Saturday, May 22, 2010

Tutorial: My Birthday Cake



Ahhhhh...it's good to be back. Yes, I've returned from my hiatus. Soooo...what have I been up to?  Well, I recently moved and I still have quite a lot of unpacking and organizing to do. I've also been busy making cakes (and cupcakes and all kinds of desserts) for friends and family. Yeah, it's been a little hectic but now that things have settled down a bit, I can finally get back to my blog. Whew!



I also celebrated my birthday and so I decided to make myself a cake. Honestly, I don't always make my own birthday cake. Sometimes I just wanna buy one from a bakery (I kind of have a soft spot for Red Ribbon Bakeshop; it always brings me back to my childhood). But when I do make my own cake, I just have fun with it. I figure, I make beautiful cakes for everyone else, so why not for me?

When was thinking about the design, I really wanted something pink and feminine.  What can I say? I'm a girly girl at heart.  I used most of the techniques I've learned so far - from fondant scrolls to applique flowers. I even did a little freehand painting.

As for the cake flavor, I baked an egg-free chocolate cake so that my son could enjoy it.  I drizzled a little bit of simple syrup in between the cake layers and filled it with cream cheese frosting. Adding simple syrup (also called cake syrup) is a very common technique used by most bakeries to keep cakes moist. To make simple syrup, just combine equal parts of sugar and water and heat it until the sugar dissolves. You can also add liqueurs such as Grand Marnier, Amaretto or Kirsch to add flavor to the simple syrup.

So here's how I decorated my birthday cake...




The two-tiered cake consisted of an 8-inch round and a 10-inch round covered in white rolled fondant.  I took some rose petal pink color paste and diluted it with a little vodka to make "paint." I used a paper towel to dab the color onto the fondant. It's the same painting technique I used for the mini wedding cake last year.

I also made fondant flower appliques and painted them using two different shades of gold luster dust.  I hand-painted the scrollwork design in between each flower using the same gold luster dust.




The fondant scrolls are pretty much my signature style so I definitely had to include them in my cake. I made C-shaped scrolls for the bottom tier and S-shaped scrolls for the top tier. I attached them around the base of each tier and painted them with black icing color


I used an FMM textured lace cutter to create the pattern on the fondant strips for the bottom tier.  It's the same design I used to demonstrate how to make a fondant frame a couple of years ago. After I attached the fondant strips onto the cake, I painted them with gold luster dust. 




I gotta admit.  This cake sure made me feel special but what really topped my day was listening to my son sing "Happy Birthday" to me and afterward he helped me blow out the candle :-)  

20 comments:

giovanna said...

beautiful !!!

Lei Lei said...

Happy Birthday!!! Love the cake!!!

Anna said...

Beautiful cake!!

Jennifer said...

Oh my goodness it is SO lovely!!!!

M. said...

such a gorgeous cake!!!

zurin said...

beautiful cake...I love scrolls...I do it all the time too and they looks so chic n pretty! happy birthday n congrats on the cake..so well done!:))

faithy said...

Happy Birthday and this cake is beautiful! I love how you dab the pink on the fondant..it's very pretty!

suma said...

Happy Birthday!! This really is ART, beautiful cake.

Anonymous said...

i love your cake design! So special.

Christine D said...

Happy Birthday Rianne! I love seeing ur cakes :)

Shabs.. said...

Oh My!!!What a wonderful creations u have dear!!A true inspiration....i am following u deary....loved ur blog...BTW, happy birthday to u..

Anne said...

What a very pretty cake :) Happy Birthday!

Anonymous said...

Happy Belated Birthday!
Cake looks great and delicious.
Glad to see you back from the hiatus.
Clara P

Anca said...

very beautifuuuuuuuuul!happy birtday !

lyle bala said...

hi love your works........i'm from the philippines.can i ask you something..i'm in need of mocha and ube cake recipe....can you share one?i'll be covering it with fondant..thanks in advance

I BLEED PINK said...

So pretty!! How do you get your fondant pieces to stick to your cake.

Ps - Happy Birthday.

Art of Dessert said...

Thank you everyone!

lyle bala:
I don't have a ube or mocha cake recipe at the moment but I'll definitely share it when I have one :-)

I bleed pink:
The fondant pieces usually stick on nicely after I paint the cake but if not I usually brush a little bit of vodka on the back of each fondant piece :-)

Anonymous said...

Hiya I was wondering how did you stick the lace pattern on the cake?

Deepali Jain said...

Hi,

I've just recently discovered your blog and already falling in love with it. Your blog has inspired me to start decorating my cakes, right now I don't do it.

I clicked on your link for egg-free chocolate cake in this recipe as well as searched separately on your blog, but not able to find the recipe. Would you please send me the link.

Art of Dessert said...

Hi Deepali Jain! I'm so happy you've discovered and love my blog. I'm sorry the link wasn't working. It might have been incomplete but I corrected it now :-) The egg-free chocolate cake recipe is listed in my "One Good Chocolate Cake" post.

ShareThis

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...