Archives for May 2011

Cakes Inspired by Imagery

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Erica OBrien in Featured, Wedding Cakes | 3 Comments

This might surprise you, but I actually don’t like it when a client leaves the cake design completely up to me, giving me the artistic freedom to create whatever I want. I can’t speak for other artists, but I’ve found that this makes it almost impossible since there’s so much that inspires me. When the possibilities are endless–and so is your imagination–the task of narrowing it down and choosing a focus becomes very overwhelming. Instead, I like working within a conceptual framework and using my artistic eye to interpret the design in my style.

Event stylists and even the occasional client often provide an inspiration board–a collection of images intended to convey the mood of the shoot or event–and I find them immensely helpful. (I sometimes create my own  inspiration boards. I’m not a graphic designer, so I copy and paste the images into Microsoft Paint. Someone more skilled would use Photoshop. There’s a board builder on Style Me Pretty, and I think some people are now using Pinterest in lieu of building boards.) Being very visual, working with inspiration boards is my favorite way to design. They usually contain a color palette, and many non-cake photos with prints, patterns, shapes, or other designs for inspiration (hence the name). 
 
Below are several inspiration boards and the cakes they inspired. I would love to see how other cake designers would translate the images into cake. I just think it would be fascinating to see how different artists interpret same thing.
Greco-Roman Wedding (stylized shoot). Board and styling by Vanessa Van Wieren of Alchemy Fine Events. Cake photos by Jill Thomas.
Jose Villa Workshop. Board and styling by Jill La Fleur. Cake photos by Jose Villa.
Lavender Inspired Wedding (stylized shoot). Board and styling by Brooke Keegan. Cake photos by Lane Dittoe.
Steel Magnolias (stylized shoot). Board and styling by Amorology. Cake photos by John Schnack.
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A Modern Indian Wedding Cake

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Erica OBrien in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

I usually ask clients to bring photos of cakes they like to the consultation. Often, at first glance they seem to have nothing in common, and it’s my job to help the client gain focus. I love the challenge of finding the common elements that tie all the cakes together. Radhika, a bride I recently worked with, had a lot of ideas for her wedding cake, and brought in a lot of photos (below) for inspiration. (I recognize several of them as Sweet and Saucy Shop, the now-defunct I Dream of Cake, and my designs, but unfortunately I can’t credit all of them.) See if you can find the common thread:

Essentialy, I determined that Radhika likes cakes that incorporate modern, cleaner interpretations of more traditional designs. Then she threw me when she sent these images for inspiration:


It helped that Radhika created her own sketch (seen here on the right) that included the clean, modern, graphic style I’m known for and the traditional Indian elements she wanted to use. The sketch was pretty, but it didn’t quite work for me.

The detail on the bottom tier was too small to balance out the bigger, bolder designs on the top two tiers. I suggested that the designs on the three tiers go either small-big-small or big-small-big, and she opted for the former. In my first sketch, I tried to balance the design a little more and use Radhika’s color scheme of turquoise, orange and fuchsia.

Something about the colors wasn’t quite working, so I turned to the online color palette generator that I love. From there I determined that Radhika should really replace the orange in her primary color scheme with yellow, and include the orange as a secondary accent color. A few screen shots from the site are seen to the right and below.

Once we finalized the color palette, we talked about changing the cake to four tiers. She really wanted a 3-D sugar paste flower, but it just wouldn’t work within the original three-tier design. She decided on a four-tier (thank you Sonia Sharma, Radhika’s event planner), and when I created the sketch I knew I was on to something:

The wedding and reception were held on May 14th at Rancho del Diablo Dormindo in Malibu, California. Here are some photographs of the cake.

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Four Cake Design Essentials You Won’t Find in a Cake Decorating Store

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Erica OBrien in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

I get lots of my supplies and tools at cake design stores, particularly online stores where products are often less expensive. But I also use a lot of tools that you won’t find in any cake design store. Here are four I can’t do without:

1. Vodka. I buy the cheapest vodka I can find in the largest quantity. Vodka evaporates much more quickly than water and therefore won’t dissolve the sugar in fondant the way water will. I mix vodka with luster dust to liquify it and use in my airbrush. I also use vodka rather than airbrush cleaner to clean my airbrush. Simply fill the color cup with vodka and spray until it runs clear.  For cleanups on fondant-covered cakes, lightly moisten a paper towel with vodka and gently wipe away stray marks.

2. Non-slip shelf liner. An indespensible tool, non-slip liner is worth its weight in gold, although it’s very inexpensive. For about $5, you can buy a large roll at Target. I place it under my cakes and my commercial cooler to prevent them from sliding around during transport. It can also be used under a cutting or rolling board so that it won’t slip on the table surface.


 3. Sandpaper. I use sandpaper to soften the edges on dummy cakes (where the side meets the top) so that my fondant won’t tear as easily. I also use it to smooth the seams on the sides of the dummies. Sanpaper works perfectly on dried sugar decorations. Rather than risk cracking them by applying the pressure of even the sharpest blade, I smooth rough edges on dried gumpaste and pastiallage pieces with sandpaper.

The trick is to know what grit to use. The lower the grit the rougher the sandpaper and conversely, the higher the grit the smoother the sandpaper. 100-grit sandpaper is rougher than 200-grit sandpaper. “Grit” refers to the number of abrasive particles per inch of sandpaper (woodzone.com). An easy way to remember is to imagine a 1″ square. Think about how small and fine the particles would have to be to fit 300 into that square inch, and how much bigger (and rougher) the particles would be to fit 50 particles. I tend to use finer sandpaper on my sugar pieces (300 or 400) and slightly rougher sandpaper (150 or 200) on my cake dummies.

4. Easy Cutter. I use 1/4″ wooden dowels (be sure to buy them at a hardware store rather than a crafts shop) to support my cakes. To cut them, I use the Midwest Easy Cutter, a tool specifically designed for cutting small wood strips. It has a guide so that you can ensure your cuts are exactly 90 degrees. Some of the larger Jo-Ann Fabrics stores carry them in their woodcrafts department, or you can purchase them at the online art store, Dick Blick.

 
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Have a favorite cake design tool that’s not intended for cake? Please feel free to share it here.

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