A friend-of-a-friend was turning 40 this weekend, and I got recruited by her husband to make a cake for her surprise party. He told me that he tasted the cake I made for my friend's daughter (the Tinkerbell's Teapot cake) - OVER A YEAR AGO - and remembered it when he was thinking about throwing this party. What a compliment!
Anyhoo... his wife loves the beach and loves to read books by the author Jan Karon (ex: The Mitford Series). So, I tried to incorporate a little of both with the scene on this cake. Sparkling gel for the ocean water, sand made of Nilla wafer crumbs and brown sugar sifted together, beach accessories made of fondant, beach umbrella made of white chocolate covered in fondant, and a few gumpaste seashells.
Yep. That's about it. I hear the cake was a big hit, everyone loved it (especially the birthday girl), and there were no leftovers. Always a good sign.
2 comments:
Truly fantastic I must say...Could you please tell me why did you choose to make the umbrella with white chocolate and then covered it in fondant? Wouldn't a simple fondant work be enough? I was wondering if taste is the only factor....Actually these days I am researching that while decorating a cke when to chose between a fresh cream icing, butter cream icing and when fondant? I'll appreciate if you could explain.
Well, I really wanted the umbrella to be able to stand up, so fondant wasn't really a great option because 1) it's too thin, 2) it's too prone to cracking, and 3) it didn't have enough time to harden sufficiently. I thought the white chocolate would harden quickly, and it's thicker (sturdier).
Personally, I enjoy making decorations out of fondant or gumpaste (or white chocolate), but I only cover cakes in fondant completely at the customer's request. Not a huge fan of working with THAT much fondant. It's heavy, and tears/cracks sometimes, and it's expensive.
Hope that helps you!
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