Tutorials — Page 11

How to Make a Wedding Cake: Decorating a Wedding Cake (Part 3)

May 9, 2014 by Jenn

In the previous two posts, I have discussed with you how to bake and frost a wedding cake in Part One, and in Part Two, I showed you how to stack a three tiered wedding cake. In this post tutorial, I will show you how to decorate a wedding cake using ribbon and artificial flowers.

Creating a wedding cake that is specially matched to coordinate a bride’s special day is super easy with all of the options that are readily available now-a-days. Did that sound like old school country? Changing up icing colours is one way, but an easier way to do so is to coordinate ribbon and flower colours.

To decorate a wedding cake you can use a variety of different types of flowers:

Sugar flowers: Pros- Edible, Cons- very fragile, time consuming to make, one time use

Real Flowers: Pros- Beautiful, can match the bouquets exactly, Cons-smell, require flower spikes, droop quickly, one time use

Artificial/Silk: Pros- easy to work with and trim to exact sizing etc, long lasting, reusable, Cons: may be hard to find matching colours/type etc.

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Filed Under: Cakes, Videos, Weddings Tagged With: decorating wedding cakes, how to decorate cakes, how to decorate wedding cakes, how to make, how to make a wedding cake, Make a Wedding Cake, pink wedding, rose wedding, wedding, wedding cake

How to Make a Wedding Cake-Baking and Frosting Part One

May 7, 2014 by Jenn

I have almost 70 wedding cakes under my belt. That’s not a lot of wedding cakes if you are a professional cake wedding decorator, but it was a lot to pump out in a three year span as a rookie! Year one was a learning experience, year two putting practice into action, and year three was fine tuning the practice.

Baking wedding cakes were some of the most reward-able cakes that I got to be a part of. I LOVED making them, loved getting to the venue and seeing the beautiful decorations, but I HATED the delivery!! Nothing ever went wrong, but I was always nervous throughout the drive. The longer drives (hour to an hour and a half) in the hot beating sun were often scary, as was travelling on the highway and worrying about the other drivers on the road. If you are partaking on long deliveries, make sure that your vehicle has air conditioning, and that you put blinders up on your windows to block the sun (as much as it can be). I also always transported my cakes in a large cake delivery box, that my partner made for me. Delivering in the box kept wayward dust and dirt off of the cake and ensured that a clean cake arrived at the destination.

In this first tutorial (of three), I show you how to bake the cakes for the wedding cake. I highly recommend using cakes from scratch as they are sturdier than box mixes, and will hold up better under movement and the weight of decorations.

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Filed Under: Cakes, Tutorials, Videos, Weddings Tagged With: bake cake, baking time, cake baking, cake pan, how to bake a cake, how to make, how to make a wedding cake, make a cake, making cakes, three tiered cake, wedding, wedding cake

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Bouquet for Mother’s Day

April 30, 2014 by Jenn

Mother’s Day is one of the most special days for all of the amazing women in our lives! If you are lucky enough to have a Mom like the one that I do, you are incredibly fortunate. My Mom and I recently starting working together and we are currently teaching the same grade, at the same school. Being that we both have the same last name, it’s a little tricky for the adults in the building, but our 5 year old students seem to understand the difference just fine. It’s quite funny actually. The adults seem to stumble over how to refer and differentiate between the two Kindergarten teachers, but the kids, just go with the flow and line up with the right person each day. Having this new working relationship with my mom has been very special, and it has allowed me to see the genius she has in her craft of teaching. She is an amazing role model to students, parents and to her colleagues.

I wanted to make her something special for Mother’s Day this year, and knowing that she loves chocolate and strawberries, I knew I had to turn them into a bouquet for her this year. Last year she got a cupcake bouquet, which she loved, but I know that when I make this again for her on May 11, 2014, she’s going to love it even more than she did her bouquet last year.

Gathering the skewers together in the centre of the vase was the only tricky part to this video. I used a twist tie to secure them in place, and this also helped to stabilize the structure. The length of the skewers can make standing the up can create quite a tilt in the vase, so make sure that your vase is secure before you abandon it on the counter!

