Throw Back Thursday - Baby in a Peony Cake

It is Throwback Thursday everyone! For those of you who are wondering what Throwback Thursday means, here's an explanation from the recently enlightened (yeah, that's me :). It basically means recalling something from the past. It is a more hip way of saying, 'back in the day...'. Now a days if you start a conversation with 'back in the day...', you sound like an old woman. So in an attempt to hipsterize our blog (yeah, that's a made up word), I declare it is Throw Back Thursday at Grace Cakery!

I want to talk about one of my favorite cakes I have done to date, a sleeping baby in a peony. It was a shower cake for one of my dearest friends who was having a little baby girl. My friend likes green and so was born the idea of a bunch of pink peonies resting on a green butter cream cake. 

I used the very popular sleeping baby mold for this. The mold is simple and inexpensive, but getting the baby out of it without disfiguring it is not easy. It took me a few tries and I recommend making sure your fondant/gum paste combo is well kneaded and soft, or you'll end up with weird folds and lines on the finished baby. I use Turkish black petal dust instead of plain black for hair and eyes. Turkish black is actually a really dark brown and has a more natural look than plain black, which can look a little grey under poor lighting. 

For the peonies I used a a 50-50 gum paste and fondant combination. I made the petals white, and colored them with watermelon pink petal dust. A tip while making large closed flowers, use a small foam ball instead of fondant ball. If use fondant in the middle, the flower becomes too heavy and may not sit well on the wire. I used a spray of mini flowers and buds to complete the flower bunch. 

Well that's the baby in the peony cake. Hope you like it and let us know what you think.