Sweet Escape Baking

Just A Girl…Who Loves to Bake

Archive for category Cakes

My 1st Wedding Cake

Aug 23

Posted by admin in Cakes, Uncategorized, baking | 1 Comment

Isn’t it beautiful?

Inside is white cake with vanilla frosting and raspberry jam. The tiers are 14″, 10″, and 6″ from top to bottom respectively. Cupcakes are white cupcakes, filled with raspberry jam, topped with vanilla frosting and a special fondant decoration.

Creating this cake was so much fun thanks to my new assistant, my tadpole Kristall, who helped me with all of the details the day before the wedding. I also figured out some new tricks while making this cake that will definitely help me in the future.

First of all, kneading the fondant before rolling it really makes a difference. When I covered the middle and top tier and realized how much smoother and shinier the fondant became because I had kneaded, I ripped off the fondant on the bottom tier and started all over (crazy, I know!). I still didn’t get the tier perfect, I’m not sure exactly how to perfectly cover such a big tier, but the decorations were enough to hide any imperfections.

Next, with the help of my tadpole, I began using my diamond quilting marker to put the diamond patterns along the edges of the top and bottom tiers. This took patience….I’m not always so good with my patience. I then went over each mark with an mini-pizza cutter type instrument that I clearly don’t know the real name for.

Kristall was responsible for all the silver dragees/balls, then came the ribbon and we were done and onto our next cakes, an engagement cake for my stepbrother and a personal cake for Kristall.

The cake was stacked at the location, because a. cake is heavy and b. I was not driving a 3-tier cake on my lap through the Bronx, pothole central.

Oh! One last thing. Congratulations to the bridge and groom, Rosalie and Pedro on their exciting new life together.

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Happy Birthday to ME!

Jul 27

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Last year I wondered if it was normal to make yourself a birthday cake, and then I made two. This year I restrained myself and only made one.

The cake is marble and has chocolate fudge frosting. I used left over frosting from the baby shower cake I created the same weekend as my birthday, which I dyed to purple. I recently got a brand new cupcake cookie cutter that I finally found a use for. I used the same technique as the onesies on the shower cake, and rolled different colors of fondant into the white to create sprinkles, as well as the striped letter for the “Happy Birthday!”

For now, I think making your own birthday cake is okay, I’m hoping it doesn’t go farther than that in the future (i.e. my own wedding cake, or baby shower cake) ;)

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Welcome Baby!

Jul 27

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Having no job during the summer really allows any cakes I have the opportunity to create to get my full attention. I worked very hard on the details of this cake to create a great baby shower experience for a friend. The first layer of the cake is red velvet with cream cheese frosting, and the top is yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Yum!

I am really satisfied with the overall cake but extremely unsatisfied with the bow. Despite making a bow two days ahead, then remaking it, the humidity in the air refused to let the fondant dry out accordingly and I got two droopy bows. Next time, I think I will do the bow farther ahead of time to give adequate time for it to dry.

The bottles and onesies came out great. I molded the bottles myself and created placards for them to sit on with my fluted cookie cutters. For the onesies, I created a template from cardboard that I then cut around to create the shapes. To get the stripes, I rolled different colors of fondant together, which is my new favorite technique!

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Foofa Cake

Jan 30

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cake_top

This week I created a cake designed around the character Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba. I created the character out of marshmallow treats and modeling chocolate.
I made the marshmallow treats and modeling chocolate from scratch. The modeling chocolate was not the right consistency and that caused some problems, including getting the character as smooth as possible and making the arms look normal. I will buy the chocolate recommended by Chris Rossum and his team from my class at the NY Cake Convention to see if it makes a difference.

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The cake is red velvet with cream cheese frosting. I covered it in white fondant and decorated with flowers and butterflies. Overall, I think it turned out great.

I’m looking into taking Wilton classes at my local Michael’s because I want to get the techniques a little more perfected, specifically getting my cakes to lay flat when I tier them.

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A Lucky 30th

Aug 12

Posted by alissa in Cakes, baking | 2 Comments

finalcake
The boy’s big brother had a milestone birthday last weekend and I had yet another chance to try my skills at cake making.
A set of dice was requested because of an upcoming trip to Atlantic City. I got to thinking, and was excited to make a cake that represented something fun and playful.

