Latest Wedding Cake pics

So this is what I've been up to the past few days:

 

Plus I made 3 sheets of brownies and frosted them white with blue squiggles to match the cake to serve at the wedding.  They were not as impressive as the cake so I didn't take a photo them. :)

To see other cakes I've done, check out Michelle's Cake Creations Blog.

Also check out DIY Thrifty Thursday Link Party every Thursday at www.thrifty101.blogspot.com

40th Birthday Cake

 

A friend of mine asked me to make a cake for her husband's 40th birthday party.  She had a huge party, family flew in from out of town to surprise him, they "kidnapped" him from work and took him to his own "funeral" where everyone was dressed in black and they even had a "funeral program" for the party.  I told my husband when I turn 40 (which isn't for a while ;) he better not throw me a party like that!  I think it's a male thing.

*Note to any men reading this post......DO NOT throw your wife or ANY FEMALE an "over the hill/funeral" party unless you are 1,000% sure she will be okay with it. :)  Even then I would suggest otherwise. :)

Here are a few photos of how I made it:

To color white fondant use a toothpick to put Wilton food coloring on it. 



 I specify "Wilton" because the cheap grocery store liquid drops will not work.

Play with the fondant like a taffy puller until all the color is mixed in.  You will want to wear gloves to mix the coloring, it was quite messy.

Shape the fondant into the form you would like and let it sit til it starts to get dry so it won't lose it's form.

I started out with a "cone" shape and added individual petals until I got the desired size of bud.

For the stem I wrapped a bamboo skewer with the green fondant and attached green leaves I cut out with a knife.


You can't tell from the photos, but I splattered the "headstone" with black food coloring then frosted it smooth.  This gave it a really neat "stone" look.

*Tip: black frosting is nearly impossible to make.  The more black food coloring you add the darker your gray gets.  I add black food coloring to chocolate frosting.  This helps get the frosting darker faster.  Also, you can buy black pre-made frosting.  This also is true of red frosting. :)

Wedding cake part 2

So when we last left off..........I had just put a crumb coat on all 4 layers.

The next step is to frost all layers smooth.  You need the frosting smooth because the fondant mimics the frosting texture under it.  I didn't get a good picture of this step but you can see it 2 pics down from here.

Roll the frosting out 1/4 inch thin, be sure to dust work surface with powdered sugar to prevent sticking.

fold fondant lightly in half, pick up

and lay over the top of your cake.

Smooth the fondant on the cake and trim off any excess.  Then smooth the entire cake and trim flush with cake board bottom.

Add PVC pipes, straws or wooden dowels for support in stacking a cake

Then watch it come to life after you add flowers!

 

 Then watch them destroy your beautiful creation. ;)

Total time:

• Buying supplies - 3 hours
• Baking the 4 cakes and prep - 6 hours.
• Cutting, torting, making frosting and crumb coating 4 cakes with prep - 6 hours
• Frost cakes smooth 3 hours
• Fondant cakes 3 hours
• Apply supports 1 hour
• Delivery and set up 3 hours (I got caught in traffic)
• Wait during reception
• Take down 1 hour

Total Time: 26 hours

26 hours multiplied by say $10 an hour (that's a low per/hour estimate) is $260 in just time.  That doesn't include ingredients for the cakes, frosting, any extra pans (I didn't have an 18" pan, I had to purchase a new one) or purchasing the fondant.

So there you have it.  The breakdown of making a wedding cake and why they are so crazy expensive! :)

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Wedding Cake Part 1

Have you ever wondered why Wedding Cakes cost so much?  I'm making a 4 tier fondant wedding cake and I documented the process to give you some insight.

Here is part 1:

Start off by generously greasing and flouring your cake pans.

 This is a 10" and 18" pan.  The 18" pan is too big to fit in the oven, so you have to bake them in 2 half circle pieces.

 Closeup of the pan to show what I mean by "generously" grease and flour.

 Let cakes cool on rack.  At this point you might be thinking, okay, I do this at home all the time.  Don't forget this is all X4.

 Once they cake is cooled, put it back in the pan so you can cut the top off flat.  You could do this right out of the oven, but in my experience the cakes are too fragile if you cut them hot.  I use a large bread knife that reaches across the pan.

 Cut flush with the top of the pan.

 Attach your cake to your cake board with some frosting.  It acts like glue and holds the cake in place.  *Also note that you put the cake on the cake board UPSIDE DOWN.  This gives you a nice sharp angle on the top edge. After this picture I placed the board on the cake and then flipped them both over. Then I wrapped all layers in plastic wrap and tin foil and froze them overnight.  This helps lessen the crumbs and makes the cakes easier to work with.
If you are filling your cake, cut it in half after it is on the cake board and after it's been frozen. 

