Fun with Fondant – Page 2

Icing Smiles: One way you can make a difference!

April 13, 2014April 13, 20146 Comments

Check out Icing Smiles here: http://www.icingsmiles.org/

I live a fairly regular life. I have a regular job, live in a regular home, and occasionally, despite my preference for the late Romantic period, listen to regular music. Things like traffic and slow internet annoy me terribly, and the last time I got upset enough to cry was almost exactly a year ago, when the dog ate my Easter cake. (It’s been a year and the story still hasn’t reached “Oh, this’ll be funny someday!” status.)

But, as happens every once in a while, something hit me with such gravity that it really threw me back in my place. Last November, as I was meandering about the “America’s Baking and Sweets Show,” I happened upon a nonprofit organization called “Icing Smiles,” which matches bakers with children that are in the midst of serious illness, and provides the child with a “Dream Cake” for his or her birthday. I sat in the car when the show was over and watched a captivating video from their founder that explained perfectly the mission of this organization.

To be quite honest, part of me thought: how silly! A child is fighting for his life here, and the best I have to offer is a cake with Thomas the Tank Engine? This cake-decorating hobby feels frivolous at times, but never more than when I pictured myself walking into a hospital room and presenting a family in the midst of crisis with silly cake. I would rather melt into the wall than “show off” a cake to a family that has, literally, life and death on their mind.

But then I saw the online photos of previous recipients, with absolute wonder on their faces. These kids, hooked up to wires and IVs or recovering from operations or waiting for transplants, endure a pain and worry that I cannot even comprehend. With Icing Smiles, I would have a chance, if only for an instant, to provide a fleeting moment of distraction. I realized that yes, it is frivolous, but isn’t a birthday frivolous, anyways? An entire day dedicated solely to mark the date the world first saw You as You? It was exactly this sort of triviality that these children deserved. A day where they think not of doctors and needles and pain and fear, but of cake. And frosting and sprinkles and chocolate and smiling!

Here are some of the ways you can help “Bake a Difference” for a sick child (or their sibling- and how cool is that?!):

* Be a “Sugar Angel” (baker): When a need is identified in your area, you get an email asking your availability. If you are free, a representative will send you the family’s requests. (Note: many states, including mine, do not require Sugar Angels to be licensed bakers. You are covered under Icing Smiles’ insurance, and your cake supplies are tax deductible.)

* Help with Delivery: Bring the cake from the baker to the child.

* Cookie Club: For those unfamiliar with (or not interested in) making large cakes, you might like to join the Cookie Club. These volunteers bake cookies to send to the medical families on a “regular day.” Just because. Other volunteers bake cookies and treats for families staying at Ronald McDonald houses.

* Donate: Icing Smiles is a volunteer-run organization, but they obviously have unavoidable operating costs. They rely on donations/partnerships from individuals and corporations alike.

* Fundraise: Host a bake sale! Have a restaurant fundraiser! Help your local school run a fundraiser! (How neat- kids helping kids. 🙂 )

* Get the Word Out: Follow Icing Smiles via social media! If you work in the medical field, tell your PR department! Ask your local bakeries if they’ve heard of Icing Smiles and if they’d like to participate!

Have questions? Leave a comment below! Or check out their website here: http://www.icingsmiles.org/

Um Yah Yah!

January 26, 2014January 26, 201414 Comments

Here’s a question: What is the only college fight song in 3/4 time?

And here’s the more important question: What is the only college nerdy enough to notice that theirs is the only fight song in 3/4 time?

Thaaaaat’s right, folks, St. Olaf College! (And I say “nerdy” with only the utmost love and affection, for I myself was a music major.) Home of the melody that, rather than pump up athletes before the Big Game, suggests they grab the nearest opponent and go a-waltzin’ through the meadow.

The words don’t necessarily add any coherence to its puzzling status as a fight song. Here, for example, is the refrain:

Um yah yah! Um yah yah!
Um yah yah! Um yah yah!
Um yah yah! Um yah yah!
Um yah yah yah!

I don’t actually know what it means. But no matter! Comprehension takes a backseat when one is given such a bouncy and pleasing melody. (And just for your information, the text of the verse does make rather more sense.) For those of you unfamiliar with this toe-tapping tune, here is a clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g87707-_Asc, published on YouTube by St. Olaf) that perfectly illustrates the college’s character. As the video’s description states, the college was in the midst of moving things around, and all the pianos ended up temporarily in the recital hall. Naturally, the piano students and faculty wanted to see what they sounded like all played together, and what follows is the unrehearsed result, with “Um Yah Yah!” making an appearance at minute 1:59:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g87707-_Asc

And THAT is why I love St. Olaf.

I was not only lucky enough to attend this incredible college, but I made some lifelong friends in the process. We met the first day of freshman year, lived together every year after that, and have managed (despite living states apart) to get together at every Christmas and every summer since graduation (with a healthy amount of weddings and baby showers sprinkled in between). At our most recent Christmas gathering, I decided to attempt recreating one of the traditional “St. Olaf scenes:” sitting on the sign at the college’s entrance.

