Hurry Up, Cakes! » Cake Decorations

Making Metallic Cakes and Decorations

Pix — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:08:48 +0000

Looking for a way to create silver coloring or other metallics on cakes? Look no further than edible pearl dust. Whether you’re looking for something glittery, or an all-out realistic metal finish, these cool little vials of powder will do the trick.

The key to painting pearl dust onto cake decorations is a hard surface. Fondant icing works best, along with gum paste decorations. Buttercream may be used if a very firm crust has formed, and in that case, I would not recommend going for the ultra-shiny metallic finish, as it involves adding liquid, and that can be the death of buttercream. A very careful dusting of the powder is about the best one could hope for in that case.

When using fondant, you have two choices: Dry Powder, or Liquid Metallic. Begin with a fondant surface that has rested long enough to be dry.

White fondant before metallic effect

If you brush dry powder on your fondant (as shown on the top strip of fondant in the example below), you will end up with a glittery finish featuring the color of your choice (I used silver here). You can see that the base fondant color still shows through when using this method.

To achieve the opaque metallic look featured on the bottom strip of fondant, mix a good amount of the pearl dust with a drop or two of lemon juice, vodka, or clear vanilla. Use your paint brush to apply the color to your decorations.

Above: Pearl Dust brushed on fondant Below: Pearl Dust Mixed with Lemon Juice

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Coloring Fondant

Pix — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:43:12 +0000

Adding food coloring to fondant is a simple, albeit messy, process. My first suggestion is to wear rubber gloves unless you’d like to end up with purple hands! My second suggestion is to use gel coloring instead of liquid food coloring. Fondant can become very sticky, and using a gel instead of a liquid helps to keep the fondant as solid as possible.

Coloring Fondant with Gel Icing Color

Kneading the Food Coloring into the Fondant

Fondant finished and ready for use

Begin by covering your workspace in powdered sugar. This will help keep the fondant from sticking to your work surface (and your hands). The next step is to add a small amount of gel color to the fondant. The easiest way to do this is to dip a toothpick into the color of your choice and then swipe the toothpick along the fondant. Less is more when you begin adding the color; you can always add more later if you desire a darker color, but it’s not always easy to “de-sticky” your fondant when it becomes too wet. Knead the fondant thoroughly until you have achieved the color you want.

Let the fondant rest for about an hour before using so that it will harden a bit, and you’re ready to go!

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Gumdrop Decorations

Pfoinkle — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:58:10 +0000

Gumdrop cake decorations.

I’m working on a cake design that requires decorations — sparkly decorations. I was wondering what to use when I remembered flipping through a 1960s cookbook that included information about “rolling out” gumdrops. Time to experiment.

Turns out working with gumdrops is simple… albeit sticky. Very, very sticky.

Supplies You’ll Need

Assortment of gumdrops (or similar candies such as “spearmint leaves”)
Rolling Pin
Sugar
Assortment of fondant or cookie cutters

Simple Cake Borders (Piping Buttercream)

Pfoinkle — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:27:34 +0000

There are going to be cakes on this site that require “piping” borders using a stiff buttercream icing. ”Piping” uses a pastry bag filled with buttercream and an attached “tip” that makes different shapes and different styles of borders.

If you’ve never used a pastry bag before, it can be a bit intimidating… but it really (truly) is simple once you know the basics.

Here’s a link to a YouTube video that demonstrates how to add a tip to a pastry bag, how to fill it, and how to pipe a few simple borders. The only caution I will offer about this video is that the first several times you fill a pastry bag, it will be a lot messier than the delightful woman in the video makes it look. Go slow, make it as neat as you can, but don’t worry if you end up with buttercream frosting in your hair. Great art is often messy.

Once you understand how to fill a pastry bag and insert a tip, you might enjoy this video from CakeGenie on piping ten different buttercream borders with one tip.

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Sugar Decorations for Cakes and Cupcakes

Pfoinkle — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:14:17 +0000

Pressed Sugar Decorations

Creating edible sugar decorations for cakes and cupcakes is a simple way to dress up a cake with very little work and very little cost.

Whether you use colored sugar or plain white sugar, your cakes will love these pressed decorations — and all you need is sugar, water, and a variety of cutters. And this project is simple enough that kids will love joining in on the messy fun.

Pressed Sugar Decorations Supplies

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. water
Large pinch of meringue powder (completely optional)
Parchment paper or wax paper
Cookie cutters, fondant cutters, candy molds, or general household items (i.e., glassware) for cutting sugar shapes.

About the meringue powder: it really is optional. Meringue powder makes the hard sugar decorations stronger, but unless you plan on making scads of decorations and storing them (or making intricate candy mold decorations that require additional handling because you wish to decorate them with icing), don’t worry about the meringue.

About the cutters: Fondant or cookie cutters and candy molds are the most convenient items to create sugar decorations. However, I’ve also used bottle caps, glassware (the rim of a champagne flute is a perfect cutter), measuring spoons, and just about anything in my kitchen that I thought would make an interesting shape.

Step-by-Step instructions for Sugar Cake Decorations

Sugar Consistency

Place sugar, water, and meringue (if used) in a bowl. Mix with finger until consistency is like damp sand. The sugar should clump together and hold an impression.

