Wedding Cake Challenge

I've often said that I have creative ADD.  It all started with sewing with my grandmother when I was little, then drawing and watercolor in highschool, then scrapbooking and card making, cake decorating, jewelry making, acyrlic painting, and collage.  While this may seem like a progression, it's actually compounded.  I never realize how bad it had gotten until I was asked to make a wedding cake for my cousin.

I haven't made a cake in a couple of years, so I had to dig out all of my tools and supplies.  I mean literally dig.  My 10 x 11 studio/home office houses all of my hobby supplies along with my coupon collection and business books (I'm also an accountant).  So, out came the paint and paper scraps and the rolly cart with all my beads and wire.  Then, I had to push aside the fabric scraps and collection of "I-can-do-something-with-this" items.  Finally, I found my cart of cake decorating supplies, fondant, and icing sugar.

Now, time to make the cake.  I actually had the cakes baked by Publix.  This was going to be a monster 4-tier cake, and I didn't have the right pans to make every tier.  The bride and groom left all of the planning to the groom's mother, my first cousin.  So, I had complete freedom on the cake design.  I wanted it to be elegant but simple.  I found an awesome technique on I am Baker for a rose cake.  This is the simplest technique imaginable and it was just the wow-factor my cake needed.

The 6" tiers were alternating chocolate cake with raspberry mousse filling and white cake with lemon curd filling.  All of the layers were iced with homemade buttercream.  The bottom and third layers were covered with fondant with a fondant belt embellishment. 

It's obviously not a professional job, but everyone thought it was beautiful and delicious.  I'm on a gluten-free/ sugar-free diet, so I didn't actually get a piece.  My wonderful husband was so great to help me with the fondant, delivery, and set-up.  But, strongly urged me to never do a cake this size again :).  I will say that if you decorate cakes or want to learn, check out Sweet Wise.  They have awesome technique videos on YouTube and you can order online from their store.  I'm lucky to live about 45 minutes from them and have taken several of their classes.  One thing that I cannot live without is The Mat which the owners actually invented.

Now, time to go put everything in my studio back in its place. 

Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes with Custom Wrappers

As promised, I am sharing with you my Chocolate Ganche cupcake recipe and a tutorial for the custom wrappers.

I love to bake, but when it comes to cakes and cupcakes, I must admit that I use box mixes.  I know that some of you are cringing, but it's true.  I often doctor them up a bit, but I have had great success with keeping them moist and delicious, so why mess with a good thing?  So, for these cupcakes, I used Duncan Hines Devils Food mix.  I usually buy the extra moist variety.  You can also add an extra egg to a regular cake mix to make it more moist.  I'm all about using what you have on hand.  I lined my muffin pans with white liners.  The liners will be covered with our custom wrappers, so just use whatever you have.

I made two versions of the cupcakes.  One box mix will make 24 regular sized cupcakes, so I kept 12 of them plain and filled 12 of them with raspberry preserves.  When filling cupcakes before baking, be sure to allow for the amount of filling when adding the batter to the cups.  After filling the cups, I placed a 3/4 teaspoon of raspberry preserves in to the center of the batter.  As the cupcake bakes, the batter will rise above the filling.  Cherry pie filling would also be delicious with this recipe!

Now, the ganache.  Ganache is very easy to make as long as you have the right ingredients.  What you need is:

8 oz of dark chocolate pieces (you can use chips or shredded baking chocolate)
1 cup of heavy cream

Please note that you need heavy cream.  I have made this before, but somehow thought that I could get away with half and half.  You can't.  Take my word for it.  Pour the chips in a medium bowl.  Pour the cream in the saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly.  Keep a watch on it.  Cream will boil over very quickly.  After boiling, pour the cream over the chips and stir until smooth.

I frosted my cupcakes by dipping the cupcakes in the ganache and then refrigerating to allow them to set up (not really necessary if you use the right ingredients).  The decoration on the top is a chinese symbol for love that I piped using Wilton melting chocolate meant for candy making.

The custom cupcake wrappers were made from thick asian-themed card stock.  The paper I used was actually a little too thick, in my opinion.  I got the template from Skip to My Lou.  You can find it here.  Once you choose your paper and cut out the template, wrap the cupcake with the shorter, convex side on the bottom and secure with tape.  Now your cupcakes look special and gourmet.  No one has to know they came from a box.

The Answer to Your Cake Decorating Dilemma

Baby Bottom cake covered in fondant and buttercream by Jenn Seratt

I know that I've mentioned that I have crafty ADD, and one of my favorite things to go back to again and again is cake decorating. It is a delicious art form. My friend Allison and I have been decorating cakes together for the last three years and have taken many different classes, but our favorites by far have been at SweetWise in Nashville.

Kathy Gentry is one of the best teachers I've had. She and her team have developed a fool proof fondant covering system called The Mat. It is so elegant in its simplicity. I have a physical disability that makes it difficult for me to roll out fondant and get the cake covered before its all dried out. However, with The Mat, I can take all the time that I need to roll out my fondant and when it's time to cover the cake, I can reposition the fondant as many times as I need to before I'm ready to smooth it down.

Check out Kathy demonstrating The Mat.



If you don't live in Nashville, don't fret. You can call the SweetWise shop and order your very own. SweetWise will also open their online store on September 20. Go check them out at SweetWise.com.

Happy decorating!

I'm linking to these parties:
Anything Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
Trendy Treehouse
Hoo Are You Tuesdays at Night Owl Crafting

Topsy Turvy Birthday Cake

My birthday is coming up and I usually have an awesome party. I love hosting parties and really get into the planning, decorating, and cooking. However, this year has been let's say challenging. Since I don't have the energy to plan a big party or can even guarantee that I will feel like attending it if it was planned for me, I've decided to forego the shindig this year.

Still, it is my birthday. My bff, Allison, and I are going to take a topsy turvy cake class on my birthday weekend. Allison and I have been decorating cakes together for about three years (girl, time goes by so fast!). If you are in the Nashville area and would like to learn to decorate cakes, I highly recommend Sweet Wise. 

The cake we will make in class will be a two-tier topsy turvy cake.  We usually decorate the cake in class using her suggestions.  However, I plan to go another way.  I'm going to make myself a birthday cake.  Here are a couple of sketches that I have:

This one is a sophisticated take on a whimsical cake design.  Each cake layer will be covered in white fondant and each will have a different fondant ribbon detail.  The top will be a gathered green ribbon with a royal icing blue brooch in the center.  The bottom tier will have a green ribbon and large two loop bow with a royal icing blue monogram in the center.

This one keeps with the playful theme of the cake shapes.  The same blue and green colors are used.  The bottom tier is covered in white fondant and is embellished with white circle cutouts in alternating colors.  The top tier is covered in marbeled green and white fondant.  For the topper, I have my monogram and fun fondant balls.

So, what's the verdict?  Which do you like best?

The plan is for the bottom tier to be chocolate cake with my famous Baileys Irish Creme buttercream filling.  I'm thinking that the top tier will be french vanilla cake but I'm not sure what the filling should be.  Any suggestions?

I'm linking to these parties: