We love small cakes just as much as towering designs. If there’s one thing we’ve always said it’s that single tier cakes can be just as eye-catching as multi-tier creations. Last weekend we created this hand-painted cake for a wonderfully intimate wedding reception.
The cake itself was our delightfully refreshing and fun lemonade cake with Sicilian lemon oil infused cake filled with Sicilian lemon and lemon sherbet buttercream - one of our most popular flavours for wedding cakes! It’s them crumb coated and iced with marshmallow fondant.
The couple requested bold illustrative florals incorporating striking blush and black anemone flowers, but also wanted a more pretty and rustic inspired colour palette. As their wedding them was generally white on white with hints of blush pink and gold we had a little room to play with! We created different colour palettes first to look at how other colours would work with white, pale pink and gold before sourcing some floral illustrations and paintings to see which the couple preferred.
For the floral style the couple choose some of the Rifle Paper Co. designs we showed them which incorporates, simplified colour schemes, bold strokes and shapes, and illustrative details. We then sat and sketched out a few pattern and motif ideas with the chosen colour palette before the cake was even baked!
Monograms are very on-trend at the moment in the cake world - not just for beautiful wedding cakes. We created an ornate gold-painted frame for the front of the cake before adding a blank fondant insert on which to carefully hand-painted the required letter.
Finally a lovely large organza bow was tied around the cake’s base which adding a little dimension and drama. So that the cake wasn’t over powered by the ribbon we selected a crisp white sheer ribbon and positioned it to the side for a more carefree look.
Hand-painted cakes are a wonderful way to incorporate a certain motif or colour palette to a cake. It also helps tie in a themed party or wedding really well.
With the Easter festivities fast approaching we’ve began working on lots of sweet cake, cupcake and macaron treats for you to whip up at home. It’s one or favourite times of year for cake and cooking decorating because of all the fun and adorable things just waiting to adorn home baked treats! With that in mind here’s the first of our Easter recipe and tutorial collection; how to create Floral Easter Basket Cupcakes! Be sure to try out our accompanying recipe for lemon and marshmallow cupcakes for a delicious Easter treat.
Step 1: Roll out some pastel fondant mixed with tylo powder in your chosen colour and cut with a 2 1/2 inch scalloped circle cutter. Add extra detail by pressing the small end of the ball tool into each scallop. Leave to dry and harden on a clean flat surface. Once ready set on top of a piped cupcake!
Step 2: Take a little brown fondant and add a couple pinches of tylo powder. Using a cake smoother roll these out into a thin ‘rope’. To do so ‘roll’ your cake smoother over an oblong shape of brown fondant backwards and forwards.
Step 3: Slice your ‘rope’ in half with your blade tool and gently twist both pieces together to form the handle for your basket. Set aside to harden and dry.
Step 4: Take a ball of fondant about the size of a ping pong ball and add a pinch or two of tylo powder. Roll into a smooth and crease-less ball in the palms of your hand. Work into an oval shape to form the beginning of your basket.
Step 5: Using the larger end of your ball tool indent the centre of your basket.
Step 6: With your veining tool etch out a wicker-like pattern along the outside of your little fondant basket.
Step 7: Roll out some more fondant into a thin ‘rope’ and attach this along the top of your basket. Add detail with your veining tool.
Step 8: With some edible glue attach three miniature candy / chocolate eggs into your basket.
Step 9: To make the little blossoms roll out coloured fondant and cut out the florals using your blossom plunger cutter.
Step 10: On a flower foam pad shape the petals of your blossoms with smaller end of your ball tool.
Step 11: Add the blossoms to the basket with a dab of edible glue and finish the centres of them with sugar pearls or small balls of fondant.
Step 12: With edible glue attach your basket handle and leave to set. This may need holding up with strips of kitchen towel or cling film.
Once you’ve finished why not arrange your gorgeous Floral Easter Basket Cupcakes on a pastel cake stand strewn with silk flowers and crepe paper ‘grass’ for a gorgeous spring look.
Instead of a bouquet of flowers for Mother’s Day (March 30th in the UK) why not give our recipe and tutorial a try and create a gorgeous floral collection of delectable cupcakes? We’ve created some ever so sweet daffodil and rose cupcakes for you to re-create at home! Perhaps the only thing better than a lovely bundle of flowers is a batch of floral decorated cupcakes?
How to create sugar daffodil flowers and roses…
To create an abundant bouquet feel we clustered a few daffodils together atop of each delicious cupcake! Instead you can mix roses and daffodils together or keep it simple with a single flower nestled into the buttercream of each cake.
