Cake Decorating Tutorials

Oyster Shell Ocean Cake Tutorial

March 15, 2022 By Ashley 2 Comments

I’ve been wanting to make a cake with oyster shells for a while, so while planning tutorial content, I had to put this oyster shell ocean cake tutorial at the top of the list. This tutorial features multiple techniques, including fondant marbling, rice paper waves, wafer paper sea foam, sugar pearls and making and painting realistic gum paste oyster shells.

Supplies:

6″ and 8″ tiers, fully covered in ganache or buttercream

White fondant

White gum paste

Gel Color – brown, gray, black, sky blue

Rolling pin

Silicone mats for rolling fondant and shaping waves

Exacto knife

Prepared gum paste oyster shells

White chocolate, melted

Freeze spray

Piping gel

Craft tweezers, for applying pearls

Marbled Fondant

My goal for the fondant was to create more of a linear marbling, rather than a fully dispersed, swirled mixed marble. For this technique you will need to panel your cake. I start by making the colors of fondant I want to use. I left some fondant white, but colored some ivory with the ivory gel color, nude with just a smidge of brown gel, and light gray with a smidge of black gel. You will need to make a panel for the 6″ tier and the 8″ tier and also the rounds for tops of both tiers.

I rolled out each color into rope shapes and place them tightly together.

Roll the fondant together with your hands to form a long, thick rope. Twist the rope to blend the colors.

Roll the paste into a snail shape.

Stretch and lengthen the snail shape and roll into another longer, thick rope.

Once again, roll the fondant into a snail shape.

Roll the fondant out to fit a 6″ panel. Panel the cake with the fondant, do not cut the excess paste off the top yet. You’ll do this after adding the top panel.

With the leftover marbled fondant from this panel, roll into a rope shape, then into a snail shape.

Flatten the snail shape and roll until about 1/4″. Cut out a 6″ round for the top of the tier.

Place the top panel of the cake. Cut off the excess paste and smooth the fondant and seams with a fondant smoother.

Repeat the steps for the 8″ tier.

While the fondant is still pliable, press sanding sugar and white nonpareils into the the cake in random areas. Don’t add too many, just enough to give the cake some texture.

Rice Paper Waves

Rice paper can be found in most grocery stores, or Asian markets. Rice paper is used for spring rolls. Soaking them in water softens them and makes them pliable. They can be shaped and will become firm once dry. For my waves, I added a small amount of sky blue to a pan filled with room temperature water. Only a small amount of color is absorbed into the rice paper, so color the water a shade or two darker than the shade you’re aiming for. I prepared the shaping forms for my rice paper by wrapping silicone mats around 6″ and 8″ dummy tiers.

Place a sheet of rice paper into the water, making sure it’s fully submerged. Let the paper soak for 20 seconds. Flip the paper over and and let it soak until fully softened.

Remove the rice paper from the water, letting the excess water drip off.

Form the rice paper on the silicone mat, leaving some creases and folds.

Taper the end of the wave a bit. Once you like the shape, leave to dry completely. I made 6 waves total. Reserve the remaining blue water for the wafer sea foam.

Once the waves are dry, use a dry paintbrush and dust the waves with pearl luster dust.

Wafer Paper Sea Foam

To achieve the sea foam look, you will need to fry the wafer paper. This technique is commonly used to make wafer paper lace, but for the foam, the goal to get it to bubble, not to create a lacy texture. I used a standard wafer paper thickness, but you can use what you have on hand. Any will work well for this.

Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat.

While the pan is heating, tear the wafer paper into 4-6 pieces. I used 2 sheets of wafer paper to have a variety of shapes to choose from. You will also be able to shape the wafer paper to the desired size after it has cooled from frying.

Quickly dip the wafer into the reserved blue water and lay it flat into the frying pan. The paper will shrink and bubble. Watch closely to prevent any browning. Reduce the heat a bit if you’re seeing any browning.

Once the paper has bubbled and appears dry, remove the wafer and let it cool on a silicone mat or a piece of parchment paper.

Repeat the steps for the remaining paper.

Sugar Pearls

Make sugar pearls with the gum paste by rolling different size balls. Be sure to keep the pearls one the small side. They tend to look a bit unnatural on the cake if they’re too big. I made about 20-30 pearls to have some extra on hand. When the pearls are dry, place them into a tiptop bag. Sprinkle a little bit of the luster dust into the bag and seal the top. Shake the bag to fully coat the pearls with luster dust.

Oyster Shells

There is a full tutorial for these oyster shells here. There you will find the supplies used, how to make them, and a detailed step by step on how to paint them.

