Things I've Learned

There are so many things that I have learned about decorating cakes and cakes in general since I started decorating them almost 2 years ago now. Most, if not all, of the things that I have learned have been learned through trial and error.
No, luckily I haven't dropped a cake yet. Every time someone asks me if I have, I wince a little when I tell them no, knowing that my turn is going to have to come. It is bound to happen eventually. I don't think any cake decorator can avoid such a disaster.
But anyway, here is a list of some of the things I have learned since I got into decorating cakes:

1. Always make more buttercream than you think you will need.  I have run out of buttercream so many times because I thought I had made enough. And once you get the buttercream a certain color, it is hard to match that color with the next batch you have to make. So, even if you think you are making enough buttercream, make more. Make more until you KNOW that it is going to be enough to cover and decorate that cake. Seriously, did leftover buttercream hurt anyone? I didn't think so.

2. Dry your hands on a paper towel, not a towel, when you are going to be working with fondant. Why? Because the seemingly invisible fuzzies from the towel will stick to your wet hands and they won't be visible until they are stuck to the fondant. Everything sticks to fondant, and once fuzzies are stuck, they don't want to come out.

3. Bring more decorating tools to an event than you think you will need. If space allows, bring it. If you think you probably won't need that decorating tip or a certain spatula, but there is the slightest possibility that you will? Bring it. If you end up not bringing something, you're going to end up needing it once you get there. That's just how it works.

4. Get used to people watching you. Chances are, when you are setting up a cake at an event, you aren't going to have a space all to yourself. People are going to be walking in and out and doing their own thing. But at some point or another, people will watch you. Whether out of fascination or boredom, people will watch you. You have to get used to this fact and not do something stupid out of nervousness.

5. You learn a lot of birthdays you didn't know before. When you bring a pretty cake somewhere, for some odd reason people start telling you their birthdays? Hmmm..I wonder why that is. ;)

New Name!

Icing on the Cake is now Once Upon a Tier!

It was time for this blog to have a new, more original name from the one I created a couple of years ago...so it got one!

What do you think? Do you like the name Once Upon a Tier?

Brush Embroidery

I have seen brush embroidery several places lately so I figured it was time to give it a whirl. I love the way brush embroidery looks; its so elegant and dainty.

It was a lot easier than I was expecting. I was imagining everything possible going wrong in my head, but it worked out pretty nicely! What didn't work out so nicely was the sides of the "cake". It was my first time using a cake dummy which was a little difficult. I was using royal icing to cover the dummy and it was crusting over before I could get it smooth, so there were little annoying wrinkles everywhere...ugh. But at least the top turned out okay!

 

I was originally going for a deep green icing color, which I thought would look really pretty with the white flower, but this was the green I stopped at after getting tired of mixing in so much color.

Overall, I'm happy with my first attempt at brush embroidery! I will definitely be doing it again.

Snow Cakes

I woke up this morning to 6 inches of snow and it has been steadily falling for the past 5 hours. My sister, Rachel, and I went out and built a snowman (I don't think I'd ever made a REAL snowman...with a carrot nose and everything?) and then decided to make snow cakes and see whose we liked better when they were finished. She went to one side of the yard, I went to the other, and we got to work!

This was my finished "cake":

Holly berries, holly leaves, and cedar branches! I only put the holly berries on the front of the cake because I had to take my bulky gloves off to place the berries on...and they kept popping back off. I also wanted to find something I could use for a cake stand, to get it off of the snow and give it some more color, but I couldn't find anything in my part of the yard.

Then I went to see Rachel's "cake"...

She used the bird bath for her cake stand! I was rather jealous of it. Not to mention her little heart topper is adorable.

The verdict? I liked hers better and she liked mine better.

What do you think? Which snow cake do you like better?

Harry Potter Snitch Cake

My friend Katie turns 18 in a couple of days. She had a party yesterday and I got to make the cake. :) The party was Harry Potter themed, so after a couple of ideas thrown around we decided a snitch cake would be good. Katie thought of everything for the party; she had butterbeer, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, homemade chocolate frogs with boxes and wizard cards that she put together by hand. It was amazing and a lot of fun!

I debated on how to make the wings for the cake for days, and after searching the internet many times (CakeCentral is amazing by the way) I decided to make them out of a 50/50 mix of gumpaste and fondant.

I formed the ends around dowel rods and let them dry in a flower former and brushed them with gold pearl dust. The cake itself was covered in gold buttercream that I also brushed with gold pearl dust after chilling it.

Before the pearl dust

After the pearl dust

Transporting it was a bit of a nightmare, but I managed to get it there safely. There were no major problems, and everybody liked it!

The Birthday Girl!

I'm really happy with how it turned out! 

Mischievous Kitten Cake

I got to put my Sports Ball pan that I won from the Wilton contest to use!

Isn't he cute?!

This cake turned into a two day project for me. It was very time consuming making all of the yarn strands, plus the fact that I would get annoyed at it for various reasons and take breaks. But I had really wanted to make it ever since I saw it in a decorating book and I'm glad I finally made it.

It is just a simple yellow cake and the yarn and kitten are fondant. I drew his pupils and mouth with a black edible marker. I had originally wanted to make him black so he would be like my cat, but the grey was easier to make and I think the pink and grey look good together anyway, so it all worked out.

He likes you :)

My Wilton Goodies

Wow, it seems that I have been MIA for quite some time. I started my first full time college semester in August and unfortunately it took up almost all of my time until now. I am on winter break and finally have some free time!

Anyway, on to the exciting stuff. A little while back, Wilton held a Pin it and Win Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes on Pinterest. The prize was $200 worth of any products from Wilton's website store. I entered the contest and was contacted a little while later and told that I was a winner! I had never been so exited to shop for things on the internet, and definitely never been so anxious waiting for a package to be delivered.

Here's a picture of the goodies that arrived!

I got 4 books: Wilton Wedding Style, Uses of Decorating Tips, Wilton Wedding Cakes - A Romantic Portfolio, and The Wilton School - Decorating Cakes. I also got a cake caddy, an icing comb set, a sports ball pan, a cake marker, a lady bug pan, a Princess Ariel pan, a tart/quiche pan, 2 fondant and gum paste molds (Baroque and Sea Life), FoodWriter edible markers, and Edible Accents pink hearts.

 And I wasn't the only one who was excited about the delivery. My cat, Milo, enjoyed what he got out of it, too. :)

 Many thanks to Wilton!