'Spring'
The Melted Snowman ornament

Melted Snowman Ornament I call 'Spring'

For everyone that's asked for the instructions for the Melted Snowman Ornament I call 'Spring'
This cute little ornament is a hit, sometimes takes a while for some to get it.. but funny when they do...

What you need:
-fill-able plastic ornament
-ribbon
-gum paste and colouring: brown, black, orange
-sugar 

what you need to make a Melted Snowman Ornament

Make your gum paste colours, you don't need a lot!. Mix a quarter size ball of brown (for the 2 arms), same for the black (for eyes, mouth) and a dime size for the carrot nose. 

Arms:

Roll a ball about thumb nail size, shape it into a stick shape. With scissors cut 2 cuts on one end. With the scissors cut to form 'stick' shapes on the end. Shape to get an arm look. I've attached a picture of the steps. 

Also to give a more realistic look, draw some lines down the arm, so it doesn't look as smooth.

the arms for our snowman

Nose:

You can make a small nose or big. Take your desired amount of orange gum paste and roll it into a ball. Continue to roll into a tear shape then a carrot shape. Pinch the end to give it a sharper end. Again to give some more dimension I add lines horizontally and over the whole carrot. Make sure one end is flat.

carrot nose 

Eyes, mouth:

With some black gum paste make 4 or 5 small balls for the mouth. For the eyes make 2 and make these bigger than your mouth ones. I don't make them smooth at all so they look like coal.

eyes and mouth 

Optional hat:

You can also add a hat. To make a hat simply take some black gum paste, roll into a ball, then an oval. With your fingers go around one end to make the brim of a hat. Flatten one end. It's tricky to put a hat in the ornament, so I always put it in first and once in I fix it from inside (since most of the time it got squished going in) Add the hat before the sugar so you can work with it while it's inside. Using a stick or gum paste tool work your hat so it's flat on the top and the edge (brim) is going all the way around.

Add the sugar to your ball. I don't measure, but it's about 1/4 of the ornament. To make life easy you can use a paper folded to make a funnel. Or go free hand --- but this is not a neat job!

add some sugar

you can make a funnel out of paper to help put the sugar in

Add your nose, arms, eyes and mouth. It does help to let these dry for a little bit because sugar may stick to them once in the ornament. 

add everything you made in with the sugar

Put the top back on the ornament and add your ribbon.

If you shack gently everything will come to the top, generally the sugar will always be at the bottom. 

Voila! 

Enjoy and Happy Decorating!

Christina 

www.christinascakecreations.ca

 

This is what a $900 cupcake looks like | CTV News

This is what a $900 cupcake looks like | CTV News



Sorry, I'd be kinda mad if I got a $900 cupcake....how about if the husband just baked one from scratch...that might mean more..

How I fondant a Cake....

Adding fondant to a cake gives a nice smooth finish. Here are some tips that I hope will help you fondant your cake. 


What you'll need:

-10" round cake (or any size cake, I'm just using this as an example)
-2.5 lbs of fondant. In the flavour and colour of your choice
-large rolling pin (at least 20" wide)
-Butter cream icing (for example)
-Fondant mat

-First pick a nice tasting fondant. I like Satin Ice. There are some fondants out there that I don't care for or have a bad taste (I won't mention these, but I'm sure everyone has tasted a bad fondant. Don't forget that your friends or family are going to be eating your cake, so even the fondant has to have a really nice melt-in-your-mouth taste. Satin Ice has a vanilla flavour except the chocolate which has a nice 'Tootsie Roll' flavour. 
If you're looking for fondant check out my website www.caketools.ca I have free delivery in Ottawa, or I can ship anywhere.

Satin Ice fondant in Red

-Have a cake that you can cover. I know this sounds simple but I find some boxed cakes too soft to cover with fondant. So if you use a box cake keep this in mind or revamp the recipe. 

-Make sure your cake is cool. Don't fondant right after baking...

