Kerry Vincent Bear

Just wanted to share one of my latest Figurines with you….I created this Bear for an online contest to create a bear after The great Sugar Artist Kerry Vincent that is a Judge on the Food Networks Challenge Show. I put a white chefs jacket on the bear similar to the one that Kerry wears and created a miniature cake to look like something Kerry would make……I loved creating this bear and feel that it turned out great!!

How to make a Sculpted Dog House Cake with a Gum Paste Puppy…..

I recently created a Dog House Cake instead of the typical Dog in a dog house, I decided that it would make a great fathers day theme.

We have all heard the saying about Dad being in the Dog House! So I thought, wow…this would make a great cake theme and something that you don’t see everyday. This cake has quickly become very popular and is soo much fun to create.

 I thought I would share the how-to details for this cake!

Look at Dad’s face, he is not happy being in the Dog house, nor is the Dog he wants his house back! LOL

Supplies to create this cake!

Baked 11 x 15 cake

Buttercream

Fondant in white, blue, green

Gumpaste, white, black, tan, orange, flesh

Knife

Cookie Cutter

Tape measure

Brown food coloring

Paintbrush

Toothpick

Ball tool

Veining tool

 

1). To get started you will need an 11 x 15 sheetcake cut into 4 squares then stacked and filled with buttercream. Then place the cake into the fridge for about 20 minutes to setup.

2). I sculpted the roof area of the cake by cutting small sections going down the sides of the first 2 layers of cake only, then I squared up the sides making them nice and straight.

3). Cover the entire cake with a thin coat of buttercream icing, make sure you smooth the butterceam out so it does not show through the fondant when its put on the cake

4).To  cover the entire cake in fondant….

5). Measure each side of the cake then cut out a piece of white fondant for each side of the house and the roof area as well.

               a). Before attaching the fondant to the cake, I used a knife to make lines going up and down on all of the wall pieces so that it would look like wood slats.

               b). Once you have done this then you can attach fondant to each side of the dog house cake.

 

6). The roof is the last area to cover in fondant and you will need to measure both sides of the roof so you will know the size of the fondant you will need…. you can use any color you would like for your roof. I also made lines in the fondant pieces for the roof before attching them to the cake.

 

7). Once all the fondant is on the cake use a knife to cut out a door area on the front of the dog house and put a piece of black fondant in the area, you can see eactly what I did by looking at the pics above.

 

8). You will need a brown food coloring (I used Wiltons dark  brown color), and a paintbrush. Put some food coloring in a small bowl with and then add water do this until you get the color you want to use to paint the dog house. Paint all the walls making sure to get the coloring into the cracks of the lines that you made with your knife it will help to make the walls look more like wood.

 

9). I used a house shaped cookie cutter to cut out a piece of gumpaste for my sign that said Happy Fathers Day, Dad your entitled to come out of the dog house for one night because of fathers day!

             a). I inserted a toothpick into the gumpaste house so it would stand up.

             b). Make a small ball of gumpaste to use as a stand to put your sign in but, let it harden up for several hours before putting the sign into it!

 

10). Create the grass by using green fondant rolled into long snake shapes and take a knife to make lots of small cuts in the fondant then place it up against the house.

 

11). Create a teardrop shape of fleash colored gumpaste to make the body for the dad figurine, then place it in the doorway area of the house.

         a). Roll a ball shape to create the head, you can attach the head to the body with water once you get the face all completed.

         b). For the arms roll of a long flesh coloered snake shape and cut in half, shape the ends smooth and use a knife to make the fingers,

        c). Make 2 holes with a ball tool or end of a paintbrush to create the eye sockets then place small ball of fondant in each socket.

        d). Roll a small ball of flash gumpaste to create the nose and attach, and do the same for the ears.

        e) To create the mouth I use the end of veining tool, or you can use the end of a icing tip to imprint a mouth.

        f). Roll out a small amount of black fondant and use water to attach to the head and use a knife to imprint lines to create the hair.g

       g). Use a black edible marker to fill in small circle shapes on the eyeballs, then make eyebrows just above the eyes.

