April 25, 2012

Finding the time to get it all done

I have fallen behind on my updating schedule, for which I apologize to my readership.

It's been a little hectic between work, trying to get the yard put into our house, and chasing after two young kids. It's not an excuse, and I need to do better, but it is an explanation.

Tomorrow night I need to go shopping for a birthday, and for ingredients for cupcakes to be baked Friday and frosted and shipped on Saturday. I'm trying a new method of packing for the shipping and hoping this turns out better than last time where 1 package was fine, and 2 were pretty much destroyed. Since I'm doing these cupcakes for a charity auction, it's important to me that they be done right. Unfortunately, the labels I ordered won't be here in time. I do have some awesome cupcake boxes that match the blog colors that a friend sent me though, and I'll continue to tack my business card up top.

The leftovers will either be eaten at home or taken to my work or my husband's work. Cupcakes always go over well. However, that's a good six hours out of my night/weekend that I'll have to cram in after the girls go to bed and in the morning, and it takes away from family time.

So the cake ninja would like to know -- how do you make time to bake/make art/do other things you enjoy?

April 20, 2012

Cake 101: Lesson 8: Fondant

Ah, fondant, delight and bane of decorators everywhere. Most people complain it tastes awful (and some do), but it's exceptional for giving a smooth surface to a cake and keeping it moist and delicious.

This being 101, I am only going to give a quick overview of what fondant is and how to use it. Possibly in a later Cake 101 video, I will show how to apply fondant to a cake.

So what is it? It is a sugar and marshmallow (usually) mix that can be rolled out into sheets and draped over cakes or used to make cut-outs, flowers, borders, etc.

You can buy it premade (and pre-colored if you like) or you can make your own. You can color it by mixing the icing color in as you knead the fondant or you can airbrush or paintbrush color on later.

There are a million and a half tools out there to help you with fondant and to cut fondant, but I have found that cookie cutters work just as well as the specialized tools. The ninjas on the ninja carousel cake were from cookie cutters. I free-handed the sections on the carousel to match the sections on the carousel tops, and then rolled out fondant ropes to twist together.

The Guinness cake seen previously in the cake archive is covered in white fondant, which was then painted with a vodka and icing coloring mix. I used the same technique on the "fail" cake for threadcakes, and the movie camera cake. The border on the Guinness cake is just fondant balls rolled together.

Fondant can seem daunting, but like everything else, it's just practice practice practice. Next week, we'll talk gumpaste.

April 19, 2012

More Wilton

So, last week I was complaining about a new product from Wilton (it's that time of year -- spam us all with new products). This week I am actually going to give them praise.

Icing tips and couplers. They are difficult to clean. I usually end up throwing mine into their mesh bag and putting them in the silverware holder, and while it gets them clean, it makes them a little beat up. Wilton must have been listening in on my complaints, because there's now a dishwasher tray for your icing tips. I may just have to pick one up.

April 16, 2012

Ninja Carousel Cake

Here is the infamous neon ninja carousel cake.  Due to some cake wonkiness, it wouldn't stack quite the way I wanted to, so this was the cake with all of the candles (and some fondant ninja cutouts)
Here is a closeup of those ninja cutouts.
Here is the side view of the carousel of ninja awesomeness.
And this is the top view. The carousel is from Wilton, but the decorations are all my own insane imagination.

April 13, 2012

Cake 101: Star Fills

Here is our second instructional video. This time it's all about how to fill cakes in with the star tip. Happy Caking!


April 11, 2012

Really, Wilton?

So, Wilton just had their "sweet-up" where they started showing off their new products for 2012/2013, and some of them are just making me shake my head.

The one that has me most annoyed at the moment is their new decorating bag sleeve.

Yes, you see that correctly -- instead of using a glass, like the cake ninja does, or an empty pringles can (a tip I picked up in the comments on their announcement) -- Wilton would love to sell you yet another tool to store in your cabinet.

Really, Wilton, this is the best you can do? How about a funky new icing tip? A cake leveler that actually works? A cake carrier that will accommodate some of the bigger shaped cakes (like the giant cupcake)? This cake decorating ninja is not amused.

April 9, 2012

Here is a closer look at the cakes from Friday.  (I always end up making two since we do a wide shot and a close up run-through.)







April 4, 2012

Lamb cakes

I keep swearing that one of these years I am going to buy one of the infamous Wilton lamb pans and make a cake for Easter. In red velvet, because that's how I roll. (And I like the delicious weirdness of a blood red cake when you cut the lamb open.)

I have to admit I find the whole lamb cake thing kind of creepy. I suspect it'd be really easy to make a zombie lamb out of it. Might be funny at Halloween, though.

Tell me, what sort of weird cake would you like to make?