Ok, so now you have your cake (cooled). Make some butter cream icing. I have a couple great recipes for butter cream-- My Oreo Cookie Butter Cream icing is one of my favourites. Next cut your cake into 2 levels (you don't have to do this, but I usually add one or more layers to each of my cakes).

Oreo Cookie Butter cream icing

There are quite a few ways to cutting a cake into more levels. 1. Use a cake cutter. These can be found at a lot of stores, they look like a saw and have a wire that you can move up and down on either side to get the right width that you want. Handy tool that I use often.

2. You could use a knife, however keep in mind that it's hard to cut each layer the same width. Concentrate if you use this method.

3. You can use dental floss. Start a small cut in the back where you want your cake cut with a knife, with your floss on each side of your cake, pull through starting with the small cut. Join hands at the front of your cake by pulling the floss through. 

Another Tip: With a knife mark a line going up and down on the side of your cake before cutting it in layers. This way when you separate your cakes you can easily see where it came from by lining up the lines. 

Add some icing in between your layers and put your cake back together. 

Now ice your whole cake. This is called a crumb coat. Now don't worry if you get crumbs in it and don't put it on thick. A thin layer is great.

Put this in the fridge to cool about an hour or more, you want a nice cool cake.
Now I usually put the rest of the icing on and make it nice and smooth as I can. 

Get the fondant ready: You can buy ready made colours or you can colour your own. If you're colouring your fondant take a small ball of fondant first (about an egg size and add your colour to this. Then add the egg size coloured ball to your fondant. It's easier to judge colour and remember that you can add but can't take away!

Mix your fondant and condition. Also you can add additional flavouring if you want.

With a fondant mat (I like the one from NY Cakes- Hot Pink)

Roll out the fondant that you need. There is a guide for the amount of fondant you need, but in this example I'm making a 10" cake so I would need about 2.5 lbs of fondant.
Dust your mat well so you're fondant doesn't stick. Roll out. While you're rolling out rotate it. Make it as round as you can for a round cake and square for a square cake. When you rotate it and you find your mat sticky, dust a little more. Also rotating it will help you make it into a round shape.

For a 10" cake you want to roll out a circle of 16". To get the amount you need to roll out-- simply take the diameter of your cake, add the 2 widths of the sides of your cake (just measure your cake pan). And I always add at least a couple more inches because I find the fondant usually to thick around the edges. 
Speaking of thickness you want your fondant to be about 1/8" thick. You can easily eye-ball this. Don't go too thin or it'll rip when you put on your cake.

Other tips: Some people use a Pam spray or vegetable spray when rolling out their fondant, I find this sticky and I like a nice dry looking cake. But see what works for you. 
Temperature and humidity play a part in using fondant. If it's a humid day your fondant will be harder to work with, make it a little thicker to hold together. 
Other bakers use just cornstarch when dusting their mat, again you can try this, I'm not discouraging others methods, but I found my dusting bag (a homemade dusting bag with a mixture of cornstarch and icing sugar) to be the best. 

Once you have your round fondant circle and you can easily slide it on your mat (doesn't stick to it) you're ready to cover your cake.

What I do next is add a 10" cake board under my 10" cake. This will be easier to cover in fondant. I flip over my cake pan and set my cake on top. I do this so my cake is elevated and when I lay my fondant over it, it just drapes down. 
So basically you have your cake pan upside down, with a 10" cake board and your cake sitting on this (adding some icing to the cake board to make your cake stick to it will help keep it on)

Next I take my whole mat. Some bakers roll their fondant on their rolling pin, but I was never good at keeping it from not sticking.
So I just lift my whole mat up and lay my fondant over my cake. Really eye-ball this well so you cover your whole cake. 
I gently lift the mat off and start smoothing my fondant over my cake. Quickly cut around the bottom and get rid of excess fondant. You'll have to do this a couple times, but the first time is important because it's pulling and stretching your fondant and you don't want any rips. 

