Mom's 60th Birthday Cake

My mom turned 60 last week! This called for an extra special dessert. I experimented with some my newer square cake pans that I have used only a handful of times and continued to practice working with fondant. After this project, my cake decorating skills have slightly improved. I still have a long way to go!

Here's the play by play. I lined each cake pan with parchment paper and filled each with white cake batter.

I knew the cakes were ready when I inserted a toothpick and it cake out clean.  The cakes also turned a golden brown colour. After they cooled, I covered the cakes with plastic wrap and set them in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I began by cutting off the top part of each cake to create a levelled surface. 

I also cut each cake in half. This is what the cakes looked like before they were iced.

Using an offset spatula, I spread a layer of icing onto the bottom half of each cake.  I placed the top tier on top so each cake looked like a sandwich.

I then "dirty iced" each cake and placed them both into the fridge to set while I prepared the fondant.

On a clean, flat surface, I spread out a fair bit of icing sugar and rolled out the fondant.

I used my newest kitchen gadget!  The Wilton Pastry Wheel. It serves two purposes; using the wheel on the left creates scalloped edges and using the wheel on the right creates straight edges.

After I secured the fondant to the cake, I used the straight edge cutter to remove the extra fondant.  If you do not have a pastry wheel, a pizza roller could easily be substituted.

I added some icing to the base of the cake plate as well as to the bottom of the samller tier so the cakes would stay in place.

Since these cakes were quite small, I didn't feel that I needed to use dowels as a support system. I stacked the smaller cake on an angle on top of the larger cake. I also wasn't too worried about the gap between the fondant and the cake plate since I knew that I could hide it by piping butter cream icing around the base of both tiers.

There I went, piping away! The cake was finally starting to take shape.

Next, I added some purple food gel to the white fondant. By mixing the two together, the fondant takes on the color purple. After I rolled it out, I used number cutters to cut out the number "60" repeatedly for different sides of the cake.

I used a paint brush and a little bit of water to adhere the 60s to the cake. (Fondant sticks to fondant easily with the addition of a little water.)

Then, I carefully placed each 60 on different areas of the cake.

Tada...this is what the final product looked like!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Montreal Canadiens Rice Krispy Jerseys

This was another one of the desserts that I made for Rich's birthday. Montreal Canadiens jerseys made out of rice krispy treats as the base, rolled fondant for the jerseys and the blue stripes, and buttercream icing for the names and numbers of the team members. 

Planning ahead is always important. Of course the site that I chose, although for the most part was accurate, included Koivu as a member of the team. I was quickly reminded by Rich's friends that he is no longer a member of the Montreal Canadiens. Whoops!  Let's just call him an honorary member for this post! At least I spelled all of the names correctly and got all of the numbers correct!

First things first, I made the delicious, ooey, gooey rice krispy treats! I used a greased cookie sheet to lay out the mixture. When making rice krispy treats cover the treats with saran wrap and use a rolling pin to flatten the treats over the saran. This spreads out the rice krispies and allows for the tops to be evened out, without sticking to the rolling pin. The flat surface makes it much easier to write on and lay the fondant overtop.

Use a greased cookie cutter to cut out desired shapes.  I was amazed by all of the ideas I found on the Rice Krispies website. However, it was next to impossible to find a t-shirt or a jersey cookie cutter in this city.  Therefore, I used a onesie cutter and cut off the bottom part to make a t-shirt.

One batch of the recipe made about 15 jerseys.

 Roll out the fondant and follow the same method to cut out the shirts.

It is customary to use buttercream icing as glue for the fondant to stick to the jerseys.  However, since they are so sweet and sticky to begin with, I skipped that step and stuck the shirts directly onto the rice krispy jerseys.

Next, use a paint brush to paint the back of each blue stripe with water to stick to the shirt.

Since I had leftover buttercream icing from the cake I used it to pipe the names and numbers onto the jerseys.  However, royal icing might have been more effective for this purpose.

Aren't these adorable?

Go Habs!

You rock!

Obviously the boys agree!

Montreal Canadiens Cake

I did it!  My first real experience working with fondant!  To tell you the truth, it's not quite as simple as it looks, or as simple as I thought it would be. For a rookie though, I think I passed the test. This cake was the hit of Rich's birthday get together. 

Since my fiancé is somewhat obsessed with the Habs, I decided to make it the theme of the night.

However, when I went to Party Packagers (an awesome party supply store in Toronto) looking for Habs decorations like plates, napkins and tablecloths, there were none. Here's where the teacher in me really came out. I was left with no choice but to be creative and make my own decorations, so I printed the Canadiens logo and some Habs jerseys and taped them onto the table cloth!  I think it looked pretty cute!

Okay...onto cake making and decorating with fondant.  Remember, this was my first time making a fancy cake using fondant. For all of you experienced cake makers and decorators, please bring on the criticism and suggestions!  All I really know is what I have learned from watching Cake Boss, as well as the few pointers suggested to me by a very helpful woman who works at Creative Cutters where I bought the sugar paste, color tints and the cake board. 

First things first...I needed a picture of what I wanted to accomplish.  My friend Liz sent me a picture of the amazing Montreal Canadiens jersey cake that she made (which was way better than mine) and that gave me some ideas. I then went online and ended up having a picture of the jersey up on my computer screen as I was working.

I began by baking two cakes; one vanilla and the other chocolate. Once the cakes had cooled completely, I piped a minimal amount of buttercream icing onto the cake board so the chocolate layer would stick to the board. I placed the chocolate layer in the center of the board.  I then piped more icing on top of the chocolate cake and placed the vanilla layer on top of it. It became quite clear to me that the cake was a little uneven, so "a carvin" I went.  I sort of eye balled it since I did not have a level, trying my best to even out both sides of the cake.   

Next step was to dirty ice the entire cake with buttercream icing.  The buttercream acts as glue for the fondant to stick to the cake and keep the cake moist. I first piped it onto the cake and then used an offset spatula to spread it out.

Since the fondant I bought was white, I had to color it red and blue. These are the tinted colored powders I used to tint and paint the fondant. 

Although not perfect, I managed to roll out the white fondant thin enough to cover the cake.  Notice the creases above.  They made me so sad. But...I found a solution!  I managed to cover them up with the sleeves of the jersey. He! He!

As anticipated, when I mixed the red color tint with the white fondant, it became pink. YIKES! I didn't know what I was going to do until I remembered what the lady at Creative Cutters suggested. She told me that by mixing the tinted powder with a small amount of Gin or Vodka, paint would be created. It worked! To make the C, and the red stripe as bold as they looked, I painted the cut out pieces of pink fondant red with the "paint" and let them dry before adhering them to the cake.

Here's how I made the logo. I printed the size I needed on regular paper and placed it on top of the rolled out fondant.  Next, I cut out the areas that I would need to trace. 

I used an exacto knife to trace along the edges of the stencil. Using a paintbrush dipped in water, I painted the back of each piece of fondant in order for it to stick to the cake.

I very carefully placed each piece into position. 

Finally, with the leftover buttercream icing, I piped a birthday message.

Go Habs Go!

I must admit...this took me quite some time to put together, but it was worth it.

I was very happy with the final product.

I think that Rich was too!  I couldn't believe that I kept it a surprise from him.  (I made the cake at my mom's after work all week!)

Happy Birthday Richie!

Enjoy.