An exciting trip to the cake decorating store with Shirlene and Luka (I’m determined to make his first work “cake”) ended with already dyed red fondant and some really cool chocolate molds.
The next day I got to work with the assistance of Alicia, who was interested in seeing how a cake was put together after I made her this. We rolled, molded, cut, and generally just made a mess out of my kitchen.
Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of cake shows on TV (Cake BossandAmazing Wedding Cakes) and have noticed that after they crumb coat the cake they use a pastry bag, or ziploc in my case, to add an even layer of frosting around the edges. After trying this on the last two cakes I have made I have found that it makes covering the cakes easier and allows a bigger buffer zone between the fondant and the cake. Anyway, who doesn’t love extra icing.frosting
fondantrolled
I seemed to have a lot of trouble with the red fondant. At times it was too soft and I would stick my fingers through, other times it was too dry and it would crack. Does anyone have similar problems with pre-colored red fondant?

We finally managed to cover the cakes (one was a mess, but strategically placed chocolate playing cards helped) and decorate with molded chocolate.
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Overall it was a success. Especially the eating part of the cake. Chocolate Sheet cake from Cooks Illustrated and Cream Cheese Frosting with chocolate chips. I think that combination is my new go-to when making any cake.
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Lastly, I have to thank Alicia for the awesome photos! I’m going to have to invite her over more often so I can get more pictures of the process, however messy it might be.

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Happy Birthday to…

Jul 26

Posted by alissa in Cakes | No Comments

ME!!!
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Is it strange to make your own birthday cake?

Is it stranger to make yourself two birthday cakes?

Well, I’m not sure what the answers to those questions are, but I made myself two wonderful cakes anyway. As it turns out, coming up with ideas for cakes for friends, family, and holidays is a much easier task than deciding on a design for yourself.

After much deliberation, and almost entirely giving up on the idea of having a cake for my birthday, I settled on two relatively simple ideas for myself.

My first cake, I decided to use my lovely giant cupcake pan to create my favorite dessert treat.
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I dyed a bunch of white fondant using fuchsia coloring with the hopes to get a hot pink color but ended up with a purplish pink and only hot pink dyed hands. I used remaining bits of fondant to create some sprinkles and a cherry for the top of my cupcake. Simple decorations, easy to make, and a great look. Overall, the boy and I agreed that the colors were more appropriate for a kids party and that some silver dragees (those cool balls) would have looked even better.
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My second cake, I knew I wanted to attempt a square cake and make it appear to be a nicely wrapped present. I originally was going to cover it in Tiffany blue (which would have gone great with my new earrings, Thanks to Shirlene, Zarko, and Luka!) but I used the same fuchsia color as the bottom of the cupcake. I used a small amount of brown coloring to dye some white fondant cream and created decorations.
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I made another bow, this time opting to stack the ribbons facing the same direction. I got more height but found out it was difficult to finish so I used a ball of fondant as my finisher.
I used little pearls of cream fondant to line the edges of the cake and used strips of the cream as the wrapping of the “present.”

The cake looked great, and my family and I enjoyed eating it, even if there was more than enough for just the four of us. :)
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I am really happy with both of these cakes despite the weirdness of making my own birthday cake(s).

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A Very Special Birthday Cake

Jul 12

Posted by alissa in Cakes | 4 Comments

AliciaCake_Full

My cooperative team teacher….let me rephrase that…my very good friend celebrated her birthday this past week and I promised a cake.

Well, I know a lot of a things about this friend, having been trapped in a classroom with her for more hours than either of us care to recall. When we weren’t standing side by side during what seemed like torture via ten year old’s we were learning about each other.

I know a lot of things. But not all of those things are eligible to make it on top of a cake. So I took the basics to make what I think is my best cake so far, her love of nature and the color green.

Oh yeah…I finally did the two-tiered cake (even if it’s a mini version it still counts).

After my 4th of July meltdown I realized I needed to slow down the process of cake making. Thursday night, I baked a delicious lemon cake (courtesy of Martha), let it cool, frosted it with a lemon zest buttercream and let it sit overnight. Friday, I made the ribbon (green this time!) and the roses.

I am very pleased with the way the roses came out. I have not taken any decorating classes and therefore have no actual skill making fondant flowers. However, I came across rolling fondant and creating roses and I decided that was right up my alley. Turns out I’m pretty good at it and despite being interrupted by my building’s fire alarm, was able to make some great adornments.

