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For the longest time I've wanted a cake in the shape of John The Baptist's head (Salome is my favorite opera). I got together with a good friend who is a pastry chef, and she agreed to take on the challenge for Halloween. I think we were BOTH pleasantly shocked at how amazing it turned out: (she took the photo for her portfolio) It's based on this Beardsley illustration:  which on the cover of my opera score is the color seen on the cake. Not only did it LOOK amazing (seriously, he has a pained expression and everything), but it was delicious - red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting, with marshmallow fondant. It's a TON of food coloring, but that didn't affect the taste at all. The only downside was that the "hair" was bitter from all the red, but the rest was fantastic. I'm still in awe of this thing! Next year's project will be a sugar skull cake. Edit: for clarity, I did not make this, I just commissioned it! Schweig und tanze fucked around with this message at Nov 20, 2009 around 17:11 |
| # ? Nov 18, 2009 22:14 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 21:03 |
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HOLY poo poo that head is amazing!
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| # ? Nov 18, 2009 22:30 |
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Yeah, one of the best in the thread for sure...
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| # ? Nov 20, 2009 07:02 |
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I just discovered this thread, looking through about to start one about cake decorating. I'll post my three last cakes, although they aren't as good as some of the ones in here. All three were made for goon birthdays, and the last two are my first and second attempts at making and using fondant. I'm making a birthday cake for myself in a week and am seriously considering buying the fondant made and flavouring it a little. It's just so hot and humid in Australia right now for fondant to work well... Anyways, without further ado... he's a big superman fan. It was for his birthday, delivered to his office desk. EDIT: It was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (he was very insistent on chocolate). The candy are m&ms and maltesers. The chocolate cake recipe itself was so moist I had to make the base cake three times, since it kept sticking to the pan. However, I personally dislike chocolate cakes, and I loved this one, so if you want the recipe, let me know.  Click here for the full 604x453 image. This was for another friend's birthday. If any of you remember the Australian goon love thread, you might realize who this was for  EDIT: I made the cake itself from a cake mix, since it was the first time i was working with fondant and wanted lots of time to work with it. A fun trick was that I made a rasberry filling for the cake and spread it throughout the batter, so that when the cake was cut, it bled. Made this cake with fellow goon dominiongalactica for a bbq. We make very goony cakes... By far the hardest cake I've made, wouldn't have happened without dominion, mostly because it was so humid that the fondant wasn't forming, wasn't rolling, etc! It's hard to make a cake when its 40C degrees outside with 60% or so humidity! EDIT: Thankfully, the cake itself came from a Sara Lee Factory Outlet, meaning that it tasted great, was a good size to begin with, and we didn't have to attempt to bake a cake.   edit: So, I changed the photo to a better, clearer, finished cake and add a little bit on information about each cake. Also, I'm going to try using the marshmallow fondant for my birthday this friday. I'll post results when I have them! I'm making a 3D version of this:  The Pillowman fucked around with this message at Nov 22, 2009 around 23:40 |
| # ? Nov 22, 2009 11:05 |
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Very fun. Do post the updated picture when you can.
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| # ? Nov 22, 2009 14:51 |
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It's the time of year for gingerbread! I got this recipe out of Delia Smith's Book of Cakes, so I'm counting it as cake. Behold a piece I like to call "Martin and the clocktower versus the zombie hoards of Canterbury" The one armed zombie refused to stand up so I'm going to eat him first.  
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| # ? Nov 22, 2009 15:24 |
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Here's the island cake I made for a friend's going away party. Don't worry, that beach ball is made out of cake, not a gross glob of pure icing.   The octopus was my favorite part! He's so cute!  Apologies for the non-edible paper umbrella...I needed to fill up space and was running out of time. If I were to do it over again, I've decided I would have made a sand castle.
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| # ? Nov 22, 2009 18:05 |
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I was going to add this to my previous post, but with a wall of text already, thought this would be easier to digest. Does anyone know how to make gum paste? I saw that its been mentioned once or twice, but a recipe has never been given... Also, my family hate sweet stuff, but love cake. I'm making my brother's birthday cake in late December and I was wondering if anyone could provide any advice as to what kind of cake/icing I could use? I've found a cherry cake that looks delicious, but I'm still stuck as to what icing to put with it...
