Stripe It Up!

Last post of 2016! A striped birthday cake I made sometime back for a dear friend's daughter.

I LOVE stripes. On anything. And I have been wanting to try a striped cake but couldn't trust myself to pipe so many straight lines. Well, lets be honest, I couldn't pipe even one straight line. Until I discovered buttercream texture combs.

The combs are quite simple to use. Slather on your base color like you would when you frost a buttercream cake, run the comb of your choice around the cake just like you would a bench scraper. Chill the cake between passes and once the grooves are just like you like it, chill it for at least an hour. Now take your contrasting color and slather it on. Make sure all the grooves are well filled with your contrast color. Then scrape off the excess with a bench scraper. That's it! And the result is so extraordinary!

Go give it a try and let me know how it turned out.
And wish you all a Happy New Year!

Wafer Paper Flowers

I have always been a big fan of the paper flower trend and when I saw the trend follow into cakes, I was thrilled. I have been waiting to try my hand at making wafer flowers and what better reason does one need than a dear friend's 50th birthday.

It was a learning experience. I learnt that when it comes to wafer paper, water is your friend. And your Enemy. In the right amounts it is the perfect and very permanent glue, but a little too much and the wafer will dissolve in seconds. So make a few spares. Piping gel is a very good alternative to water, especially if you want some wiggle room to re-seat your petals.

And I learnt a lot about what type of colors work and what don't and most importantly that I need to buy an airbrush! I'm thinking of making a tutorial on how I made these flowers and if you are interested, leave a comment below. If there's a lot of interest I'll try and get it done over my Christmas break. Have a nice day!

PS: Oh and for those of you who haven't found your roots when it comes to fondant, try Liz Marek Fondant (LMF). It makes covering cakes so much easier. With this cake I was running late and decided to use the Wilton fondant and I regretted it. I had to actually peel the whole thing off. I had to make LMF on the spot and the best part, I could use immediately! Give it a try and I promise you won't regret it.

Baby in a Gazebo Cake !

Last Sunday was a dear friend's baby shower and I had the onus of making her shower cake. Yeah!

My friend's having a little girl and whenever there is a baby girl involved, I find it very difficult not to deck the cake with flowers.

But I wanted a change and so this time I decided to do something I haven't done before - a gazebo made using Royal Icing.

A little Gazebo that is just the right size for a little sleeping princess.

The piping of the gazebo panels itself was quite simple. The challenging part was to stop worrying about it collapsing even before assembling it. The assembly process was a little clumsy, but it would have helped if I had finished reading the instructions. The side panels were a breeze, the roof was the challenge. But all's well that ends well.

Hope you liked the cake. Let us know what you think!

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all the Fathers out there a very Happy Father's Day. Hope your families made today very special and continue to do so every day!