Pat down sugar.

Place a pile of sugar on the parchment paper and pat it down to the thickness you want the decoration to be. You can use just your fingers, but I like using the flat side of a bottle cap (see picture).

Place cutter in sugar.

Place your cutter of choice in the sugar and press down.

Slide cutter across table.

Keep cutter flat on parchment paper and carefully slide it away from the patted down sugar.

Lift cutter.

Carefully lift cutter away from sugar (lifting straight up). If the sugar remains in the cutter, lower the cutter to barely above the parchment paper and lightly tap the side of the cutter until the sugar shape falls out.

Within 10-15 minutes you can handle the hard sugar decorations, but allow them to dry for at least an hour before attaching them to a cake (attach pieces by placing a small amount of frosting on the back of the decoration and pressing it into the cake).

How to Use Candy Molds to Make Sugar Decorations

Using candy molds for sugar decorations.

Press sugar mixture into candy mold.
Scrape off excess with flat straight edge (e.g., the back of a knife, or, as in the picture, the edge of a shish kabob skewer).
Carefully turn mold over. If sugar mixture doesn’t fall out, gently tap mold.
Decorate with colored icing.

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How to Color Sugar

Pfoinkle — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:58:22 +0000

If the price of colored sugar has ever stopped you from adding a bit of sparkle and fun to your cakes and cookies, here’s an easy and inexpensive way to add a wide range of colored sugars to your arsenal of decorating accessories.

Supplies

“zip close” plastic bags
granulated sugar
liquid food coloring

Place desired amount of sugar (I usually start with 1/2 cup) in a plastic bag and add desired number of drops of liquid food coloring (I use McCormick’s). Zip bag closed and “massage” bag to distribute color.

Once color is distributed, if the sugar color is too light, add more food coloring. If the color is too dark, add more sugar.

Allow sugar to dry thoroughly before using. For darker colors (which require more liquid coloring), drying time might be as much as 24 hours.

Yes, you can substitute gel coloring for the liquid. However, I strongly prefer the liquid because I find it easier to mix in with the sugar and because it’s easier to “measure” and therefore duplicate. Whenever I make a bag of colored sugar, I write the number of drops of each color used — that way I can recreate the color whenever needed.

See the color chart at the end of this article for color “recipes” to get you started making your own (inexpensive) sugar rainbow.

Colored Sugar Cubes

How to Color Sugar Cubes

Colored sugar cubes are a fun way to dress up a tea party or accent a cake, but coloring sugar cubes can be quite challenging.

Challenging, but not impossible.

All you need to make colored sugar cubes is a bag of freshly colored granulated sugar (before it has had time to dry) and sugar cubes. Add five or six sugar cubes to the bag of colored sugar and gently shake back and forth.

The cubes will absorb color from the damp sugar. Colored sugar cubes will always be several shades lighter than the granulated sugar color, so choose colors darker than what you want for the final color. If you have heavily colored sugar, you can leave the cubes in the bag to absorb more color.

Colored Powdered Sugar

Coloring powdered sugar… now that’s a tall order. Powdered sugar likes to isolate food coloring (liquid or gel) in a protective little ball of powdered sugar that will not disperse through the rest of the sugar. To break up that little ball you might try placing the whole mess in a food processor or a blender, but I’ve had the most success with a good old-fashioned sifter.

Place the sugar in the sifter, add food coloring, and sift. Dump the once-sifted sugar back in the sifter and re-sift. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat some more.

In my opinion, it’s a tedious messy process and the end result is less than satisfying. But don’t let me stop you from making a mess in your own kitchen.

Color Chart

Here are some color recipes to get you started on making your own rainbow of decorating sugars. Unless otherwise specified, food coloring was mixed with 1/2 cup of sugar.

Reds
If there’s one color of tinted sugar that’s worth the price of buying pre-colored, it’s bright red. You can get close by adding a lot (and I do mean a lot) of red coloring (liquid or gel), but I’ve come to the conclusion that bright red is worth the cost of purchase.
Light Red 11 1 drop red	Med. Red 12 10 drops red	Med. Red 13 15 drops red
Red 14 50 drops red	Red 15 Wilton Red (~1/2 pot)

Oranges
From Halloween orange to pastel peach, a nice variety of oranges are pretty easy to achieve with liquid coloring. If you don’t see the orange you want, try mixing up your own by combining reds and yellows in different amounts.
Lt. Orange 16 3 drops red 2 drops yellow	Med. Orange 17 8 drops red 4 drops yellow	Orange 18 20 drops red 4 drops yellow

Yellows
You can achieve pastel to lemon yellows just by varying the amount of yellow coloring you use. But if you want a warmer golden yellow, trying adding a drop of red per ten drops of yellow.
Lt. Yellow 21 1 drop yellow	Med. Yellow 22 5 drops yellow	Yellow 23 20 drops yellow
Golden Yellow 24 10 drops yellow 1 drop red

Greens
Whether you’re seeking out a bright bright green or a soft moss green, you can find it with liquid coloring. To “soften” greens, try adding red, one drop at a time.
Lt. Green 25 1 drop green	Med. Green 26 5 drops green	Green 27 10 drops green
Yellow Green 28 10 drops green 10 drops yellow	Moss Green 29 5 drops green 3 drops red	Dk. Moss Green 210 8 drops green 5 drops red 5 drops yellow
Lime Green 211 1 drop green 10 drops yellow

Blues
It’s easy to have summer skies and tranquil seas with just a bit of food coloring blue (and a drop of red or maybe green). However, Navy Blue is a tough order, so that’s one you might put on your “purchase” list.

