Icing Smiles

Icing Smiles is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide critically ill children and their siblings with custom celebration cakes.  As a fellow baker, Tracy Quisenberry (Executive Director) recognized the impact that a custom cake can have on a child.  She started Icing Smiles to share that wonder with kids who can't take for granted the everyday experiences of childhood, especially birthdays.

Icing Smiles delivered their first cake in January 2010 and has partnered with volunteer bakers in all 50 states!  Bakers range from home/hobby bakers to industry greats such as Kate Sullivan, Anne Heap and Elissa Strauss.

We invite you to visit their website (www.icingsmiles.org) and their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/icingsmiles) where their mission comes to life.  As a volunteer baker or "Sugar Angel" for Icing Smiles, you will join a nationwide movement to create positive memories for these families during a very difficult time.  Memories have magical powers.  Long after the cake is gone, the memories linger - memories of the kindness of a stranger, the art of the design, the sweet smells of a special treat, of the smiles and laughs of a normal childhood experience so often stolen from these children. These memories are why we say, "it is so much more than a cake."

To access the volunteer application, please go to their website at www.icingsmiles.org and click Create a Smile.

Wafer Paper Flowers for Fall

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

Wafer paper flowers offer an alternative to gumpaste flowers. They have a light and airy quality to them which makes for a beautiful cake design.

I learned a new technique from Lisa Berczel at the ICES Convention this summer, molding wafer paper flowers. The tools needed are pictured here. Plastic tweezers or silicone tipped tweezers are necessary for handling the wet wafer paper. Make a pattern for the petal shape that will fit into the mold, taking into account there will be some shrinking of the shape once it gets wet. Cut wafer paper petals using the pattern. Dip the petal into water by holding it with the tweezers. Lay the petal onto the mold and brush gently into place with a damp brush. 

 Leaves are made the same way. Brush the wafer paper onto the veiner to achieve the impression you want.

 Craft punches can also be used to make flowers out of wafer paper.  These punches were purchased at Michael's and Archiver's.

 Flowers can be shaped by laying on a former and brushing lightly with water to take on a curved shape. The single layer flower is fragile and does not need to be dipped in water.

Plastic formers of any type may be used, but make sure they do not have a hole at the bottom or the wafer paper will also get a hole.

 

The fastest way to dry the wafer paper is under a heat lamp. I found my sugar box worked great for this. Leaves and single layer flowers dry in about 15 minutes. Multi-petal flowers take at least 30 minutes to dry. It is easy to see when they are no longer wet and ready for the next step.

Make centers for the flowers with gumpaste or a 50/50 mix. I mixed yellow and green together to get a more natural looking center.

 Airbrushing is the best way to color the flowers. Hold the flowers with tweezers so they don't blow away! Add the color in layers and take care not to add to much because the moisture can distort the flower shape.

Attach the centers to the flowers using piping gel. Allow to dry and then attach to the cake with more piping gel, holding in place to set.

  

Play around with the layout of your design before attaching to the cake.

Wafer paper flowers are fun to make. I am looking forward to experimenting with this technique for butterflies and feathers.

Vendor Credits:  Party Styling and Desserts by Jeannie GearinThepastrytip.com

Jeannie's Facebook Page

DTC Products Used:

Multi Center Mold

Hollyhock Blossom

Gardenia Leaf

SugarEd Productions Sugar Art School

Have you seen the new Sugar Art School started by Sharon Zambito at SugarEd Productions?


SugarEd Productions is your one-stop hub for cake decorating instruction.  Founded in 2007 by Sharon Zambito, a pioneer in cake decorating video instruction, SugarEd has earned a stellar reputation the world over for offering top-quality instructional DVDs and supplies, along with excellent customer service.

Head over to SugarEdProductions.com

And customers wanted more.  More videos.  More tutorials.  More answers to their questions, and more opportunities to talk about all things cake with others in the business.

Head over to SugarEdProductions.com

So SugarEd has expanded into a comprehensive online sugar art school.  Here members will find an ever growing library of exclusive content, including:  full length instructional videos by both Sharon and guest celebrity instructors; detailed photo tutorials from some of the best talent in the industry; informative articles pertaining to decorating, running a business, food safety and cake photography; a large printable recipe bank; and a chat forum to interact and have fun with Sharon and other members.

Head over to SugarEdProductions.com

Members can share their own recipes, photos and tutorials in our friendly and helpful community.  Join the fun by participating in the games, contests and other interactive activities.  From cakes to cookies, from candy to desserts (and with everything in between), we bring it all together in one convenient and happy place.

- Learn at your own pace 24/7
- New content added weekly
- As low as 27 cents per day!
- Interactive community: share and learn
- Videos optimized for mobile devices

And every one who joins now will get a charter member badge for their profile

and an extra free PDF tutorial for this cute elephant figure.