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| # ? Nov 22, 2009 23:51 |
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A simple french butter cream isn't too too sweet. I have a gum paste recipe somewhere, one for pastillage too. I'll dig them up and edit them in later on. I am going to make a rainbow cake for my niece's birthday. I'll be trying to break in my new airbrush on it too. Results will be posted. Editing in recipes like I promised Gum Paste 1 lb powdered sugar 1/2 Tbs. gum tragacanth 2 tsp. glycerin 1 tsp. shortening 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar 1 1/2 egg whites sift together dry ingredients make a well in the middle add egg whites, glycerin, and shortening mix to a smooth paste by hand wrap with plastic wrap, damp towel, plastic wrap and let rest 30 mins. You can make it in a stand mixer too, but I was taught to just do it by hand since there is a possibility that the mixer can make the gum paste turn grey. Pastillage 1 package of plain gelatin 1/2 c water 1 t cream of tartar 5 c powdered sugar 1 c cornstarch Sift the powdered sugar and cornstarch together. In a small saucepan, place water and cream of tartar in, then sprinkle the plain gelatin over the top. Stir over low heat until dissolved. There may be an amount of cream of tartar that doesn't dissolve, just be sure no amount of gelatin is left undissolved. Remove from heat and add to bowl of stand up mixer, like a Kitchen-Aid. Put on a paddle attachment and with low speed, add in the dry ingredients mixing spoonful by mixing spoonful (couple of tablespoons at a time or so) at a time. When all is incorporated, switch to medium speed until mixture is lightened and very white, about 3 minutes. Remove from bowl, wrap in plastic wrap and let sit for half an hour before rolling out. Can be frozen; place in refrigerator overnight to thaw. Roll out with cornstarch. These will make larger amounts. They freeze very well as long as they are wrapped up good. I always wrap things like this in a layer of plastic wrap, a layer of foil, and a final layer of plastic wrap. Thumposaurus fucked around with this message at Nov 25, 2009 around 18:18 |
| # ? Nov 24, 2009 20:18 |
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I wish I could actually make awesome cakes myself. I consider it a win if I can make them from a mix and frost them without loving the whole thing up  I am going to be trying more baking from now on though, since we got a brand new oven. I never thought something so simple could be so exciting...!
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| # ? Nov 24, 2009 21:35 |
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BEEFARONI posted:I wish I could actually make awesome cakes myself. I consider it a win if I can make them from a mix and frost them without loving the whole thing up When I first started, I could barely frost a cake. I used to get so stressed out and upset. In May, my sister told me she was pregnant and I immediately started thinking of her baby shower. I wanted to be able to make a fantastic looking cake and maybe even use fondant. That was pretty ambitious considering I was used to making cakes that looked like this:  Click here for the full 453x604 image. ^^ What an uneven mess! ^^ However, with time and lots of practice, I became pretty decent. I owe it all to watching tons and tons of youtube videos and reading a lot of articles on cakecentral.com. I would just look up "how to ice a cake" or "how to get smooth icing", etc. The one thing I will tell you is to always level your cakes. I used to think it was wasteful and stupid and wouldn't do it. Ugh. It's hard to frost any rounded surface easily. Level your cakes. It will be so much easier and look so much better. In the past 7 months, I've gotten much better. I went from crap to decent. Here are a few of the cakes I made in the last couple of months:  Click here for the full 448x604 image.  Click here for the full 604x453 image.  Click here for the full 453x604 image. They're not fantastic by any means but I'm pretty happy with my progress. My biggest accomplishment was making my sister's wedding cake:  Click here for the full 604x402 image. Also, the right tools help. Smoothing icing is so much easier with a putty scraper and some viva paper towels. I've never gotten better results. I learned by watching this video. You can do it too! Practise really does make perfect (or decent, anyways) 
jennyinstereo fucked around with this message at Nov 24, 2009 around 22:21 |
| # ? Nov 24, 2009 22:19 |
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So, i tried the marshmallow fondant. I accidentally started the kneading to early and got ridiculously sticky mashmallow all over me. however, once i managed to fix that and add lots more sugar in, it worked really well. Definitely reccommend it to anyone, especially if you've never made fondant before. I found it was much easier than making fondant. Tastes really sweet but much more edible than any fondant i've made or tasted. now to colour and form each piece of the cake that i need. making that tiny guitar is going to kill me...