Assembling the Cake

The primary focus to this cake is off to the right hand side. The waves should come off and away from the cake. I used 3 waves per tier. There a few ways to attach rice paper waves to the cake. My favorite way is to attach them at the base of the waves with melted white chocolate and freeze spray. Freeze spray dries the chocolate instantly. No slipping or falling waves.

Tear or shape the wafer sea foam into mid size pieces. You can attach the foam with piping gel and (optional) freeze spray as mentioned above. Attach the foam at the bases of the waves. This will cover the ends of the rice waves but also keep the design a bit more seamless. Overlap the foam pieces so that they don’t look to separated. Think of it as trying to keep the design as seamless as possible.

Place the oyster shells onto the cake. Again, I used melted white chocolate and freeze spray to attach. I place the oyster shells along the bottom tier, along the 6″ tier and at the top of the 6″ tier.

With a set of craft tweezers, attach the sugar pearls with piping gel along the edge of the design in clusters, with a few random pearls being placed an inch or two away from the edge of the design.

If you make a cake using any of the techniques within this oyster shell ocean cake tutorial, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more tutorials, check out these posts:

Still Life Flowers Cake

Gum Paste Oyster Shell Tutorial

March 10, 2022 By Ashley Leave a Comment

I’m super excited to share with you my gum paste oyster shell tutorial. These shells look amazing on a beach/ocean themed cake, and they provide a little bit of elegance to beach/ocean themed wedding cake. Using a mold and petal dusts, these shells take little time to make and they can also be customized for any color scheme.

Supplies:

Oyster shell mold

White gum paste

Flat paint brush

Petal Dusts: Crystal Colors: champagne (cool toned nude) and chocolate (dark warm brown), Sunflower Sugar Art – Spanish moss (cool toned taupe), The Sugar Art – silverbell (mid gray)

Clear alcohol – like Everclear or vodka

Paint palette

Cornstarch, for dusting

Vegetable shortening

Making Oyster Shells

Lightly dust the molds with cornstarch.
Knead the white gum paste with a smidge of shortening until smooth and pliable.
Flatten or roll the gum paste to about 1/4″ thick.
Press the gum paste into the mold, making sure to press firmly to cast all the details of the mold.
Leave the paste thicker at the base of the shell, about 1/2″ from the base of the mold.
Leave the paste in the mold to dry completely. *If you need to make multiple shells, freeze the molds for 15 minutes before removing the shells from the mold. Let them dry as pictured below.

Paint the Oyster Shells

Make paints with the petal dusts by placing individual colors into the paint palette, about 1/8 tsp each. Add clear alcohol to fill the palettes 2/3 of the way full.
Using a medium size flat brush, dust the shell all over with champagne.
Paint random areas as well as the edges with the Spanish moss.
Add some silverbell in random areas, focusing on the crevices and deeper areas of the shell.
Add some chocolate in random areas, focusing on the edges, crevices and deeper areas of the shell.
Dip the paintbrush into some clear alcohol, and dab the brush on the silverbell and chocolate paints to blend the colors.
Keep adding and blending colors until it looks the way you want it to. Let the paint dry completely before painting the underside of the shell.

Paint the underside of the shells

Flip the shells over, underside up.
Paint the inside of the shell with the champagne paint.
Paint the outer edges and towards the base of the shell with Spanish moss.
Paint just a few spots of chocolate, towards the edges and base of the shell.
Dip the brush into some clear alcohol and dab the chocolate paint to blend the color.
Let the shell dry completely.

If you make sugar oyster shells using my gum paste oyster shell tutorial, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more cake tutorials, check out these posts:

Still Life Flowers Cake: Mini Tutorial

February 21, 2022 By Ashley Leave a Comment

One of my biggest inspirations in creating sugar art, is art itself. I’m not limited to any type of art, as I find inspiration in art of all kinds, but I do especially love the Dutch masters paintings of still life, particularly flowers. This cake is inspired by such art. If you check out my portfolio or Instagram feed, you’ll see sugar flower arrangements that I have made based on still life art as well. For my Still Life Flowers cake, I wanted to capture the moodiness of those paintings, as well as the vivid, often haphazard floral arrangement, in a variety of colors.

The Fondant

I started with a charcoal/dark eggplant colored fondant. I made my own marshmallow fondant for this project – Sugar Geek Show’s recipe, with 1 tbsp of black gel color. Within the past couple years or so, I’ve really been on a crusade to have less than perfect fondant for all of my cakes. After creating perfect wedding cakes for so long, I’ve embraced imperfection, which 9.5/10 time is a success. Texture, and imperfection is KEY to art and creating.

So, when making this fondant, I didn’t fully melt the marshmallows. I was curious to see what the texture would be like, and weird as it may be, it didn’t disappoint. It created little pockets that the color couldn’t fully saturate, giving the fondant a rough, sort of concrete-like texture when applied to the cake. And so I went with it.