With your hands (dust them first) smooth the top and then down to get rid of any wrinkles. If you start at one spot and go around your cake it's easier and the wrinkles should work themselves out and go below your cake so you can cut them off. 

With fondant smoothers (or one-whatever is easier for you) smooth your fondant again over your cake and again trim any around the bottom. 
Smooth until your happy. 

If you do see any cracks you can rub a little vegetable shortening on them, this helps (a bit) to get rid of small cracks. 

A wedding cake I did. Top 2 tiers are real cake, bottom 2 tiers are not. Ivory fondant was used with brushed embroidery, gold designs and monogram.

Don't forget that black cakes will look dusty if your using a lot of dusting powder, so keep this in mind. 
Also if you want a shiny cake simply steam your whole cake! This will make your cake shine. 
You can get rid of white powder (on a black cake or any other colour) by steaming it out....but be very careful....steam lightly and only a second at a time because if you don't want a shiny cake...less steam is best.

If you're having trouble with the bottom of your cake (edge) you can simply add some decorations, such as beads, pearls or even pipe around it.
There are some nice molds out there that are great for making even looking beads.

Bead mold in 3 different sizes. Can be used as a single rope around the bottom of your cake, or use all 3 so the beads look like they are bigger to smaller.

For some other molds and ideas to decorate your cake visit me at www.caketools.ca.

If you're making a 2 tiered cake, follow the same directions. Make sure that you have a cake board under the 2nd tier also. For example if you have your bottom tier 10" and your top one 8" you need a 8" cake board underneath to give it strength. Using cake dowels insert a few into the 10" bottom tier to hold up the top 8" level. Add your top level. Some bakers add one strong dowel all the way through also (they would sharpen into a point and bang down into both levels)
You don't need this if you're not travelling with your cake or moving it a lot. 
And then all you have to do is add some beads around the bottom of your top level. 

I welcome any comments or ideas that you have on my blog and please share any tips that you have.

I hope this helps you!


Thanks for reading!

Christina Lapointe
owner
www.christinascakecreations.ca
www.caketools.ca

Naked cake anyone?

There is a trend in cakes that is truly unique... naked cakes. I like them but I think you have to love them if you make a naked cake a part of your big wedding day. 
The nice thing about them is that if you're not an expert in covering a cake with fondant this may be the way to go. 
So next time you have a birthday cake or celebration cake, go 'natural' and try your hand at making a naked  cake. 

There are a couple ways to make your naked cake a success: 
-Add something to it. Fruit such as strawberries, raspberries or any other berry between the layers. Keep it natural looking. The best naked cakes have that natural, organic look. 
Choose beautiful fresh looking fruit.
-Colours and flavorings. Pick a flavor that you'd like, but keep in mind that a white cake might not look as good naked. Pick cakes that have some colour such as carrot, hummingbird, red velvet, lemon, chocolate. And keep in mind what you're going to garnish and add to it. 
But do make sure that all the flavorings go together. Your cake has to taste good as well as look good naked.
-Keep your butter cream or frosting or whatever you are layering with even. Make sure that every layer has the same amount and don't over do it. Make it a good stiff butter cream. IF you are adding a fruit filling make sure that you are adding a nice big dam around the outside of the layer and then add the fruit filling. If you don't it's all just run out over the sides. Remember that there isn't any fondant to keep everything in its place.
-Keep the temperature in mind.... we all know that a humid day or an outside wedding will reek havoc on a butter cream cake. Remember this when planning your naked cake.
-Don't stack early--Keep everything nice and fresh looking. Stack your cakes as late as possible.
-Make sure all your cakes are the same height! Use a cake leveler if you have too, but you want nice clean lines. Again this goes for the filling--keep it all the same depth. 
-Trim..if you want..When you bake your cakes you always have a darker layer around the outside. This can be trimmed- maybe not all of it or any of it depending on the look you want. 
Here are some nice pictures (they are not my cakes).

