Mississippi Mud Cake and Gumpaste Peonies

I put aside the supermarket brand rolled fondant and went to a proper cake decorating shop for the goods recently. It was time to step up the cake decorating game, and I decided I'd give the whole thing one last whirl with more professional ingredients and see if it made a difference. I was sick of the frustration that came with tearing fondant, modeled creations that wouldn't dry and had no flexibility and no ability to hold up when rolled thinly. I was at the point where I was considering giving up cake decorating all together-it was one mess after another. Every youtube tutorial I watched, I saw the ingredients being so roughly handled and they still held their shape. I was missing something.
Then I bought gum paste. My whole view on decorating changed, as I discovered most of my struggles were due to inferior products. Yes, you can use rolled fondant instead of gum paste, but the difference in results is sizable. I also used CMC powder with these large peony creations, which reduced the drying time significantly (I highly recommend this stuff if you live in a humid climate like I do!) To make the peonies lighter, I also used small round foam balls for the centre. I highly recommend using a foam mat, rolling tool and the easy peony cutters for beautiful, gum paste creations that could grace any special occasion cake.
As usual, I made Mississippi mud cakes with premium bourbon whiskey. The peonies were made with the easy peony cutters which made for quicker creations without all the wiring involved. The cake also has decorations of edible lace sugar veil, and was covered with aqua fondant. The peonies were dusted with pink petal dust. I love this contrast! What is your favourite colour combination?

Blue Cushion Christening Cake with Sugar Veil Lace

I'm sitting in the silence of my home with a forbidden late night coffee and naughty chocolate biscuits from the stash no one knows about. I can hear the low rumble of my dessert stomach asking for more chocolate and caramel, and who am I to deny it?
I deserve it-finally the kitchen and living room have recovered from the last cake explosion-to my husband's delight it is tidy and clean again. It's not the kind of interesting explosion where the oven flies open and spurts of semi-cooked chocolatey lava-like cake batter comes blurting out. Its the two day cake mess, and then days of aftermath. First of all, there are three small people under the age of five that abide in my home. They all like to get very involved whenever anything edible comes out and it's a recipe for sticky disaster. The rolling pins are dug out and they need their share of fondant and cutters-a quick and easy trade for 10 uninterrupted minutes. Moments later there are sticky footprints on the wall and lumps of sucked fondant through my daughter's hair. And if you have seen my Vienna Rose, that's a discovery worth crying over. She has the curliest cloud of hair and it's like to removing bubble gum when anything makes its way into that glorious bird nest.
I love cake decorating. But attempting it with kids make it awfully, awfully hard to do successfully, and hence, world war three zone becomes a reality. Every time.
I am certain my cake decorating interest is a burden for my husband. It comes with a load-or should I say loads.That is mountains of bowls and pots and sticky things in our tiny kitchen. And those fondant foot prints up the wall, I mean, how on earth?
It takes me about a week of dish washing o finally have a cleared kitchen again. Time to get a dishwasher. But here's the cake that came of the mayhem. A gorgeous pale blue cushion with bows at each corner, featuring sugar veil lace trims and a we fondant baby under a crochet rug. It was for my Godson's christening-and worth the trouble.

It was my first time using the sugar veil and mats to create the lace. I live in a subtropical climate, so this stuff can be the substance of nightmares, and a sticky one to boot. It is quite unstable in humid climates, and I baked it rather than leaving it to set for hours (which I wasn't sure it would do any way considering where I live.) The oven was effective for the most part, with significant trial and error. I was thrilled with the lace it created, as it added a very elegant and delicate touch to the cake. You can fix this lace with water, and I also added small pearl cashous to the top of the swags for a finished look. The cake itself was a 20x20cm square Mississippi mud cake, cooked in a square pyrex dish with rounded edges. The centre sunk a little after cooling but it gave the impression of softness when covered, especially as the baby lay in the middle of the cake. I lightly carved down to the corners of the cake and curved the sides inwards to create the pillow cake look I was going for. Before laying the fondant, I did a thorough crumb coat with coffee flavoured butter cream icing, refrigerated it, and went over it again for a final and smoother coat of butter cream icing.
The baby is less than perfect, as it was my back up baby which I never thought I'd have to use. Silly me left the cake on the table, and came back to find the cake intact in every way but the baby was carefully removed by little fingers. I found it in my daughter's mouth moments later, and she was hiding behind the door. While impressed by her delicate removal system, and grateful I didn't have to remake the whole cake, baby two had to be inserted under that crochet cover, and he happened to have a bit of a scarred face. Don't look too closely!
So-ever wonder why cakes are so expensive to have made? So much work and detail goes into them, even the simple looking ones-It's too hard to put a price on the hours and hours of work that creating a cake entails. If I was paid by the hour for this I'd be charging an arm and a leg! So cakes will be few and far between..for personal eating only and for very select VIP like my new Godson Raffie. When the babies are grown, I'd like to make cakes for everyone. When the time and the environment is right. Bring it on!