Lt. Blue 31 1 drops blue	Med. Blue 32 5 drops blue	Blue 33 10 drops blue
Aqua 34 1 drop blue 1 drop green	Grey Blue 35 10 drops blue 3 drops red	Dk. Blue Green 36 20 drops blue 2 drops yellow
Dark Blue 37 20 drops blue 2 drops black 2 drops red

Purples, Dusty Rose
Because true red is difficult to achieve, so is a really lovely purple. The NEON (see below) McCormick colors have a decent purple and I recommend starting there. However, if you only have the standard McCormick colors on hands, here are some recipes for a range of purples.
Lt. Purple 41 10 drops red 4 drops blue	Dk. Purple 42 1 cup sugar 4 drops red 2 drops blue	Lt. Dusty Rose 43 1 cup sugar 8 drops red 2 drops blue 1 drop yellow
Dusty Rose 44 16 drops red 1 drop blue 1 drop yellow

Browns, Black
You can make a couple of shades of brown sugar by adding cocoa, but when you don’t want to add the cocoa flavor to the cake you’re decorating, you can use the chart below to make a range of browns with food coloring. Since McCormick has introduced black food coloring, you might think it’s a bit silly to include a color recipe for “black”. However, if you just add the McCormick black food coloring to sugar, you’ll soon discover that you have very dark green sugar — but toss in a few drops of red and suddenly you have a believable black.
Beach Sand 46 2 drops red 1 drop green 1 drop yellow	Earth Brown 47 10 drops red 7 drops green 4 drops yellow	Med. Cocoa 48 20 drops red 10 drops green 4 drops yellow
Black 45 1 tsp. black 10 drops red

McCormick Neons
The following colors are all made with McCormick’s “Neons”. On their own, the neons are truly bright, but when you start mixing them, they lose a lot of their brilliance. However, I find the neons worth the purchase for the purple. Much better than the red and blue of the standard food coloring as a starting place for a variety of purples.

Neon Blue 51 5 drops neon blue	Neon Green 53 5 drops neon green	Lt. Neon Pink 54 1 drop neon pink
Neon Pink 55 5 drops neon pink	Lt. Neon Purple 56 1 drop neon purple	Neon Purple 57 5 drops neon purple
Neon Maroon 58 10 drops neon pink 1 drop neon green 1 drop neon blue	Christmas Green 59 5 drops neon green 5 drops neon blue 1 drop neon purple

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How to Color Frosting

Pfoinkle — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:12:17 +0000

When I bake and decorate a cake, I’m happiest when I don’t have to make a run to a “specialty store” for supplies. Usually, if I can’t get it at my local grocery store, I figure I don’t really need it (whatever “it” may be).

Liquid Food Coloring

McCormick's Food Coloring

I make one exception and that’s with the food coloring I use in frostings. The food colorings readily available in most U.S. groceries are McCormick’s squat plastic squeeze bottles with their pointy gnome caps. The McCormick’s food coloring is liquid, convenient, and great for many purposes, but not for getting brilliant vivid colors in a big batch of buttercream.

It’s not that liquid food coloring is bad, it’s that it’s liquid. Buttercream frostings are very sensitive to the addition of liquid and the amount of liquid coloring you would need to color a full batch of frosting would spoil the consistency of the frosting.

Gel Food Coloring

Wilton's Icing Colors

So for this one supply, I make a special trip to my local Michaels (yes, the big chain arts and crafts store) and pick up some Wilton’s Icing Colors. These food colors are a concentrated gel formula that allow you to achieve bright colors without thinning your frosting.

And they’re super easy to use — just start with a small amount added to prepared frosting and mix thoroughly. If the color isn’t dark enough or vivid enough, add (in steps) until you achieve the desired color. Some colors (blue) require less gel than others (red) to get to a full rich color. Until you’re familiar with using Wilton’s Icing Colors, start slow, add small amounts, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

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Hurry Up, Cakes! » Cake Decorations

Making Metallic Cakes and Decorations

Coloring Fondant

Gumdrop Decorations

Supplies You’ll Need

Simple Cake Borders (Piping Buttercream)

Sugar Decorations for Cakes and Cupcakes

Pressed Sugar Decorations Supplies

Step-by-Step instructions for Sugar Cake Decorations

How to Use Candy Molds to Make Sugar Decorations

How to Color Sugar

Supplies

How to Color Sugar Cubes

Colored Powdered Sugar

Color Chart

Reds

Oranges

Yellows

Greens

Blues

Purples, Dusty Rose

Browns, Black

McCormick Neons

How to Color Frosting

Liquid Food Coloring

Gel Food Coloring