Coloring the fondant

As for the color, many brands of black gel food color tend to have either a green or purple undertone, and I chose one with a purple undertone to achieve the color. To give the tiers a vignette look, I brushed along the bottom and top edges of each tier with a mixture of eggplant, charcoal, and black petal dusts.

Texturing with Stencils

For more texture, and to impart a filigree-like design for a little elegance, I used a stencil and black royal icing. I stenciled each tier, only about 1/2-2/3 of the way around, and alternated which side I stenciled to give the tiers a staggered look. I didn’t perfectly stencil the tiers, I left some gaps and sort of trailed off the stenciling so it didn’t end so abruptly. If you’re unsure about the direction a design is going, proceed with the design as planned, but do it with intention. It makes all the difference.

Placing the Flowers

Once the stenciling was dry, I placed the flowers. I wanted the floral arrangement to be a bit off kilter on the cake. I knew the floral arrangement would be the star, but still wanted the stenciling and bas relief (more on that soon), to really show as well.

I always start with the largest and heaviest sugar flowers first – the peony and David Austin type rose. It’s good to do this so that you can really anchor and secure them in the cake. Placing these flowers also act as a lead for placement for the remaining flowers.

Arranging Sugar Flowers

Then I placed the mid-size one off flowers – the anemone, ranunculus and rose. I only made one of each and wanted them to be seen. Then I placed the iris’, one placed within the arrangement off to the side, then one coming up off the top of the arrangement. I placed the chocolate cosmos – check out my post on chocolate cosmos for a FULL TUTORIAL for those. I added the sugar apricots to the lower left, and the blackberries and blossoms to fill any unflattering negative space.

Lastly one of my favorite additions to any floral arrangement, adding floral components that appear to come off from the cake or give the arrangement any movement. I added some vines with some small leaves and blossoms to give the arrangement some whimsy and flow. I decided not to add any additional leaves and chose to just focus on the flowers for this cake.

Still Life Flowers Cake Finishing Touches

Often times, I will add final cake details after I add the florals, so that those details flow with, or are accentuated by the arrangement. I used the same fondant I used to cover my cakes and some floral moulds I had on hand to create some shallow bas relief. I placed the bas relief around the florals, taking care to not make each tier look too similar. I had no plan for adding the bas relief. I just added it where I thought it would look nice. Avoid symmetry when placing them.

To accentuate the bas relief, I dusted them with a little bit of bronze petal dust. I like how it sort of ages the bas relief and gives it more of an antique look. I totally love the bronze on black and feel like I need to revisit this look in the future on another cake.

So there you have it, a mini tutorial on how I made this cake. If you make a cake using any of the techniques within this Still Life Flowers tutorial, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more tutorials, check out these posts:

Halloween Rice Paper Ghost Tutorial

Bloody Rose Halloween Cake Tutorial + Edible Fake Blood Recipe

October 26, 2021 By Ashley 2 Comments

Black ganache is magical. Ganache, in general, has great texture – you can make it as smooth or as textured as you like, but this black ganache looks so striking that it is certainly a statement on its own. Inky black and easy to work with, black ganache is a perfect backdrop for this simple bloody rose Halloween cake.

edible fake blood splattered rose and black ganache cake

About this cake

Though this cake is simple, it is meant to make a statement. I can imagine a cake like this being served at a wedding, or an elevated Halloween party. Looking just beautiful enough, until you realize the damage inflicted on this cake – a bloody spray. Maybe a wedding gone horribly wrong? Or a dinner party that ended on deadly terms?

This cake is was fun to make. I have been wanting to make this cake for a while now. I chose to go with a simple, but elegant, large white rose. I made this rose out of gum paste, as well as the stem. I’ve been loving the look of the exposed stem look on cakes, and I wanted this cake to be simple enough with one stemmed rose. You can also do this with a real or silk rose as well.

Black Ganache

Making black ganache requires adding black gel food coloring to the cream before adding it to dark chocolate. The cream should look dark grey. The ganache gets this super inky black once it is mixed. Leave the ganache to deepen in color and come to a peanut butter consistency, ideal for frosting a cake. You can see the texture on this cake, and depth, which can be hard to achieved with fondant.

The best way to texture the ganache:

Apply a thick coat of ganache and let it firm up until just tacky.
Add an additional layer of ganache, then scrape off the excess with a bench scraper or offset spatula. Let the second layer firm up a bit.
Repeat the steps until you are happy with the texture.

close up of edible fake blood splattered gum paste rose

Securing the rose to the cake

The rose and the stem are two separate pieces. Gum paste flowers are too heavy to be supported by just the stem against the cake.

