This is the bunny birthday cake that I made for my daughters birthday party. I made the bunny out of gum paste and then made the fur with royal icing. The bunny was suposed to look alot more fluffy in the fur, since it should look like a replica of the little Lionhead bunny that we gave her. But the royal icing was a little too wet when I applied it. Also I completely forgot the whiskers, but she loved it anyway.

The birthday cake was a white cake with raspberry mousse and Italian Meringue Buttercream and covered with white chocolate fondant The cake was sweating a lot because it was very humid in the weather that day, so it was a little glossy when it was time to eat it. The carrot border was also made out of gum paste and turned out to be just perfect for the bunny cake.

Happy Caking!

Louise

Btw: It is really great to see how many of you who will be featured in the 1,000 ideas for decorating cupcakes, cakes, and cookies book Now I just cant wait to see it.

The summer holidays are here and the sun is shinning. So a little batch of yummy summer cupcakes is what we will enjoy today. I have used royal icing which gives a nice crunchy frosting. It is also, in my opinion, the best frosting to use on warm and sunny days.

Today is also a big day for us, because we are leaving Copenhagen next week, moving into our very first house. The kitchen is much bigger and I will get my own little place, where I can sit with all my cake decoration tools. I cant wait……

Happy Caking!

Louise

What do you think of my gum paste peonies? I have been working on them the last couple of days. It is my second go with peonies and I must say that they look difficult to make, but they are quite easy to make. It is the preparation of all the petals that takes time. I have used a lot of small foam pieces to keep all the petals in place while drying.

I have been thinking on giving them a little petal dust, but Im not sure? I think that I will have to make a little “test” peony to see how it looks.

Happy Caking!

Louise

I have made a how to make a gum paste bow update for you. It was much needed as the old one was from the early years of CakeJournal. You can find the bow update here. Speaking of bows, see more gum paste bows on some of my (old) cakes in the cake gallery.

Happy Caking!

Louise

I have a few favourite tools that I always have ready whenever I make gum paste decorations. I like to call them my gum paste helpers:

A: The “egg foam trays”, are always good to have. They are great when making Hydrangea’s and 5 petal flowers.

B: My cornstarch container. I use this for gum paste decorations such as pearls and other types of decorations that is round in the shape. This way can I prevent a “flat” backside on the decorations.

C: For roses, lillies and other types of flowers these Celformers (from Celcakes) are good to have. I also use them when making heads for my figurines. You can even make them yourself with a glass and foil. Cheap and easy!

D: Small plastic palette trays for small cut out flowers.

There are one gum paste helper that I dont have but would soo love to have. One of those “trees” with lots of dowels, where you can hang your wired flowers and dry your bow loops on. I have thought of maybe make it myself with a little help from my DH. I just need to work at little more on how I (he) should make one

Here are some simple DIY tips on how to make some “gum paste helpers” yourself:

1: Ziplock bags in different sizes and filled with dried beans or rice. Perfect to mold in shape. These are especially great if you need to dry larger items, like long leafs ect. Remember to give the bag a light dusting of cornstarch to prevent the gum paste from sticking to the ziplock bag.

2: Appel foam trays or other types of fruit trays from your local grocery (well cleaned of course) are also good to use when drying wired flower petals.

3: A long wooden dowel or broomstick placed between a pair of chairs, are a good place to hang your wired flowers or bow loops to dry in perfect shape.

You are welcome to share if you have a good tip on what you use.

Happy Caking!

Louise

Just finished one more of the “old” tutorial updates. This time it was for the cupcake flower, that many have asked about the past years. It is my all time favourite and I really like it together with the swirly blue cupcakes.

I have two more tutorial updates on my list that I am working on and you are proberly wondering by now, what’s up with all this tutorial updating? Well I cant tell you yet, but hopefully very very soon. All I can say, is that it will be super sweet and I am sure that you all are going to love it

Happy Caking!

Louise

I just wanted to show you a little sneak peek of my next cake project. I will be using these small gum paste roses for a very special Valentine’s cake this year. But you will have to wait to see the final result.

For those who have asked about a tutorial please see this rose tutorial.

Happy Caking!

