cake decorating

Cake Decorating Texture Tutorial: Dry Dusting, Stenciling and Sponge Painting Techniques

June 21, 2022 By Ashley Leave a Comment

Some of the best decorated cakes that I have made start with just a basic idea of color scheme, and a theme, or vibe that the cake is meant to convey. I pictured bold, vibrant colors of purple and magenta, with soft complimentary tones for the florals of this cake, with colors of teal, green, blue and burgundy for the cake itself. In this cake decorating texture tutorial, I show you how I made this cake with various mediums and techniques, such as dry dusting, stenciling, and sponge painting to create an aged, textured, and unique cake.

Florals

For this cake, I worked backwards, designing the florals first. I wanted bold, vibrant colors mixed in with softer, tones. Mixing the bold with the soft gives the arrangements depth and allows the eye to see the flowers individually rather than a mass of dark/vibrant color. I’ve included anemones, ranunculus (a favorite of mine), butterfly ranunculus, moth orchids, blossoms and yellow and green leaves.

Textured Fondant

This is the perfect opportunity to use any dried out or cracked fondant. Mixing dried fondant in with fresh or soft fondant will give the cake texture, with splits and visible cracks. I didn’t have much dried fondant on hand, but I used what I had. For additional texture, I used rolled up, then flattened out aluminum foil and pushed it into the cake in random spots on the sides and top of each tier.

Dry Dusting and Layering Color

Dry dusting color onto a cake is all about blending and layering color. Choose colors that look good when blending, taking care to not choose ones that will result in a muddy look. I choose a teal color, navy blue, moss green, olive green, and dark burgundy for accents. Be sure that your dusts are food safe, not just non-toxic so that your cake is safe to eat.

Start with the color that will be the foundational color of your cake. For this cake, I chose teal. So I used a large blush brush (one I use for food only), and dusted the cake tiers. There is no perfect way to do this. Dust heavier in some areas, lighter than others. Repeat with the rest of the colors, overlapping and blending color, except for the burgundy. That is an accent color to be used last.

Once you’ve dry dusted the cake, it should look pretty close to how you want the end result to look. The next couple techniques will darken it a bit and also blend the color a bit more.

Dust small areas with the burgundy dust. I focused on the top and lower edges the most. Use just a little bit a time to build the color and blend. You don’t want super dark areas of burgundy. This color is meant to darken areas and also give more shadow to the cake.

Stenciling

To add even more texture and a bit of elegance to the cake, I stenciled areas of the cake on alternating sides of the tiers. This also doesn’t need to look neat or perfect. I used royal icing for the stencil so that it would dry completely. The stenciling needs to be dry before continuing to dust and sponge paint. I can’t recall where I got the stencil I used for this cake, but this one is pretty close to the same design.

Gold Accents and Sponge Painting

With leftover color from dusting, I mixed in a few drops of high proof alcohol to make a thick paint. Using a cosmetic sponge, lightly paint areas on the cake, focusing in emphasizing already darker areas and also the top and bottom edges.

For the gold accent color, I mixed together gold dust with a little bit of bronze dust. I also used a cosmetic sponge for this, and dry dusted the gold/bronze mixture over the stencil. I chose to dry sponge paint the gold so that it color was more patchy, spaced out and subtle.

At this point, the dusting and painting is done, but you can always go back and dust more color to darken it up or change the color in some areas. Keep adding and blending color to your liking.

If you make a cake using any of the techniques within this 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:

Oyster Shell Ocean Cake Tutorial

Still Life Flowers Cake

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

Under the Sea Cake Tutorial

Almond Peach Biscoff Cake with Dulcey Faux Meringue Buttercream

May 23, 2022 By Ashley Leave a Comment

There’s a quite a few flavor components to this cake and it was so hard to actually figure out what to name this cake. Multiple flavors that make a balanced, and super delicious cake. My almond peach Biscoff cake with Dulcey faux meringue buttercream is made up of buttery, tender almond cake, filled with caramelized peaches, Biscoff cookie almond streusel, and roasted white chocolate (Dulcey) faux meringue buttercream. It’s out of this world delicious and a must bake for cake lovers.

Almond Cake

The almond flavor in this cake comes from almond extract. Very little, only 1 teaspoon is used in this recipe because almond extract is can be very strong. The small amount of extract in this cake gives just enough flavor without being overpowering or too artificial tasting.

