Craftsy: Basic Fondant Techniques - with Elisa Strauss

I recently was introduced to this great site Craftsy. It is seriously one of coolest sites I have ever seen for those of us who love to craft. It shares videos, tutorials, patterns, projects and supplies for just about every topic you can think of from paper crafts, photography, embroidery, quilting and my favorite CAKE DECORATING! I can't believe I am just now discovering this site! This would have been extremely helpful when I first became interested in cake decorating about 4 years ago.

One of the amazing features of this site is there are online videos with professional cake decorators who provide step-by-step instructions for all kinds of cake techniques from making buttercream, to crumb coating a cake to covering cakes in fondant and even specialty techniques like piping, sugar flowers and sculpted cakes.  I could literally sit at my computer all day watching these very informative videos. I am a hands on visual learner so this site is perfect for helping me learn cake techniques at my own pace. One of the coolest parts about this site are that a lot of the videos are absolutely free! There are also online classes that you can pay for and then will have access to all sorts of new cake techniques and trends.

As you know from my blog I love to bake and decorate cupcakes and cookies and small sweets mainly. But secretly I would love to learn how to decorate all those gorgeous 3 tier cakes you see all over blogs that are absolutely stunning, show amazing detail and are covered in fondant. Fondant, is the one thing that is a little "scary" to me about cake decorating. I love working with fondant when it comes to adding extra small details to cakes and cupcakes, but covering an entire cake, let alone a tiered cake in fondant is something that although I have done a handful of times, I still have a lot to learn. I just can never seem to get my fondant rolled out to the correct diameter, and get it around the cake smoothly without a little bunching around the bottom.  But through the Craftsy site, I watched  Elisa Strauss, the owner of Confetti Cakes, video on Basic Fondant Techniques and she really helped clear up a few areas that I always seemed to have trouble with when covering a cake in fondant. I love the idea of being able to watch a video while at the same time performing the technique that is being explained. When I originally learned about decorating cakes with fondant I was in a class setting with an instructor and 10 other people and it was only a 2 hour class once a week for a month. So it was a very small amount of time with limited help to really grasp the concept and feel confident in my work. However, knowing that these videos are available online for me to watch at any time, and I can stop and pause them as I go is absolutely perfect.

Here are a few pictures of cakes from the Craftsy site using different fondant techniques.

I hope you will check out the details to this amazing and informative online class for Basic Fondant Techniques. I highly encourage you to enroll in this class as well as other classes provided. Elisa really does an amazing job of sharing tips for how to use fondant, color fondant, and to easily cover a round and square cake. After watching this video it really made me excited and not so intimidated to try to cover a cake in fondant again. These videos are a great learning tool because you can stop them while you work and they are available to access over and over.

So what are you waiting for, head on over Craftsy and be prepared to stay awhile because I was absolutely hooked on my first visit to the site and sat a few hours watching videos! I can't wait to continue to learn more cake decorating techniques through this amazing online community!

Twins Gender Reveal Party - Sneak Peak

It was a crazy busy weekend, but oh so much fun celebrating my little guy's 1st birthday with family and friends! As you know I was tempting you every day last week with sneak peaks of his party theme and decorations, and I'm sure you were hoping I'd be back this week to share all the fun details! Unfortunately, you all are going to have to wait just a little bit longer because between myself and my sister I've got hundreds of photos to sort through and narrow down in order to get the blog post together...which will probably turn into multiple posts so there aren't 100 pictures in one post!

So today, I wanted to share with you all another sneak peak of a Twins Gender Reveal party I recently got to make desserts for. If you follow me on Instagram then you may have already caught a few behind the scenes pics of the cakes I made and even revealed the genders. If you don't follow me on Instagram then follow me now and you can go through my photos until you find the pictures of these cakes if you absolutely cannot wait for the next post...and you will see a few of Sam's 1st birthday party pics too! I know you all are probably sick of all the sneak peaks and just want me to get to the good stuff, but this keeps you all coming back right? So here are a few quick pictures of what are quite possibly some of my all time favorite cakes I have made! When I heard the theme of the party was Owl Related "Look Whoo's Having Two" I was so excited because I've made little fondant owl cupcake toppers before and just knew they would be perfect as cake toppers too!

I coordinated the cake decorations and other desserts with my friend Jennifer who was in charge of all the party decorations for the dessert table! I love the party colors Jennifer and the mama to be picked and think these cakes turned out so fun!

The full dessert display and party decorations are coming up soon and you won't want to miss it!

Navy & Pink Wedding Sweets

Earlier this month my good friend Molly got married. My obsession for baking and cake decorating all started a few years ago after Molly and I took our first Wilton Cake Decorating class together! Since then I've enjoyed developing new recipes and trying new decorating techniques. For Molly's wedding shower I created some fondant monogram cupcake toppers in her wedding colors of pink & navy to showcase her soon to be new last name "Spain".

