Three Weddings And A... Birthday (Cake!) {Wedding No. 1}

It's been a bit quiet on the blog-front for the past month or so - which means that it's been busy in the kitchen! I'm finally able to share with you what I got up to slightly secretively in December and give an update of what I've been baking recently - namely a bunch of lovely but challenging wedding cakes for friends plus my bestie E's special birthday cake. There's been a lot of cake (understatement of the century!), so I'm spreading them over four posts altogether.

As much as I like to share with the virtual world, I'm looking forward to reading (and re-reading!) these finished posts myself to remind myself of what I've learnt during the past six months in baking and caking :-) I've also been taking fledgling steps in food photography, which you'll see in some of the posts, although where the images are not mine (mainly this post) I have given credit to the photographer(s).

Wedding No.1: S + J = Fondant Frills

Seeing as I was enjoying getting into cake decorating for the first time in 2014, I figured I would need a challenge to flex my new skills on by the end the year. S and I had flatted together before I got married, and then I got wind that her own engagement was near (having a unique vantage point because of J's request to hold the fort at the church bookstall while he took her out to a 'surprise' weekend retreat!).  I asked (as soon as it was proper) who would be making their cake, and was met with "we weren't even thinking of having a cake!" 

Well, that was all I needed to see my mission in life as their personal wedding cake-r. In my enthusiasm, I didn't ask how many people they were inviting, which meant a wee bit anxiety, a lot of thinking and a fair bit of consulting other more experienced cakers. The loans of my parents in-law's freezer and a colleague's massive perspex cupcake stand - to store and then display 370 cupcakes - convinced me that this epic first wedding caking could indeed succeed. 

Cupcakes a-plenty (photo by NOPHOTO)

Beautiful photos by Dru and Talia of NOPHOTO show the outcome: a day that drizzled until the last moment (the tent covering threatened with tiny drips to unleash a torrent of captured rain onto the cake table) cleared up for the ceremony then opened up into sunshine for bridal photographs. The bride and groom made a handsome couple in ivory and tweed respectively, flanked by bridal party members wearing the sunset colours of the icing flowers and leaves on the cake.

Photo by NOPHOTO

The cake itself was my first proper attempt at ruffles using gumpaste and I found this tutorial (by the wonderful Rose Atwater of Rose Bakes) to be invaluable. It took a wee while for each frill to dry but was not the most difficult design, seeing as the rustic look benefits from not looking absolutely perfect!

Photo by NOPHOTO

The gumpaste roses and leaves were made using Wilton and Americolor gel pastes and dusted with colour lustre dusts. I was really pleased with the yellow ones in particular - the orange dust I used gave them a nice depth. In case you're wondering...they were attached to toothpicks and stuck into the cake, while the leaves were attached using edible glue.

Photo by NOPHOTO

Cake flavours were Annabel Langein's banana cake recipe with dark choc ganache and preserved ginger (S's fave!), both covered in white choc ganache under a fondant base. 

The cupcakes were vanilla (MY fave recipe) and chocolate (a la Sweetapolita) with regular buttercream as I've posted about before except substituting half of the butter with Kremelta to make it brighter and whiter. Each had a little rolled rose and leaf in the same colours as the cake's ones. And there were certainly a lot of them...

Photo my own

So when I say it was an 'introduction' to wedding caking... it was more like a  baptism by fire!!! But good fun and good learning ;-) Thanks to the bride and groom for the opportunity, and to them and NOPHOTO (check them out!!!) for letting me use these stunning photos.

Photo by NOPHOTO

[I Can't Believe It's So Easy] Fun with Fondant Art - Floral Edition

I have much to learn. That's generally the conclusion of any PhD student, and while I don't have the stomach for such a qualification, I'm beginning to feel that way about the world of cake decorating. Thankfully, learning is rarely achieved alone, and I'm grateful to have lovely friends and inspirers to teach and encourage me along the way! This post is one of a series (of two, at least...) where I will share my recent 'I can't believe it's so easy that I can do it myself' baking discoveries. This first one details my introduction to fondant art.

Let me introduce D - she's a great gal with a lot more experience than me (zero experience prior to this post) with fondant decorations, in particular flowers. So while all I generally want to do is smear buttercream everywhere, I realised her skills would be super-handy to add appeal to any baked item!

Baking chat - the best kind! Spot the sweet rations sustaining us :)

D and I scheduled in an afternoon of fondant-garden fun for me to learn the ropes of the craft. See for yourself how it went... photo credits to the j-amazing James :D

We picked bold red, pastel yellow and green for our tiny s-petal-acular creations (har har!). D showed me how to add a few drops of gel colour to a lump of plain icing and knead it until the colour evened out. We then rolled our icing into the thinnest sheets possible, pressed in the dainty cutters, and the little shapes would fall out onto our palms.

So cute and tiny!

Poor Sad Flower - it didn't make it past the flower press...

Shaping and moulding flowers happened in the palms of our hands with some clever tools, then we plopped the little guys onto a bed of clingwrap spread over specially designed plastic trays (or ice cube trays if you've got them) to dry them out in semi-up-turned positions.

I recently learned that melted chocolate is an excellent adhesive to use for attaching fondant flowers to cakes, although you might not need one if you're sticking them to freshly-piped buttercream. Here's a rough ingredients list and a more detailed description for replicating the fondant flora that we made.

Fondant Shapes (flowers, leaves, etc)

• 50 grams of white royal icing per colour that you wish to make (we used pre-made Pettinice)
• A selection of gel colours (water-based food colourings make the fondant take longer to dry)
• Icing sugar - preferably in a shaker/sieve

Equipment: 

• a range of flower and leaf-shaped cutters in different sizes
• a smooth rolling pin
• a smooth plastic chopping board
• toothpicks
• fondant shaping tools (especially one with rounded/ball ends)
• a palette knife (optional, for scraping fondant shapes off of surfaces)
• a fine-tipped paint brush
• ice cube trays covered loosely with cling wrap

For each lump of icing that you would like in a different colour: add a few drops of gel food colouring to the lump of  royal icing and knead together until all the icing is a uniform colour (you may want to add more gel colouring for a bolder colour; and yes, it will get all over your hands...!). 

Sprinkle icing sugar onto your plastic chopping board. Using your smooth rolling pin, roll out the icing on the board until it is approximately 2mm thick. Position a fondant cutter over the icing and press it into the board. 

If you're using a leaf (or other decorative cutter) with an indentation pattern, press to indent. Drop the fondant leaf onto the cling wrap-covered ice cube tray, so that it sits above the centre of one cube hollow - it should curl slightly upwards from its centre.

If you're using a flower cutter, sprinkle icing sugar onto your palm before sliding the cutter off the board (hopefully with the fondant shape inside it!) and dropping the fondant shape onto your palm. Use the rounded end of a fondant shaping tool to smooth the petals, moving from the centre of each petal to the edge. This will take some practice until you know what sort of shape you'd like to create. 

Tools of the trade: shaping tools, fine-tipped paintbrushes and a selection of cutters.

Drop the shaped flower onto the centre of one cube hollow of the cling wrap-covered ice cube - try to ensure that the petals curl upwards. Using a paintbrush, apply a tiny amount (less than a drop) of water to the centre of the flower. Roll some of another colour of icing into tiny balls (each approximately half the size of a pin head) and drop them into the centre of the flower.

Using a toothpick, you can prick the centre of a solid-coloured centre to add texture.

The fondant shapes will dry naturally, uncovered, however they will dry faster if left in front of a fan or in an area with good ventilation. The less food colouring and water added, the faster they will dry. When dry and hardened, store in an airtight container and keep in a cool place. 

It all comes together!