Turning Square Cakes into Hexagon Cakes

The first step in this process is to make a template.  This picture shows the sizes I used, I was mostly just concerned with the front panels increasing relatively evenly.

I cut mine out of cardstock scrapbook paper with a big o paper cutter.  You may want to measure it just slightly skinnier than your pan (subtracting maybe just an 8th of an inch off each side) or you can just adjust as needed on the fly.

We adjusted on the fly of course.

So when your cakes come out of the oven, go ahead and ice between them and layer them on to each other without cutting them.

AFTER they are stacked is when you want to cut them as it is less difficult to get them even if so.

If you are doing a stacked cake, you can use the same templates on the boards.  Our cake was just shy of the same size as the template, but it was very simple to improvise.

Use the big giant Wilton tip that is commonly used for base icing.  I pipe mine with the flat side facing out because I think that the ridges on the other side help it stick to the cake.

Trust me, you need this tip for cut cakes.  It makes cakes in general far simpler, I must say, but it is imperative that you use it when you are shaping your own cake.

After you get icing strips on you can go all around and smooth them out and decorate as desired.

Here is the super cute tiny top layer. 

This is the first cake we cut and I did not consider this difficult at ALL, especially having the large Wilton tip.

Happy crafting!

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Gum Paste Flower Tutorial

You will need gumpaste in the color you want and BLOW POPS!

That's right.  My mom is pretty much a genius.  I was moping about having to make cake pops to get a good core for this full flower, and she piped up with the awesome idea of using blow pops.  That is multiple hours saved!

I pull off pieces of gumpaste, balls about the size of just larger than a pea.  Next, smoosh the gumpaste out nice and thin to form a nice big petal.

The first petal should stick just fine to the sucker, but if not just add a little touch of water and it will stick.

 For the first layers of petals, you don't have to worry about them going all the way to the bottom because you want to build up a nice thick middle so that the whole flower looks full.

So keep building petals like the first, overlapping them and using a little water as needed to get them to stick.

I would suggest orienting the tops of the petals in toward the center and taking care to cover up the sucker in the middle.

With each petal that you put on, you can press the edges and roll them just slightly between your fingers to get them to be just paper thin and fluttery.

I used a cake pop drying stand to hold the gumpaste flowers.  they are very heavy, so make sure to use something substantial.

I will let these dry overnight and then tomorrow I will mix Vodka and Luster Dust to paint over the outsides and the rims of the flowers. 

That will add depth and sheen and make these the perfect flowers to sit on top of a cake.

I actually trust gumpaste a lot more than fondant as it is pretty reliable once it dries.  It is also super easy to get it out thin.

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Gum Paste Cherry Blossoms: Creative Molding Trick

I would consider the little four petal flowers that are needed all over the sweet 16 cake we are going to do to be cherry blossoms. I wanted to make some in gumpaste to put on the sides of the cake and to add more depth and texture throughout. 

These were very simple to make and required minimal tools. All I did was make up some gumpaste, pull off a very small piece and roll it in to a pea sized ball.  Next, I used my fingers to smash and shape the pea into a large flat disk.  I tore about 2 cm or so in on four different places to give me petals.  I pushed in and curved the sides of the petals and pressed them against the next petal over.

Then, I mooshed the edges of the petals and pressed them in to slight curls to give it some movement.

To dry them, I tore off 6 inch sections of Reynolds wrap, folded it over and over into a flat but fairly sturdy stick, and then pressed it between my fingers to make a wave the whole way through.  The flowers sat in the dips in the wave to make sure that they had a slight curve.

I think that these will supplement the icing flowers that will be more flat quite well.  Some will be icing and tasty, these will be delicate and dusted with pearl dust.  I hope that it will create something very visually interesting while still keeping the much preferred taste of buttercream instead of being solely gum paste.

Always let stuff like this dry overnight and by all means keep your remaining gumpaste tightly sealed if you do not use it all.  These will be stuck on with buttercream.

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Super Quick Homemade Thin Crust Pizza: 3 Cheese Supreme

Crust:
-1.5 C Flour (1 C AP, .5 C Whole Wheat)
-1 tsp honey
-1 tsp baking powder
-About 3/4 C lukewarm water
-2.5 TB butter
-1 TB garlic cheese topper (I like Shipshewana, McCormick is also decent and can be found most anywhere)
-1 TB basil
-1 tsp Rosemary (crushed)
-Salt

Toppings: Pepperoni, sauce (duh), green peppers, sausage, mushrooms, olives, mozzarella, parmesan (fresh), asiago, garlic cheese topper (just a pinch), salt (pinch), fresh cracked pepper (just a hint)

Mix all of the crust ingredients together, turn out onto a floured surface.  Dust the top of it with flour and roll out thinly.  Add more flour as needed.

You have two choices next.  You can either plop it out on a griddle and cook it until it starts to brown on each side, or you can bake it at 350 for probably about 10-15 minutes.  I say about because I definitely have not baked one of these, but have baked little chips and such of the same dough.  Griddles are basically one of my favorite tools, and it is way faster.  But you could easily bake it until it gets crispy.