The stem is made with floral wire, wrapped in thin strips of paper towel, then wrapped with floral tape to bulk it up and make it thicker like a real stem.

I added thorns to my stem with gum paste and smoothed them out to blend into the stem.

Secure the stem against the cake with a small piece of bent wire.

Insert the flower into the cake above the stem, letting it overhang the side of the cake to make it look like it is one full flower.

I added a few gum paste rose leaves to fill out the space a little more.

Edible Fake Blood

In order to get a realistic blood spray look, the fake blood needs to resemble the viscosity and texture, similar to chocolate for a drip cake . Too watery and it will absorb into the flower, and, no pun intended, bleed. Too thick and it won’t look like a spray. It will be thick and splotchy. Making the edible fake blood allows you to control the texture, and you likely have the ingredients on hand. You need red and purple gel food color, cocoa powder, corn syrup, water and cornstarch. I wanted the blood to look darker, with a tad bit of purple as a nod to the real deal. I’ve included the recipe below.

side view of black ganache cake with edible fake splattered gum paste rose

Spraying the edible blood

It took me a bit to figure out the best way to spray the fake blood for the effect I was going for. I placed a trifold poster board around my cake and lined my countertop with paper towels. Put on an old shirt, just in case you get back splatter. Then I dipped a large stiffer paintbrush (reserved for my sugar projects) in the “blood” and flicked it at the cake.

I stood back a couple feet before flicking the paint brush to create the spray. The part of the cake closest to you will the most of the spray, but the little flecks that ended up on the cake itself looked awesome and I was happy with the results.

I love this morbid cake. Spooky season is my jam.

If you make this bloody rose Halloween cake, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more Halloween tutorials, check out these posts:

Halloween Wafer Paper Mummy Cake Tutorial

Easy Halloween Ghost Sugar Cookies

Halloween Sprinkles Cakesicles

Print Recipe

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Edible Fake Blood Recipe

Prep Time10 mins

Total Time10 mins

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
3-5 drops red gel food color
1-2 drops purple gel food color
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1-2 teaspoons water

Instructions

Whisk together the cocoa powder and cornstarch.
Whisk in the water, followed by the red gel, purple gel, and corn syrup.
Add any more color if necessary.
To make it thicker, add a little bit of cornstarch or cocoa powder.
To make it more opaque, add more cornstarch.
Too thick, add a little bit of water.
The fake edible blood should be smooth in texture and have the viscosity of maple syrup, chocolate for a drip cake.

Halloween Cakesicles

October 22, 2021 By Ashley Leave a Comment

Do you have left over cake or cupcakes? Repurpose them and make these Halloween cakesicles. I made these super cute, easy, and yummy Halloween cakesicles with some left over red velvet cupcakes. These cakesicles are perfect for decorating with the kiddos or as a dessert for a Halloween party.

black and white Halloween cakesicles decorated with orange chocolate drizzle and Halloween sprinkles

What is a cakesicle?

Cakesicles are perfect for using any left over cake or cupcakes you have on hand. They’re similar to a cake pops but typically made in a popsicle mold, consisting of a cake/frosting mixture coated in chocolate. They can be decorated any way you like and they’re super easy to make. I think cakesicles are easier to make than cake pops because these are made with a mold.

Cakesicles are fun to make, can be customized any way you like, and are super kid-friendly.

chocolate lined cakesicle mold with red velvet cake and buttercream mixture in the molds

Choosing the Chocolate Coating

The best chocolate to use both for ease and coloring, is coating chocolate or candy melts. Be sure to find a good quality coating chocolate, one you like the taste of. I like to use Ghirardelli brand because it’s easy for me to find, but also because I think their white melting wafers taste better than ones you can typically find at craft stores.

You can use either candy color (oil based) or you can use powdered food color. I used powdered color by The Sugar Art to color both the black and orange chocolate.

close up of white cakesicle with orange chocolate drizzle and Halloween sprinkles with a fondant bat

How to make Halloween Cakesicles

Cakesicle molds can be purchased at many craft stores, or online. I recommend getting 2-3 molds especially if you plan on making more cakesicles in the future.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave just until melted in 30 second increments.

Stir in candy color or powder color while the chocolate is still warm.

Using a clean paintbrush (one specifically for food, or a pastry brush) paint a layer of chocolate into the molds.

close up view of black cakesicle with Halloween sprinkles and sugar pumpkin

Pop the mold into the freezer for two minutes to harden.

Paint another layer of chocolate and freeze for another two minutes. If using light colors, like white, I usually paint a third layer, and I did with these so the red velvet wouldn’t peek through.

I made 8 cakesicles total , and used 3-4 cupcakes. I added just enough frosting so that the cake mixture *just* held together, no more than a couple tablespoons.

