Wednesday, August 19, 2009

First Gumpaste Roses

I am trying to configure this blog and learn about how that process works, so I can update my other blog with all my official photography work. Hopefully soon this jumbled page will find rest!



These are the gumpaste roses I made for the Ballerina Bear Cake from the last post. I had intended to make some gumpaste roses for a cake last spring, but made daisies instead. These were a learning experience, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I used a pink rose from my rosebush as a model. Finding inspiration from a real, live, fragrant rose was pretty sweet... I'm glad our rosebush was still in bloom during this project.
I love making flowers with gumpaste more than drawing or painting them... it's easier, faster, and they look more realistic. Can't wait to figure out how to do more.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Ballerina Bear Cake


I have spent a lot of time this summer designing my official website. I still bake though, and had a fun opportunity to make a special birthday cake for a family friend's mother. My first fondant sculpture [Bob Marley] had some technical problems, so I was determined to make this one work.



My son, Kevin, is an ever present helper and critic. At one point he told me there were cracks in my gum paste bear! I made the gum paste flowers [first time for roses] a week ahead of time.



I did a lot of online research on how other people have made teddy bear fur. I knew from the beginning that piping it on [Wilton Style] was something I would not do. Finally, I found a few blurbs about a Williams Sonoma Build a Bear Cake Pan that came with a kit to decorate the bear. I saw that it included some sort of glaze and assortment of brown sugars. I made my own glaze by mixing Karo Syrup and brown food coloring. Then I sprinkled brown sugar mixed with crushed golden sprinkles [I crushed them with my Pampered Chef Onion Chopper to get smaller flakes].

I was very happy that my technique worked! I experimented on a piece of extra fondant before I actually did it to the bear.


The finished Ballerina Bear Cake...



I did the small rose petal by petal too, tiniest one I've made so far. I've been drawing butterflies since I was in middle school, so I cut them by hand without the help of a template. This cake was a lot of fun for me and I can't wait to start baking again :]