Both white and brown sugars are used in this recipe. I added a bit of brown sugar to give the cake more depth and more of a caramel flavor. This almond cake is super tender, moist and fluffy.

Caramelized Peaches

I made both a peach compote and caramelized peaches for this cake, to see which one I preferred. The caramelized peaches won, hands down. Loads more flavor than a compote. Sauté fresh sliced peaches with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until tender and caramelized. Let the peaches cool to room temperature before assembling the cake.

The peaches can be refrigerated once cooled, but note that some of the butter will solidify again. Let the peaches come to room temperature, then give them a good stir. Now they are ready to use.

Almond Biscoff Streusel

I love adding crunchy elements to cakes. It adds texture to otherwise soft cake and soft fillings. I love Biscoff cookies, so I obviously needed to make a streusel with them. Biscoff crumbs, melted butter, brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and sliced almonds are mixed to together, and baked for 8 minutes until fragrant and light golden brown. It’s hard to see if the streusel has reached golden brown, but you should be able to tell by looking at the almonds. Don’t over bake as the almonds can burn quite quickly.

Dulcey Faux Meringue Buttercream

So happy to introduce faux meringue buttercream to the blog today. It’s like Swiss or Italian meringue, without actually having to heat up egg whites or make a sugar syrup. For this recipe, pasteurized carton egg whites are used. These are safe to eat out of the carton. The whites are whipped with powdered sugar until thick, followed by softened butter, then whipped until light and fluffy. Melted Dulcey chocolate is then poured in and beaten on low speed until fully combined. This buttercream is much faster and easier than traditional meringue style buttercream. It’s also a lot sweeter, making it sort of like an American/meringue buttercream hybrid.

Dulcey chocolate is white chocolate that has been slowly heated and caramelized. It turns golden brown and has a deep nutty, caramelized flavor. It’s incredibly yummy. For this recipe, I used Valrhona Blonde Dulcey chocolate bars, but you can roast white chocolate in the oven if you aren’t able to source Dulcey.

If you make this almond peach Biscoff cake with Dulcey faux meringue buttercream, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more delicious cake recipes, check out these posts:

Milk and Cookies Cake

Smoked Old Fashioned Cocktail Layer Cake

Chocolate Hazelnut Praline Cake

Champagne Strawberry Truffle Cake

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Almond Peach Biscoff Cake with Dulcey Faux Meringue Buttercream

Tender almond cake filled with caramelized peaches, Biscoff almond streusel and roasted white chocolate (dulcey) faux meringue buttercream

Prep Time40 mins

Cook Time40 mins

Assembly30 mins

Total Time1 hr 50 mins

Course: Dessert

Keyword: almond cake, biscoff almond streusel, cake, caramelized peaches, dulcey, faux meringue buttercream

Servings: or 3 – 8″ cakes

Equipment

Ingredients

Almond Cake

14 ounces (397g) cake flour
10 ounces (284g) granulated sugar
4 ounces (113g) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces (340g) whole milk
3 ounces (85g) canola oil
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

Caramelized Peaches

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 cups (340g) fresh peaches, peeled and thinly sliced About 4 medium sized peaches
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Almond Biscoff Streusel

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup (64g) Biscoff cookie crumbs
⅓ cup (40g) all purpose flour
⅓ cup (28g) sliced almonds

Dulcey Faux Meringue Buttercream

8 ounces dulcey chocolate ( I used Valrhona Blond Dulcey bars)
¾ cup (170g) pasteurized egg whites
4½ cups (568g) powdered sugar
3 cups (678g) unsalted butter, softened and cubed
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Almond Cake

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the cake pans. You can use 3-8" pans for a 3 layer cake, or 2 -8" pans, then torte in half, for a 4 layer cake. Brush the bottoms and sides of your cake pans with melted butter. Line the bottoms and sides with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cake flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, mix for 1 minute to combine.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and almond extract.
With the mixer on low-medium speed, add in the softened butter pieces, one or two pieces at a time. Mix until the mixture resembles cornmeal. You should be able to gather a bit in your hand, squeeze and you have a solid piece. This means the butter is evenly distributed.
With the mixer still on low, stream in the whole milk and mix until the flour mixture is *just* moistened. The batter will be super thick.
Pour the remaining milk into the measuring cup with the eggs, oil, vanilla, and almond.
Turn the mixer speed to medium (4 or 6) and beat for *2-3 full* minutes. The mixture should be whipped, thick, and lighter in color.
Stop the mixer. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is properly mixed.
Turn the mixer speed on low, add the eggs, oil, milk, vanilla, and almond mixture in three parts, scraping down the bowl after each addition has been mixed in.
Give the bowl a final scrape and mix with a spatula. Evenly divide the batter among the prepared pans.
Bake the layers for 30-40 minutes for 3 pans, 40-50 minutes for 2 pans. Start checking the cake at 30-35 minutes to test for doneness. Cakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, and the top of the cake feels springy and set when touched. Leave the oven on for the streusel.
Tap each cake pan firmly against the counter to remove excess steam. If your cakes dome at all, use a clean kitchen towel to gently push the domes down. Cool the cakes for 15 minutes in the pans.
Run a palette or butter knife around the cakes in their pans before turning them out to cool completely on cooling racks.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