I created little fondant people modeled after each of my friends. First comes the head:

Next comes the body. Torso first, then the jeans:

After the bodies were all made, I stuck a toothpick through the whole thing- jeans, torso, arms, and head- in the hopes it would provide structure and stability:

On come the heads! This is the fun part- individually styling everyone’s hair. 🙂 For the curly girls, it seemed to work better if there was a base (like a helmet) and that way, if there was a part of the head not covered by the curls, the bald skull wouldn’t show through. You can see the “helmet” on the blonde below:

Final additions: give each girl something related to one of her majors. (It was necessary in order to easily tell everyone apart- let’s face it, fondant people all look the same.) From left to right: Greek text for the Classics major, novel for the English major (there are some little white things under the book that I took out later- they were there holding up the book so it would dry upright as if she was reading it), stethoscope for the premed major, laptop for the English major, paperwork for the social work major, apple for the education major, baton for the music major, and a Bible for the religion major.

The next step was to create the sign. I just covered a piece of styrofoam with buttercream and then black fondant, and piped the letters with royal icing. Let this dry for a few days and it’s ready to stick on the final cake! Final step- create the actual cake. I used a brick mat to create the brick effect, and then added a little luster dust to create some dimension on the bricks:

Final version! (I made the sign as it stands currently. Since our graduation, they changed it– I’m guessing they made it curved so that people would stop sitting on it. 🙂 )

“If you have two friends in your lifetime, you’re lucky. If you have one good friend, you’re more than lucky.”
– S.E. Hinton

It looks like I’m seven times lucky!

Bucky Badger in Pound Cake Form!

January 3, 2014January 5, 201416 Comments

Several months ago, a friend asked me to do a groom’s cake for her daughter’s wedding. “You can do a 3D Bucky holding some Mike and Ikes, right? Great. Thanks!” She promised to send more info and then waved and went on her way.

And I stood there, frozen, with my mouth gaping. No, I do not know how to carve cakes. No, I’ve never had a cake at a public event. And no, I do not like to disappoint people, especially on their wedding day!

But then there’s that little spark inside that pushes me to try something new. “If she thinks I can do it, maybe I can,” the little spark told me. So with much trepidation (and a pep talk from friends), I nervously assented to her request.

So began the research necessary for a carved cake. What type of cake works the best? And frosting? Fondant? How do you transport it? Does it need to be kept cold? How do you attach the head? What’s the best material for making the head? How about my head? Will I lose it during this process?

Armed with google and a determined spirit, I created the following calendar:

Two months before: answer the above questions
One month before: sketch cake design and figure out dimensions
Three weeks before: finalize cake design and purchase materials
Two weeks before: begin working on the head
One week before: bake and freeze the cake
3-5 days before: create gum paste extras
2 days before: make the cake board, thaw the cake
1 day before: assemble (and pray. Lots.)

Here’s how everything went down:

STEP 1: THE HEAD

I decided to use a styrofoam base to carve the head. (Are you supposed to do that? I have no idea!) I purchased some cake pillars from a local craft store that I think are meant to help stabilize cake layers, and I shoved one of the pillars into the head and stuck the other in a large styrofoam dummy cake as the base.

After the base was formed, I began to coat the styrofoam with modeling chocolate. I’ve used modeling chocolate twice before and, let me tell you, something went awry this time. It still made a beautiful finish and was easy to work with once it was kneaded, but I think I can safely say that I gave myself tendinitis just from this one afternoon. I “knead” to learn how to do this better. Haha. 🙂 After approximately 3 hours of kneading (I wish I were joking), most of the modeling chocolate was ready to go.

The photo below shows the modeling chocolate before and after. (The “before” is the crumbly-looking block and the “after” are warm and malleable logs:) With a pile of ready-to-use modeling chocolate by my side, I commenced Head Construction. The photos below show the progress:

STEP 2: MIKE AND IKE BOXES
For the candy boxes, I used a piece of styrofoam and covered it in fondant. That didn’t work one bit. So I coated it in frosting, then fondant, which worked a little- but the box was lumpy and weird. So I left it as is, waited a day, and then covered the fondant with a thick-ish layer of gum paste, which I managed to sort-of flatten with the rolling pin so it was a smooth surface. That seemed to work okay, but I am certainly not that happy with the result. I cut out little pieces of colored gum paste to form the fruits, candies, and words on the box (I cut the white letters out first, and then laid them on the black and carved around them) and stuck them on with some gum glue adhesive. Next step: let the whole thing dry for a few days, and voila!
(Oh- I only wanted one box for the final cake, but I made two, just in case. Believe me- make an extra copy of all your embellishments.)

STEP 3: THE BODY
I have no idea what I’m doing! I don’t even know what a badger is, really! And how do you carve arms on an animal- it’s not like cake can just withstand the powers of gravity without something supporting it, right?! So I decided to just make his arms close to his body and hope for the best. What follows is a series of in-progress photos. My badger ended up short and morbidly obese.

