Bride of Frankenstein Doll Cake

An annual favorite, I'd share to share member Lisa Stock's Bride of Frankenstein Cake tutorial.  Enjoy!

Country Kitchen Sweet Art's Yummy Caramel Apple Cider Cookies!

Photo courtesy of Country Kitchen Sweet Art

Fall always reminds me of hot apple cider, caramel apples, and warm cookies freshly baked from the oven. My friends at Country Kitchen Sweet Art created a yummy scratch caramel apple cider cookie recipe and tutorial on their website www.shopcountrykitchen.wordpress.com .

Fall is a great time for baking and I love baking cookies for gifting and snacking with a warm glass of milk.  Country Kitchen Sweet Art's recipe and tutorial are easy to follow, and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry. Try it and let me know what you think.

Piñata Cookies!

Just in time for your Cinco de Mayo fiesta, these colorful  cookies have a sweet surprise inside. Check out how to make them in a cool DIY tutorial on  Geekologie!

GO GIANTS! Superbowl Cupcake Tutorial

Edible Lady Bugs!

I'm baking a difference with Frosting for the Cause.  Find out how I made these not so little Lady Bug sugar cookies, step by step,  on Sunday, July 10th at Frosting for the Cause website. While you are there why not consider joining the cause and giving back using your skills at cupcake or cookie decorating.

Pink Cake Box Shoebox & High Heel Shoe Cake Tutorial

Sugar Chef's Purse Cake Tutorial

I came across this two part tutorial from Sugar Chef.  The tutorial highlights part of an actual class, which is different from a lot of tutorials on You Tube. I think there is enough great info for a savvy cake designer to duplicate on their own. Tell me what you think!

Purse Cakes are in very much demand and this type of class is a favorite in NYC Cake Decorators.  Last year we held four different purse cake classes taught by such talented cake designers as Chef Anne Heap, Pink Cake Box, Irene Likokas, Sweet Irene's, and Chef Janet Ben-Ami, Hey! Cookie.

Digital Days on the Blog! - #1 HTML

So you want to share your passion for cake decorating with the world by setting up your own cake, cookie or cupcake website, or you want to brag about your eating adventures on a blog? A little knowledge of HTML will go a long way to helping our voice stand out among the crowd.

Many free website ready-made templates are rather confining but you can tweak the header and format a little with a basic knowledge of HTML Code . Banners can be found free online (watch out for those pesky pop-ups) or you can make your own banner with a program like Adobe Photoshop. No, you don't have to be a computer whiz to use Adobe Photoshop. I can use it and I am far from being an expert. You can download a free trial and make your banner and other graphic designs - such as "grab buttons"-for your website or blog during the Adobe Photoshop trial period.

If you want a more custom designed website, you can purchase one of the many professional templates online for under $100.00 and with basic knowledge of HTML, create your website and upload onto a server like GoDaddy dot com. No time? Hire a college student to do it for you. Try Pratt, School of Visual Arts, or New York Institute of Technology, or maybe your neighbor's kid down the block. The student can create a custom professional looking website for you for pennies on the dollar, and with basic knowledge of HTML, you can update your website yourself.

Don't know how to decorate but want to blog about it?  If you can't create your own cakes, cupcakes and cookies to display on your foodie blog, you can download totally free license, royalty free photos as a banner, reference, or inspiration, at Morgue File. To use the photos you only need to tweak them a little before you post them online.

VanillaBeanBaker's Edible Easter Basket Tutorial!

Just in time for the Easter Bunny, you can make this sweet royal icing Easter Basket with a step-by-step tutorial at Vanilla Bean Baker!

Make Your Own Copper Cookie Cutters!

Ever wanted a speciality cookie cutter design you couldn't find anywhere? Let Roots and Wings Co.'s tutorial show you how.

Cake Stackers No Stress Topsy Turvy Cake Construction Kit

Ever stress about whether your tiered cake is doweled sufficiently? Cake Stackers cake stand system takes the stress out of tiered cake construction.




Want to make topsy turvy cakes the old-fashioned way? Check out this Topsy Turvy Cake tutorial at My Sweet and Saucy!

Baby Cupcakes Tutorial!

Perfect for a baby shower, this cute video is one of the free tutorials available at My Cake School.

Tech Meets Art - Use Your iPad for Cake Decorating!

The iPad is a marvelous tool for cake decorators. It can be effectively used as your portfolio, holding photos of your cakes, videos of your venues and/or techniques, testimonials and such.  With a sketch app you can also use the iPad during your client interviews.

St. Paddy's Day Cakes

Cake designed by member/instructor Chef Janet Ben-Ami, owner, Hey! Cookie. 

As we enjoy a little luck this holiday, "May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,

May good luck pursue you each morning and night"
(Irish saying)

Designer Bag & Bubbly Cake Stocking Stuffer!

This new Designer Bag, Bon Bons, and Champagne Bottle DVD by Sharon Zambito looks like a great stocking stuffer. If you purchase the DVD, let us know what you think! Here is sneak preview.




For all of you who are dying to make a topsy-turvy cake, here is a great video by Janellscakes.

MAKE YOUR CAKES GIVEAWAY -What's UR FF?

This photo is courtesy of Make Your Cakes.

As a preferred blogger, Make Your Cakes, is giving away 5 of their fabulous sugar art tutorials to one of our lucky readers. What a special treat, long after Halloween has ended!

To enter the giveaway, visit Make Your Cakes website and then tell me your 5 favorite sugar art designs. [Your favorite five "FF" must be in stock].

Include your email address in your comment. One lucky reader will receive 5 sugar art tutorials directly from Make Your Cakes. Giveaway ends Sunday, November 17, 2010 at 11:59AM EST. Winner will be chosen by Random.org

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. GISELA IS OUR WINNER!! CONGRATULATIONS GISELA!! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED!

