How to mold a great cake decorator...

Sometimes when I design a really impressive cake, the guests ask me, "how did you do that?" Many times, my answer is silicone molds. I love blue silicone molds! They can make your decorating go from average to spectacular. Yes, they are very pricey, but can make your work so much easier.  The best molds to buy are from a company called First Impressions. I have several now that I use, and whenever I place an order on line for something else, I often add another one or two silicone molds to my order. I have one that I have not even tried yet (baby mold), but am anxious to test it out when I have some free time (yea right). 

Here are a few molds that I have...

I designed a few cakes this last weekend when these molds came in really handy...

Ballet slipper mold

Ballet tutu cake for Maggie

 Fleur di lis mold

Rope mold

Eagle Scout cake for Spencer

I use this mold allot when doing wedding cakes. It makes really pretty fondant bead borders.

I usually work with half fondant/half gumpaste in the molds, but have also used half fondant/half modeling chocolate. You can use all fondant, but you need to put the molds in the freezer for a few minutes before unmolding. You may want to do this with all of your more intricate designs to make sure they unmold easier, and keep all of the details. 

So give these molds a try... you'll love them. One side note, keep all your molds together, so you don't duplicate any like I did :).

While I was cleaning and organizing my fondant tools this morning, I found a second fleur di lis mold in the bottom of the box. It would have been nice to use two of these instead of one as I was using the largest cavity to make 20 scout emblems for the Eagle cake... one at a time. 

Making an abstract design for a wedding cake...

The bride and groom sent me a picture of this wedding cake with an abstract design. They wanted this design with fresh yellow daisies in place of the butterflies (which I thought made more sense), and yellow in place of the turquoise on white fondant.

So, I got out my styrofoam cake dummy, some paper, and some pins, and began drawing patterns. 

Here is the final product...the black is made from Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, and the dots are done with Sugar Veil...which gives you a perfectly rounded dot without a point. The beaded borders are done with a blue silicone fondant mold.

The mother of the groom owns a glass blowing store in Manitou and she made the perfect cake top for this abstract design.

Thank you, Liz and Eric, for letting me be a part of your special day.

Silicone Fondant Molds

Sometimes I get excited over simple little things. One decorating tool that I really LOVE is my blue silicone fondant bead mold. There are lots of these silicone fondant molds, but I really love this bead mold. I used it for the first time on the cake I did yesterday, and it was so simple to use and the results were even greater than I expected. So much easier to put on a fondant covered cake than to try to pipe a perfect bead border in buttercream at the reception site after the cake is stacked. 

Here are a few hints when working with the silicone molds...

• Use half fondant and half gumpaste...work together thoroughly until smooth and pliable
• Roll the fondant/gumpaste mixture into a rope the length you need, then push it into the mold
• Trim the excess off with a small spatula
• Put in the freezer for approx. 3-5 minutes before unmolding
• Unmold onto a non stick surface and store in ziplock bag until ready to use
• Attach to fondant covered cake with a small amount of water...apply with a small paint brush around entire border area