SugarEd Productions has partnered with Decorate the Cake!  SugarEd Productions will be using some of our molds in their videos and tutorials.  Head over now and see which ones you can spot!

psst.....why are you still here?  Get to school at SugarEd Productions!

Let's get Corny!

I was attending the Missouri ICES Day of Sharing this last April when Laura White did a demo on a crab boil cake.  She started to show how to make the corn on the cob.  She mentioned that you should charge a lot if they want corn because they are difficult to make.  She then took a tiny oval cutter and started cutting out little corn pieces to attach for the cob.

Obviously my mind was working over time trying to decide if I could make a texture mat to ease the process.  It took me several attempts to get one that I could share with you.

Here is how hard it to make some corn!

I took some yellow fondant and white fondant -- added a touch of tylose to each -- unfortunately I do not measure the tylose.  You can also use gumpaste, 50/50 (50% gumpaste/50% fondant), candy clay, etc.  You will just want something that can hold its shape and not smoosh flat while drying.

I used about 60:40 ratio of yellow:white fondant/gumpaste.  Slightly mix and marble the colors together.
 Form the resulting marbled fondant into a corn cob shape.

Lay the log onto the DTC Corn Texture Mat and roll it up in the mat.

Give the tube some gentle even pressure making sure to maintain the log/corn cob shape.

Unroll.  How does my corn look?

Let me know what you think about Decorate the Cake's new Corn Texture Mat.

DTC Products Used:
Corn Texture Mat

You Gotta Have Heart!

Last February we posted these marbled hearts and several people sent notes asking how we did these.  I am finally getting around to writing this up.

Start with equal size pieces of fondant.

I then twisted them together.

Roll into a ball.

Place in the cavity.

And used my rolling pin to flatten it all out.

And there you have it!

DTC Products Used:
Conversation Hearts

Of Corset's Lace!

My neighbor asked me to make her a corset cake for a bachelorette party.  Of course, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to use two of DTC's newest lace molds.

What you will need - some fondant (or gumpaste or 50/50 or medium of your choice), a palette knife, rolling pin and lace mold.  You can use pasta roller if you wish but since I didn't have much to do I just rolled mine out.

When I rolled out the fondant I made sure it was large enough by laying the insert on top of my rolled piece.

Next lay the fondant on top of the mold and place the lace insert piece on top.  I then apply gentle pressure tot he back side with one hand as I remove the excess fondant with my palette knife. This step going pretty quick.

Next I removed the lace insert piece and clean up my edges while it is still in the mold cavity.  Once cleaned up you may wish to back it with the insert one more time and apply gentle pressure.

Then flip the mold over and gently begin to roll back the mold off the fondant lace piece.  I held the fondant down with the one hand will removing the mold with the other.

You may then use the palette knife to do any additional clean up you need.  With this piece I didn't need much.

Of course before placing on your cake you must play with the lace a bit and make fun designs.  

I used a just a swipe of water to attach the lace to my cake.  Here are a few close ups of the lace designs.

Using the Italian Lace Floral mold and the light purple fondant I created the lace design down the middle of the corset.

Full lace piece

Showing sections that I cut apart.

Then I turned the cut sections and over lapped them on the cake.

DTC Products Used:

Italian Lace Floral

Triple Scallop Trim

All Geared Up!

A BIG thank you to Amber Brooks for helping us out with this blog post.  

Amber first lightly dusted her molds with cornstarch.  

Start with a small amount of 50/50 (this was 50% fondant 50% gumpaste mixture) and place over the mold.  Amber used 50/50 but you may use straight fondant, gumpaste, modeling chocolate, isomalt or various combinations of sugar mediums.   

Then using a rolling pin roll out the 50/50 making sure to get the entire cavity filled.

Use a knife to cut away the excess 50/50.  Be careful around your fingers.  

Gently pull back the 50/50 as you are cutting.

Once removed clean up the back surface pressing any stray 50/50 back into the cavity and cleaning the edge.  

Depending on the medium used -- at this point you may wish to place the mold in the freezer for a few minutes to set the item which helps to avoid distortion when removing from the mold cavity.

Invert and flex the mold to remove the gear.  If using chocolate be careful on the flexing to avoid breakage. 

Tap the gear back into shape!

You can use the same application of molds for many different looks.  

DTC Products Used:

Mini Gear

Sprocket #1

Sprocket #2

Sprocket #3

Sprocket #4

For more mold options for a gear/steampuck look check out our Mechanical Section of molds!  Click here

Check out more of Amber's cakes on her website!  Sweet Arts Creations, LLC