Molly had asked me soon after she became engaged if I would make her wedding cake and cupcakes for her special day since she knew how much I enjoyed baking. After thinking long and hard about taking on this huge commitment, I had to turn her down though. The reason being b/c by the time her wedding rolled around I would be 37-weeks pregnant and not sure of how I would feel baking and decorating. Or would the little one make an early arrival and leave me in the hospital in labor during the weekend of her wedding...what a nightmare that would have been! So instead of baking I told Molly I would help with decorating her wedding sweets!

Molly came up with the idea of cupcake flags to top her cupcakes, so I found some fun pink & navy paper stock and she supplied 10 different words and phrases that she wanted included on the flags.

I made 100 cupcake flags to embellish their wedding cupcakes.

In addition to the flags Molly wanted me to add some navy fondant petals around the tiers of her wedding cake. She had a local bakery in Mobile bake her wedding cake and then I added the finishing touches. I was a little nervous about doing this at first, after arriving to the reception location and seeing a beautifully decorated white wedding cake standing tall, was afraid to touch it. I made sure with Molly's mom and sister-in-law before I started adding the fondant petals that Molly really wanted me to add these decorations. I have never added decorations to a cake that someone else baked before so I was a little worried I would mess something up.

The petals turned out fine though, just like the picture Molly had supplied for me to reference. And lucky for me, I got to see a sneak peak of the bride before the ceremony while I was there decorating!

Here's a picture of me with my 37 week pregnant belly and the beautiful bride to be, Molly!

Congratulations Molly & Keith! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness!

Bow Tie Cupcake Toppers

Bow Tie Baby Boy shower themes seem to be a new trend these days! I was so excited when my friend Hannah contacted me about making some bow tie cupcakes for her sister's baby shower! She sent me the shower invite for color inspiration and I absolutely fell in love! I think it's because her colors for the shower featured some of the same colors...green, blue and orange that we are currently decorating our nursery in for the arrival of our little boy in just over a month!

Unfortunately I didn't snap photos of the step-by-step process of making these bow ties but the they are super simple.

Bow Tie Supplies:

-fondant (tinted in the colors of your choice)
-a 1.5" square cutter
-a round cutter (I used the end of a decorating tip)
-a Pastry Wheel
-fondant roller & cutting mat
-paint brush
-water

1.Tint fondant desired colors.
2.Roll out colored fondant using fondant roller on cutting mat.
3.Use 1.5" square cutter to cut out square shapes.
4.Use your pastry wheel to cut diagonally through your square shapes to make an "X". This will create 4 triangles within the square and give you 2 bow tie shapes.
5.Pull apart the triangle shapes opposite each other to use for a single bow tie.
6.Place triangle shapes tip to tip with a little space in between.
7.Cut out your round fondant shapes to create the center of the bow tie.
8.Using a small dab of water and your paint brush place water on the triangle tips of each bow tie and place the round circle on top. Allow to try overnight.
9.Once fondant bow ties have hardened then place on top of cupcakes.

If you want to create some custom bow ties with different patterns such as stripes or polka dots then start by rolling out white fondant and making the bow ties following the steps above. To paint designs on them you will need a little vodka, color gel and a paint brush. Put a small dab of color gel on a paper plate and add the tiniest drop of vodka to the color and mix with your paint brush. Then start drawing your patterns on the bow ties. The vodka/gel mixture will dry overnight and you will have some super cute bow ties!

I was thrilled with how these turned out and just couldn't help snatching a ton of pictures! Hope you enjoy! I definitely think I'll be using the bow tie theme sometime in the near future with a party theme for our little boy!

Birthday Cupcakes with Cookies on Top

Happy Monday! Sorry there have been a lack of posts lately...things have been a little hectic these days, but I'm trying to get back into a regular routine of posting again, so please bare with me! I've been doing a lot of baking for customers lately so I've got some fun things to share throughout the week!

First up are some birthday cupcakes topped with sugar cookies and X box fondant toppers. Tracy, one of my loyal customers was the brains behind the idea of cookie toppers for her husband's birthday cupcakes...I mean why not have two sweat treats all in one! Loved this idea, and will definitely be making cookie toppers again!

Red Velvet cupcakes w/ cream cheese frosting, topped with white iced sugar cookies and "32" for the birthday age.

Strawberry cupcakes w/ strawberry cream cheese frosting, topped with red iced sugar cookies and "ML" for the birthday boy's initials.

Two special cupcakes were topped with black fondant X box controllers, one of the recipient's favorite hobbies.

When it comes to more masculine designs I sure am glad to have my husband around. I have to give him about 90% of the credit for creating these controllers! I gave him a picture to reference and he went to town molding the shape...pretty good huh! All I did was supervise and make the colored buttons!