When you are filling or "torting" a cake, you need to make a "dam" of icing around the edge.  This will keep the filling from gushing out the sides once the top is attached.  Especially with a wedding cake, you don't want anything that is not white showing through the icing.  This cake was a chocolate w/chocolate mousse.

And speaking of filling a cake....I was doing a raspberry jam filling for this cake.  No one wants to bite into a cake and have raspberry seeds so you need to remove them.  I poured the bottle of raspberry jam into a wire sieve and stirred like mad. :)

These are the seeds I got from 1/2 of the bottle.

And here again I've made a "dam" of frosting around the edge of the cake and filled the middle with the raspberry jam.  *Another tip you can see in this pic is putting a little frosting on the inside of the cake before you put the filling in, especially jam.  You want a white cake with red filling, not a pink cake. ;)

 Next comes the "crumb coat".  Basically this is a very thin layer of frosting that literally "coats the crumbs" onto the cake.  This will keep any crumbs out of your final frosting.  The chocolate cakes come out looking like they have chocolate chip frosting at this stage.  In the next stage I will put a final layer of frosting on the cake that will be all white.

This picture is a little deceiving.  The two smaller cakes are on pedestals that you can't see.  *One of the biggest tricks to making a wedding cake is being sure all layers are the same height.  Especially if they are stacked on each other.  If they are separated it's not as noticeable, but one on top of the other is very noticeable.

My time for a 4 tier cake so far:

• Buying supplies - 3 hours
• Baking the 4 cakes and prep - 6 hours.
• Cutting, torting, making frosting and crumb coating 4 cakes with prep - 6 hours

 To be continued...........................

Cake Decorating

As some of you might know, I decorate cakes.  Wedding cakes, birthday cakes, special occasion cakes....anything you can think of.  I'm the oldest of 6 girls, so I got a lot of practice making wedding cakes.

People ask me why I got started making cakes.  I guess it all started when I wanted my mom to make my wedding cake.  She didn't have the confidence to, so we paid a lady to make my cake.  I kept thinking "It can't be THAT hard".  I took the full 3 course Wilton cake decorating class and graduated with honors. ha ha, just kidding.  Everyone that takes it graduates. ;) I had a great time learning a new skill and I still enjoy decorating cakes for my family and others.

I started making my sisters (4 so far) and sister-in-law's (5) wedding cakes.  I got lots of practice in making the cakes, and they all wanted something a little different so I really got to try some new things.  It's been a lot of fun.  I'm always amazed at how a simple cake can turn out so elegant.  I have photos of all my cakes on my site Michelle's Cake Creations.  (there is also a tab at the top of the page)

My boys all get to choose the type of cake they get for their birthday.  I've done Spiderman, Bear in the big blue house, Blues Clues, Pooh Bear, Pirates, Dragon, Army tank, Shield and Mace (right), football and many other types.  It's fun for them to have a special cake that they requested.

I thought I would share some tips to cake decorating with everyone.

1. GREASE & FLOUR YOUR PANS.  Use a paper towel and rub shortening all over your pan, especially in the creases and then dust with flour.  Cooking spray is NOT enough.
2. Let the cake cool completely before trying to frost it.  My husband forgets this step often and we end up with a delicious cake with runny frosting.
3. If you freeze the cake, it helps control crumbs in your frosting.  Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for a while.  I'm not at all sure why this works, but it does. :)
4. Start smooth frosting at the top and gently "push" the frosting over the sides of the cake to cover the top and sides.

As far as decorating your basic decorating kit should include:

1. A decorators bag.  They come in "feather weight", disposable plastic or parchment triangles.  I like the #12  feather weight bags. 
2. A coupler and ring.  This sits into your feather weight bag and allows you to switch tips without empting the frosting bag. (see photo>>)
3. Tips #3-writing tip, #16-shell tip, #104-rose tip & #67 leaf tip 

 Have fun with it!  It's okay to try something new.  It's also okay to mess up. People are easily impressed.  ;) HA HA

I taught a cake decorating class to a group of teenage girls.  We were making flowers.  They were all getting frustrated that their "flowers" didn't look like flowers.  I told them to put a green frosting leaf on it and then look at it.  It was so fun to watch them all light up and say "Look!  I made a flower!"

By making your own cake (okay, maybe not a wedding cake) you can save money and I think it means more to the recipient if you made it yourself.  That's why I wanted my mom to make my cake.  I understand why she didn't want to attempt it, they can be quite intimidating.  I was lucky enough to have 9 sister/sister-in-laws that let me practice on their cakes. ☺