Caramelized Peaches

In a skillet over medium-low heat, combine the butter and brown sugar and cook until melted and bubbling.
Add the peaches, lemon juice, salt, and cinnamon to the skillet.
Cook until the peaches have softened, and the sauce has thickened slightly, about 6-8 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Almond Biscoff Streusel

Line a small cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, about 30-45 seconds.
Whisk in the brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
Add the Biscoff cookie crumbs and flour to the bowl and stir to coat.
Stir in the sliced almonds.
Pour the streusel onto the parchment paper in an even layer.
Bake for 8 minutes. Let the cool completely.

Dulcey Faux Meringue Buttercream

Finely chop the dulcey chocolate, and place it in a microwave-safe bowl.
Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating.
Let the melted chocolate cool until it is completely room temperature.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the pasturized egg whites and powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until combined.
Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and mix for 6-8 minutes.
Turn the speed down to medium-low and add the butter, a few pieces at a time.
Add the salt and vanilla. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Turn up the speed to medium and beat the buttercream for 10 minutes. It might look curdled at first, but keep mixing, it will come together to become creamy and smooth.
Add the room temperature melted chocolate and mix on low until completely combined.

Assembly

Work with chilled cake layers. Using a long serrated knife torte the layers, cutting them evenly in half. You will have four cake layers total. The tops of the cakes will be the center two layers of your cake. If you made your cake in 3 pans, skip this step.
Put one of the cake layers, cut side up onto an 8" cake board or directly onto a cake stand.
Spread a thin, even layer of the butter on the cake layer with an offset spatula. Pipe a rim (or dam) of buttercream around the edge of the cake layer.
Spread 1/3 of the peaches over the cake layer.
Sprinkle the almond Biscoff streusel on top of the peaches. Pat into place.
Spread about one cup of the buttercream on top of the curd/crumble using an offset spatula to evenly distribute the buttercream.
Place the second cake layer on top, top up, and press down gently so that the layer is adhered to the buttercream. Repeat steps 3-6.
Place the third cake layer on top, top up, and press down gently so that the layer is adhered to the buttercream. Repeat steps 3-6.
Place final cake layer on top and frost with the remaining buttercream. Chill for 30 minutes.
Cut into slices and serve.

Notes

Cake layers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days, and frozen up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before using.

Buttercream can be refrigerated for up to a week, or frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before using. Let fridge-cold buttercream come to room temperature on the countertop. Mix on low speed to recombine the buttercream and smooth out the texture.

Fully frosted cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

It can be refrigerated for up to 3, fully frosted, before it starts to dry out.

Once cut, it will last in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Buttercream recipe adapted from Lauren Kitchens.

Milk and Cookies Cake

March 17, 2022 By Ashley Leave a Comment

Cookie dough has long been a comfort food for me. It’s my favorite part of making chocolate chip cookies. My milk and cookies cake is the ultimate comfort dessert. Fluffy, tender and moist brown sugar cake layers are filled with edible chocolate chip cookie dough and frosted with caramel-y brown sugar Swiss meringue buttercream. This is a cake that is loved by adults and kids alike.

Brown Sugar Cake

Using brown sugar in a cake not only adds moisture, but creates a deep caramel-like flavor, perfect for recreating that freshly baked chocolate chip cookie taste. Brown sugar softens the cake, giving this cake a melt in your mouth texture that is literal perfection. This cake is so versatile and goes with so many different flavors and fillings.

I always like to bake 2 – 8″ cakes then torte, or slice them in half to make 4 layers, but this cake can also be made in 3 – 8″ pans. This recipe is formulated so that it shouldn’t dome when baking, but if they do, just slice off the domes before assembling.