Louise

I have received many requests on the race car cake toppers that was on my sons birthday cake last year. So here is my tutorial on how to make a race car cake topper.
It is made out of gum paste, but I have used store bought black rolled fondant for the wheels and the helmet.

TIP:
The “body” of the race car, starts with a smooth round ball!

This is what I use:
White gum paste
Black rolled fondant
Small amount of white rolled fondant
Gel paste color
Rolling pin
Cake smoothers
Tylo glue
Cornstarch (to prevent the fondant from sticking to your work board)
Small knife
Piping tips or small circle cutters in various sizes
Small paint brush
Ball tool (JEM)
Strip cutter (JEM) If you dont have a strip cutter, then you can use a ruler.
1 small plastic bag (not showing on the photo)

Step 1:
Start coloring the gum paste in your chosen color. Roll the “ball” into a cone, making sure that you keep one of the ends a little thicker (and the other end a little thinner). I try to keep the lenght of the race car to about 3″ (8cm).

Step 2:
Flatten the sides of the race car, using a pair of cake smoothers. Place the car inside a plastic bag and set aside. This will preventing it from drying out.

Step 3:
Roll out some gum paste about 2mm in the same color as the race car. Cut out the spoiler with the small knife. I cut out mine by hand, but you can of course use a ruler if you like. Make sure that the spoiler is a little wider than the race car. Set aside to dry completely.
TIP! Make extra spoilers. If the first one should break.

Step 4:
Roll out some of the black rolled fondant about 5mm thick. Find 2 different sizes of piping tips or circle cutters and cut out 1 large pair and 1 small pair of wheels. I have used round piping tips to emboss the center of the wheels. Set aside to dry.

Step 5:
Take some white rolled fondant and roll it out thinly. Use the strip cutter or a ruler to cut out 1 fondant strip.
Note: Do not cut out the fondant circle before step 9

Step 6:
Take out the race car from the plastic bag. Brush a very thin coat of tylo glue on the back of the white strip and attach it down the middle of the race car. Trimming of any excess of the fondant strip with the knife. Use the ball tool and make an indentation in the middle of the car, where the “driver” will be sitting.

Step 7:
Take a little black rolled fondant and roll it into a little ball/helmet. Make sure that it fits into the indentation of the race car. Brush a little glue and place the ball/helmet in the indentation. Cut a small strip of white fondant for the face shield and glue it on the ball/helmet. Set a side to dry.

Step 8:
When the wheels are almost dry, glue them on the race car with tylo glue. Small wheels at the front and large wheels at the back.

Step 9:
Roll two small oblong balls and glue them on each side on the white fondant stripe on the back of the race car. Brush again a very thin coat of glue and carefully attach the spoiler. Finish off by cutting out a small circle out of white rolled fondant and glue it on the front of the car.
TIP! It is easier to write the number of the race car, when the white fondant is all dry!

You now have a race car cake topper!

Happy Caking!

Louise

In this tutorial I want to show you how to make a five petal fantasy flower. The flower is inspired by a pink flower broche that I have. You are welcome to change the color for the flower, so that it match your color scheme.
Remember that the flower stamens are inedible, so you need to remove the flower before cutting the cake.

This is what I use:
Drinking glass
Foil
Foam pad
Ball tool
Rolling pin
Cornstarch
Five petal cutters in following sizes: 35mm, 80mm, 110mm
(Easy rose cutters 80mm + 110mm from JEM) (35mm/1 1/4″ any five petal cutter can be used)
Gum paste
Pink food gel color (optional)
Pearl & pink luster dust (optional)
15-20 white flower stamens (small round headed)
White non-parelis
Tylo glue
Small firm brush for the tylo glue
Small soft brush for the luster dust
Pair of tweezers
pair of scissors
Small pieces of foam
Paper towel
Flower former:
Start by covering the glass with double layers of foil, like shown on the photo. Dust it with a little cornstarch, so that the flower wont stick to the foil.

Step 1:
Color some of the gum paste pink with the food gel color and roll out the gum paste thinly. Cut out the first layer of the flower, using the large five petal cutter (110mm). Place the flower on the foam pad and thin the edges of the flower with the ball tool. Dust the tin foil with a littel cornstarch before placing the large flower on the tin foil “cup”. Shape the petals with your fingers and place small pieces of foam to keep them in place.