Brisbane Cake Expo 2014

Last Sunday I went with a few friends to check out the first ever cake exhibition in Brisbane, expecting to see nothing but the best. We were not disappointed, as the finest and most talented cakies out there had put on a show. I was in such a hurry to immerse myself in cakes and fondant that I unfortunately forgot to put the memory card in my Canon. Sad, sad me became one of the masses, holding my dodgy phone cam up to snap cakes from afar. On coming home and showing some of the gloriously grainy pictures of amazing cakes to friends, it shocked me how some people viewed the artistic talent. While I am simply floored by the intricacy and creativity of these marvels on display, it appears not everyone thought they were that amazing...they spoke of taste over appearance. Maybe the old phrase "it's what's on the inside that counts" rings true even in the professional cake world?
So-it got me thinking-where do we cross a boundary with art and food?  Is there such a thing as too much art in food, to the point that we lose sight of what it actually is-cake? Some cakes, I admit, did look too heavily donned in fondant for the designs sake, to actually taste good (without of course, peeling it off as most people do anyway.)

But-who eats the cake anyway? Isn't it really just the obligatory centre piece at a party these days? It may as well look amazing as be edible!
I like to think of the two combined. The deliciously adorned cake. It adds a certain excitement, a focal point at a party. Of course though, when the percentages of fondant out weigh the percentage of cake, perhaps that is when we ought to call it art and not cake. What's your opinion?
Anyway, I am here to share my grainy photos and to tell you what seems to be the trend at the moment in the world of cakes. Here's what was making waves:

Sequins-edible sequins (usually gold)
Rice paper creations-rice paper cut and formed into roses etc.
Edible lace-sugar veil continues to make elegant waves!
Nude/naked cakes-I spotted only a few of these but know they're new on the cake scene
Metallics- lots of gold and silver, either as highlights or more solid splashes (tiers, sequins, glitter, use of edible gold leaf for a really shiny finish)

Nude/naked two tier cake with fresh lisianthus.

Cut out discs of peach coloured rice paper form these stunning edible roses. They are apparently affixed together only with spots of water.  Such a pretty delicate decoration.

Pretty purple floral cake pops and ornate cake stands for sale.

Cupcake towers are still very popular.

 Over-sized fondant flower on a plain two tier cake, and the other cake with a combination of watercolour sponging, gold metallic edible paint and fondnat flowers

 Some of the amazing creations in the competition. I was surprised that these were all fondant covered cakes! There were no chocolate paneled cakes, iced cakes or naked cakes to be seen.

 Alice in Wonderland tea party cake which stood over a metre tall.

Disney Frozen movie cake with giant glittering snowflake on top

 One of my favourites. It was so elegantly and simply decorated, while being quite unique. Three white tiers with giant pink and white cabbage roses made of rice paper, paired beautifully with fondant succulents! What a delight. Loved the cake board too, such an elegant finish.

 Gold sequined tiers alternating with light grey tiers, with intricate detail to each sequin. It also features a floral garland with splashes of lace. I think these flowers were also made with rice paper.

 Two tier cherry cake featuring printed  rice paper discs and ribbon.

 Pastels, bows, ribbons,lace, roses and pearls..so elegant!

 Quite amazing use of suspension here with this paint tin and brush cake. Love the wood look cake board.

Another Disney Frozen cake.

 Monster's Inc. and Toy Story cake

Little girl with balloons cake. I loved how unique this cake was. Not sure what the balloons were made of but I would say it's some sort of sugar blowing decoration (like glass blowing)

 Bridal cupcake towers featuring fresh flowers, fondant flowers lace and elegant floral pastel decorations.

 

Pretty pastel cupcakes

 I'm kind of obsessed with these cupcake towers.

 Suspended milk jug cake with strawberries, custard and mice. Awesome wood look cake board.

Black, white and gold makes for a glitzy and glam wedding or birthday cake

 I love this rustic three tiered naked cake with jam filling and fresh flowers! I want to sink my teeth right into it.

 Bling cake with ruffles and sequins and sparkled

Shiny metallic gold cake tier made with edible gold leaf, featuring black, gold and white peonies and ruffles.