Cookie Dough

I have always deemed cookie dough to be edible, raw eggs and all. But to keep this cake food safe, this cookie dough is egg free and also avoids the use of raw flour. All purpose flour, when heated to 160F, is safe to consume “raw”. I used mini chips in this recipe which makes it a bit easier to eat, but chocolate chunks would also be amazing in this cookie dough.

This cookie dough is thinned a bit with milk so that it isn’t too stiff to spread onto the cake. Do not refrigerate the dough as this will make it too hard to spread. The edible cookie dough should be pliable enough so that you can smooth it out a bit with a spatula. If for some reason you can’t spread it out very well, you can press the dough onto the cake, then spread it to fill any gaps, OR you can add additional milk, a tablespoon at a time until the dough is spreadable.

Brown Sugar Buttercream

Swiss meringue buttercream is my favorite buttercream to make, easily. Replace the granulated sugar with brown sugar in my go-to Swiss meringue buttercream recipe to make a deeply caramel flavored buttercream. It’s so, so good. If you’re new to Swiss meringue buttercream, read my post all about Swiss meringue buttercream here.

Milk and Cookies Cake Assembly

I used four layers of cake, so I filled the cake with two layers of cookie dough filling and one layer of brown sugar buttercream. If you’re using only three layers of cake, fill both layers with the cookie dough filling.

I decorated the cookies with crunchy, crushed chocolate chip cookies. You can use any brand or homemade, but I like the added crunch and cookie flavor.

If you make my milk and cookies cake, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more cake recipes, check out these posts:

Smoked Old Fashioned Cocktail Layer Cake

Classic Birthday Cake

Chocolate Hazelnut Praline Cake

Champagne Strawberry Truffle Cake

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Milk and Cookies Cake

Tender, fluffy brown sugar cake filled with edible cookie dough and brown sugar Swiss meringue buttercream, topped with crumbled chocolate chip cookies

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Assembly20 mins

Total Time1 hr 20 mins

Course: Dessert

Keyword: brown sugar cake, brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream, cake, chocolate chip cookie, cookie dough, layer cake, milk and cookies

Servings: or 3 – 8″ cakes

Equipment

Ingredients

Brown Sugar Cake

14 ounces (397g) cake flour
14 ounces (397g) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces (340g) whole milk
4 large eggs
3 ounces (85g) canola oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup (89g) mini chocolate chips (optional)

Edible Cookie Dough Filling

⅓ cup (66g) granulated sugar
⅔ cup (142g) light brown sugar
10 tablespoons (254g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups (240g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ cup (57g) whole milk
¾ cup (133g) mini chocolate chips

Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream

10 large (300g) egg whites
2 ¼ cups (500g) light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 cups (678g) unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
crushed chocolate chip cookies ( I used Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies)

Instructions

Brown Sugar Cake

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the cake pans. You can use 3-8" pans for a 3 layer cake, or 2 -8" pans, then torte in half, for a 4 layer cake. Brush the bottoms and sides of your cake pans with melted butter. Line the bottoms and sides with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cake flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, mix for 1 minute to combine.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla.
With the mixer on low-medium speed, add in the softened butter pieces, one or two pieces at a time. Mix until the mixture resembles cornmeal. You should be able to gather a bit in your hand, squeeze and you have a solid piece. This means the butter is evenly distributed.
With the mixer still on low, stream in the whole milk and mix until the flour mixture is *just* moistened.
Pour the remaining milk into the measuring cup with the eggs, oil and vanilla.
Turn the mixer speed to medium (4 or 6) and beat for *2-3 full* minutes. The mixture should be whipped, thick, and lighter in color.
Stop the mixer. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is properly mixed.
Turn the mixer speed on low, add the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla mixture in three parts, scraping down the bowl after each addition has been mixed in.
Once all the wet ingredients have been incorporated, give the bowl a final scrape and mix with a spatula. Evenly divide the batter among the prepared pans.
Bake the layers for 30-40 minutes for 3 pans, 40-50 minutes for 2 pans. Start checking the cake at 30-35 minutes to test for doneness. Cakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, and the top of the cake feels springy and set when touched.
Tap each cake pan firmly against the counter to remove excess steam. If your cakes dome at all, use a clean kitchen towel to gently push the domes down. Cool the cakes for 15 minutes in the pans.
Run a palette or butter knife around the cakes in their pans before turning them out to cool completely on cooling racks.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

Edible Cookie Dough

Place the flour into a large bowl. Place in the microwave and cook for a minute.
To ensure that the flour is safe to eat, an instant read thermometer placed int he middle of the flour should register 160F. Let the flour cool completely before using.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or you can use a hand mixer), cream together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
Beat in the vanilla.
Beat in the flour and the salt. Beat in the mini chocolate chips.
Beat in the milk.