Dark Chocolate Fondant Rose Tutorial

Look Mom--no cutters! Yes, this is a large rose made entirely without cutters. I have to thank Susan, one of my students, for prompting me to show this version in class. Easy enough for beginners, the completed rose is quite large and can be used as a single flower on a cupcake, as part of a spray on a cake, or used to decorate a pastry platter.

The fondant used in creating the rose is Dark Chocolate Massa Grischuna from Albert Ulster. No water or gum glue is necessary as the fondant sticks to itself like chocolate modeling clay. The fondant tastes delicious-- a little like a tootsie roll.
The total weight of the massa is approximately 82 grams. To make the rose base, remove approximately 19 grams of dark chocolate fondant and roll into a ball.

Cup the ball in your left palm and using two fingers on your right hand, roll the ball in your palm while applying pressure on one side of the ball until it resembles a teardrop or cone shape as in the above photo.
Petals: make 9 balls approximately 7 grams each for the chocolate rose petals. Keep the fondant covered with plastic wrap as you work to prevent the fondant from drying out.
Forming petals: Take a chocolate ball in your left hand and using two fingers on your right hand, roll the ball in your palm, while applying pressure to one end of the ball until it resembles a teardrop or cone shape. Now flatten the wide end of the petal with your fingers. Pick up the petal between your thumb and pointer finger, and press the wide edge of the petal as thin as possible. The thinned wide end is the top of the petal and the tapered end is the bottom of the petal.

Center Petal: Prepare the petal as above and wrap the center petal around the rose base. At this point, your rose should look similar to this one.
First Row: Wrap 3 petals around the center petal. Prepare each petal as above. The petals in the first row are positioned slightly higher than the center petal. (Most beginners make the mistake of placing the first row of petals below the center petal).
Each petal thereafter is placed just inside the last petal, so that it slightly overlaps the last petal. When the third petal is placed, you can attach both sides of the third petal to the base.
This is how your rose should look when the first row of 3 petals is completed. See how the wide edge of the petals have been thinned?
Second Row: Wrap 5 petals around the first row. Position the second row of petals slightly lower than the first row. Prepare each petal as before, placing each petal inside the last so it slightly overlaps. When the second row is completed, you can further shape each petal so it looks as life-like as possible. After the petals are shaped, you can take a sharp knife and cut off some of the base if necessary. Since this rose is quite large, I think 5 petals is good enough. However, you can wrap a third row of 7 petals if you like. Place the third row slightly lower than the second row and prepare each petal according to the previous instructions.

Let me know how your roses came out. I am thinking of posting more tutorials on how to make various flowers without cutters. A great way to save money while having fun.

Sweet Regards,

Dina
Organizer

Dina's Kissing Couple Bas Relief Tutorial

Bas Relief is a favorite technique of mine. This particular kissing couple design is from a book by Kate Venter, Sugar Decorating Filigree, Flowers, & Flooding. Venter used a color flow technique, whereas, I decided to try bas relief. For starters, cover an 8" x 10" board with light blue or light green fondant and let dry. Then trace the kissing couple design with a #2 pencil and cut out.

Using your tracing paper cut-out as a guide, cut out the kissing couple in fondant. Affix on the fondant board with water, gum glue, or egg white. Best to color all your fondant now according to the colors you wish to use for the couple. When working on the sugar art, water, gum glue or egg white is used to attach the fondant.


In bas relief, you must remember to complete the parts of the drawing that are behind other parts of the drawing first. Thus the girl is finished in the following order: socks which are inside the shoes are made first, then the shoe in the background, the shoe in the foreground, the dress, the apron, the apron strings, the arm, and then the hand. (Work on the boy next, since the girl's bonnet is the last piece of clothing to be completed).

Close up view of the bas relief kissing couple.

Close up look at how the hands are created. Use a cell stick to open up the wrist of the figure and dampen with water, egg white or gum glue and attach the hand.

Next, work on the boy's clothing. First the left shoe in the background, then the right shoe in the foreground. Take bits of fondant and place on the legs to simulate thigh and calf muscles. Roll out a bit of dark blue fondant for the boy's pants, and using your tracing cut-out as a guide (leaving a little extra around the edges) cut out the pants. Apply carefully over the figure tucking in with your gumpaste tool and discarding excess fondant with a sharp knife.

Complete the boy's shirt using the same technique. Attach a small bit of fondant on the stomach area. Then cut out the shirt, dampen the area with water, egg white, or gum glue and apply carefully. Make the boy's arm. Insert a cell stick inside the wrist to make an opening for the hand. Apply a small amount of water, egg white or gum glue and insert hand. Put a small piece of fiber fill or tissue under the hand until firm. Use an extruder for the boy's shirt collar, tie, and hair. To complete the girl's bonnet, attach small bits of fondant on the edge of the bonnet (the rounded section which cradles the back of the girl's head). Again using your traced cut-out, cut out a piece of fondant slightly larger than the bonnet and attach to the figure. Extrude strings with an extruder.

Take a small piece of white fondant and using a cell stick, needle tool, or friller, ruffle the fondant. Attach to the bonnet with water, egg white or gum glue. Be sure the bonnet covers the boy's face as in the drawing.

Closer view of the kissing couple. A small amount of grass was extruded through a clay gun to make grass.


Now comes the dusting. Apply petal dust to form shadows on the figures. You can shine the couple's shoes by dipping an artist's brush in confectioner's glaze and brushing the shoes. This scene is rather plain. Be daring and more creative with your background. After you're done you can protect your art work in a neat little shadow box like the one I purchased at Michael's Craft Store. Enjoy!