Add a little frosting at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. You should be able to lightly squeeze the dough together in your hand and it stays together but isn’t wet or soggy.

close up of black cakesicle drizzled with orange chocolate with Halloween sprinkles and sugar pumpkin

Place a heaping tablespoon of cake mixture into the mold, or more depending on the size of your moulds. Mine are fairly small. You want to leave 1/8′-1/4″ space on top for more chocolate coating.

Insert a popsicle stick through the mold into the cake mixture and top with more chocolate to fully fill the mold and cover the cake. Use an offset spatula to scrape off any excess chocolate.

Freeze for 3-5 minutes before removing the cakesicles from the mold. Carefully peel away the mold from the cakesicle to not break the chocolate or loosen the stick. Drizzle each with orange chocolate and top with Halloween sprinkles. I used the Monster Mashup sprinkle mix from Sprinkle Pop.
I used a silicone bat mold and black fondant to make the fondant bats.

cakesicles lined up, alternating white and black with orange chocolate drizzle and Halloween sprinkles

If you make these Halloween cakesicles, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more Halloween tutorials, check out these posts:

Halloween Rice Paper Ghosts Tutorial

Halloween Wafer Paper Mummy Cake Tutorial

Easy Halloween Ghost Cookies

Black Cocoa Cut Out Sugar Cookies + Decorated Jack O Lantern Cookies

Easy Watercolor Flowers Cake Tutorial

August 31, 2021 By Ashley Leave a Comment

If you’ve seen any of my cake tutorials, you know that I love using stamps on cakes. You can stamp outlines, or create impressions with stamps and can feature a wide variety of techniques. My easy watercolor flowers cake features techniques like watercolor painting, royal icing detail, impressing fondant and more that is easy, quick to decorate and perfect for all skill levels. If you’re like me and you have shaky hands, or can’t paint freehand to save your life, then this tutorial is for you.

Stamps and Cake Decorating

I used square tiers for this cake and paneled them. It’s much easier to impress fondant before it is on the cake. This allows you to make an even impression and lessons the risk of stamping too hard and ripping the fondant. You can use any stamps you prefer. I always tend to use floral stamps, particularly from Iron Orchid Designs. I use these all the time. They’re durable, food safe, and super high quality. The stamp I use is called Peonies by IOD, but use any stamp that you love.

The Bottom Tier

To make the coral color fondant, I used Americolor orange and electric pink in a 2:1 ratio. I dusted sugar peonies to match. Firmly impress the tier with the stamp, but not too hard that the stamp pushes through the fondant. To define the lines and design, I used a soft gold luster dust mixed with Everclear alcohol to paint in the impressed lines.

Watercolor Painting

The part I love about watercolor painting is that there is not right or wrong way to do it. I used gel food color – the same Americolor orange and electric pink that I used for the fondant as well as Americolor gold (yellow) for the center of the peonies. I mixed the colors with alcohol to make a thin, liquid-y paint. The goal is to add color gradually, so you do want to aim for a more watery, not too pigmented paint. I alternated between the orange and pink, layering color, until I was happy with the results. For the best results, leave some parts of the watercolor flowers light, some darker. Variation looks this best for this design. For the center of the flowers, I used the gold/yellow watercolor, and a bit of the orange watercolor paint.

Royal Icing Outline

To really emphasize the stamped detail, I outlined the stamp lines with royal icing. Don’t try to make the lines perfect. Keep them a bit messy and ragged looking. I think this makes them look a bit more realistic rather than sharp and perfect piping. This technique is perfect for non-pipers or inexperienced pipers. When the royal icing dried, I used the same soft gold luster dust and alcohol that I used for the bottom tier to paint over the lines. Again, if the paint is uneven or messy, totally ok and fits this style of cake.

To finish the cake, I added some coral colored peonies and buds.

If you use this easy watercolor flowers cake tutorial, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more cake tutorials, check out these posts:

Halloween Mummy Cake Tutorial

Halloween Rice Paper Ghosts Tutorial

October 20, 2020 By Ashley 7 Comments

Rice paper sails are super popular on cakes these days. Understandably so, as they really add a lot of movement and an ethereal feel to a cake design. If you haven’t used rice paper for cake decorating, you may have still heard of rice paper elsewhere – perhaps in the form spring rolls. For this tutorial, the same rice paper used to make spring rolls will be used to make these translucent Halloween ghosts. Luckily, rice paper can be found in most grocery stores and is fairly inexpensive. These Halloween rice paper ghosts are really easy to make, are a super cute addition on Halloween cakes and cupcakes, and and require very few supplies.