Brown Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Weigh out egg whites and brown sugar together in a non-reactive bowl, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the bowl and place over a pot of simmering (not boiling) water, whisking constantly and gently until temperature reaches 160F.
Using a sieve, strain the egg white sugar mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Mix on medium speed with the whisk attachment until the mixture is glossy, reaches stiff peaks and the outside of the bowl is no longer warm. You cannot add butter to the bowl if it is warm or the butter will just melt when added.
Once the mixture reaches stiff peaks, switch out the whisk attachment for the paddle attachment and begin mixing on low speed.
Add the softened butter cubes, a couple at a time, until incorporated.
Let it mix. It might curdle or look lumpy but that’s ok. Keep mixing. This could take some time. The buttercream is ready when it is smooth, satiny and creamy.
Keep mixing on low and add the salt, and vanilla, beating until incorporated.

Assemble the Cake

Working with chilled cake layers, use a long serrated knife to remove any doming from your cakes.
**(If you baked in 2 pans instead of 3, torte the layers, cutting them evenly in half. You will have four cake layers total. The tops of the cakes will be the center two layers of your cake.)
Fit a piping bag with a large round tip ( I use an Ateco 808), and fill with brown sugar meringue buttercream.
Put one of the cake layers, cut side up onto an 8" cake board or directly onto a cake stand.
Pipe a dam around the perimeter of the cake layer.
Spread half of the cookie dough onto the the cake in an even layer.
Add the second cake layer and repeat with the buttercream dam and cookie dough.
*(For 4 layer cakes, fill this layer with brown sugar buttercream, reserving the rest of the cookie dough for the final layer.)
Place the third layer on top, and frost the outside and top of the cake with the brown sugar buttercream.
*(For 4 layer cakes, repeat steps 3-6 filling the layer with edible cookie dough. Top with 4th and final layer, and frost the outside and top of cake with the remaining brown sugar buttercream.)
Decorate with crushed chocolate chip cookies.

Oyster Shell Ocean Cake Tutorial

March 15, 2022 By Ashley Leave a Comment

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

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

Under the Sea Cake Tutorial

Vintage Gilded Buttercream Cake Tutorial

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:

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

Under the Sea Cake Tutorial

Vintage Gilded Buttercream Cake Tutorial

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:

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

Under the Sea Cake Tutorial

Vintage Gilded Buttercream Cake Tutorial

Gum Paste Chocolate Cosmos Tutorial

February 15, 2022 By Ashley Leave a Comment

I love chocolate cosmos in floral arrangements on cakes. They’re small, beautiful flowers that have a lot of movement and look great sort of coming off of a cake. They come together fairly quickly, and have a luxurious burgundy color that goes well with most other flowers. These flowers have a unique thread center, with a realistic pollen made with cornmeal and petal dust to make these sugar flowers even more impressive. I made my chocolate cosmos a burgundy color, but you can also give them a dark brown tone, or more of an eggplant color. I always like to refer to a photo of an actual flower when making my sugar flowers to choose the colors I like best for the project I’m working on.

Supplies:

Burgundy gum paste, kneaded with a small amount of vegetable shortening until smooth and pliable

Yellow cornmeal

4 – 26″ gauge floral wire – white (green can be used in a pinch), cut into thirds (you will only need 10 wire total)

Dark green 1/4″ floral tape

white polyester thread

White 1/4″ floral tape (green can be used in a pinch)

Cosmos cutter (I used the smallest one)

Cosmos veiner

Small rolling pin

Firm foam mat

Vegetable shortening

Sugar glue, or egg white

Ball tool

shallow bumpy foam

Petal dusts: burgundy, brown, mustard yellow

Dusting brushes

Small craft pliers

Gum Paste Chocolate Cosmos Tutorial

Make a large hook at the end of two wires with small craft pliers. Create a long loop of thread by wrapping it around four spread fingers 50 times. Twist the loop into a figure 8 shape and fold in half.
Hook the wires onto opposite ends of the folded thread. Tighten the hooks with craft pliers. Wrap each wire with white floral tape, covering the lower 1/8″ of the hooked thread, working the tape all the way down the wire.
Cut the thread in half, right across the center to make two pieces.
Tightly wrap the two sections together. Trim the thread to even out the top.