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| # ? Nov 25, 2009 03:55 |
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The Pillowman posted:So, i tried the marshmallow fondant. I accidentally started the kneading to early and got ridiculously sticky mashmallow all over me. I go through so much crisco when making MMF. I lube up my hands all good with it before I touch the stuff
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| # ? Nov 25, 2009 04:12 |
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So, I finished my birthday cake. Didn't come out as awesome as I wanted, but I found out that when my roommate moved out, she also took the rolling pin and any sharp implements. I didn't want to buy news ones so I made this cake with toothpicks and spoons. It was pretty ghetto.  I have to say that the moment the fondant dried out a little, it was really hard to work with, but adding a little sugar made it really sticky. Anyone have any tips? Edit: also, I cannot wait until my SLR gets fixed for Christmas. It would be nice to not have lovely blurry cameras. The Pillowman fucked around with this message at Nov 27, 2009 around 05:12 |
| # ? Nov 27, 2009 05:10 |
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Are those dicks sticking out the side?
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| # ? Nov 27, 2009 13:42 |
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They're legs and arms.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2009 16:14 |
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Cross posted from the general thread: I'm dating a cake decorator. She specializes in elaborate cakes like wedding cakes and custom $200 birthday cakes for spoiled 5 year olds. I'm thinking about Christmas gifts and I know she's been wanting a marble rolling pin for a while. What's a good size/brand to go for? I'm food-illiterate so everything she does is voodoo magic. In addition to a marble rolling pin, what would be some other nice cake tools I could get her?
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| # ? Dec 4, 2009 19:59 |
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Brand doesn't matter so much so long as it's like, soild. I know Williams Sonoma has the marble pins, as well as like a large marble board that's great for pastries if she doesn't already have one of those, though just throwing out there it might take a few $$$. Also, what does she normally work with? Fondant? Buttercream? Marzipan? Spun sugar? There are tons of tools and cool gagets to get for the baking inclined, but what about a custom chef's jacket (in her favorite color with her name?) or a cute tee like from Bakerella or something?
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| # ? Dec 5, 2009 03:00 |
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Fun cookie cutters (that can also be used for fondant) or pans in cool shapes are also a fun extra little gift and you can usually find them pretty cheap.
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| # ? Dec 5, 2009 04:26 |
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Let it be known that while metal cookie cutters look cool, lots of them are too malleable and bend too easily and can lose their shape.
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| # ? Dec 5, 2009 04:59 |
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The Pillowman posted: Does anyone have a decent fondant recipe? I tried it for the first time and well, I pretty much never want to do it again, it was sort of malleable but crumbled really easily, got crust on the outside, etc... I had a lot of cake rage that day. Also what exactly is the difference between gumpaste and fondant? Is gumpaste more for the smaller decorations on it instead of icing? Waffle Grid fucked around with this message at Jan 5, 2010 around 19:43 |
| # ? Jan 5, 2010 19:40 |
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Waffle Grid posted:I love it, it's adorable Do you want to make real fondant or are you cool with marshmallow fondant? I only use MMF and it is fantastic and tastes so much better than that garbage that Wilton sells pre-packaged and I don't much like regular fondant... so if you're up for trying it, it's super easy, easy to work with, and tastes pretty good: (incoming wall of text) Use lots of shortening on your hands when working with the fondant. It will not stick to your hands if you put shortening on your hands first. Also, put icing sugar (powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar) on your work surface to prevent it from sticking to the surface. Recipe: Marshmallow fondant 2 cup mini marshmallows 2 tbsp water... See More 3 cups powder sugar (if still sticky, add more) Measure marshmallows in a standard 1 cup measuring cup and push down and pack them in. Place in a microwave safe bowl and add the water. Put in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Just long enough for them to soften and puff up. Take out and stir with a spoon until it is combined well. At this point it looks kind of soupy. Then add the sugar and mix and fold until all is incorporated and it is no longer sticky. I take it out of