Monday 8 October 2012

2D Cake Decor

You may know by now that I specialise in figurines. It's a real passion that I have to try to get the character looking as close to the real thing as possible.
I will be featuring a few "how to's" for modelling figurines in the future. (Please kindly comment if you would be interested in something like this!)
Another type of cake that I do is a 2D decor cake. I actually find these more difficult and time consuming than the figurines. (Don't get me wrong, the figurines are not necessarily a breeze...)

Baby Bop 3D Figurine
2D Diego
  Although it takes long to make the figurines, (and I really can spend up to an hour on a face alone); the 2D cutouts are far more complex for me.
Some advise for when you are working on 2D decor:
Use your fondant veining tool for indentations and decorative lines. These tend to give a more realistic finish, rather than using a knife.
When looking at your picture, figure out shapes from what you are looking at, for instance, Diego's boots above are hearts cutout with a regular heart cutter and then just trimmed with a circle cutter to give the open edge of his boots.
Some of your shapes will need to be free hand, such as diego's t-shirt above. But try to use different shaped cutters as far as you can.

In this basic layout of Mickey Mouse, I've tried to explain briefly what I mean by 'using shape cutters'.


www.easy-drawings-and-sketches.com

Remember to always round/ smooth the edges with your fingertips, to make the character more believable. When there are snags and fluffy bits around your edges, it reminds us that it is just made up of shapes. Smoothing your lines will bring it all together nicely.




In the photos below, I have shown broken up dimensions for these 2 characters, to make up the final character.

Its simple when the character is viewed in sections.

Sometimes it works out better if portions of your character are modelled partially 3D, as I suggested with Mickey Mouse's mouth.
Goofy's hands, mouth, eyes and hat were 3D modelled.

Donald's hat, beak, hands, bowtie and legs were partially 3D modelled






































Have a look at a few of the other 2D cakes/ biscuits I've done:

 


Giraffe biscuits, neck and head made with the end of a large music note cutter

Noddy made up of a series of different sized circles and ovals and a bit of 3D modelling.


The heads are just cut out with an oval cutter and the bodies are many dots cut with a piping nozzle.


These were mostly just freehand cutting.


Again mostly freehand cutting, but you can see the different pieces that have been used to make the character.

Mostly 3D modelled.


The completed SpongeBob cake.

I know this is only a short 'how-to' and there are a few holes in the explanations, but next time I make a 2D decorated cake, I will try to take step-by-step photos that could explain it a bit better.
Please comment on this post, I'd like to know if this came across as helpful or not.
xxx



Thursday 4 October 2012

Cake Central Magazine: Fashion Inspiration 2012 Cakes



Recently I was invited to enter a cake design to possibly be featured in Cake Central's Fashion Edition of their magazine.
I was sent a picture of a runway model wearing an outfit and I had to draw inspiration from this.
The Betsy Johnson design I had to work from.
This was the overall guide: "Use any techniques, elements, shape, size! (You are not limited to black and white)  Feel free to incorporate additional colours.
Your interpretation of the inspiration does not necessarily need to be a direct translation, be as creative as you like!"

When I heard that I had even been considered as an entry, I was already ecstatic! I had plans of building this beautiful cake, with stunning fashion figurines. Something amazing, something WOW!


Unfortunately, 2 weeks later, many of you may already know, I somehow got Chicken Pox...
OH.MY.WORD!!! Wow, I had heard that it's bad in adults, but man oh man, it was brutal! I had those things everywhere! in my throat and mouth, from my head, all the way down to my knees! For the 1st week I couldn't get out of bed.
Simply put: It SUCKED!
I was in 'quarantine' for 2 and a half weeks, sleeping in the study on a sleeper couch, trying desperately not to let my kids get it over their birthday party! (which they did, so we ended up postponing twice!)
When I had to work on cake orders, I wore a doctor's mask! But really, it was NO joke!

So, the Cake Central cake was due in the 2nd week of my pox. I was so tired and I just wanted to make something so that they would still consider me for next time. Not for 1 minute did I think that this cake would actually make it into the magazine!

Anyway, I put my own spin on it, using my favourite colour: Rainbow...



The whole cake is fake (Styrofoam dummies), covered in real icing





I still cannot believe they even used it in their mag! I look at the other cakes featured and they are just mind blowingly beautiful! I'm really honoured to have been featured among the very many cake art geniuses!Thank you, Cake Central! :) xx


Stunning photos by Jessica Commaille of Erindipity Photography.