 I like this one, I think it's whimsical and would make a lovely birthday cake. 

Like making any other cake the variety and imagination to making a naked cake is unlimited. Have fun with it and experiment. 

Got a naked cake that you've done? Post it here. 

Thanks for reading,

Christina

Christina Lapointe

www.christinascakecreations.ca

www.caketools.ca

What Dessert are you?


I found this neat playful article....

If all of the desserts listed below were sitting in front of you ...

... which would you choose? Pick your dessert, and then look to see what psychiatrists think about you! Sorry you can only pick one.

• Angel food cake
• Brownies
• Lemon Meringue pie
• Vanilla cake with chocolate icing
• Strawberry short cake
• Chocolate icing on chocolate cake
• Ice cream
• Carrot cake

No. You can't change your mind once you scroll down, so think carefully what your choice will be!

• Angel Food Cake: Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love all warm and fuzzy items. A little nutty at times. Sometimes you need an ice cream cone at the end of the day.. others perceive you as being childlike and immature at times.
   
• Brownies: You are adventurous, love new ideas, and are a champion of underdogs and a slayer of dragons. When tempers flare up, you whip out your saber. You are always the oddball with a unique sense of humor and direction. You tend to be very loyal.
   
• Lemon Meringue: Smooth, sexy, and articulate with your hands, you are an excellent after-dinner speaker and a good teacher. But don't try to walk and chew gum at the same time. A bit of a diva at times, but you have many good friends.
   
• Vanilla Cake with chocolate icing: Fun loving, sassy, humorous. Not very grounded in life; very indecisive and lack motivation. Everyone enjoys being around you. You are a practical joker. Others should be cautious in making you mad. However, you are a friend for life.
   
• Strawberry Shortcake: Romantic, warm, loving. You care about other people and can be counted on in a pinch. you also tend to melt. You can be overly emotional at times. And sometimes can be annoying.
   
• Chocolate on chocolate: Sexy; always ready to give and receive. Very adventurous, ambitious, and passionate. You can appear to have a cold exterior but are warm on the inside. Not afraid to take chances. Will not settle for anything average in life. Love to laugh.
   
• Ice Cream: You like sports, whether it is baseball, football, basketball, or soccer. If you could, you would like to participate, but you enjoy watching sports. You don't like to give up the remote control. You tend to be self-centered and high maintenance.
   
• Carrot Cake: You are a very fun loving person, who likes to laugh. You are fun to be with. People like to hang out with you. You are a very warm hearted person and a little quirky at times. You have many loyal friends.

Submitted by Dave, Bolder, Co.

Dynamic Sugar Daisies....

Daisies make really nice sugar flower and are great for wedding cakes, birthday cakes and any special occasion cakes. 

Here is a nice article on the Daisy flower:

http://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbolic-meaning-of-daisy.html

Generally the meaning of Daisy is Innocence, Loyal Love, Purity and Beauty.

Some tips for using/making Sugar Daisies:

-they don't travel well. Due to all the small petals, if you're travelling at all with a Daisy arrangement make sure they're well protected. If you're applying sugar daisies to a cake you don't have to worry about that.

-use a really good daisy cutter, there are many out there that don't work well. Again because of the many petals you want a plunger cutter or a good cutter that allows your gum paste (or fondant) to come out smooth. A cutter shouldn't have any uneven edges or feel rough if you run your finger over the edges. 

Plunger Daisy set

-there are many sizes of daisies and many sizes of daisy cutters. Gerbera Daisies for example are large Daisies and there is an XXXL plunger cutter that you can buy. On the other hand the small cute little Marguerite Daisy is a much smaller Daisy.

Sugar Gerbera Daisy arrangement

Sugar Marguerite Daisy

-Plunger cutters are great because you can cut out your cutouts, vein and then push out by the plunger. All the petals come out nice and neat. 

 Daisy Plunger cutter filled. Once you get to this point run your fingers over the edges to get nice smooth sides.

