Cup of Cocoa

Did I mention that I got a new airbrush for Christmas?!  LOL - I have a feeling that a LOT of my cakes this year will feature airbrushing, for a couple of reasons.... 1.  I must learn to use my new (toy) tool!  2.  Because its fun to use! 

I am fortunate to have a work place that allows me to make the monthly office birthday cakes.  They purchase the supplies, I get to make whatever cake I want.  This allows me to practice different techniques and build my skills up.  Occasionally, I will get requests for cake flavors or a specific design from the birthday people.  This month's birthday girl wanted a cake with snowmen on it somewhere. 

This cake is my best fondant work to date.  Usually I have trouble with the fondant ripping, tearing, cracking  - you name it - when I try to cover a cake.  I got a new mat over the holidays, which I think played a big part in how I roll out my fondant.  Also, I was given a tip to use shortening instead of cornstarch on my fondant - cornstarch dries it out.  Amazing difference!  While it is not perfect - I feel much better about my ability to get the one piece of fondant to cover my cakes.  It's gonna be a great year for cakes! 

On this cake - lemon with raspberry filling - I experimented with the airbrush some more.  By moving in closer, I was able to get the dark blue color (the actual color in the bottle is a sky blue).  If I moved in TOO close, I got darker patches and spatter marks.  Turns out the birthday girl has a mug with those same type of markings.  LOL! 

The snowmen are fondant that I cut out with a cookie cutter and then decorated.  The snowflakes are white edible pearls adhered with a dot of buttercream.  The "whipped cream" is just buttercream applied with a 2M tip and then sprinkles added.  The chocolate is actually a round bit of chocolate fondant that I put on the top of the cake and then applied the edge of the mug to later. 

Overall - liked the cake, loved the fondant work and absolutely am in love with the airbrush! 

Starting 2011 the right way!

First cake of the new year - I am loving it!  My grandmother turned 92 this month and requested that I create a work of edible art for her.  She is a big fan of roses - has tons of them growing in her garden.  I got a new airbrush for Christmas and was dying to use it.  Hmmm.... and idea was born! 

My friend Melissa recently showed me a super easy way to make fondant roses.  Much, much easier than the way I was making them before.  Sitting down one evening, I made a ton of roses, all different sizes out of plain white 50/50.  Once they dried, I used the airbrush to color them different colors. 

Something to note about the airbrush - the fine mist goes EVERYWHERE!  I have "constructed" a painting box and that caught most of it - but after I was done, there was a fine layer of colors on the counters. 

I have a large egg carton that I saved, which makes it perfect for putting the roses in to dry.  It took about 24 hours for things to completely dry and I was then able to make "paint" out of luster dust and vodka.  I painted the edges of the rose petals to make them pop just a bit and give it a little more definition.  The white roses I experimented with and painted the entire petals with a pearlized white - it made them come out sort of satiny looking.  Very pretty! 

Constructing the cake - triple chocolate fudge with raspberry filling - crumb coating and then airbrushed the cake brown.  I wanted it to match the color of the fondant strips I made to give it a basket look in case I had any large gaps.  The fondant strips I cut and then scored with my gumpaste tool to give it a wood grain look.  Each strip was applied and I made them long enough to overlap on the top and cause a "bump".  That way when I put the roses on the cake, I had a ready made height in the center.  Roses were added, gumpaste leaves added and voila!  One very happy grandmother - and me too!  :-)

Torting and filling! Not so much....

September's office cake was a disaster in the making - at least in my mind.  First off, the cake was a french vanilla one.  So far, so good.  Loved the flavor, cake baked up real nice.  Tried a new leveling method from the cake forums I followed and it worked well!   The problems occurred when I went to torte and fill. 

It all started out okay - I torted, used a buttercream dam and put in my filling of white chocolate mousse.  Let the cakes settle.  Covered the cakes in white chocolate ganache.  Which, by the way, was the first time I have ever used ganache - I was always afraid to try it.  It sounded super chic and I figured I would probably mess it up!  Melissa convinced me to try it - thanks Melissa! 

Anyway - cakes have settled, looking good.  Next day I take the cakes out and cover with the fondant.  The hula girls are drying and looking more like girls and less like mismatched torsos.  Then... I get sick.  Here I am having to finish this cake and I feel horrible.  Oh well - figure I can work a little, take a nap.  Work a little, take a nap.  It was a good plan!  Sometime between a nap and pulling the cake out of the fridge to work on the roof, the cake settled more!!  Yikes!  Now instead of my beautiful tiki wood walls, I have bulging walls. 

I don't know if it was the ganache that caused the cake to settle more or if the cake was too moist to hold the ganache, filling and the weight of the fondant.  My research since leans towards the cake being too moist and therefore to "frail" to hold itself up.  Sigh.  Just when I thought I had the best fondant work to date! 

The good news - the cake made it in to work all in one piece.  The birthday girl raved about it - couldn't believe I was sick but still made "a fantastic work of art"!  The flavor was good and obviously we didn't have to worry about a dry cake!