Success was mine. And thanks to the birthday girl, everyone eating, working, and possibly passing at the Olive Vine Cafe in Brooklyn last night knows about my skills. :)

-A

AliciaCake_detail

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Fourth Of July…

Jul 4

Posted by alissa in Cakes | No Comments

IMG_3815Happy Independence Day! Although not everyone remembers specifically why we are celebrating today, I still thought it was reason enough to bake a cake.

At first I intended to create my first two-tiered cake. After consideration, I realized that I didn’t know quite enough people to make that much cake for. However, I’m hoping a very special birthday cake order I have for next weekend will finally allow me to make a two tiered cake.

When I say that this cake was difficult I am not exaggerating. My initial idea was to make a square cake then a certain boyfriend of mine decided to inspire me with the idea to make Uncle Sam’s top hat. What a wonderful idea! (NOT!)

Cutting the square cakes I had already baked into a circular hat shape was not simple and it took three attempts, one fondant cover, one complete decoration, and a complete mental breakdown to finally get the shape.

After I finally relaxed…remade the ribbon and let the bows sit overnight, I was able to carefully put together the cake. The boy helped me achieve the final shape and the next morning I was able to decorate without quite as much stress.

Here are some shots of the final “Uncle Sam’s Top Hat”



I am satisfied with the final cake. However, I think I attempted to do to many new things with this design.

First, I knew I wanted a bow on the top of the cake. Surprisingly that was the easiest part of the process and I’ll definitely try it again.

Then, I wanted to cover the cake board so that it resemebled the brim of the hat. My initial attempt was all blue. To say that was a disaster is no exaggeration. Then, on my first completely decorated attempt, I made red and white stripes. I am actually sad I did not do that for the final cake because I really liked how that turned out. Finally, I decided to cover it in white, and use some stars as details. I’m pretty sure the reason the blue was so unsuccessful was because I rushed the process. Next time, I will make sure to do it well ahead of time.

Finally, getting the correct shape seemed to be what really threw me for a loop. When I did the Mac cake, I took my time planning and cutting out a template. This time, I thought I’d be able to do it freehand. What a mistake.

Practice makes perfect…and that’s my goal.

Happy Fourth!

-A

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A Beach Birthday

Jun 15

Posted by alissa in Cakes | No Comments

A close friend of my had a birthday last week and I offered to make the birthday cake. My friend is a big fan of the beach and I knew I had to run with that theme. I had difficulty deciding on a specific idea until I did some googling and I finally got inspired.

Here is my cake…

Beach Cake

Here it is again….

Beach Cake 2

I made a chocolate cake (Martha Stewart’s One Bowl Cupcake Recipe) layered with cream cheese frosting (my personal favorite). Here I am cutting the cake…

Beach Cake Cutting

Once I layered the cake and crumb coated it with the icing I dyed the fondant an ocean hue. I attempted to use white chocolate to do the piping around the cake but it was too soft so I ended up whipping up a batch of royal icing and using that.

For the shells, I used a chocolate candy mold. For most I used white candy melts. Some of the shells I swirled in pink candy melts or butterscotch chips to add some color.

My next cake making goal is a two tiered cake and/or some ribbons….

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My First Cakes

May 26

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In the past few months I’ve had the opportunity to try my hands at making fondant covered cakes.

For Easter, I made an Easter Egg. On the inside was carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting molded into the shape of a half egg. I then cut various pastel colored fondants into shapes and patterns to resemble a decorated egg.

It’s a little lopsided…It was one of my first attempts to make such a complicated shape…Here it is from the side…


For a birthday, I decided to make a computer programmer and fellow Mac person, a cake version of the Mac Logo.


I attempted to make a grey colored cake, but without wasting too much of the white fondant I had to make the black fondant lighter, I got this darkish grey instead. I was very pleased with the shape (I printed out a 6 inch version of the logo and used a 6 inch pan to get the right size).

On March 23, a baby named Luka was born. I may be biased…but he is probably the cutest baby ever! I made this cake to celebrate that day!


This was actually my first official fondant covered cake. I used a large yellow ribbon along the edges and a smaller blue ribbon to balance the size. I used various pastel colored circles (cut with different sized cuters) to decorate the cake. At the time of decoration, we were not sure if a girl or boy would be greeting us so I made it as gender neutral as possible.

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