Supplies

–rice paper

-a small spray bottle filled with cold water

-non-stick mats/silicone mats

–black edible marker

-styrofoam cake dummy

-straight pins

-lollipop sticks

–clear isomalt

About rice paper

Rice paper is easy to shape when wet, becoming stretchy and a bit sticky, and dries hard. Rice paper is commonly used in making rice paper sails for cakes, which is a similar technique, but shaped different. Usually, when making rice paper sails, the rice paper is submerged into water for a bit to thoroughly saturate it before shaping it. I find that method makes the paper too wet and more prone to ripping. With my method, the paper is moistened little by little until it’s pliable, and easy to shape.

stretchy rice paper ready to be shaped into ghosts

How to make rice paper ghosts

Lay a piece of rice paper onto the mat. Spray the paper with water, using your hand to rub the water into the paper to soften it and help the paper absorb the water.
Flip the paper over and repeat. Keep flipping the paper and spraying with water until it is a bit elastic, softened and you can no longer see any texture.

shaping rice paper ghosts on a non stick mat

Carefully lift the rice paper from the mat.
Shape the paper into a ghost-like shape back onto the mat, tapering off the top and bottom but leaving the center wider to appear more billowy. You can also shape some so that just the bottom tapers, leaving the rest of the ghost billowy.
Leave the ghosts to dry until they holds their shape but are still a bit pliable, about 4-6 hours.

I wanted some of the ghosts to have some movement and curve slightly, sort of like they’re flying, so while they’re still pliable, the ghosts can be shaped.

Curve the ghost around a foam cake dummy in the desired shape. Stabilize the shape by securing the ghost with pins. Let the ghost dry completely, overnight.

shaping the semi dry rice paper ghosts on foam to give them a curved shape

Attaching the ghosts to the cake

When the ghosts have dried, usually 8 hours, preferably overnight, they can be decorated. They should be hard, like plastic, with no damp spots. I kept my ghosts super simple by drawing on eyes and an open mouth with a black edible marker. You can definitely get as detailed as you like. For more depth and for the ghosts to stand out a little better, you can use a gray colored petal dust to dust in the crevices of the ghost.

To attach the ghosts to the cake, I used clear isomalt attached to paper lollipop sticks adhered to the back of the ghosts. This makes the ghosts more stable and secure and also allows them to have more of a 3D look, sort of popping off the cake a bit.

After heating the isomalt according to packaged instructions, dip the end of a lollipop stick to coat. Be careful when working with isomalt as it is incredibly hot.

Adhere the isomalt stick to the back of the ghost, preferably where the paper bunches, to make the stick less visible from the front of the ghost.

Hold the stick in place to dry a bit, then leave the isomalt to cool completely.

When the isomalt has cooled, attach the ghosts to the cake by inserting the lollipop sticks into the cake. I recommend inserting them into a cold cake because they will be much more secure, and less prone to falling out or sinking. I overlapped my ghosts and have them facing alternating directions.

I hope you find loads of creative ways to use these super cute, super easy Halloween rice paper ghosts. If you make these ghosts, tag me on Instagram. I’d love to see them!

Ash xx

For more Halloween tutorials, check out these posts:

Halloween Wafer Paper Mummy Cake Tutorial

Black Cocoa Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Halloween Sprinkles Cakesicles

Easy Halloween Ghost Sugar Cookies

Halloween Wafer Paper Mummy Cake Tutorial

October 16, 2020 By Ashley Leave a Comment

Not only is this Halloween wafer paper mummy cake is super cute, it is also super easy to make, only requiring a few supplies. Even kiddos can help make this cake. This mummy cake is perfect to impress your guests for any Halloween event.

wafer paper mummy cake with fondant eyes

Supplies:

3 tier cake (I used 6×5, 8×5 and 10×5 tiers), stacked and covered in white/off-white fondant

Fondant: bright green, white and black (alternatively, modeling chocolate will work here too) – I used Satin Ice

Circle cutters: 1 1/2″ (38mm), 1″ (25mm), 5/8″ (16mm)

Piping tip #3 OR piping tip #4

Wafer paper

Piping gel

Plastic Wrap/clingfilm

Light brown petal dust ( I used Spanish Moss)

Dusting brush

Small brush for piping gel

cutting out white fondant with circle cutters for the eyes

Making mummy eyes

I opted to go with more of a cartoonish look for my mummy eyes. Super creepy eyes would also be fun here. To make the eyes, you need a few different size round cutters, as well as black, white and green fondant. Plastic wrap is also needed. This helps to make the eyes have more rounded edges and more of a puffed look.

Roll the white fondant out to 1/4″ thick. Lay the plastic wrap over the fondant. Cut out two rounds with the largest, 1 1/2″ cutter over the plastic wrap. Set aside.