Roll the burgundy paste on a non stick surface. You want the paste to be thin, but still thick enough to be able to insert wire, about 1/16″. Cut a petal shape with the cosmos cutter.
Dip a wire into glue and insert it 1/2″ into the base of the petal. Gently press the paste neatly around the wire while maintaining the petal shape to ensure the paste is adhered to the wire.
On a foam mat, lengthen and elongate the petal by rolling upwards and along the edges of the petal with the ball tool.
Place the petal into the cosmos petal veiner. Press down firmly to impress.

Place the petal onto shallow, bumpy foam to give the petal a slight curved shape. Leave to dry completely.
Repeat step to make 7 more petals, creating 8 total.
Color the thread center by dusting the center thread and tape with burgundy petal dust.
Combine a small amount of cornmeal with the mustard petal dust to make the pollen for the centers. Mix to combine the color.

Dab the top of the thread with glue with a flat brush. Dip the top of the thread center into the yellow pollen mixture, pressing into the mixture to ensure even coverage. Set aside to dry.
Once the petals have dried, use a small fluffy dusting brush to liberally brush the front and back of the petals with burgundy petal dust.
With the brown petal dust, from the base of the petal, near the wire, dust upwards, 1/3 – 1/2 the way up the petal with brown dust. The dust should be most concentrated at the base of the petal.
Stretch a length of dark green floral tape to activate the stickiness. Evenly space and attach the first four petals to the center, with the base of the petal sitting at the top of the tape of the center.

Tape the remaining four petals around the center, at the same height, spacing them out evenly between the first row of petals.
Finish taping the all the way down the wire.
Gently steam the flower for a few seconds to set the petal dust. Let the flower dry completely before using.

If you make a gum paste chocolate cosmos with my tutorial, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more sugar flower tutorials, check out these posts:

Gum Paste Sunflower

Gum Paste Holly and Berries

Gum Paste Dogwood Branch

Gum Paste Blackberries

Halloween Cakesicles

October 22, 2021 By Ashley Leave a Comment

At the beginning of the week I shared a recipe for my go-to red velvet cupcakes with vanilla ermine frosting. Because I had leftover cupcakes, I recycled them and made these super cute, super easy Halloween cakesicles. These cakesicles are perfect for a Halloween party or just for making them with the kiddos.

Repurposing Cakes and Cupcakes

Cakesicles are perfect for using any left over cake or cupcakes you have on hand. If you have leftovers and you don’t want to make cakesicles right away, scrape off the frosting and pop them in a ziptop freezer bag and leave them in the freezer until ready to use.

Frosting should be stored separately because once the cupcakes start to defrost, the cupcakes can get soggy. Keep in mind that very little frosting or buttercream is used in making cakesicles. You only need enough to bind the cake mixture, not turn it into a paste.

Chocolate Coating

The best chocolate to use both for ease and coloring, is coating chocolate or candy melts. While the taste of a high quality white chocolate would be ideal, it’s also a big pain. Tempering, blooming issues, temperature control, etc is just a couple things that need to be looked out for when using white chocolate. So, find a good quality coating chocolate. 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.

How to make Halloween Cakesicles

Cakesicle moulds can be purchased at many craft stores, or online. I recommend getting 2-3 moulds 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 moulds. Pop in 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. No need to rely on the frosting to keep the cakesicles moist, they will stay moist under the chocolate coating. Place a heaping tablespoon of cake mixture into the mould, or more depending on the size of your moulds. Mine are fairly small. You want to leave 1/8′-1/4″ space for the rest of the chocolate. Insert the cakesicle stick into the cake mixture and top with more chocolate. Use an offset spatula to scrape off any excess chocolate.

Freeze for 3-5 minutes before unmoulding the cakesicles. Peel the mould away from the cakesicle to not break the chocolate or loosen the stick. Drizzle each with chocolate and top with sprinkles. I used the Monster Mashup sprinkle mix from Sprinkle Pop.

