Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Something In White

     Have you ever thought of something and were unable to get it out of your mind?  Well, that is exactly how it was with these two cakes.  I visited Sweet Creations by Stephanie.  When I seen her fondant dahlia tutorial and the resulting dahlia, I just knew I wanted to make and use them on a cake.  So, I began making the dahlias, using Stephanie's tutorial.  I went with white.  By the time I had the sugarpaste kneaded, I knew I was going to use silver dragees for the centers.  I made 9.

     I covered  12", 10", 8", 6", and 4" rounds with fondant.  Then, I rolled out fondant and cut 3/4"x18" wide strips, dampened with gum glue and folded over 1/4".  I applied the strips overlapping from the bottom up for 3 rows then from the top down for three rows.  A 2 1/2" strip was cut and dampened along both edges, folded over 1/4" on both edges.  The strip was then applied along the center to hide the edges and provide a 4th pleat.  The stylized dahlias were attached to the center of the band of pleats. This was done on the 12", 8", and 4" tiers.

     The 10", and 6" tiers got stenciled with pearlized silver lustre dust using this technique,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH6YEUu6YAI&feature=related, except doing it on the actual tier sides.


The next idea came as I was stenciling the dahlia cake. 
12",10", 8", 6", and 4" fondant covered tiers were used.  Sugarpaste was rolled out quite thin and trimmed on all 4 sides with the finished width being 8"(The length really doesn't matter).  Using the same lustre dust stenciling technique in link above, this time doing it just as done in video...not on the tier, I stenciled the sugarpaste with pearlized silver lustre dust using a scroll stencil.  Using this tool http://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=18438&name=FMM%20Textured%20Lace%20Set%203, I embossed and cut both edges of the 8"width.  Then, the sugarpaste was cut, using the little notches between the embossed scallops as a guide.  Then, cut the width in half so that there were 4" long strips with a scallop at one end.  These strips were placed over the small, Wilton flower former  set with the stenciling facing outward.  This tutorial will give you a visual on it.  While the strips dried, I started on the roses.  I used the Jem rose cutters, sizes 80 and 100, and the largest teardrop cutter, along with the technique shown in this video (it's part one of 6 parts so be sure to watch all 6).  I placed all of the largest petals in large soup spoons to dry.  The next day, make more of the largest rose petals and allow them to rest on the large soup spoons while assembling the remainder of the cake. Attach curved strips to sides of tiers using gumglue (royal icing may be used but you may wind up having to clean up any overage).  Attach the largest rose petals that were made the day before on the side of the upper tier.  Use the largest petals made the day of along the lower portion of the rose (the recently made ones won't be so brittle that they break and they'll be flexible enough to slightly drape/have a more natural looking limp over the edge of the lower tier).  Attach several rows, placing the petals of the next row so they are not directly on top of the preceeding petals.  Insert rose made the previous day in center.  I decided to use the giant roses as the focal flowers after seeing the incredibly gorgeous one made by Ron Ben-Israel.


2 comments:

  1. Greetings from www.lenascakes.com

    beautiful cake creation! and thanks for the tutorial.

    cheers,
    Lena

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Lena.
    Thanks! I've benefitted from so many shared tutorials. I'm just payin' it forward.

    All the best to you!

    Jeanne

    ReplyDelete

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