Roll the green fondant out to 1/4″ thick. Lay the plastic wrap over the fondant. Cut out two rounds with the medium sized, 1″ cutter over the plastic wrap.

Brush the back of the green circles with a small amount of piping gel. Place the green circles onto the white rounds. I placed mine on randomly.

Roll the black fondant out to 1/4″ thick. Lay the plastic wrap over the fondant. Cut out two rounds with the smallest, 5/8″ cutter over the plastic wrap.

Brush the back of the black circles with a small amount of piping gel. Place circles onto the green rounds. Again, I placed mine sort of randomly.

Thinly roll out some white paste. Use a piping tip size 3 or 4 to cut out 2-3 small circles for each eye. One of the circles goes on the black round, or pupil, and the others are placed the randomly on the green part. Use just a tiny amount of piping gel to attach.

With a dusting brush, lightly dust brown petal dust over the white parts of the eye. Add very little at a time. You want just a little bit of color.

Now, the black background for the eyes needs to be placed on the cake before attaching the eyes.

Cut out a section of fondant in the center of the middle tier, that is just a little bit bigger than the size of the eyes.
Roll out some black fondant the same thickness as the fondant on your cake, and place into the hole. Cut off any overhanging black fondant.

The idea here is to make the black fondant flush with the cake, rather than adding an additional layer of fondant on top. Adding an additional layer makes it look a bit too bulky and the black will show more through the wafer paper more once they’re attached.

Brush the back of the eyes with piping gel and place them onto the black fondant.

Wafer Paper Strips

I’ll admit, I thought this part of the cake was going to take me a while. But once the strips are cut and dusted, it takes no time to put them on the cake.

Cut the strips on the long side of the wafer paper with a pair of scissors, cutting them from 1/2″ to 1″. I didn’t measure my strips at all so no need to be exact, nor do they need to be perfectly straight. No worries if the wafer rips, or is damaged in any way – use it! I used 15-20 wafer sheets for my strips, but this amount will vary from person to person.

close up photos of the eyes on the finished cake

Assembling the mummy cake

With a dusting brush, on the rough side of the wafer paper, lightly dust random areas of the strips with the light brown petal dust. Make sure to keep a variety from strip to strip. You don’t want them to all look the same. I kept my dusting pretty light, but if you’re wanting more of an aged, deeper, darker and dirty mummy, use a darker shade of brown petal dust (or 2) to dust on the strips as well.

I tried to hide most of the ends of the wafer strips, so it has more of a wrapped look, and doesn’t look so segmented.

Tuck the ends of the strips as you place them onto the cake. You can definitely keep some of the ends revealed as I did in some areas. Also note that you do not have to cover every inch of the fondant. A few areas peeking through is no big deal. It still blends in and looks cohesive.
Once all the strips are on the cake, go back with your dusting brush and add some more color to the strips if you would like. Also, dust over the exposed fondant so that it blends in more with the wafer paper.

side view of completed cake showing eye and wafer strips detail

Some notes on serving

Wafer paper is edible, but people don’t generally want to eat it. It’s dry and tasteless, like, well, paper. It’s also a bit of a pain to try to cut through. Before serving this cake, I recommend removing the wafer as you slice and serve it. Also, because wafer paper is easily effected by humidity and water, I would not refrigerate this cake once it’s done. Add the wafer just before delivering the cake if it is for a client or friend.

I hope you guys love this super cute Halloween wafer paper mummy cake like I do! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below or on social. If you make this cake, tag me on Instagram – I would LOVE to see it!

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more Halloween themed tutorials, check out these posts:

Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies + Decorated Pumpkins Tutorial

Easy Halloween Ghost Sugar Cookies

Halloween Rice Paper Ghosts Tutorial

Bloody Rose Halloween Cake Tutorial + Edible Fake Blood Recipe

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

September 3, 2020 By Ashley 8 Comments

I’ll admit, piping techniques on cakes are not my strongest skill set. I can pipe all sorts of borders, sure, but any sort of piped design, lambeth techniques or flowers, count me out. I’m most definitely a work in progress with those techniques, but with this cake, I discovered a piping technique that I love. Not only is it easy, but it doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect. A little whimsy is preferred here. This easy floral piped royal icing cake is easier than you think and the options with this technique are endless.

Supplies

Fondant covered cakes (My cakes are 6×5, 8×5, 10×5 and 12×5)

Royal icing – stiff and piping consistencies, either white or light yellow

Edible gold dust

Clear high proof alcohol, or clear extract

Fine detail paint brush

#2 piping tips

Piping bags

Edible marker

Ascending bead mould

Variety of petal cutters – your preference (I used peony cutters)

Circle cutters (I used 1/2″ and 1″ cutters)

Plotting out the space for the piping and the beading designs

Before creating the flower design and piping, measure the out the space where the piping, and the bead design will go.