The tutorial is very simple and can be done with kids of all ages. It is also a healthy alternative to other sweets that you might be inclined to make for Mom . . . not that there is anything wrong with that, but with the push for people to stay away from sugar lately, this is one of those tutorials that does just that!

I hope you have a great Mom in your life like I do, and that you take time to recognize the amazing woman that she is!

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Filed Under: Holiday Baking, No Bake Desserts, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate strawberries, chocolate strawberry bouquet, fruit bouquet, mother's day, mother's day bouquet, strawberry bouquet

Spiderman Cake Pops (Spider-Man)

April 26, 2014 by Jenn

“Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can . . . spins a web . . . something, something . . .”

Obviously I should work on my theme song lyrics before trying to sing them to you.

The new Spiderman movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is coming out in a couple of weeks, and I’m super excited to see it. I think that’s because I spent hours watching the 80’s cartoon version at home with my brother. I’m one of those nostalgic type people who usually prefers the original version over the new, revamped versions of old shows, but in this case, I’m super excited to see the new effects that are worked into the current version! As a kid I always wanted web-shooters, and to be able to climb up buildings to see what was on top. But, instead what I got as an adult is Spider-man cake pops.

These cake pops are a tad bit tedious and will definitely take some time to put together. You may not want to make a 100 of these, but 12 would be manageable. There are a number of other ways to make the web on the mask of the cake pop, but I found the most clean version was to use fondant. You could try it with melted chocolate, but I don’t usually have luck with precision work when it comes to melted chocolate on top of cake pops. I prefer to use that combination when things can be a little messier.

I hope that you find this tutorial workable for your Spiderman project!

“Spiderman, Spiderman,
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size,
Catches thieves just like flies
Look Out!
Here comes the Spiderman. “

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Filed Under: Cake Pops, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: cake pops, Spider-man, spiderman, spiderman cake, spiderman cake pops, the amazing spider man

Inside Out Rainbow Cake

April 23, 2014 by Jenn

Do you have a bunch of leftover jelly beans from an Easter egg hunt? Well, I have the perfect way to use them up! I would love to be able to tell you that I was “using mine up” but, no, I went to the Bulk Barn (I should have frequent flier miles there) and bought all brand new jelly beans for this project.

I absolutely adore this cake. I think that it is beautiful, and the shock value of the inside is second to nothing I have seen. I contemplated using vanilla cake, but I felt the darkness of the chocolate cake really accentuated the bright vibrancy of the buttercreams.

Now, I am a buttercream LOVER, but if you aren’t (what is wrong with you?!) you can make the layers of the buttercream thinner but only making one stripe for each ring. But, if you do that, keep in mind that your cake will not be as shocking when you cut into it. The point of a cake like this is to make it look amazing when it is sliced into . . . and for it to taste amazing!!

I went with an outer colour of white buttercream for the cake to mimic a cloud like appearance . . . did I achieve that!?! Haha. I also think that the white makes a clean slate for the jelly beans to sit on nice and brightly!

I hope you enjoy this cake, I know I loved making it!

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Filed Under: Cakes, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: cake, chocolate cake, how to make a rainbow cake, rainbow, rainbow buttercream, Rainbow cake, rainbow cake recipe

Milk and Cookie Shots with Rainbow Chocolate Chips

April 19, 2014 by Jenn

Gone are my days of doing shooters at the bar . . . hopefully. As I get older, and somewhat wiser, I realize that the three day hangover (that started rearing it’s ugly head after 30) is just not worth it for a couple hours of intoxicated fun. It is now “fun” to stay home on a Friday night and get up early on Saturday morning feeling refreshed. You might as well pass me the Seniors menu.

So, what’s a boring 30-something girl to do for fun on a Friday night? Make Milk and Cookie Shots!

This recipe and procedure took me quite a long time to figure out. I tried making the shots with ice cream cones (fail ..very awkward shape). I tried pressing the dough around the outside of a shot glass (fail…it just fell off and made a puddle). And I tried to shape a piece of tin foil to form the shot around, but again, that was a fail. Basically, there are a lot of ways to be able to make these cookie shots, and you may find a better way for yourself, but this is the only way that I found to be successful each time I made them. With that said, I hope you find my version successful for you!

