Whimsical Zebra Cake and Hugs

Here's a tiered cake that I did toward the end of last year. I love delivering my cakes. There is something absolutely touching when a surprised birthday girl (no matter her age) sees her cake for the first time surrounded by her large family. Humbly, I must say that it is all too familiar for me to get hugs from complete strangers. This night was no exception.

The restaurant was a bit dark but you can make out the wired chandelier beads. I centered the cake right under a spotlight. The two tiers are covered in fondant. The stripes and flowers were dusted in edible disco dust. A nice touch that sparkled.

CWCakes Decorator Tip:  Wanna know how to sink those wires into the cake without it tearing through the cake/fondant?  Easy, use coffee straws. Your wires are bigger?  Then use those bubble tea straws. Yep, that way you get past all those haters too that say that you can't have wire directly touching cake.

Twin Minnie and Mickey Mouse Cakes Oh My!

The two lovely recent cakes were for a client's twin daughters.  They had to go out of town with it so I kept the toppers off.  The flavor of one cake was Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake with Silky Chocolate Buttercream and the other was one of my variations of a White Cake with a French Vanilla Buttercream that is divine.

The toppers are 100% Royal Icing and hand painted in Royal Icing as well.  Yes, it took hours just for the toppers.  Here you can see that it is ready to give to the client (for the trip).  They are fragile so they are buffered by cocktail sticks so they don't slide.  You can see that I was drying them.  The drier the better to be a topper.  Ideal time to dry is 48 hours.  Decorator tip:  Another method when needing to dry out Royal Icing plaques, etc is to put them in the oven (with it off) on the middle rack.  Turn on the light and leave it be for at least 24 hours.

I love this closeup.  Even though the toppers were hand painted, these fondant silhouettes are just to precious with the "3" in the middle.  You can also catch the detail in the edible "sash" (ie banding) around the cake.  The twins love costumes and jewelry so the banding is a slight nod to looking like fabric and the green balls are another slight feel of jewelry.  Those little rounds are actually not fondant.  I used chocolate Sixlet balls that are covered with a hard candy shell.  Found in most gourmet candy stores or at the link provided.