Sugar Roses

Friday, March 22, 2013

Contemporary art or Modern art sugar cake toppers

 

Call it what you want, nouveau art, modern art or contemporary sugar art. I thought I would try my hand at it. I wasn't sure how these pieces would turn out and there are very few pictures out there of unique modern art in sugar. I did find one picture and improvised on the second piece I did, I've only tried 2 pieces so far. 
I realised that this is a fun segment of the sugar art industry that I'm really going to enjoy. Imagine making pieces out of sugar with unique shapes in outlandish colours. 
This is one side of sugar art that will be the opposite of the natural looking pieces that I usually do. 

Stay tuned for Christina's crazy imagination with contemporary art in sugar....

Here is the first piece I made (this one was inspired by a picture I found on line.:


The second piece I made was inspired by a shirt I saw that was purple, teal with beige and gold.

 

Stay tuned for more pieces. I want to see how far I can actually push it!

Christina
 

 

 
 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Christina's Cake Creations


We're holding a Sugar Flower Class!

Introduction to Roses with Calla Lily class is being held on April 20th and 21st from 9am to 4pm at the Centurion Conference Center in Ottawa, Ontario

Learn how to make beautiful sugar roses and calla lilies. 


$175 for the 2 day class.
Everything will be provided, even lunch!
visit www.christinascakecreations.ca for all the details.

 

For the Love of Daisies

I love the look of Daisies on a cake... Sugar Daisies are a great spring flower that brightens up any cake. So many colours and sizes to choose from.








These were inspired by the Black Eyed Susan daisy that grows wild.




You can use daisies on birthday cakes or on wedding cakes.

As one of my favourite flowers, I wanted to share my favourite cutters that I use to make daisies. These are plunger cutters that are easy to use made by PME.
PME Daisy Cutters

These cutters come in different sizes. When I make my large Gerber daisies I use the largest size (4 1/8" or 105mm size). I cut 2 large daisies, then 1 or 2 small ones for the middle petals. I also use a daisy mold for the middle part in yellow and add a apple green and paint it for a realistic look.

I always add the beautiful leaf made with the daisy leaf cutter and a daisy bud.

 
 
 
 
Lovely arrangement of Gerber Daisies
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Other sugar daisies are the cute little Marguerite Daisy (pictured below)
These are cute on a cake or in an arrangement.
 
 
Visit www.christinascakecreations.ca for available cutters
 
 
Thanks for reading...until next time.
 
 
Christina
 
 
 


Tuesday, March 19, 2013


Christina’s Tips and Tricks on using Fondant and Gum paste.


-Fondant dries out and gum paste will dry up and harden. Always keep them in a plastic bag and wrapped well. I found that using a good Ziploc bag is the best, the regular sandwich bags and clear wrap don’t work as well.

Even when working with fondant and gum paste, if there is time you are doing something else; cover or wrap your gum paste or fondant.  

Wilton sells their fondant in a silver wrap, I always cut this neatly when opening and reuse along with a Ziploc bag. This helps keeps your fondant for a long time.

-after you’re done with your fondant or gum paste: roll your leftover into a ball. Spread a little vegetable shortening on it and wrap well. Again use a Ziploc bag, wrapping well and tight. Then put in an airtight container. If you need a little bit to do a small project; just cut a piece off and re wrap well. A plastic lettuce knife works great for dividing fondant and gum paste.

-try to keep your work area nice and clean; don’t use any black or dark covered clothes. If you use dark fabric you’ll get a lot of specks in your fondant and gum paste. This is frustrating when working with white.

-Always condition your fondant and gum paste well prior to using. This means  add a little Crisco to it and knead until it is a nice soft ball and pliable.

-if you find that your gum paste or fondant is too sticky just add a little icing sugar (a little at a time)

-have some vegetable shortening available (I love working with Crisco) at your work station. This is great to rub on your hands (just a tiny bit) before rolling out or on your mat, rolling pin or board. Don’t use a lot! Just make it a little greasy.

Colouring your fondant and gum paste 
 
Sugar roses in burgundy, pink, peach highlights and white
 

There is a trick to colouring your fondant and gum paste that works best…

Always do a small ball at a time. Once you've coloured a small ball, add it to the bigger ball. This is a great way of controlling colour so you don't add too much at a time. If you are covering a cake and colouring all your dough at once remember not to add too much colour all at once. Some colouring is intense so use a little at a time.
 
There is pre made colouring fondant out there- Wilton has fondant already made up in different colours. I usually colour my own, but I found the smaller neon colours handy for small projects.
 
 
Don't forget that some colouring (such as the paste colouring) makes your fondant taste bitter! Remember this when adding colouring. Some colouring has a taste.
 
