Ruffles! (How to Make Them Out of Icing)

I love that every cake I do is an experiment for me right now. This week, I got to experiment with making ruffles out of icing. Can I just say that I love ruffles! On everything - clothes, chips, and now on cake!

And what better way to try out ruffles than on a lingerie cake? I have made one once before so this time I wanted to do it a little bit differently.

What you need:

• A cake to decorate 
• Prepared icing
• Pastry bag, and most importantly a
• Wilton tip #402, 403, or 406 (depending on what size ruffles you want) Hint: you could also use the #104 petal tip.

How to do it:

• Cut the tip off of the piping bag and place the tip into the bag where only the top of the tip is showing out of the bag
• Fill the bag about half way to 2/3 full of your prepared icing and twist (this gives you a good grip on the bag to squeeze)

• Place your tip at a 45 degree angle just above the surface of the cake. 
• Gently but firmly squeeze your icing out of the tip while making a small up and down motion. 

It took me a couple of practice runs before I got the hang of it - but I loved the way it turned out! I will definitely be using this tool and technique again!

Here is a picture of the cake I did this week using this technique along the outer edges of the cake.

I would love to be able to make a 100% ruffled cake like Martha Stewart's Ruffle Cake. It is gorgeous!! 

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Recipe Post: Chocolate Buttercream

I made this chocolate buttercream for the first time a few weeks ago. It was a huge hit! I have licked so many icing bowls that it makes me sick even thinking about it, but when I took the first taste of this chocolate buttercream icing I had to make myself stop eating it so I would have enough icing to put on the cake.

I found this recipe at savorysweetlife.com

A simple recipe for classic chocolate buttercream frosting. Perfect for frosting cakes, cookies, brownies, or cupcakes.

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Instructions

1. Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

A little note from my experience with this icing: it has a naturally soft consistency that is perfect for covering a cake and even some boarders. BUT, I have found that I personally need the icing a bit more stiff to hold shape better, so I add a little bit more powdered sugar and a little less cream.

Here is a cake I just did this week using this recipe. I dressed it up by sprinkling some mini chocolate chips around the edge after I took this picture.

Enjoy!

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Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!

Besides the fact that I am SUPER excited that the New England Patriots are going to the Super Bowl (by pure luck, I might add) - I was also very excited to make this football cake for my co-worker's son's 16th birthday. He plays for Clover Hill High School and the colors are green and gold, so I wanted to make sure I represented them in some way - here I decided to do green and gold shadowed fondant lettering.

I used the star tip to pipe the brown and white icing, and the grass tip to pipe the grass (not sure of the technical name - that's just what I call it).

For the cake itself, I tried a new recipe and to be quite honest I'm a little nervous about it! It is supposed to be similar to the consistency of a pound cake. But when I was baking it, it seemed like it was taking a really long time to cook in the middle - not sure if it was the new pan I was using, the amount of batter, or maybe even the dreaded over mixing (yikes)??? I usually get to taste my cakes before I decorate and send them out, but I didn't get to this time - so I am waiting on pins and needles to hear the results. Worst case scenario, at least it looked pretty!! Right?

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Presents

It's been a while since I've posted, even though I've been pretty busy in my cake decorating. I feel like each cake I do is better than the last - and hey, I've got paying customers now!!! Did you read that? It said paying, just in case you missed it. That's a big accomplishment for me! I'm not charging hundreds or anything close, but it really is helping me cover the costs of this expensive hobby of mine. It's giving me a lot of practice and practice is exactly what I need. So it really is like getting a little present or reward for each cake I do.

Speaking of presents, here is a cake I did for my friend and coworker. I had no idea what design I wanted to do. All I knew is that I wanted it to look like a present, and I wanted a bow. A pretty one that looked like ribbon.

And here is one I did for my babysitter's son's birthday. (The inside is camo too!)

 And cupcakes to go with the cake.

For my son's 2nd birthday, a Thomas the Train cake! (My older one decided to "drive" the train on the icing tracks - he's still alive)

A polka-dots and stripes cake for another friend and coworker's daughter.

 And I'm doing another one tomorrow! Loving all of this business and the practice I'm getting. Football cake post coming soon!

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