Anyway, after it is cooked, add your toppings and place it in an oven heated to 400 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.  I personally brushed my edges with butter and put some more garlic cheese topper on them.  I ALWAYS put a pinch of the topper, salt, and pepper over my pizza toppings because it helps add a little flavor to otherwise somewhat bland cheese.  I like to have the same flavors be in the crust, on the crust, and on the toppings to help tie the pizza all together.  I also use really fresh, block cheeses that are in my opinion much higher quality than preshredded, so that makes the flavor and texture, and meltability, far better.  After baking it for 8-10 minutes, switch it over to broil and let it go until the cheese just starts to brown.

And then devour the whole thing because it is delicious.

This idea started with my sister who made some quick pizzas on tortilla shells a few nights ago and was telling me about how tasty and crispy they were.  I make homemade tortillas a lot, and was determined that I would try it to see if I could make a large pizza.

The benefit is there is no raising required like there is with some dough, so truly you can just throw it together on a whim if you have all the ingredients.

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Painting in a Faux Chair Rail

So we are in the process of fixing up an old historic home. It used to have chair rail in it, but now just has really rough walls from where it was ripped out previously. 

I mulled over trying to put actual chair rail on, but eventually decided I would paint it instead.  In the same theory that I have always used on clothes:  light reveals, dark conceals.  A deep brown paint was just the ticket.

Below the chair rail is painted in Behr paint+primer Oregano Spice.  Above the chair rail is Behr Mushroom Bisque, and the chair rail itself is Behr Ancient Root.

As you may be able to tell, I only use Behr.

Why, you ask?  I like Behr because it is thicker.  It almost always gets me out of doing a second coat, and when I am painting with a roller it doesn't splatter all around like other paint.  Behr has never let me down on a color, either, they are always very true to the paint chip.

Now, speaking of Behr paint chips, let's talk about that chair rail.  This chair rail is approximately the size of the large Behr single color paint chips at Home Depot.  How convenient ;).  I used the paint chip as a guide the whole way around my room because I happen to not own a laser level or anything like that.  AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, USE GREEN FROG TAPE NOT BLUE TAPE.  Frog tape is a heck of a lot better, and much more inclined to stick on satin finish paint which is all I use.

To anyone freaking out that they would get a really crooked chair rail, odds are you won't if you use something consistent like a paint chip all the way around.  Tape off in 1 foot or so sections so that you will have less of a tendency to put the tape up severely crooked.

Most importantly, don't worry about the little glitches that will inevitably occur.  In this picture, the paint job is good enough at a distance that you can barely tell that there is an electric conduit tube running down my wall near the corner.  However, if you got up really close to it you would notice a few errors.

My point is, you put a LOT of furniture and similar in a room that breaks up the chair rail and paint.  If it is not 100% perfect, most people are going to notice, and polite people won't say a word about it.

If you are wondering why I do not have baseboard right here just yet, I haven't been real overly concerned with this part of the room because my bed will be along this wall.  And yes, I really would be perfectly fine leaving a baseboard off or postponing putting it on simply because my bed will cover it.

I am never joking when I say I am a realist.

I wanted a lot of the brick left exposed in the room instead of it all being patched because I am going with a vintage type feel in the room.  I actually want the age and wear and tear to show in some places, and I have always loved exposed brick. 

AND the best part is I got that huge chandelier which no one any taller than me can walk under for $50 at a flea market :).  Don't worry, I will be putting a table under it so that no one feels inclined to walk under it of course.

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Engagement Picture Cookies

A recent bride had a really fun request of getting their engagement pictures put on cookies to serve at the reception.  We did a combination of square cookies with fluted edges and heart shaped cookies. One heart got a larger picture of the happy couple, and the rest of the hearts got scrolling similar to what was going on the cake (the red and white one of yesterday's post).

This was done with sugar cookies, royal icing, and edible images.  We finished the majority of the cookies off with a shimmery edible glitter.

You want to put the images on while the icing is wet.  I suggest not using anything but white icing for edible images because the color really will distort lighter parts of the cookies.

You have to be careful with them, they are delicate and will tear if you let them get too warm. Do not let them get too hot in a car, it will completely mess them up. 

We get our edible images done at a cake shop and make the cookies and icing ourselves.  If you don't have any local place you can get them, or just don't want to do the cookies, check with bakeries nearby.  Most places, Kroger included, should have the printers and will make the cookies or put the images on a cake for you.

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Wedding Cake: Red and White Roses, Heart Scrolling

For this wedding cake, it used a cascade of red and white full roses, rosebuds, and green leaves.  If you are doing a stacked cake and are going to build a cascade, you really need to start from the bottom and work your way up.  If you have roses pre-made you can stick them on with fresh icing globs beneath them.  You can also make them as you go, but depending on the height of your layers you may need to make icing dams and ledges for them to rest on.

For the heart scrolling, I used a large heart cookie cutter to put the outline in the base icing.  I used a wider writing tip to make the lines, and then freehanded the scrolls and dots coming off of them.

I suggest making little dots on where your roses are going to be and then making the scrolling.  That way, you don't have to scroll any more than needed and you also don't have to have a heart awkwardly or partially covered.

The icing around the bottom of the layers is a small discrete rosette piping, as we wanted the main focus to be on the heart scrolling the bride chose and the beautiful flowers.

We were really happy with how this cake turned out, it looked beautiful and luxurious with the full cascade.

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