To help with waste keep all your scrap fondant, you can always use this for other projects. I always keep these pieces and even recolour. For example I covered a cake with a beautiful aquamarine fondant. I thought that purple cut out fondant flowers would look nice, so I took the remaining aquamarine fondant and coloured it with a little purple. It came out as a nice bright purple.
You can always refer to a colour chart if you have trouble knowing what colours make what.
If you are doing a variety of colours, start with the light colours and add colouring as you go.
Colour Wheel
Handy for mixing colours
 
The different types of colouring
 
Liquid:
The most popular colouring. You can find this at grocery stores. Liquid colouring gives the weakest colouring since it has been watered down to begin with. When colouring fondant or gum paste with liquid colouring don't forget this will make it sticky.
Liquid Gel:
Handy because it blends really well and gives a rich, deep colour.
Gel Colouring:
Gel colours are very concentrated so use only a little at a time. Gives bright vivid colours and blends really well in your fondant or gum paste.
Powdered:
Powdered colouring is very concentrated also. Very handy when painting sugar flowers (then steam the colour out--I'll get into this at a later date). I use powdered colouring the most. I also sell a variety of my favourite powdered colours on my website: www.christinascakecreations.ca
 
*Gloves will help keep your hands colour free!
*Wearing a mask (like a painters mask over your nose) will help when painting with the powdered colours
 
 
I hope this helps with your colouring and using fondant and gum paste.
 
 
 
Please visit my website at www.christinascakecreations.ca
 
Christina
 
 
 
 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sugar Art and Cake Decorating


Welcome to my Blog

Beautiful trio of sugar roses
 with Stephanotis
 
Have you ever wondered what Sugar Art is? How to make a masterpiece out of any cake? Do you want to share stories, pictures, ideas and recipes that work for you? Please join me in the great love of sugar art and cake decorating.
 
What is Sugar Art?
Sugar art is everything from decorating with chocolate, blown sugar art, sugar flowers to making characters on a birthday cake. It makes you happy to look at. It can be as complex and technical as blown sugar or as simplistic as icing a cake and adding a flower. It can be edible and last only a brief time or as a decorative piece, it can last a long time.
Sugar art is as hard to work with and beautiful as you want it to be.    
Beautiful green sugar roses
 
 
Do I have to be an artist to do sugar art?

No. Just have some imagination and love trying new things.
My name is Christina and I am a trained Sugar Artist.  My journey with sugar art started 6 years ago. I couldn’t get enough of cake art, sugar flowers and creating beautiful art pieces out of sugar. After taking the all the courses that I could find around the Ottawa area I ventured out and found a wonderful school in Atlanta, Georgia. Here I studied under a famous cake decorator, sugar artist and chef. One of the great memories of my sugar training was when chef said “don’t be afraid of it, it’s only sugar!” and he said this a lot. But it does make a lot of sense!
Please visit my website at www.christinascakecreations.ca
Have you wondered what the difference is between fondant and gum paste?
It’s all forms of sugar. Here are some definitions to help you out:
First let’s talk Fondant.
Rolled fondant is sugar dough. It is confectioners’ sugar (also called icing sugar here in Canada) a gelatin and glycerin which gives it a doughy consistency. There are different recipes such as adding corn syrup or vegetable oil; vegetable oil is generally found in the commercial brands. You would use rolled fondant for covering cakes, tops of cupcakes and cookies.
If I'm using a commercial brand (which I do a lot, I admit) I sometimes add some flavour since most people do end up eating the fondant on the cake and I find most commercial fondant tasteless.
It isn't hard to make your own fondant.
Poured fondant is simply icing sugar and water with a little chemistry to cook it where it should be (soft ball stage)
However there are other poured fondant recipes out there that are great such as a Marshmallow Fondant.
Do you have a great Marshmallow Fondant recipe to share?
 
Let's talk gum paste

Gum paste is a sugar dough (icing sugar, water) with  a gum Arabic or gum Tragacanth added. You can roll it thin, mold characters and make sculptures. Basically it's a cake decorators clay. Gum paste is similar to fondant when working with it, but hardens. Working fast and smart is the way to go.
I love working with gum paste, you can add so many fine details, textures, glue pieces together (with edible glue; which is a recipe I'll share), you can paint them and make beautiful pieces.
There are different types of gum paste:
  1. You can make your own. I will share a great home made gum paste recipe.
  2. You can buy the powdered gum paste and add water to the consistency you want
  3. You can buy ready made gum paste. This is what I generally do, however making your own is simple.
Bright cheerful Gerber Daisies made from gum paste

      
I hope this helps. Do you have a fondant or gum paste favourite brand?

Stay tuned for more....

Christina