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 Mummy Cake Tutorial

Easy Decorated Halloween Ghost Cookies Tutorial

Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies + Decorated Pumpkins Tutorial

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:

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

Under the Sea Cake Tutorial

Halloween Mummy Cake Tutorial

How to Make Sugar Flower Petal Formers

May 13, 2021 By Ashley Leave a Comment

Petal formers are a necessary tool in order to give your gum paste or wafer flowers the proper petal shape for a specific flower. There are a variety of commercial petal formers out there but sometimes specific ones can be hard to find and they can be expensive. Especially when you need need a lot of petal formers for multiple flowers.

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to make 3 different types of sugar flower petal formers, how you can adapt them and what you can use each former for. These boards are easy to make, fairly inexpensive and the materials are easy to find at your local craft store or Amazon.

Spoon Petal Formers

This is a pretty common former already used in the sugar/wafer paper world. I have boards with both regular plastic spoons and also one with soup spoons. Typical spoons are more oblong and narrow, which work best with petals that are more narrow with a slight cupped shape. I like to use this type of spoon former for drying and shaping anemone petals, rose petals, lisianthus petals, alstroemeria petals and more.

Soup spoons are more rounded and deeper. Great for shaping rounder petals with a more prominent cupped shape. I like using these formers for drying and shaping ranunculus petals, inner gardenia petals, smaller peony petals, English rose petals and more. I find that I use this former more often than the spoon former.

Flower Formers — Spoon Board Petal Fomers

For the spoon boards, you will need: 9×12 piece 1/4″ foam board, cardboard, or fiberboard, a low heat hot glue gun, wire cutters and spoons and/or soup spoons. Cut the handles off of the spoons with the wire cutters. Discard the spoon handles. Place hot glue on the bottom center of the spoon and adhere to the foam core. Be sure to evenly space the spoons. Flip the foam board over and repeat with the soup spoons. You can adjust the formers on the board if you misplace one by gently sliding it in place while the glue is not set.

Foam Ball Petal Formers

I use foam ball formers quite often, mostly for larger cupped petals like magnolia petals, large peonies and English rose petals. You can easily use any size foam balls you would like, but I find that any petals that need to be dried and shaped under 2″, can usually be done on spoons or bumpy foam. It’s not as easy to find formers for much larger size cupped shapes – 2 1/2″, 2 3/4″ and 3″ so I find that smooth foam balls work perfectly.

This board can also be adapted to use egg shaped foam, which are good for making longer and more cupped petals such as tulip petals.

For the foam ball former board, you will need a piece of 1/4″ foam board (or cardboard or fiberboard) – I used 9×12, but you can definitely use a bigger board to add more foam balls or multiple sizes if you would like. You will also need smooth foam balls and low heat hot glue gun. Place a liberal amount of hot glue on the bottom of the foam ball and adhere to the board. Space the balls evenly on the board, leaving space in between for overhanging petals.

Optionally, you can cut the bottoms off of the ball to make it more sturdy against the board. The best way to do this is by using a foam cutter tool that essentially just melts through the foam. Just cut off 1/4″ off the bottom, then glue. Fast and no mess.

Acetate Formers

Think of this former as similar that of an apple tray former. These formers are larger with more shallow wells, perfect for drying and shaping poppy petals, peony petals, Japanese magnolias, orchids, and more. You can form the acetate to make shallow or deep cupped petal formers.

You can use either food safe acetate, usually found in rolls, or you can make these with thin, flexible cutting mats. You can get both of these on Amazon and you can also get the cutting mats at the dollar store.

For this board you will need a 1/4″ piece of foam board, cardboard, or fiberboard, a low heat hot glue gun, and scissors. Cut the acetate into 4″x4″ squares. You can round off the edges if you like ( like I did in the photos) or you can leave them as is.

Cut two cuts in the acetate about 1/2″ opposite each other for a shallow former, or 3/4″ for a deeper former. Place a small dab of glue on one side of the cut, crossing the other side to overlap onto the glue, pressing gently to adhere. Watch your fingers because the glue will be hot. Repeat with the other side of the acetate. Repeat the process with remaining 4″x4″ pieces of acetate.

Place glue on the bottom of the acetate cups and adhere them to the board. Alternatively, you can omit the board and just use them as they are. They’ll be a bit easier to store without the board as well.

If you make these sugar flower petal formers, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. Any questions, feel free to DM me or leave a comment below.

Ash xx

For more tutorials, check out these posts:

Gum Paste Blackberries, Leaves and Blossoms Tutorial

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

Gum Paste Dogwood Branch Tutorial