the bowl when it gets to the point where most of the sugar is incorporated and I knead it in my hands. This takes roughly about 5-7 minutes. Take a fondant roller or a regular rolling pin and roll out. After I roll a few times, I lift the fondant slightly and rotate it. I keep rotating it quarter turns while rolling so it doesn't get stuck to the surface I'm rolling on. Oh, if you are going to colour the fondant, put the food colouring in when the marshmallow mix is soupy and stir. It will be much easier to colour it this way. Or, if you need different colours, then yeah, knead it and separate it later and colour it then. It will take longer to colour it, but it works. Don't forget to keep checking to make sure the fondant doesn't stick to your work surface. If you need to, lift and re-powder your work surface. Oh and put icing sugar on the roller/rolling pin so it doesn't stick to the fondant either. Measure the sides of the cake and the diameter of the top of the cake. Add 2-4 inches to that measurement and roll out the fondant to that size. So, if you have an 8 inch pan that is 2 inches deep but you have 2 of those pans that you're using, it will be a 4 inch high cake. So, 8 + 4 + 4 + extra 2 = at least 18 inch diameter circle. It seems like a lot but you need the fondant to cover the entire cake and not have it be too short. When you've rolled out enough, and are ready to cover the cake, roll it up over the rolling pin (it won't stick to itself) and bring it to the back of the cake, and slowly unroll it over the cake. Start smoothing it down over the sides and make sure there aren't any creases. I used fondant smoothers for this. This takes some time and practice. The longer the fondant is when draped over the cake, the easier it will be. This is why you want to roll it out so large. It's hard to explain but I hope you get it. I usually brush piping gel around the bottom of my cake (right on the buttercream since my buttercream is usually a crusting one and isn't sticky when I put the fondant on) so the fondant has something to stick to when I put it on. Or, if you don't want to use or don't have gel, it will still stick to the frosting if it's a bit sticky. When it's all around the cake, use a pizza cutter to cut the excess off from around the cake. Tips: -To stick fondant to fondant, put a bit of water on the back of the fondant you want to stick. Then, just press it onto whatever fondant you are sticking it to. The above batch of fondant should cover one 8 or 9 inch cake that has 2 layers. If you need more, make each batch separately and then combine because it's really hard to stir up 4 cups of melted marshmallows!! Also, you can use the piping gel to stick fondant to fondant. -Always make sure that you have buttercream frosting on your cake before you cover with fondant. It won't stick very well to just cake. You can just put a thin layer of the canned Betty Crocker stuff if you don't want to make your own.
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| # ? Jan 5, 2010 20:12 |
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monkeysee.com has some good cake decorating videos. both fondant and buttercream icing. as far as making the fondant, i tried making my own and I hated it. I made it with the marshmallow fondant, and have made it since, and it's worked out great. I'll post pictures of my latest cake now!. it actually looked really nice and smooth, a first for me. 
The Pillowman fucked around with this message at Jan 6, 2010 around 02:01 |
| # ? Jan 6, 2010 01:57 |
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Made a turtle cake for my sister-in-law's birthday.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2010 02:17 |
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Wow those cakes are awesome!! I don't know if I put up my sister's baby shower cake or not... It was supposed to be a lot more elaborate but I spent 3 days cooking for the shower so I kind of half-assed it at the end. She loved it though, so that's all that counts: cake guts!!  I used marshmallow fondant.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2010 02:32 |
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frankdiabetes posted:Made a turtle cake for my sister-in-law's birthday. I refuse to believe that's a cake. It's gotta be plastic or something, it's incredible. The detail on that thing is amazing. I hope it tasted good, 'cause it looks beautiful.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2010 13:12 |
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Death of Rats posted:I refuse to believe that's a cake. It's gotta be plastic or something, it's incredible. The detail on that thing is amazing. I hope it tasted good, 'cause it looks beautiful. I swear it's cake, well the turtle shell is anyway...red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, covered with fondant. Turtle appendages, lily pads, and lotus are gumpaste, the insects are gumpaste with gelatine wings, the rocks are pastillage, and the water is tinted piping gel. Technically everything is edible, but in practice, I think you'd regret trying to eat some of the stuff. The cake was tasty though.