Step 2:
Take some white gum paste, again roll it out thinly and this time use the medium five petal cutter (80mm). Cut out the second layer for the flower, and place it on the foam pad. Thin the edges of the flower with the ball tool. Place the cut out flower on a piece of paper towel and brush the white flower, with white luster dust.

Step 3:
Brush a thin layer of tylo glue in the middle of the pink flower.

Step 4:
Place the white flower on top of the pink flower. Again shape the petals with your fingers and place small pieces of foam, to keep the petals in place while drying.

Step 5:
Roll out some pink gum paste thinly, and cut out the last petal for the fantasy flower with the small petal cutter (35mm). Thin the edges with the ball tool and glue it in the middle of the white flower with tylo glue. You can use the end of a paint brush to lift up the small petals. I dont use any foam pieces to keep the small petals in place here.

Step 6:
Take some white gum paste, make a small ball, that match the center of the flower and flatten it slightly. Brush the top of the ball with tylo glue and dip it into the white non-parelis. Secure the ball with tylo glue in the middle of the pink flower. Let the flower dry for 1 hour before you continue.

Step 7:
Take some small round headed white flower stamens and cut them a little shorter. Push in the flower stamens all the way around the edge of center with a pair of tweezers. Finish the flower by adding a little pink luster dust in the the center. Let the flower dry until firm, about 1-3 days. Remember to remove the small pieces of foam, when the flower is dry.

Tip!
You can also make smaller or larger flowers by using various sizes of five petal cutters, than the ones used for this tutorial.

Happy Caking!

Louise

I received a lot of requests on how I made the gum paste strawberries for my Cath Kidston cake. So here is a tutorial on how to make them. I have used a store bought red rolled fondant, mixed with a little Tylo powder for the red strawberry. You can use the gum paste strawberries for decorations on your cakes and cupcakes.

This is what I use:
White gum paste
Red rolled fondant, mixed with a little Tylo powder (CMC)
Food gel colors: pink and leaf green
Pink non-pareils
Non-stick board
Rolling pin
Tylo glue
Corn starch, to prevent the gum paste from sticking to your work board or hands.
Small paint brush
Dresden and veining tool (JEM) or another pointy tool
Ball tool
Frill stick
Flower foam pad
Small 5 petal blossom cutter, 20mm (3/4″)
6 petal flower cutters
Strawberry Leaves & Calyxes/Set of 4 (JEM)(I did not use the calyxes for these strawberries)
Classic D/S multi purpose veiner (Sunflower Sugar Art)
Small plastic palette, to dry your flowers in

The strawberry flowers
Step 1:
Start with the white small flowers. Roll out the white gum paste thinly and cut out the flowers with the 5 petal blossom cutter. Place the flowers on the flower foam pad and thin the petals slightly by carefully pressing down the ball tool on every petal. Transfer the flowers to the plastic palette and set to dry.

Step 2:
When the white flowers are dry, brush a little tylo glue in the middel of the flowers and sprinkle with a little pink non-pareils in the center. Set aside.

The strawberry leaf
Step 1:
Roll out the leaf green gum paste thinly and cut out the leaves with the strawberry leaf cutter. If you are having trouble getting the leaf out of the cutter, then use a toothpick to release it.
Place the leaves in the multi purpose silicone veiner. Give it a light press with your hand to get them veined. Arrange the leaves in desired shape and let them dry.

The strawberries
Step 2:
To make the strawberries take some red or pink gum paste in the desired size and roll the gum paste into a ball. Make sure, that there are no cracks in the ball at this stage!. Model it into a strawberry shape.

Step 3:
Take the dresden/veining tool and make indentations like on a real strawberry with the dresden/veining tool.

Step 4:
Roll out some more of the leaf green gum paste and cut out “flowers” using the 6 petal cutter. Flatten the petals slightly with the frill stick and glue it on the the top of the strawberry. Make an indentation with the frill stick and brush a little glue in the hole. Take a small piece of leaf green gum paste and roll it into a little stem and put it into the hole. Let the strawberry dry thoroughly.

Happy Caking!

Louise