A couple of cakes

Sincce completeing my Cake Decorating course a couple of months ago (has it really been that long!), I've been trying out some new techniques and practiceing some techniques I learnt in my class.

One technique I didn't get to try out in my class was using moulds. There were moulds available and a couple of students used them (monopolised them!), so I heard about how to use them. But I also watched a few tutorials on You Tube, which has to be the ameture cake decorators best friend!!

Here I was practicing making buttons using a mould. I wasn't sure what I was going to use the buttons for, but you can keep them for ages so I figured I'd use them eventually. This is a Wilton mould - I bought a couple of them from Style Emporium in Gold Creek. I probably could have gotten them cheaper online, but I'm an impulse purchaser sometimes!

This is a six inch cake that was decorated with another Wilton mould set. When working with the moulds I find I have to do a lot of trial and error, but I usually get there eventuall. I took this cake with me to one of my sewing days, it was much appreciated!

Yet another Wilton mould set. I promised a cake for a morning tea at work one week, and so I decided to do something a little bit random. But I think the lime with fuschia works really well.

One of the first techniques that I learnt in my cake decorating class was to use flood icing to fill in letters. So when the opportunity arose to make a cake for my friends baby shower, I had a look at the Wilton cake designs and found this design that was sewing inspired as well. The main part of the cake were the letters on top, created with flood icing. I then brushed them with some new shimmer dust I had purchased (so much fun). Once combined with the buttons I had made previously the cake ended up looking like this:

And to keep the fuschia and teal theme going:

This was a definite success. One of the best cakes I've made. I used a better version of Ready to Roll fondant icing than the one I've been buying from Woolworths and it is so much nicer to work with.

I continued on with the flood icing to create a Betty Boop cake for a girl at work - she ordered it for her friend's 30th and actually paid me for it!

The cake was a hit at the party and I'm really glad I did it. I'm making another birthday cake this week and will post some photos of that process.

I buy most of my cake decorating supplies and tools from Baking Pleasures which has a great range and has really quick delivery. A cake decorating store opened up in Canberra but when I went in to have a look I found that a lot of the products are twice the price of Baking Pleasures. So even when you factor in postage costs, it's still cheaper to shop online. I'll use the Canberra store for some things, like the cake boards, or if I'm desperate, but I won't be shopping there regularly.

Stay tuned for more cake decorating fun, or follow me on Instagram - egeoghegan - where I regularly post cake decorating photos.