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| # ? Jan 7, 2010 03:04 |
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jennyinstereo posted:I used marshmallow fondant.
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| # ? Jan 7, 2010 03:58 |
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cowofwar posted:That is a thick layer of fondant. Are you looking at the buttercream underneath, perhaps? The fondant is very thin. I happened to put a thick layer of buttercream under the fondant since my sister and her husband really love buttercream. The white is buttercream and the thin purple is fondant. Here it is zoomed in: 
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| # ? Jan 7, 2010 16:05 |
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Waffle Grid posted:I love it, it's adorable Yeah, the Wilton stuff kind of sucks but I still don't think it's as bad as everyone says/thinks. I think it tastes kind of like Air Heads (and is about as easy to work with...) I personally am not a big fan of marshmallows and tried someone's mmf before and did not care for it. Satin Ice, though, is a fantastic fondant. You can also get it pre-dyed in bright red or black (the worst to dye) as well as other shades, and it's MUCH easier to work with and tastes so much better. I'd give that stuff a try before you give up on non-marshmallow fondant all together. The last cake I made, people actually ate the Satin Ice fondant in addition to the cake.
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| # ? Jan 8, 2010 22:03 |
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I made a Bee Sting cake because the bakery I love to get it from is closed for the winter (they are in the outside section of our Farmers Market). It's a tasty white cake with a caramelized almond topping, and then split and filled with an almond pastry cream. I didn't like how the pastry cream turned out so I made a thick almond-and-honey whipped cream for the filling instead, and it was delightful. 
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| # ? Jan 11, 2010 15:42 |
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Ishamael posted:Amazing Honey Almond Cake! Oh god, recipe please. Honey and almonds are some of the best things ever.
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| # ? Jan 16, 2010 22:49 |
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I disappeared for awhile, sorry! Thanks for the fondant information everyonejennyinstereo posted:Fondant information. That recipe looks super tasty, I'm definitely going to try it. The kind of fondant doesn't really matter so much to me, I want to be able to make shapes though, which I think you can do with marshmallow fondant? Do you think it would be possible to make it with marshmallow fluff, or is the gelatin needed? drat my vegetarianism  .Edit for pictures: Almost forgot, this was my first try with fondant, as you can see there were cracks and it was just breaking everywhere. It actually tasted good though, a lot like the icing.  
Waffle Grid fucked around with this message at Jan 18, 2010 around 21:57 |
| # ? Jan 18, 2010 21:50 |
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Waffle Grid posted:
Very nice. You forgot to show the awesome action shot of your rainbow cake. It WAS a rainbow cake, right?
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| # ? Jan 19, 2010 10:32 |
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Cake topper made for my coin-collecting husband's birthday. Chocolate Fondarific fondant painted with luster dust mixed with vodka. Will be put on top of a German chocolate cake.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2010 03:35 |
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frankdiabetes posted:Cake topper made for my coin-collecting husband's birthday. Chocolate Fondarific fondant painted with luster dust mixed with vodka. Will be put on top of a German chocolate cake. That's terrific. It's hard to tell the scale from the picture; how big a cake are we talking about?
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| # ? Jan 21, 2010 11:37 |
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Sam_I_Am posted:It WAS a rainbow cake, right? It was going to be...but got lazy and wanted chocolate instead. But there will be rainbow cake next time, definitely next time.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2010 21:22 |
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Sam_I_Am posted:It's hard to tell the scale from the picture; how big a cake are we talking about? It will be a 9" cake. Also, isn't it a travesty to have a rainbow exterior cake with non-rainbow middlings? For shame!
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| # ? Jan 22, 2010 02:45 |
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paisleyfox posted:Oh god, recipe please. Honey and almonds are some of the best things ever. I used this recipe here: http://www.globalgourmet.com/destin...sting-cake.html But I didn't make the egg custard for the filling, because I tried and it just didn't taste how I wanted it to. Plus it is a giant pain in the rear end. Instead I made a thick whipped cream using heavy cream, confectioners sugar, honey, and almond extract.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2010 15:30 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 21:03 |
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frankdiabetes posted:Made a turtle cake for my sister-in-law's birthday. What kind of coloring did you use to paint the gum paste? I must know!
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| # ? Jan 22, 2010 16:31 |
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