Why not add adorable fondant ladybugs, caterpillars or butterflies nestled in between your sugar blossoms for a fun collection of garden themed cupcakes?
Step one: Using a Mexican flower foampad create a hat-like shape from yellow fondant / sugarpaste. To do this roll out a ball of fondant over the largest hole in your mexican flower foam pad. When you carefully tease this out you should be left with a flat rolled out fondant… but with a tapered or tube-like shape on one end.
Step two: On the completely flat side use the 6 point side of your tapered star tool to indent a 6 point star in the centre of the fondant. This will mark where each of your six petals will separate.
Step three: With the blade tool carefully cut the fondant with the cuts matching up to the points of the indentation made with your 6 point tapered star tool. These will become your petals.
Step four: Add detail by using the veining tool to draw lines on the petals. Shape, thin and ruffle each petal tip using your ball tool and flower foam pad. Then pinch the tip of each petal to create shape. Use a little edible glue to secure each pinched tip if needed. Set aside.
Step five: To create the ruffled centre roll out some darker yellow / orange fondant into a oblong shape. Thin and ruffle the edges using your ball tool and flower foam pad.
Step six: Loosely roll up the oblong shaped fondant and pinch one end. Cut some of the pinched of section if necessary. Take your taper star tool and indent the middle of the base of the ruffled section just made. Dab a little edible glue on the indentation inside the ruffled piece.
Step seven: Take some stamens, fold them and using a cocktail stick push them into the indentation inside the ruffled section.
Step eight: Add a little edible glue onto the middle of the petal section that had been set aside and attach the ruffled middle. Hold until set.
Step one: The night before you begin your roses you need to prepare your buds! Take a small amount of fondant / sugarpaste mixed with tylo powder and form into a ball then taper into a bud shape. Take a cocktail stick and add edible glue to one end. Push the edible glue covered end into the base of the cocktail stick (just past half way) and leave to harden overnight.
Step two: Roll out your fondant / sugarpaste thinly on a surface dusted with icing sugar. Using the largest rose petal cutter cut out a petal from the fondant. Using your ball tool and flower foam pad thin and ruffle out the edges of the petal.
Step three: Dab some edible glue onto the bud. Attach the petal with the tip of the petal over the top of the bud. Carefully wrap the petal around the bud forming a peak at the top and ensure your bud overlaps down one side.
Step four: Next cut two petals using a petal cutter a little longer than the bud. Thin and ruffle out the edges of the petal. Attach around the bud of your rose whilst carefully curving and shaping the edges of the two petals.
Step five: Now cut three petals using the same petal cutter used in step four. Using edible glue arrange these around your growing rose. Remember to overlap each petal slightly and place alternatively to the layer before. Carefully curve and shape the edges of the three petals.
Step six: Now cut five petals using a larger petal cutter than the one used in step four. Using edible glue arrange these around your growing rose. Remember to overlap each petal slightly and place alternatively to the layer before. Carefully curve and shape the edges of the five petals.
Step seven: For the rose leaf roll out some olive green fondant thinly and use a medium rose leaf plunger cutter to cut out a leaf.
After piping your cupcakes with buttercream nestle your blossoms atop each one and enjoy!
We have been excited to create this wedding cake for months now. It encompasses everything we love in this year’s wedding cake trends; birds, ivory lace, gold sheens and soft blues! Our brief was to design, bake and decorate a Blue Tit themed wedding cake with ivory roses and blue hydrangeas pulled together with a vintage feel.
To achieve a lovely rustic and vintage look to the gold of the cake we painted the sheen onto the surface once iced with mustard coloured fondant. Using a large, soft paint brush and applying the sheen in three coats helps to get a luxurious taffeta look.
Every single flower on this cake was hand made by yours truly! There is a total of three large, fully bloomed ivory roses and forty individual hydrangea flowers. A total of three hours work!
The sweet little Blue Tits that adorn the middle of the cake were sculpted from modelling paste. We then hand painted them in shades of blue, turquoise, green, lemon and black.
The actual cake inside is a soft chocolate and vanilla marble cake with surprise shocks of pink, filled with vanilla pod infused buttercream and smoothed down with a delicious chocolate ganache!
From the adorable little hand painted birds to the taffeta inspired gold effect and vintage 50s/60s feel lace border we loved creating every part of this cake! It was definitely hard for us to see it leave.