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Plants vs Zombies Cake

Happy Halloween Month, everyone!!!
I had a lot of fun making this cake, and I really like the way the figurines turned out! I like the scruffiness of the zombies, mixed with the bright, happy-go-lucky attitude of the plants!
I haven't actually played the game, but it looks pretty cool!


The game: Plants vs Zombies




Full view of the cake and close up of standing Zombie with broken teeth
 

This zombie lost his shoe while collapsing after being hit by one of the plants!
Side view of the cake, the back of the zombies. The legs of the fallen zombie are held in the cake with cocktail skewers.


Angry Chilli in amongst flying bullets (peas?)

Happy flowers!

Pea-shooting plant

Mushroom

Baby pea shooters!!

Cool snail!



Fallen zombie side view

Fallen zombie front view, grasping for one last chance to get hold of a plant.

Fallen zombie grasping hands.

Dangling zombie arms!

The 2 zombies, looking dashing in their suits!
Plants vs Zombies cake, full view.
Have a frightfully good Halloween everyone! xxx


Monday 1 October 2012

Vintage Lace and Pearls Step-by-step

This cake is relatively easy to decorate, it will just take quite a bit of time and patience.

What you will need:
1x 20cm 2 layer cake
Decorative cake board
Cellulose gum powder (tylose, CMC, Dyocell)
800g base coloured plastic icing (Dark brown)
200g of coloured plastic icing for decoration (or just plain white)
Medium circle cutter
No. 6 piping nozzle for holes
Toothpicks/ frilling tool
Daisy cutters
Edible sugar pearl beads/ dragees
A sharp knife
Paint brushes for gluing and cleaning

Firstly, you need to start out by choosing your colour and underlaying design.
This is the design that I used, and I just layed it out in a word document, as many times as I could, and then I had it printed on edible icing sheets, with edible ink. This can usually be done at any local baking supplies shop.



Get it printed out before you cover your cake with your base colour.
Here is another example of what you could use, for more of a sea themed effect:

 Use the printout as a guide to make your base colour. You want the background of your design to match as closely to your base colour as possible.
Preferably, use edible glue (1tsp cellulose gum powder to 100ml  water, left overnight.) to stick the design onto the bottom edge of your cake. Water can also be used.


Be sure to match edges together as close as possible.
Should your cake need a boarder at this point, some simple rolled balls all in one size will be perfect.
Now you can start with your icing decor.  I drew simple inspiration from pieces of Broderie Anglaise lace.

Picture from: http://www.mapetitemercerie.com/

You will need to cut strips of rolled out fondant to the desired thickness. you will then frill these with a toothpick or skewer (or a fondant frilling tool if you have one!). This will take a bit of practise, but once you get the hang of it, it's actually quite fun!

It is best to cut the holes after you've done the frilling, it will look better. Use the tip of a piping nozzle for this. I used a number 6 piping nozzle. At this stage, you can try any pattern, including the more traditional flower design that you find on most Broderie Anglaise.

You will then need to brush some edible glue just above the line of your printout on the cake.
TIP: DO NOT USE GLUE ON YOUR CAKE WHERE IT WILL NOT BE COVERED WITH A DECORATION OF SORTS. DROPS OF GLUE/WATER WILL CREATE AN INDENT ON YOUR CAKE, AS THE SUGAR IN THE ICING WILL BE DISSOLVED. THIS HAPPENS PRETTY QUICKLY.
Place your laced ribbon of icing onto your cake, frill overlapping the edge of the printout.
 Roll out some fondant in the same colour as your lace ribbon and cut out some daisies. Stick these around the edge of the ribbon, at equal intervals.
Press the end of a paint brush into the centre of the flower to allow the petals to lift slightly. Brush a touch of glue in the centre hole and place an edible pearl bead.
Brush a thin line of glue along the edge of your lace ribbon and place a line of pearl beads in between the flowers.
Continue this around the whole cake.
Place flowers along the top edge of the cake, directly in between the flowers in the line below.
Now place flowers in intervals between this line on the top of your cake.


Link these lines of flowers with a line of pearl beads.
Cut a medium sized round of icing for the centre of your cake. Create a similar effect on this as on your lace ribbon, by frilling the edge and then cutting holes with the piping nozzle.

Cut out some different sized daisies, to place in the centre of your round and stick them together, ending off with a pearl bead in the middle.

You can create your own version of this cake with different colours and shapes. Please feel free to post pictures of your version on my facebook page!
If you would like to match your cake up to some cupcakes, a nice idea would be to use these lovely cupcake wrappers from The Cake Decorating Company (UK). This would really support your lacey theme!
For a local version of these lace wrappers (SA), please contact:

I hope you enjoyed this little cake tutorial, and I wish you all happy baking!!