 

12). To create the body for the puppy begin with a teardrop shape of gumpaste and do the same to create the head, just much smaller…then glue them together with water.

     a). Roll a small sausage shape to make the tail and attach to the dogs body.

     b). The eyes are done the same way as we did on the dad figurine above.

    c). For the ears on the puppy start with a flat circle of gumpaste and thin the edges with 2 fingers until you get the shape you are looking for.

    d). Roll a small ball of black gumpaste for the nose on the puppy

    e). To create the mouth on the puppy I used the veining tool  just like I did on the dad  

13). I used the same color gumpaste that I did the roof  in to create a large dog bone, start with a rectangle shape and use the end of a paintbrush to push inward at each end of the rectangle which will help to begin to shape your bone. Once the bone is all done I used small letter rubber stamps to imprint the words “Dads House” on the bone, then I used watet to attach the bone to the front of the dog house.

Thats it for the directions to complete this cake! I hope that you get a chance to create this cake…it can be modified to go with many other themes instead of Fathers Day.

Have Fun!!!

 

 

 

 

How To Make A Fondant Bow- New Video I just added!!

Here is a new video I just uploaded for my friend Tony who wants to learn to make a fondant bow, hopefully this will also help any of you out there who have never given it a try, Check it out and you will see it really is quite simple to do.

The Reading In Bed Cake Topper

 

This is my newest Cake Topper similiar to the other one I had created. I did this one so that I could tape the creating process since I lost the other files that were going to be used as a video download on my other site www.sugarbydonna.com. Once the editing is finished then this video will be available for sale on my sugar by donna site.

Free Giveaway Enter for a chance to win a 30 min phone call with Donna or a Fondant Starter Package

One winner will receive a Fondant Tool Package

Fondant Starter Pkg

And One Winner will receive A 30 Minute

Phone Call

With Donna

 

 

Guess what, its that time again for a FREE GIVEAWAY!!

Hello my fellow cake buddies like I said previously we are going to have regular givaways. There are 2 different prizes for this giveaway. I know there are some of you who have never tried working with fondant yet so I thought it would be great to giveaway a fondant tool starter package and that is the first prize that will be given. The tools that are included are the very tools that I use on a regular basis…

The fondant tool package includes a

Wilton 3 disc cutter, fondant roller, 8 pc fondant/gumpaste modeling tools, a pkg of ready made Wilton fondant (please only use for decorations or sculpting, don’t use to cover a cake because this fondant taste very bad, I only use it to make my sculptures flowers, or other objects since they are not eaten), and a project tote bag (color shown may not be the color you receive) to put your tools in.  And there is also going to be a bonus that will be included with the fondant tool package.

The second prize that will be given away is a 30 minute phone call to talk to good ole ME!! I have had several people ask me if I would consider giving away a phone call with me so that you can chat with me about cake decorating, gumpaste, fondant or whatever elase you would like to chat about. I know that many of you have lots of questions and I really thought the phone call was a very good suggestion.

I want you all to know that your info is NEVER shared with anyone. Anything that is emailed to me or on my site is kept confidential. I am one of those people that gets furious when my info is sold or shared for anything that I do not agree to.

To enter the giveaway please post a comment indicating which would most interest you, the fondant tools or the free phone call.

 

The Giveaway will end at Midnight eastern time on August 27, 2008

 

The (2) winners will be drawn with via a random number generator. The winner will be posted on my front page on August 28th. I will also be contacting the winners via email.

I must have your email address so that I can contact you and get your shipping details, also I pay for all the shipping cost myself. There is never a cost to you. I have seen many giveaways that give you something that is free but then they require you to pay for the shipping fees, that just doesn’t seem free to me!!

Good Luck to everyone, I will talk to you soon

Donna

Free Giveaway, Enter for a chance to Win A Wilton 2009 Yearbook

2009 Wilton Yearbook

Ok all my fellow Cake Buddies I am soo excited to tell you that we are having our very first free giveaway here at Designer Cakes by Donna. I thought I would give all my faithful readers a chance to win your very own copy of the new 2009 Wilton Yearbook which is full of all kinds of great cake decorating ideas, you will love it. The cover is so cute and is just the beginning of all kinds of cake decorating fun.