Hope you enjoyed this birthday cupcake & cookie collection!
More birthday treats coming soon...

Fondant Animal Cupcake Toppers

Lately I've been getting a lot of requests for kid themed birthday or baby shower parties! I must admit these are some of my favorite events to bake and decorate for. There are just so many cute ideas out there and inspiration can come from anywhere, a t-shirt, invitation, toy, fabric, etc. I created these fondant animal cupcake toppers for a boy themed baby shower inspired by the bedding for the nursery. I am thrilled with how the entire collection turned out.

Mr. Elephant...my favorite!

Here's Mr. Monkey! (or a bear according to my husband)

The Lion (or tiger, again according to my husband)

Mr. Giraffe...these are my next favorite!

And finally the Zebra!

I also made monogram "G" toppers for the babies name "Gage".

In addition to chocolate and vanilla cupcakes I made a small carrot cake for the mother-to-be to take home and share with her hubby after the baby shower!

Hope you enjoyed this fondant animal collection!

Tutorial: How to make Fondant Owl Cupcake Toppers

Owls seem to be popping up everywhere these days in party decor for baby showers and kids birthday parties. One of my friend's has even chosen an owl print for her soon to be baby boy's crib bedding. There are so many fun interpretations I have seen around the web for owl cookies, cakes, cake pops and invitations in an array of colors from pinks/greens, blue/browns, and even shades of purple. I just love how cute these little creatures are when recreated with sugar! So this weekend I finally got a chance to put my own spin on the owl theme when asked to make some baby shower cupcakes. Using the baby shower invite as inspiration I decided to make some fondant owl cupcake toppers that I think turned out absolutely adorable!

You too can make these fondant owls in a matter of minutes with a few shades of colored fondant and some different shaped cutters. Let me show you how with this step-by-step photo tutorial!

First you will need to tint fondant to your desired colors. This shower was for a baby girl so pink was my dominant color. Feel free to switch things up with blues, greens, purples, etc.

Here's the breakdown on the colors for my owls:

Dark Pink = owl body
Light Pink = wings
Orange = feet & nose
White = eyes & circular base for fondant topper
Black = eyes

You will need to following tools:
-2 5/8" round cutter (mine is from this set)
-set of 3 round cutters: small, medium, large
-leaf cutter
-Wilton round tip #12
-Wilton curved tip #81
-rolling pin
-offset spatula
-small cup of water
-paint brush

A few notes:
-Once you have rolled out the fondant and cut out the shapes I find it is easiest to use an offset spatula to slide underneath the shapes and lift them up when moving to create the owl shape.
-If you are making a large quantity of owls it is easier to set up an assembly line and make all of the same shapes first then move on to the next shape, rather than making each owl individually. Once you have all your shapes made then go back and assemble all the pieces.
-As you start to assemble you may notice that your fondant has started to harden and dry some, if this happens then use a small paint brush and dip in a cup of water and gently apply water on the pieces you need to assemble. Using a dab of water will help all pieces of the owl stick together and harden together.

Roll out some white fondant and cut a circle using the 2 5/8" cutter.

This circle will be the base of your fondant topper that you will place the owl on top of.

Roll out some Dark Pink fondant and cut with the large circle cutter.

This shape is the base of your owl body.

Take the medium circle cutter and cut out a small notch from the top of the circle.

This creates a curved shape for the head of the owl and the pointy ears.

Place the body of the owl on top of the white fondant circle.

Roll out some light pink fondant and use the leaf cutter to make the wings.

Place the wings on the sides of the owl body. It's starting to take shape!

Roll out some white fondant and using the small round cutter make the owl eyes.

Roll out some black fondant and using tip #12 make the inside of the owl eyes.

Your owl can now see! Only a few more steps...

Roll out some orange fondant and use the small round cutter to make a circle. Cut the circle in half with the offset spatula to create the feet.

Place the feet underneath the owl's body with the curved side touching the belly. Cut a small triangle nose from the orange fondant using the offset spatula.

One more step...feathers! Grab tip #81.

Place the curve side of the tip down into the belly of the owl so it make a "U" shape. Gently press the tip into the fondant and make some feathers. I did a row of 2, a row of 3 and another row of 2.

HOORAY! The owl is now complete!

So what do you think...pretty close replica to the invite?

Allow the fondant toppers to harden overnight and then place on top of your iced cupcakes! These owls can be made days in advance of your party as well if you don't want to be overwhelmed making decorations and baking all at the same time. If you do decide to make them in advance be sure NOT to put them in a tupperware container as the fondant will tend to soften and melt and all your hard work will be ruined.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! If you decide to make your own fondant owls I'd love to see them so email me pictures or post on the CIS Facebook page.

Have a great week!