-You can also control how many petals you put on your daisies. For example, a small daisy can have 2 cutouts, the Gerbera daisy could have 2 XXXL cutouts and with a small cutter have another layer of petals around the middle. 

Middles:

-there are many styles of making Daisy middles. You can use a ball of gum paste, flatten a bit and use small scissors around the edges and make it look like small petals around the edge.

-you can use a daisy middle mold.

-you can even make your texture by pressing your middle into mesh wire.

-or poke holes

TIP: if you're making a Daisy on a wire.

When making your daisy center.

You can use a center mold or easily make your own middle. Simply soften your gum paste, roll it in a ball and flatten it a bit to get a flat bottom and top. With a tool 'poke' holes in it--not all the way through, you just want to give it some texture. 

-take 3 wires (I use a heavy gauge wire for Daisies since they can get heavy if you add a lot of petals. An 18 gauge works)

Floral tape your wires together and keep one end with all ends of the wire even. Start your tape about 1/4" down from the even top. 

Bend each wire down to form a Y shape (if you're looking down from the top)

-Dip Y end of wire into edible glue, and clean off excess. With your gum paste middle facing down, insert the wire careful don't go all the way through. Once in--twist a bit to move each of the Y wires and smooth. 

The daisy center will have some strength. This works a lot better then just having one wire or ball stuck in middle. 

Allow to dry.  

Colours:

Because there are so many colours and variations of Daisies feel free to be creative. Two tones are also beautiful.

Email me if you'd like the full instructions on making Sugar Daisies.

christinascakecreations@hotmail.ca

Happy Decorating!!

Christina Lapointe

www.christinascakecreations.ca

www.caketools.ca

11 ways to make a boxed cake better.

I enjoy making my cakes from scratch, but sometimes you need a quick and easy cake. Boxed cakes are not only easy but a staple in many kitchens. I know many people that use boxed cake and make beautiful staked cakes, birthday cakes and even wedding cakes with them.
Here are some tips that I've collected from others that work to make their boxed cakes beautiful and unique.

1. Pudding in the mix?
Don't add any pudding to a cake that has pudding in it. It'll get mushy. BUT you can add a box of instant pudding to a non-pudding cake mix and that will make it stiffer and stay moist. The flavour is great too.

2. A recipe to make a denser moist cake
After some conversations and investigating I've found a recipe that a lot of people use to get a nice moist dense cake. 
With a Duncan Hines Cake mix (this seems to be the consensus) and use 2- 8" cake pans. 
Add 1 Cup of Sour Cream, add 1 Cup of flour (mixing well so there are no lumps), 1 Cup Sugar and 1/2 Cup butter melted. 
Bake at 325 for about 35-40 minutes. 

The other recipes I've found used mayo instead of the sour cream.


3. To make a boxed cake taste more like homemade
-add an additional egg.
-don't use the oil but rather double amount of butter or margarine
-instead of water use milk or buttermilk

4. Change the water to another liquid to add/change flavour
Instead of the water as asked:
-Use coffee for a coffee cake flavour
-Use fruit juice to change the flavour. 
-Kahlua works nice in a chocolate  cake.
-Buttermilk also gives a nice rich flavour.

5. Make your cake healthier
Want a lower fat cake-- add applesauce instead of the oil. This gives it a nice flavour without the added fat. A non fat yogurt or sour cream also works.
There's some recipes out there that I've personally never tried, but some swear by them. Here is one from Weight Watchers that I'm going to have to try:

http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=252983910

It uses Diet Soda as the liquid.. There would be a lot of variations with the different Diet Pop's out there..


6. Add a spice
-add some cinnamon; this is nice with coffee as the liquid. 
-add nutmeg, allspice, ginger or cloves. 
All to taste but start with 1/2 teaspoon to 2 teaspoons.