So if you’re not up for getting wild and crazy, make these next Friday night. You know I’ll be partying on my couch with you!

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Filed Under: Cookies, Other Baked Goodies, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: chocolate chip cookie shots, cookie shot glasses, cookie shots, milk and cookie shots, milk shots

Marbled Easter Cake with Rabbit Peeps and Easter M&M’s

April 17, 2014 by Jenn

Even though we’ve already made a bunch of Easter treats this year, I decided that this cake could NOT wait until next year. It is too cute to risk forgetting about in the file of “ideas” that I keep carefully organized . . . in my head . . . which is like a black hole- ideas are swallowed up, never to be seen again. Perhaps I should work on that.

When I first was practicing this cake, I could only find pink bunnies locally, so the side of the was cute, but it wasn’t as fun as it turned out to be with the multi-coloured bunny Peeps. With that said, if you can only find one colour of bunnies, just go with it. Brightly coloured marshmallows are happy no matter what colour they are!

Marbling a cake creates a beautiful effect inside the cake. In this case, the effect inside is bright, cheery and perfect for an Easter celebration, or a spring party! The neat thing about marbling is that if you change up the colours, you can customize the theme of the cake for any holiday celebration or party that you might be having.

I think this cake would be a fabulous thing to make with kids if you have any . . . borrow some if you don’t! That’s what I like to do. They could be involved in the marbling process and of course the decorating with M&M’s and Peeps!

Happy Easter!

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Filed Under: Cakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: bunny peeps, easter, Easter Cake, easter dessert, M&M's, marbled, marbled cake, marbled easter cake, pastel cake, Peeps, Peeps cake, peeps dessert, spring cake

How to Make Royal Icing Daisy Cupcakes (Spring Cupcakes)

April 11, 2014 by Jenn

I don’t know about the weather where you are, but it has finally (fingers crossed) become SPRING here in Western Canada. To celebrate, Amber and I from SweetAmbs Cookies decided that we would make something “daisy” related on our YouTube channels.

For my tutorial, I decided to go with decorating cupcakes with royal icing daisies of different sizes. I thought that covering one of the cupcakes in mini daisies and having a second cupcake with one large daisy on it would be a spring-like way to put this design together.

Working with royal icing is not something that is too difficult, but it does take some getting used to if you’re just beginning. The most challenging part is learning about getting the consistency of the icing correct so that you don’t end up with flowers or other decorations that are weeping or falling apart. If you need help with making royal icing, or need a recipe, check mine out here. With that said, making these daisies is easier than more complicated flowers (roses etc) because you don’t have to worry too much about consistency. If you go with a stiffer icing, the petals will stand apart better, and if you go with a thinner icing, the petals may meet and blend together, either of which will work for daisies in my opinion.

Definitely take note that these, and any royal icing decorations, will need to have ample drying time. These ones, being that they are relatively thin, will take around 24-48 hours.

Other than learning to work with royal icing, these cupcakes are relatively simple to make, and result in a very pretty finished product. I think they would make a beautiful display if you were thinking of having a daisy wedding theme as well. Imagine all of these cupcakes spread out over a large cupcake stand . . . it would look like a beautiful garden of daisies!

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Filed Under: Cupcakes, Holiday Baking, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: daisy flowers, daisy wedding, how to make royal icing flowers, royal icing, royal icing daisy, royal icing decorations, royal icing flowers, royal icing for cupcakes, SweetAmbs, SweetAmbsCookies, wedding, wedding cake, wedding cupcakes

How to Make a Wedding Cake: Decorating a Wedding Cake (Part 3)

How to Make a Wedding Cake-Baking and Frosting Part One

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Bouquet for Mother’s Day

Spiderman Cake Pops (Spider-Man)

Inside Out Rainbow Cake

Marbled Easter Cake with Rabbit Peeps and Easter M&M’s

How to Make Royal Icing Daisy Cupcakes (Spring Cupcakes)

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