Day of the Dead Celebration

 A  national holiday in Mexico, this celebration is also celebrated in many

parts of the world. It is a time to remember those who have passed.

Day of the Dead cookies decorated with sugar skulls and flowers.

This skull mold has stone eyes which can be filled in with a contrasting color, add slightly less paste than needed to allow for spreading when the top color is added. Place the mold in the freezer for five minutes to get the details to show clearly and for ease in releasing the mold.

Be sure to clean up the edges of the eye area with your finger to get a nice sharp line.

 Piping gel or buttercream icing can be used to adhere the fondant to the cookie.

The backdrop is decorated with a simple garland.

Chocolate cupcakes were flavored with cinnamon and cayenne pepper.

The rose mold and simple flowers decorate the mini cupcakes.

Chocolate Skull Pops

A wood grain mat was used on the fondant before attaching to the cookie.

Vendor Credits:  Party Styling and Desserts by Jeannie Gearin Thepastytip.blogspot.com

Printables by etsy.com/shop/happythought

Products Used

Tree Bark Texture Mat

Floral Day of the Dead Skull
Jeweled Day of the Dead Skull
Ribbon Rose Set A

Halloween Dessert Table

Jeannie Gearin does it again with another amazing blog post.  This time it is a great idea for Halloween!

 A Halloween Dessert Table with a vintage feel, the dark colors and harlequin patterns

repeated throughout to give a sophisticated look. The cake is fondant with a hand

sculpted face. The crow is painted with gel colors.

Halloween Fangs

 The cupcakes have fondant fangs. They can also be  made in isomalt with red for the incisors, giving a bloody look!

Lady Skeleton and Pirate Skull

 When filling the mold, it is easier to fill with too little and then add more

as needed rather than using too much. With a small amount of paste you can see

where the details are and be sure to fill those areas carefully.

I like keeping my paste under a glass when I am going to use it a lot. It is easier

than rewrapping it in plastic wrap over and over.

 I find safety scissors are one of the best ways to cleanly

remove excess paste if you do end up with some. Push it to

the center, making sure the edges are clean and crisp.

 When adding a second color, I just add it right on top without

any water or other type of glue. The paste is fresh and it adheres

on its own. I place on the freezer for about 5 minutes to get

the most out of the details.

 When you overfill areas you will get this type of look which to a decorator is not

great but to anyone else is still impressive. I hope you can see the detail of the teeth

on that skeleton.

 The plates and candy bowls are from Target. The favor bags and candy tubes are at Michael's.

The Halloween Banner is from ButtonsandBells on Etsy.

Dessert Table by Jeannie Gearin

http://thepastrytip.blogspot.com/

DTC Products Used:

Lady Skeleton Cameo

Pirate Skull Cameo

Halloween Fangs

For more amazing work from Jeannie, check out her blog, The Pastry Tip!

Get Out of the Dog House!

This cake is sure to let you out of the dog house!

It is a pretty simple cake -- but the spiked dog collar bottom border puts it over the top.

Roll out a length of fondant to the size for the mold.

Lay the fondant on top of mold cavity and press in.  To get the fondant into the spikes you will need to really push it in.

Use a rolling pin to smooth down the back of the mold.  Take a small knife and trim off the excess.

Pop in the freezer to harden -- this is necessary to get the spikes out intact.  Have a bowl of ice cream while you wait!

Turn the mold upside down and gently roll up.  As you come to each spike, gently stretch the mold to pop it out.  I accidentally ripped one off - while it was still frozen I put it in place with a touch of gum glue and it stayed affixed just fine.

Get some supplies out to dust the spikes!  I mixed a little of Albert Uster's gold dust with vodka.

Paint the spikes.

Products Used:
Spiked Dog Collar
Doggie Assortment
Paw Print Texture Mat

Ambulance Paramedic Bag using DTC Zipper Mould

Jo Marshall-Orr lends her talents to the DTC blog show off the zipper mold and her amazing talents.

I made this bag using the DTC Zipper mould - I found it a fantastic way to get definition and it looked so real I was asked many a time if I had used real zips.

This mould is really easy to use with this simple tutorial

Equipment: DTC Zipper Mould, rolling pin, stitching tool, Fondant knife, white fat & 50/50mix of Fondant/Gumpaste

Very lightly grease mould with white fat
Roll 50/50 Fondant/Gumpaste  into a log same approximate length of mould

Squish 50/50 mix into mould

roll over with rolling pin to smooth & get good definition

Scrape off excess using a fondant knife

Place in freezer for 5-10 minutes this helps alot in de-moulding anything from silicone

De-Mould I start at the thicker end

Flip the Mould over & place zipper onto backside this makes it easy to remove after

Using the stitching tool add a deeper impression along the zip

Doesn't this look so real! I love this mould.

As shown in the photos I then used a little rectangle of the same colour of the cake & using the stitching tool made a piece to fit over the ends of the zip for a sewn in look.

Hope you enjoy this mould as much as I do

Jo from Ciccio Cakes

http://www.facebook.com/CiccioCakes

To get the effect of the 2 zippers joining just fold under the end bits and use the stitching between them 

Product Used:
Zipper - Closed

Also Available:
Zipper - Open

Bridal Motif Lace

A special thanks to Renea Feagin for the latest blog posting. Learn some tricks to using one of our lace molds! 

Lace Press Tutorial

By Renea Feagin, Baked Expressions

Tools needed:  fondant/gumpaste mix, DTC Lace Press mold, fondant roller

1.        Roll out fondant/gumpaste to about 1/8” thick or down to a 2 or 3, using a pasta machine. 

2.       Lay the fondant/gumpaste over the mold.

3.       Position the silicone lace over the mold, matching up the pattern.  Press into place.

4.       Continue pressing the silicone lace into the mold, using a small fondant roller.

 

5.       Gently, start peeling away or removing the excess fondant/gumpaste from the mold.

6.       Once excess removed, it should look like this. 

7.       If there is a little fondant/gumpaste sticking over the outline of the mold, just push it back in the mold so that there is no fondant/gumpaste over the outline.  This will prevent you from having to trim the finished lace.

8.       Flip the mold over and bend it at the end or corner and allow the lace appliqué to fall out and release from the mold.

a.       At this point, you can use the mold as one piece or cut out desired portions of the lace appliqué

9.       Brush the back of the mold with water.  Do not over apply the water.  The appliqué should be “tacky” to the touch but not too wet.

 

10.   Place the lace piece on an iced cake and decorate as desired.

Finished Product!

Visit Renea's Facebook Page to check out more of her wonderful designs.  Baked Expressions

Products Used:
Bridal Motif Lace Mold