Finishing Course 3 and Showcase Cake
At home, I worked on the roses. I even went so far as to try some of the other flowers for the next class. I thought the mum and carnations were the hardest. The carnation is really the most difficult with all those layers. The mum was a pain, because it never "opens" as a flower and for some reason that annoyed me. But the daisy flowers - LOVE them and so easy to make!
Roses start with an upside down teardrop shape.
I've later realized that there are styrofoam shapes for this. Good to know for future reference.
After cutting the shapes, you need to slice the sides a little more.
Use the ball tool and thin out and ruffle the petals.
The cut out shape is a person - the top being the head, two arms and two legs. Curl the middle top petal, the head, around the teardrop. Then an arm, then an opposite leg, then the other arm and then the last petal.
Now you have a rose bud!
Add another layer.
To keep the layers in place, I realized that using the side of the styrofoam board was handy.
Using the yellow sugar for the lily makes a difference
Carnation - layer upon layer upon layer of ruffles!
Not hard, but very time consuming.
The flowers I worked on at home before the class.
During the class, I made more of the sweet daisy flowers.
And yes, I did another mum. The pink mum came out better, because I used a bigger
ball to start off the shape. It forced the petals to curl more into the ball.
The carnation on the left is the one I did during class, trying to play with pink and white mixed
I was having an extremely difficult time trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my showcase cake. I had plenty of flowers to make a design, but nothing was coming to me. Then the instructor said, "This luster dust is great to use when you make a peacock cake." WOAH! That thought stuck with me and I went him sand googled images of peacock cakes. When I found a couple of images that I wanted to merge the ideas, I borrowed my son's play dough. I had a rough idea of what to do...
And started the work at home.
The feather on the left (below) is the original size, the feather on the right is after it's been smoothed out and ruffled.
Even though I wasn't sure about what to do with the other flowers, I brought all of my made items to class. I learned a hard lesson though... I did the feathers too early (two days) prior to the class. The feathers were hard. I thought that was the point. But I was wrong. To place the feathers, they need to still be manageable. Make them the day of to put them on the cake with water, or use royal icing to stick them to the cake. I didn't have royal icing. Whoopsi. I had to use water and hold and hold and hold each feather in place! It took a while.
I'm so glad I made the blue lily flowers too. I thought they would be "too blue" but it was perfect.
Our instructor showed us how to roll out the fondant. We used on one full pack of Wilton fondant. You have to work the fondant well until it gets more manageable. Then you roll it out to the 15 mark. (First put grease and then powder on the mat). After rolling it out, put a lot of powder on the fondant. Take the large rolling pin and roll the fondant on to it, carry it to the cake and unroll. The powder will stop it from sticking to itself. Smooth out the fondant on the cake, but don't press hard at the bottom. Use the wheel cutter and trim the bottom, about 2 inches away from the cake. Start smooth out the wrinkles on the side. Then cut closer and finally to the each of the cake.
I can see why a lot of people like to use fondant, it's pretty easy to get that smooth, forgiving look. But Wilton fondant taste yucky. I imagine the flavors could be added. One of the students used Wilton chocolate and it was good tasting - like a tootsy roll! I'd buy that. In the meantime, I'll have to research on the best fondant to use for workability and taste.
In the meantime, I'm tickled pink with how the cake turned out!
This peacock cake is different and I'm thrilled with the results. Totally loved taking this class.
Roses start with an upside down teardrop shape.
I've later realized that there are styrofoam shapes for this. Good to know for future reference.
After cutting the shapes, you need to slice the sides a little more.
Use the ball tool and thin out and ruffle the petals.
The cut out shape is a person - the top being the head, two arms and two legs. Curl the middle top petal, the head, around the teardrop. Then an arm, then an opposite leg, then the other arm and then the last petal.
Now you have a rose bud!
Add another layer.
To keep the layers in place, I realized that using the side of the styrofoam board was handy.
Using the yellow sugar for the lily makes a difference
Carnation - layer upon layer upon layer of ruffles!
Not hard, but very time consuming.
The flowers I worked on at home before the class.
During the class, I made more of the sweet daisy flowers.
And yes, I did another mum. The pink mum came out better, because I used a bigger
ball to start off the shape. It forced the petals to curl more into the ball.
The carnation on the left is the one I did during class, trying to play with pink and white mixed
I was having an extremely difficult time trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my showcase cake. I had plenty of flowers to make a design, but nothing was coming to me. Then the instructor said, "This luster dust is great to use when you make a peacock cake." WOAH! That thought stuck with me and I went him sand googled images of peacock cakes. When I found a couple of images that I wanted to merge the ideas, I borrowed my son's play dough. I had a rough idea of what to do...
And started the work at home.
The feather on the left (below) is the original size, the feather on the right is after it's been smoothed out and ruffled.
Even though I wasn't sure about what to do with the other flowers, I brought all of my made items to class. I learned a hard lesson though... I did the feathers too early (two days) prior to the class. The feathers were hard. I thought that was the point. But I was wrong. To place the feathers, they need to still be manageable. Make them the day of to put them on the cake with water, or use royal icing to stick them to the cake. I didn't have royal icing. Whoopsi. I had to use water and hold and hold and hold each feather in place! It took a while.
I'm so glad I made the blue lily flowers too. I thought they would be "too blue" but it was perfect.
Our instructor showed us how to roll out the fondant. We used on one full pack of Wilton fondant. You have to work the fondant well until it gets more manageable. Then you roll it out to the 15 mark. (First put grease and then powder on the mat). After rolling it out, put a lot of powder on the fondant. Take the large rolling pin and roll the fondant on to it, carry it to the cake and unroll. The powder will stop it from sticking to itself. Smooth out the fondant on the cake, but don't press hard at the bottom. Use the wheel cutter and trim the bottom, about 2 inches away from the cake. Start smooth out the wrinkles on the side. Then cut closer and finally to the each of the cake.
I can see why a lot of people like to use fondant, it's pretty easy to get that smooth, forgiving look. But Wilton fondant taste yucky. I imagine the flavors could be added. One of the students used Wilton chocolate and it was good tasting - like a tootsy roll! I'd buy that. In the meantime, I'll have to research on the best fondant to use for workability and taste.
In the meantime, I'm tickled pink with how the cake turned out!
This peacock cake is different and I'm thrilled with the results. Totally loved taking this class.
Comments