7. Add lemon, lime or orange 
Add some lemon,lime or orange zest. This will bring out some of the flavours and add some bright citrus flavour. Easily done by a zester (but a a cheese grater on the small end does work). Add the lovely scraped rind to the batter. 

8. Change the colour and flavour
-Want to have an orange cake? add orange juice instead of the water--and orange zest. 
-Make a blueberry, raspberry or a berry flavoured cake by adding the fruit puree to the mix. A cup of puree works well.
You can also make banana, peach, apricot and more. 
-Add more flavour by adding more vanilla extract or almond.

9. Jazz it up with nuts
Add some nuts to your cake mix. Add some walnuts, almonds or pecans to your cake mix. OR get a little creative and add a cup of peanut butter to the mix. 

10. Fruit 
Add some whole fruit. Chunks of pineapple, frozen blueberries (if you use frozen the cake mix won't turn blue as you mix), strawberries, raspberries or another fruit.

A couple other great boxed cakes methods:
-cut up a couple apples and lay them on a bottom of a pan, add some cinnamon (about 1 tsp), and about a 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Make the cake mix in another bowl and substitute the water for coffee. Once mixed dump over the apples-- don't mix--keep the apples on the bottom. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 325. 
Once out, let cool and flip over-- Voila you have a nice apple upside down cake. Doesn't even have to be iced..
This recipe also works for pineapple rings.

11. Don't make a cake--Make cupcakes!
Change it up and take your boxed cake mix and make some cupcakes. 
There are many recipes out there that can help you make your cake into mini cakes!
Here is one that kids love: Worm Cupcakes. 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Worm-Cake/Detail.aspx?prop24=hn_slide1_Worm-Cake&evt19=1


Overall cake mixes are easy to use and you can be very creative with them.
So have fun-- invent a new cheesecake bar with a boxed mix or come up with a crazy cookie recipe using boxed cake mix.

A great website I found was on the food network post: 16 Insane Things to Make with Boxed Cake Mix. This was amazing...from Red Velvet onion rings and fried chicken to mini rainbow donuts. Check this out for more:

http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/article/16-insane-things-make-boxed-cake-mix.html

Got a favourite recipe? please let us know and share. 

Thanks!
Christina Lapointe
www.christinascakecreations.ca
www.caketools.ca

Learning How to Make Sugar Flowers.... Part 1... The Beginning.

Thank you everyone for your continued support!

This blog is also found on our cake tool online store (www.caketools.ca)

Today I'd like to talk about sugar flowers and using them to decorate your cakes. Like real flowers there are many different styles, sizes, colours and shapes to sugar flowers. Your imagination is endless with what you'd like to create. This is a very long post so I thought I'd do it in a few blogs. PLEASE ADD and comment on what works for you...I'd love to share your tips and practices.

My website with sugar flowers pictures: www.christinascakecreations.ca 

I like to create sugar flowers as close to real flowers as possible. Although nature is a much better artist then I am I do my best to create flowers as close as I can get. However fantasy flowers are beautiful too!. 

Anyone can make a lovely decorated cake with flowers.

To start:

Think about what you're doing with them. Are you putting them on a cake? Are you making an arrangement?

These are important because you have to think about size, style of cake, size of vase (if you're making an arrangement) etc. For example if you're making a 6" cake you might only get 1 sugar peony on the top because they're usually a large sugar flower.

Other tips and things to think about:

-if you're putting sugar flowers on a cake, make them early. They last a long time, so they'll be good to go and you're not rushed the day you make they cake. Gum paste sugar flowers last definitely. 

-if you're making lovely simple fondant flower cutouts don't forget that you'll need something to adhere them to a cake. This can be done with a royal icing, edible glue (and I can pass along a recipe if you need it) or egg white (follow food safe practices when using eggs) 

-are you making sugar flowers with toothpicks, wire or nothing. Keep in mind that you don't want to insert a wire (even if it's covered with floral tape) into a cake--this is not a healthy food safe practice. You can make your sugar flowers on toothpicks and you can insert right into the cake. I have made sugar flowers with no wire or toothpicks and these are great for cake toppers. But if you're inserting in the side of a cake you need a toothpick or use a straw first (discussed next)

-Are you making a spray of flowers with a variety of flowers and sizes? This is usually done with wiring your flowers and leaves and putting them together. 

