Air Force Flag cakes...labor of love

I had another order for one of my Air Force flag cakes that went out this morning. These cakes are a little more pricey for my customers...just because there is allot of work involved. It is a several days project whenever I decorate one of these cakes. First, I cut out all of the emblem pieces from gumpaste on my Cricut Cake. After they are all dry, I airbrush them, and again let the pieces dry. Once they are dry, I assemble all of the pieces together...it's kinda like a puzzle. I try to get these done a few days ahead of time. Two days before the cake needs to be ready, I mix up the Sugarveil, because the mixture has to set awhile before you can spread it out. That same day, I bake the cakes, so they can set overnight. The day I decorate, I make the fillings and icing, and then fill, ice, assemble, and decorate the cake...everything except the flag and emblems. Several hours before I'm ready to lay the flag and emblems on the cake, I spread the different colors of Sugarveil onto my silicone mats. This is the tricky part. The amount of time it takes for the Sugarveil to set depends on the weather conditions...how hot it is and mainly the humidity. So, usually it takes several hours, anywhere from 3-4 hours to overnight. You have to keep checking it because it has to be at the stage where it is set, but still pliable so you can work with it. If you let it set too long, it becomes brittle. So because I want the flag to drape nicely on the cake like a real fabric flag, I watch the Sugarveil very closely to make sure I catch it at the correct stage to cut and assemble the pieces. I recently purchased a new mini star scrapbooking punch, which is the perfect size for the stars I need. I cut out all of the pieces, and then assemble the flag. The pieces just stick to each other without adding anything special. I then position the flag on the cake, and put the emblems on top with a bit of icing. Each flag cake that I have done thus far, has something a bit different. This latest order had an oak leaf emblem that was half in gold and half silver, signifying the promotion from major to Lt. Col. So yes, the price is extra for the customer, but the the final product is a real showstopper!

Cute pink and white wedding cake...

This cute little cake was for a bride that loves pink. The wedding reception was on Sunday, so I delivered it Saturday night to the groom's parents' home, and they transported it to the reception site on Sunday, and arranged the flowers on top.   I made sure that I stabilized it with a wooden dowel going down the center of all 3 tiers. The cake was lemon with raspberry filling. Because it was decorated with fondant, and had a filling that did not need to be refrigerated, I knew they would be fine in transporting it, even though they were a little nervous. As you can see, it arrived safely. I airbrushed the fondant pieces with pink and pearl airbrush colors, which made the pieces glisten. My new airbrush works great with the thicker colors like the pearl and the metallics.

New Cake Decorating Techniques and Materials

Over the 32 years that I have been decorating cakes, some techniques and materials used in decorating have changed or improved, as well as styles. For example, I have been designing cakes for Eagle Court of Honors for many years. I used to use piping gel, tinted with just a tiny bit of black paste color to get a gray color (which didn't taste very good) to fill in the metal portion of the Eagle badge. I did this because there was no metallic silver available to put on cakes that was edible. The same was true with gold metallic color. The nearest thing you could put on a cake was an ugly golden yellow color. Now, both silver and gold edible metallic colors are available, in both dusting powders and airbrush colors, which gives you the actual color you need and desire. I have used the silver dusting powder to paint on my Air Force emblems. Just recently, I purchased silver airbrush color which makes the work a lot faster and simpler. The results are wonderful. I also purchased a pearl airbrush color, which you can spray over an entire surface (fondant for example) to give a lovely shiny pearl appearance. I am excited to try it.