Step by step homemade baking recipes
Today I’m showing you how to make a S’mores Cake! Layers of graham cracker cake, chocolate cake, marshmallow buttercream, marshmallow meringue (marshmallow fluff) and chocolate ganache make up this epic cake!
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Today Jenn Johns (that’s me!), shows you how to make a Geode Cake! A geode cake is a cake with a large carved indentation filled with graduated blue crystals. What puts this cake decorating tutorial over the top is the use of 100% edible gold leaf! This type of design has become super popular over the last year and I have had so many requests to make my version of it.
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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.
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.
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!
For this cake you don’t need to have a special pan. Though that would have been funny . . . “Here’s how you make a heart shaped cake. Take you heart shaped cake pan….” Annnnnnnnnd….CUT! Video done.
I have a sad sense of humour.
But seriously, this is a really easy way to make a heart shaped cake without the special pan. Collecting all of the awesome shaped pans is a storage nightmare. I recently just sold over 20 shaped character pans because seriously, when am I going to use those and they take up SO much room! I saved a couple of my favourites though to make a couple videos with.
The strawberries on top of this cake add a beautiful pop of red to the cake, and I love the white/red contrasting colours. You could use any fruit though and I think it would still look beautiful. It would also make for a great wedding cake and you could theme the fruit with the colours of the wedding party! The possibilities are endless.
The New Year brings about a change from 2012 Wedding Cake trends (elegant, classic, and bold) to brand new 2013 trends! When it comes to organizing a wedding, choosing the cake for the special day can be one of the most exciting planning events! I’ve been decorating cakes for a while now, and I think that these are the trends we will see this year!
Vintage
Paying homage to era’s past, wedding cakes will be showing muted colours, ruffles and lace. Lace on wedding cakes will dominate 2013 styles as embellishments, edging and overall icing design. Mimicking bridal dresses including corsets, ruffles and lace details, will be also be very popular and will be seen accented with jewels and bling!
Mint
Mint green made a start in 2012, and it’s popularity will continue to grow in 2013. Cupcakes and cakes coloured mint, with matching elaborations will be popular on cake tables this year. Pairing the colour mint with the flavour, chocolate cakes filled with mint buttercream will create the perfect match.
Extravagant flavours
Pairing sweet and salty flavours together, such as peanut butter and chocolate are breaking the traditional vanilla. Salted caramel filling and buttercream is very popular and pairs well with both chocolate and vanilla. How does bacon sound in your cake? For a groom’s cake, it is becoming very popular, showing appreciation to the men in the reception. Looking for something lighter? Try lemon lavender . . . lemon buttercream paired with lavender buttercream.
Patterns- Bold, Bright and Beautiful!
Patterns such as chevrons, stripes, and circles will be a popular 2013 style. Bold, clean patterns with bright accents, flowers and ribbons will compliment basic white coverings, and standout as serious statement pieces.
Tall Tiers
Cakes in 2013 will be tall . . . the taller the better! Tall tiers (six inches in height) with multiple tiers (four and five levels) will create cakes that will dwarf cakes of years past. These prominent tiers will create a memorable site for all to see.
For more information on cake design and a free consultation, send me an email over at my business site . . . JJ’s Custom Cakery!