When carving the body, repeat after me: “Little cuts. Little cuts. Little cuts.” Once you cut out the cake, it cannot be put back. Carving this body took me two hours, but I’m not sorry! The result was a coffee table that looks like this:

STEP 4: COVERING THE BODY
The final steps went extremely fast. Cover the carved cake in buttercream… and then fondant… and then embellish it:

STEP 5: ADD THE HEAD
Self explanatory! 🙂
(The only thing I would suggest is this: see how Bucky wears a turtleneck? You’ll want to make sure that you carve a little dip into the top layer of cake- where the neck is- otherwise he’ll end up looking more like a giraffe than anything else.)

STEP 6: SIT BACK AND ENJOY!

I have to tell you a true story. I almost sliced off his arm. No joke! I was catching up on Season 3 of Downton Abbey and had just finished (or so I thought!) the last episode, so I went back to the carving. And suddenly, out of nowhere, it happened. WHAT?!?! I won’t spoil it for any of you, but if you’ve seen it, you can appreciate how Bucky almost became an amputee.

Thanks for checking out this post. As you can see, I still have much to learn. How do you carve cakes? Do you find pound cake to be the best? Do you have a modeling chocolate recipe or technique that does not cause immediate arthritis? 🙂

Salad Cake

December 28, 2013January 4, 2014Leave a comment

What does a cake decorator do when asked to bring something to share for “Salad Day” at work? Oh yeah. This is my kind of salad. 🙂

The first step in this cake is to make all of the veggies and lettuce leaves. This takes a while but is very relaxing and fun to do while watching a movie, for example. 🙂 It is imperative that these are made at least a week in advance, otherwise they won’t be dry in time.

I like the leaves to have a little dimension and movement. Therefore, rather than cutting them out of fondant and laying them down flat, I crumpled up wax paper and put the lettuce leaves all over that. This part actually goes pretty quickly- take it from me! I am an extremely fastidious person (that’s the nice way of putting it!) but it’s good if these are done a bit hastily. No two lettuce leaves are unique, right? 🙂

Once you’re ready to put it all together, it’s a cinch! This cake came together in less than an hour! Just stack a few rounds together, carve the bottom in a little (so that it looks like a bowl), and put on the frosting! Smooth the sides (I wanted to add a basket weave, but I didn’t have time) and then add a border on the top and bottom of the bowl.

Once you’ve added the border, it is super simple. Throw on the veggies and you’re good to go!

Chicago Blackhawks cake

December 26, 2013May 14, 20157 Comments

How to create a Hawks logo out of fondant? Cut and layer, cut and layer… (For a more intensive Blackhawks cake, check out my other post here, or here for intricately iced Blackhawks/ hockey cookies, or here for some Hawks jersey cookies, or here for a life-sized puppy cake for Bryan Bickell’s foundation!)

I was sooo out of time with this cake that I didn’t even take one photo. Ridiculous! Unfortunately, you’ll have to rely on my verbal description. 😦

1. Cover cake with white fondant.
2. Roll out a piece of black fondant. Carve the outline of the Blackhawk head.
3. Roll out a piece of skin-tone fondant. Gently lay the black cutout on top of that, and lightly trace the outline.
4. Remove the black piece and place on the cake. Then, using your lightly-traced outline as a guide, go in about a quarter inch and cut out the face. 5. Cut out the indentations marking the nose, mouth, cheek, chin, and forehead. Lay on the black piece.
6. Cut an eye and eyebrow and lay them on top.
7. Cut out the feathers and lay them on top.
8. Use buttercream and pipe the detail on both the feathers and the hair. And you’re done!

Biking up the hill

December 22, 2013January 4, 2014Leave a comment

I created a bike rider cake for a friend who is into cyclocross. This provided me with #1, the opportunity to learn what that is, and #2, create the world’s cutest little fondant biker man!! Isn’t he adorable?!

I baked a few rounds of chocolate cake, stacked two together, and then proceeded to cut and stack the rest. Then came the crumb coat, and, can I just say… this was the crumbiest of all crumb coats! The chocolate cake I used was so moist and fresh that it was literally impossible for me to make a clean coat. In fact, in the photo below, it looks like cookies and cream frosting!

Then came the time to lay the fondant. I absolutely stink at covering cakes with fondant. I would love to practice or something, but it is way too expensive. So I just always roll it out and hope for the best! In this particular case, it didn’t really matter, because it was supposed to be textured anyways. But still. I wish I could be better.

Once the fondant was laid down, it was time to create the path. I painted a bit of piping gel up the hill and sprinkled graham cracker crumbs over the top. Ta-da!

Fondant animals

December 20, 2013January 4, 20143 Comments

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! It’s a fondant jungle out there!

I have to admit: I really enjoyed working on this cake. It was for a friend’s baby shower at work and though it took me a long time to decide on the theme, I’m really happy with what I chose. The only problem I had was narrowing down which animals I had time to make! 🙂 Each was created with fondant. Most of the limbs were attached with support sticks after they had dried for a day or two. Enjoy!

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