This newest yearbook has over 200 all-new designs for party cakes, cupcakes, cookies, candy and more!  Ideas to please everyone, including an expanded wedding and shower cake section, birthday cakes for all ages, favorite character treats and holiday desserts. Complete product section, step by step instructions and a website link to more designs.

This giveaway will end on July 28, 2008

Two winners will be selected.

To enter you must post a comment saying one thing you would like to learn in cake decorating, such as working with fondant, making sculptured cakes, how to ice a cake, and so on whatever it is. Post this giveaway on your blog or website, linking back to this post and you will be entered into the giveaway twice.

The (2) winners will be drawn with a random number generator. The winner will be posted on my front page on July 29th. I will also be contacting the winners via email.

I must have your email address so that I can contact you and get your shipping details.

 

Donna

Baby Shower Cake Girls Baby Dress

 

Baby Shower Girls Dress Cake

My sisters baby shower was this past weekend and I did the cake, she has 3 boys and has been wanting a girl so bad, and she finally has one on the way, yeahhh. I was so excited to do a pink themed baby shower cake for her. I decided to do a pink dress on the cake with some little sandals that I hand made with gumpaste. I started with an 11 X 15 sheet cake iced in buttercream and them covered with white fondant. To make the dress with fondant I made a template out of paper first and laid it out on the cake. I then used the template to cut out the different pieces I would need to construct the dress. This was a very simple cake to make, and I can think of many other designs that could be done the same way maybe with a onesie, a t- shirt and pants or shorts, myabe even a ruffled up baby blanket laying across the cake. Thats what I love about fondant you can do soooo many things with it that just are not possible with buttercream.

Oh and the baby sandals were just soo cute, I used a little punch kit I got from Wilton that has a butterfly, a flower and a few other little designs with it. I punched out 4 little butterflies and folded then in half then placed them on the sandals to create the look of the butterfly flying I used an edible maker to make small dashes gong from the butterflies. The great thing about making shoes and other things from gumpaste is that you can save them as long as they do not get wet.

Gumpaste Baby Sandals

I made a video on how to make these baby sandals and I will be posting it as soon as the editing is done so be sure to watch for it.

Cake Topper- Little Mary Reading her Book in bed with her Puppies

 

 

 

This is a cake topper that I sculpted from Gum Paste for an upcoming birthday cake for a young girl. I call the little girl in the cake topper Mary and she is reading a book about cats, her puppies are in the bed with her and they are all looking at a cat who has just entered the room.

I enjoy creating cake toppers that you do not see everyday, and most importantly to me I want them to tell a story. The nice thing is that these cake toppers can be saved because they are created using gum paste which does harden as time goes by. Gum paste is great on cake because it is edible, not like clay or other materials that you see people using. Gum paste is really just sugar and if it gets wet will get very soggy. I have had people who have put their cake toppers in a glass dome and have saved them as a keepsake.

If you are one of those people who are like myself and love to work with sugar art, I am in the process of creating videos that will show those who are interested in making these very cake toppers how to sculpt their own for cakes and such. The sky is the limit as to what you can do with gum paste (sugar dough) and the nice thing is that you can design it around a story or the person for whom its being created for.

How To Make Gumpaste Roses on my You-tube

For all of you out there in the world of cakes I have finally posted my videos showing how I create my Gumpaste Roses. Now I do them several different ways however the video I just uploaded will be easy enough that anyone could make them and all you need is a simple circle cutter, some wire and of course some gumpaste. Some of you may not know that you can make gumpaste with fondant and another ingredient called tylose powder. You just add the tylose powder to the fondant and presto you have gumpaste.  But If that is too much to deal with an even easier way is to buy some of the wilton fondant, now don’t get crazy and try to eat that stuff it really is not fit for humans in my opinion, it taste horrible which is the main reason fondant has gotten such a bad rap… Other than the wilton fondant, all the others that can be bought are very tasty. Anyway the wilton fondant is much like gumpaste and you can use it to make some awesome roses for any cake and it comes in some real cool colors. To get to my you-tube page so you can see how to make gumpaste roses click here—-> http://www.youtube.com/user/donnalane626

In the next day or so I will posting a video on you-tube that will show you how to create a gumpaste calla lilly without any cutters so be sure to check back soon for that. In the meantime Happy Creating!!!