish I could have made a grander cake). The magazine was a big hit! Sold out everywhere. It was such a pleasure to be on Cake Central Magazine with all these talented decorators. Thanks Cake Central Magazine!

Most of you probably know that birthday cakes are my weakness. I always have a hard time executing a birthday cake without making it look like a wedding cake. I guess I failed this time again, hehe.

This cake is inspired by my other competition cake that didn’t make the trip back home (it broke into pieces). I wanted to make a cake that looks fresh and soft. This is the reason why I chose this particular shade of blue (it looks a bit teal-ish in person). 

I achieved the floating effect on the bottom tier by elevating it on a small seperator. Those curled pieces were made out of gumpaste using a modified hydrangea leaf cutter. I made the fleur de lis using a custom mold and then made the flower buttons (altered) using a purchased jewel mold. I’m telling you, mold making is addicting! 

The topper is actually a foam egg covered in the same pieces as the ones from the bottom tier. If you want the whole thing edible, you can make a giant chocolate egg. One of my favorite part about this cake are the feathers. I hand cut it from gumpaste and then attached them on the sides (I really love the flow). Finally, I then used a  frill cutter to give the board a finished look.

I’m pretty much satisfied with the cake. It’s something I a bit more different than what I usually do.

Happy birthday Minnie, Tita Jovy and Tita Airline!

Fact of the day:

Iron Chef Cat Cora (my favorite) was pregnant the same time as her partner. The boys were born 3 months apart.

I just got back home from the San Diego Cake Competition last night. Not only that it was stressful, it was also fun. Gosh, I’m glad it’s over–I won Best of Show! Here is my main entry.

I had to travel this cake stacked for 5 hours. Yes, it was nerve-wracking and super cold (we had to turn the AC on high the whole trip) and raining. I also brought my dog, 6 gigantic boxes, plus a week worth of luggage. Not to mention, we were driving a 98 Honda Civic–yes, we had to take the passenger’s seat off. I can already imagine the 18 hour drive to the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show…oh my.

Anyways, I incorporated my signature buds and birds (again) on this cake. Don’t be surprised, the magazine cake also had a similar look. Hehe, I’ll make sure my next cake won’t have any of those. The standing trellis were made by rolling a rectangular piece of gumpaste and punching out squares using a square cutter. I let it dry on a curve (I used a dummy) and then filed the edges. The lace appliques were molds I got from Jennifer Dontz while the stripes were done with a ribbon cutter from Sharon Zambito. One of the most time consuming part was covering the cake in fondant. It literally took me 12 hours to cover and recover all the tiers. I was being so meticulous that I made sure every square inch was smooth.

This year, there were celebrity judges from the Food Network Challenges, TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off, WE TV’s Amazing Wedding cakes and other Master Sugar Artists. I was pleased with their comments on my cake, saying that it was flawless and clean.

In the end, it was all worth it. I am still surprised I won! I can’t believe it!

To see some of the cakes from the competition, check out Casey Wither’s amazing shots.

Tip of the day:

Don’t have a scrub pad to clean your dirty pans? Use scrunched up foil instead.