Portfolio: Littlest Pet Shop Cake

It's been a little while since I posted; I spent almost every weekend for six weeks baking and making cakes and I desperately needed a break!  I also needed to do some spring cleaning and my bedroom, closet, and master bathroom are now sparkling and organized.  [Happy sigh] Nothing makes me think better than a clean space!  And now that I am somewhat rested (because being mom to a rambunctious two year old is never restful) I wanted to show you the latest creation in my portfolio that was made for Sydney, who lives next door to our friends Madeleine and Cameron.  For her birthday, she requested a Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) cake that was based off my lovebirds cake.

It's Showtime!

It's here, it's here, it's finally here!

The weekend I have been waiting for is finally here...the weekend of the That Takes the Cake Sugar Arts Show!  Thanks to general forgetfulness, mommy stuff, crazy stuff at work, and Sybilla's birthday I completely missed the show last year and was kicking myself over it.  Next year, I swore, next year I will make it.  And not only will I be attending, but I will be competing as well!  My first competition!  Ok, technically second, but this is the real deal, y'all.

I decided to enter in the Adult Beginner level based on the qualifications for that division.  I'm not quite an intermediate, and honestly, there are a lot of good contenders in the Adult Beginner division anyway.  A gal at the bake shop was telling me that it's the biggest division, so it's hard to get noticed.  Well, I hope I at least get noticed for this little gem:

Portfolio: Bridal Shower Cake

My friend Beth co-hosted a bridal shower this weekend for her boyfriend's brother and his fiance.  She asked me to make a cake for them and I happily obliged, even though it was cutting close for me to make my daughter's birthday cake.

I found out that the wedding colors were a rose pink and a darker pink with white, and that the bride and groom were Aggies.  Playing with that, I created this lovely little piece:

Portfolio: Dog Birthday Cake

Another week, another cake! This week I made a cake for my friend Beth who asked me to make a cake for her boyfriend's birthday this weekend. Sean and Beth have two dogs Cede (pronounced Sadie, apparently) and Brodie and Beth wanted a cake that featured the pups on top. Sean actually lives a couple hours outside of Austin so he and Beth frequently visit each other on the weekends, so this is a big surprise for him!

Here is a picture of the final product:

The cake was cookies and cream and was frosted with cream cheese icing.  I tried to tint it blue like snow, but it turned more green thanks to the yellow from the butter!

And here's the real deal!  The one on the left is Cede, complete with white paw and chest patch and black tipped tail.  Brodie is the blonde fella on the right.

To be completely honest, these two pretty pups are my first foray in figure modeling with fondant.  I tried to do it my way first which was a disaster.  After three hours of swearing, grumbling, crushing, restarting, and more swearing, I finally gave up and did a Google search for how to's.  Lo and behold, I stumbled across Lorraine McKay, which if you don't know who she is, she's freaking amazing.  Not only is she one of the foremost educators on fondant figures, but she also spends a lot of time working with special needs people, which is awesome.  And she's Scottish.  Seriously, it's a whole new experience to watch a video with a Scottish woman instructing you on how to make a "dun peavey dohg!" I found a YouTube video of how she does dogs in fondant, so I followed along and managed to create two of the cutest canines this state has ever seen in about 20 minutes!

I let them dry overnight, which if I may offer a word to the wise, they settle a bit depending on how much fondant you used.  I think I should have allowed all of the pieces to dry separately and THEN pasted them together, but whatever.  It is what it is!

Beth was over the moon when she saw them, which made me proud.  They did look pretty darn good for my first fondant figure attempt!  I've decided I need to start practicing some more with figure work and coming up with stuff, perhaps a few tutorials to demonstrate.  If you're interested in seeing some more of Lorrain McKay's stuff, look for Aine2 on YouTube or you can visit her website here.

Happy Baking everyone!
Kelly

Tutorial: 2D Mod Fondant Birds

After my success at the Cupcake Smackdown last weekend, I have since received lots of shout outs and comments about my cute little birds that adorned the tops of my coconut lime cupcakes. Those little fellas were really easy to make, so here is a tutorial on how to make them!

To get started, you'll need a few things:

* Fondant (I used SatinIce in white/vanilla)
* fondant coloring (I used Americolor)
* water
* vodka
* paintbrush for food purposes only
* a clean workspace
* cornstarch
* cutters of various sizes and shapes or pastry cutter/exacto knife
* toothpicks or beading pins

1. First things first, pick your color scheme and dye your fondant accordingly (I am assuming you know how to do this, if you don't, let me know!). Depending on how many birds and the size you're making will determine how much fondant you need. I made a baker's dozen of birds that measured about 2” long and used *maybe* a quarter pound of fondant.

2. Roll out your fondant to about 1/8"-1/4" thick. Make sure they’re thick enough to stick your toothpick or beading pin into!

3. Using your cutters or knife, cut out a body and two wings. I used the Wilton leaf shaped fondant cutters and then rounded them out with a pastry cutter. I used the medium leaf cutter for the body and the small leaf cutter for the wings. Make sure to cut 2 wings per body, and cut extras just in case. Set these aside for the moment.


4. Take your beading pins or toothpicks and carefully stick them in the body of the bird about halfway in. If you get too close to the surface, don’t worry; you can cover it with the wings!


5. For the beaks I chose to use a small heart cutter and then lop off the pointy part of the heart because of the width and angle it made the beaks. You can use your pastry cutter or knife instead to cut out your beaks. Again, cut a few extras just in case.


6. Water on fondant causes the sugar in it to dissolve and become like glue. Using your paintbrush, paint a little bit of water on the wing pieces and “glue” them onto the bodies. It’s best to do the same side on all of the bodies first and then flip them over and repeat the process. Remember, a little bit of water goes a long way!

7. Once the wings are attached, give them about 10 minutes or so to dry and adhere. Then you can glue on the beaks; you might need to shape them a bit around the front of the bird’s face.

8. To do the eyes, mix a small drop of Americolor fondant color with the vodka. DO NOT MIX WITH WATER. This will cause the fondant to become a gummy mess. Use a leftover toothpick or beading pin to mark the spot for your bird’s eyes, going through the head completely. Then use the point of your paintbrush and lightly fill in the tiny hole you’ve made, expanding it to as large as you want.


9. Allow the birds to dry completely for several hours. You may need to gently lift them off of your work surface once you’ve finished working on them to make sure the eyes aren’t bleeding through improperly or that your bird isn’t stuck on the other side. If there is excess cornstarch, simply use a pastry brush to brush it off.


And voila! Now you have some really stinkin’ cute birdie picks for your cakes!

Happy Caking!
Kelly