Tuesday Toppers: Graduation

With graduation season here I thought i'd get in some cupcakes for the grads before heading into next weeks series for dads. Although I'll have to say I was at a loss for original graduation topper ideas, lol, so I decided to go with the classics that can be used for high school, college, or even the cute little kindergartener in your life. This week i'm going to show you how to make the graduation cap topper and here's what you'll need to make one:

-Rolling pin

-Paint brush and water

-Fondant smoother

-Knife
-1 3/4" square cookie cutter
-Black (with tylose or gum paste powder added)or whatever color you want the cap to be, and yellow fondant

-With the help of the fondant smoother, roll one ball into a tube.

-Turn the tube onto its end and flatten again.

-Take second ball of fondant and roll to an 1/8" and using 1 3/4" cookie cutter cut out top of cap.

(You can also just cut out a square if you don't have this cookie cutter). You will need to let this part air-dry for about 24-48 hours so it will stay stiff on top of the cap!

-take a small amount of black and roll out a small ball for button on top of cap.

-Flatten slightly.

-For tassle, roll out a thin rope of yellow fondant and cut to 1 1/2".

-Flatten 1/4" at the bottom.

-Using the knife make several slits.

- Once the top part of the hat has dried attatch the bottom with a small amount of water.

-Apply the tassle and then the button to the top.

-Now don't forget to place the tassle on the correct side! It's now time to wish your graduate good luck!!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!

Graduation Cake

I made this cake for my sister not too long ago since she graduated from Indiana University with two degrees in art back in December (i'm so proud of you sis!!). I saved posting it until closer to graduation season (I meant to post a little bit sooner, sorry about that :P) so I could include a short tutorial on how I made the bottom book cake. Of course this isn't the only way or maybe even the best way, lol. Just the way I did it, and hopefully it will help someone who's been wanting to make one.

-I started out by making a chocolate mudcake in a 9x13 straight-sided pan (this is the one i use) and cut it in half so I have 2 books.

-Then i torted and filled the cake, cookies and cream italian meringue buttercream mmmm!

-Crumb coat outside with leftover buttercream that i didn't put the cookies in, and put in the fridge to firm up.

-Now on to the fondant "cover". Here's where a little math is involved. I'm sure you could skip this step and just guess, but I found it was so much easier to take the time to figure it out. First you measure the length, width, and height(after its been iced!). Then add 1/4" to the width and 1/2" to the length. so say the cake is 6 1/2" in width and 2" in height and 9" in length. To be able to make the rectagle you need to cover you book you need to add height + width + 1/4" by length + 1/2" so for the measurements above, it would (just as an example) be 2" + 6 1/2" + 1/4" by 9" + 1/2" so your rectangle would have to be 8 3/4" by 9 1/2". I know it can be a bit confusing but in the long run it will make your life easier.

-The easiest way I found to get the fondant from the counter to the cake without distorting it is to roll it out to the thickness you want it. Then place it on a lightly greased piece of waxed paper and cut out your rectangle. Take the fondant and wax paper together and apply it to the cake carefully keeping the 1/4" overlap at the edges then peel off the waxed paper. Now you can adjust the fondant so that the overlap is even all the way around and go over the fondant with a fondant smoother to smooth out any imperfections that may have occured when applying it.

-Now cut out 3 - 1/4" strips of fondant making sure that they are long enough for each side (they don't have to be exact your going to cut some off in just a bit)

-Place the strips on all three sides overlapping at the corners. Cut diagonally at the corner, removing the excess pieces.

-For the pages you need to measure the height of the gap and then roll out a strip of white fondant long enough to go around the book ( just make sure it's pretty thin or you'll lose a lot of your 1/4" edge of your book) cut the strip to height and length and with a knife or leaf veiner make the lines for the pages (make sure to do this before you put it on the cake its much easier :D. You'll notice mine isn't very defined I tried to do it on the cake ) just paint on a little water on the cake and apply to the book and your finished!

Tuesday Toppers: Cupcake, cupcake

I get so many emails asking when or if i'm going to do the tutorial for this cupcake topper and it has finally come up next on the list (yes i keep a list! I LOVE lists, lol). Although I think that when I make them again as toppers I will make them a tiny bit smaller. I also have plans to make these as ornaments in polymer clay and sell them in my etsy store (not open just yet, but soon!) Here's what you'll need to make one:

-Fondant smoother

-Paint brush and water

-Knife

-Pink, white, and red fondant

-Ball tool

-Leaf veiner

-Take pink fondant and roll into a tube with the fondant smoother.

-Pinch top and bottom edges to define them more.

-With fondant smoother taper one end just slightly.

-Using knife make lines all the way around base.

-For Frosting take white fondant about the same size as the pink.

-Flatten slightly with the fondant smoother.

-Using Ball tool, push up into center to form dome.

-Take leaf veiner and make 5 evenly spaced indents around the base.

-Icing all ready to go!

-With a small amount of water attatch icing to cupcake base and add cherry on top!!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Ladybug Tea Party

After much thought I think i've decided to start start selling some of my more detailed tutorials, and today I thought i'd show you one of them that I hope to have finished soon :D. I have several more in the works and a few more in my head waiting to get out, lol. Some of them will be more detailed cupcake toppers and some will just be miniatures that I love to make.

This has been kind of a difficult decision though, because I know that without the help of all of the free information that i've found on the internet, I wouldn't know as much as I do today about the art of caking. That being said i'm a stay-at home mom and my wonderful hubby works 2 jobs to keep it that way. So i'm always trying to come up with ideas to bring money in and still be able to stay home with my girls while taking some of the pressure off of him, and these tutorials do take time! So I figured why not use my talent and bring some much needed income into our household while providing all of you lovely people with some cool tutorials!

Let me know what you think by voting over on the right hand side! This one will run around $5 american dollars and will include the tea set and pastries. I'm hoping to have it up in the next month or so!

But don't worry the tuesday toppers will stay free!!

Tuesday Toppers: Spool of Thread

Well when I sat down to make the toppers for my mom's birthday a few months ago I just knew I had to do a sewing theme. Mainly because she co-owns a quilt shop, but also because for as long as I can remember she's had a love (i'm sure my dad at times would say obssession, love ya mom :D ) of sewing and quilting. It was because of her that I too have a love of sewing and probably my deep seeded love of anything arts and crafts really. So one of the obvious choices was a spool of thread, a staple supply of any quilter, and I think it turned out quite cute! Here's what you'll need to make one:

-Rolling pin

-Fondant smoother

-1" cookie cutter

-Paint brush and water

-Leaf veiner (or toothpick)

-Purple (you will actually need two ball, oops, sorry!) and light brown fondant

-Roll brown fondant out to 1/8" and cut out 2-1" discs.

-With small end of leaf veiner (or toothpick) make small holes in center of both discs.

-Take purple fondant and roll into a tube with the help of the fondant smoother.

-Pinch top and bottom edges to help define them more.

-Reroll with fondant smoother.

-Take another piece of purple fondant (not picutred) and roll out about 15" long thin rope (I went a little overboard on my rope, hehe).

-Apply a small amount of water in a line all the way up the tube.

-Start at the bottom and wrap the rope around making sure to keep the next row close to the last.

-When you get to the end leave about 5" and cut off.

-Flip one of the discs over and attatch the thread with a small amount of water. Attatch the top the same way.

I hope you have sew much fun making this :D
(I know i'm horrible, lol)

Don't forget to check in next week when I show you how to make the much anticipated cupcake, cupcake!