-A great way to insert wired sugar flowers into a cake is to have a large straw inserted first. For example I just finished 3 cake toppers for the top of 3 wedding cakes. The cakes were covered in butter cream icing. I inserted large milkshake straws in the top of each cake. When I wired all of my flowers together I made sure to floral tape them together nice and smooth so they would fit into a milkshake straw nice and tight. I inserted the straw first, took it out and with a thinner straw pushed out the cake that got caught inside, I put the large milkshake straw back in the hole and then put the cake topper in. I carefully pushed the sugar flower cake topper down so it sat nicely on the top of the cake.

Here is a picture of the cake topper sitting the 6" cake:

Choosing your sugar flowers: There are so many choices!  There are the standard customs of using different flowers for different things. For example Calla Lilies, Ranunculus and Rose sugar flowers are popular for wedding cakes. Daisies seem to be popular for birthday cakes. One thing you can do is visit a website that talks about the language of flowers, what flowers mean or even what the flower of the month is. A website that I've found is: http://thelanguageofflowers.com and I've even wrote information on this on a previous blog:  http://ottawacakeart.blogspot.ca/2014/05/junes-flower-is-rose-language-of-flowers.html 

But no matter what is common I think it's important to make the flowers that you want for your cake or arrangement. Again your imagination is endless! And I always like to mix it up with different flowers!

-Another decision to think about is: are you making your flowers out of fondant or gum paste?

The difference between fondant and gum paste:

First let’s talk Fondant.

Rolled fondant is a 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 generally 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 some commercial fondant is 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.

If you're making flowers out of fondant keep in mind that the cutout flower is best. This is simply rolling out some fondant and using a 5 Petal Flower Cutter cut out your flower and then just stick it to your cake. It's generally not in 3-D. Or if you do make fondant flowers keep in mind they don't last long (especially in summer heat or humidity) and will wilt. 

Let's talk gum paste.

Gum paste is a sugar dough (icing sugar, water) with  a gum Arabic or gum tragacanth added (I add Tylose). 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 if you need it), you can paint them and make beautiful pieces.There are different types of gum paste:

1. You can make your own. I do have a nice home made gum paste recipe if you need it.
2. You can buy the powdered gum paste and add water to the consistency you want. I personally don't care for this method. 
3. You can buy ready made gum paste. This is what I generally do, however making your own is simple.

Sugar flowers are generally made with gum paste so they can harden. Fondant sugar flowers can be made of course, but won't harden as quickly. Humidity and where you live also plays a factor of how quickly your fondant and gum paste will harden so keep this in mind. 

I have made sugar flowers out of fondant and added Tylose (which is a gum that will allow the fondant to harden) however I found in humidity that a good quality commercial (or handmade) gum paste hardens quicker and lasts longer then adding the Tylose just to fondant. 

To be continued...

Thanks for your continued support, 

Happy Decorating!!

Christina Lapointe

www.christinascakecreations.ca

www.caketools.ca

Gum paste shoes.

I wandered the web, looked through countless cake decorating stores and couldn't find a shoe mold that was suitable in size. 
So I did what anybody would do and I made my own templates and made some shoes. And it worked!
Here are some shoes that I made with my templates. 

Let me know if you'd like the template and I can pass this along....
Christina
www.christinascakecreations.ca

To continue celebrating the launch of our new website we are offering a special promotion.

www.cakedecoratingtools.ca 

Free Delivery over a $75 order anywhere in Canada. 

Our Free Delivery promo can be used for our sale items, cake tools, cupcake tools, molds, veiners and everything on our website. 

Please join us in our new launch.

www.cakedecoratingtools.ca