For the 6″, measure 3 1/2″ across the middle of the tier with a ruler, and used an edible black marker to make a small mark the middle, at 1 3/4″. Use the marker to then draw a little line at 0 and 3 1/2″. Now the top tier will be the guide on centering all of the other tiers. You can see an example of my lines in the upper right corner of the photo below.

For the 8″, place the ruler up to the center mark on the 6″, vertically, so that the ruler is straight up and down against the 8″ tier as well. Mark a small dot on the fondant to note the center of the 8″. Place the ruler horizontally onto the 8″ tier now, placing the ruler on the center dot at 2 1/4″. Place another small dot at 0 and 4 1/2″.

Repeat the same process for the 10″ tier, marking small spots with the marker at the center at 2 3/4, and on either side at 0 and 5 1/2.

Repeat the same process for the 12″ tier, marking small spots with the marker at the center of 3 1/4″, and on either side a 0 and 6 1/2″

The center mark keeps the design centered down each tier, and the marks to either side indicate the size space of the design, and also indicates where the bead design will go.

Impressing the cake with petal cutters

I decided to use (2) peony petal cutters to make the general floral pattern. I wanted to use the peony petals to match the large peony that I created for the floral topper arrangement. I also like the frilliness of the petals. You can use any cutters that you prefer. Note that the fondant on your cake to still be soft enough to be able to make an impression. In addition to using the peony cutters, I used (2) small circle cutters as well to indicate the flower centers.

Impress the flower centers first. Use a light hand, and only just make a faint outline. Place a full flower here and there if you wish, but make it look more organic by only impressing parts of flowers. Be sure to cover the center mark with the flowers, but do not impress beyond the two outer lines on the tier. Remember, this is where the beaded design will go.

Floral piped royal icing

Once you have made the faint petal impressions, prepare your piping bags for the floral piped royal icing technique. Make one icing bag with piping consistency royal icing, and another with stiff royal icing. Set the stiff bag aside, and fit the piping consistency bag with a #2 tip. Outline the flower petals with the piping royal icing. Add extra frills to the edges if you like, just remember it doesn’t have to be perfect. If you make a mistake, use a toothpick to scrape off the icing. Make some veining lines in the centers of each flower petal, coming from the center of the petal or from the outer edge. Be sure to not overlap the side lines. Stay within the designated area or you will be scraping off dry royal icing later.

After piping the flower petals, pipe the centers. Fit the stiff royal icing piping bag with a #2 piping tip. Pipe little dots in the centers. Go beyond the circle to create more imperfect circles. Overlap some of the dots to give the center a bit more of a pop and some depth. Let all the piping dry completely before painting.

How to make the beading effect

An ascending drop string of beads mould is needed to make the beading. You can find them at Michael’s Craft Store and Iron Orchid Designs (find a retailer near you, or a retailer online on their website – the Acanthus mould). I used the IOD mould for this cake. The string of beads on this mould are exactly 5″ so I used one full string on each tier, on either side of the piping, to create a straight line on both sides. Make (2) for each tier, and let dry for 10 minutes so they’re not too soft. Adhere the beads to the cake with water, in ascending order, with the largest bead at the bottom of the cake tier.

Design the rest of the beaded design on a silicone mat so that you have a guide, and can make them all identical. Since the moulds are going to be a bit different depending on what mould you have, it’s best to use the photos in this post as a guide to make them as similar as possible.

Painting the royal icing

Create a gold paint by adding alcohol to the gold dust until a thick paint forms. You don’t want this too thin, as it could drip and won’t have much coverage, but not too thick, that clumps of gold are left behind. You can also use Edible Arts gold paints as a substitute. Use a fine paintbrush to carefully paint the royal icing.

So, this is a do as I say, not do as I do sort of moment. I painted the gold BEFORE adding the beads. Oof. Spare yourself the mess of gold dust flake off, by painting the icing gold AFTER adding the beads.

Finishing touches

Leave the cake as it is, in its elegant simplicity, or with a sugar flower arrangement on top, as I did. To get remove any excess flour from the fondant or any random gold dust, lightly steam the cake with a steamer. You don’t want the fondant to appear wet or get warm, so just a little bit of steam will do the trick. The tutorial for my peony featured on this cake is listed below.

I hope you love this tutorial as much as I have loved creating it. Any questions, be sure to leave them below or DM me on Instagram. If you use any of these techniques in this floral piped royal icing cake, I’d LOVE to see your creations. Tag me on Instagram!

Ash xx

For more cake decorating tutorials, check out these posts: