DIY

DIY: Ombré Valentine’s Sugar Hearts

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Erica OBrien in DIY, Featured, ombre cake, projects, vintage, vintage wedding cakes, wedding cakes connecticut, wedding cakes ct, wedding cakes new york, wedding cakes ny, wedding chicks | 11 Comments

This idea was inspired by a post I saw on Such Pretty Things. I forget what I was searching for when I stumbled across it, but I immediately thought the hearts would be just lovely in an ombré. (Until about a year ago and a half ago, I thought ombré was some kind of silken fabric. Silly me. Merriam-Webster defines it as “having colors or tones that shade into each other —used especially of fabrics in which the color is graduated from light to dark”.) This DIY originally appeared on The Wedding Chicks.

I should preface this post by warning readers about the dangers of consuming raw and/or undercooked eggs. I provided a safer alternative to egg whites that I termed “liquid meringue”, a mix of meringue powder and water. Feel free to weigh in on the safety of these ingredients.

Also, this DIY was created for both non-professionals and professionals alike, so I tried to use easy-to-find ingredients. Although I don’t necessarily recommend Wilton’s meringue powder to professionals, it is the most widely available to home bakers.

What you’ll need

Two cups sugar (or more, depending on the number of colors you want), divided

4 teaspoons (or more) egg white or liquid meringue (1 teaspoons of meringue powder mixed with 1 tablespoon warm water)

Paste food coloring (found at local crafts store)

Large cutting board, baking sheet, or other flat surface, lined with silpat or parchment paper

and

Baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper

Ateco aspic cutters or small cookie cutters

Additional:

Small and medium bowls, spatulas, rolling pin, measuring spoons, measuring cups, ziplock bags, butter knife

Optional:

3 x 4-inch treat bags, colored ribbon, cake to decorate

Step 1.

Place ½ cup sugar in medium bowl. Add a small amount of paste food coloring (we used a combination of Wilton’s Rose and Violet), and mix thoroughly. This will be your darkest color. (Hint: A little goes a long way and will darken once liquid is added in next step.) Add more if needed until desired color is achieved.

Add 1 teaspoon egg white or meringue liquid and mix thoroughly until the mixture resembles wet sand. Be careful not to add too much liquid or you will dissolve the sugar.

 

Step 2.

Empty contents onto silpat or parchment lined cutting board or baking sheet. Spread with hand or spatula and pat down, then roll over mixture with rolling pin to compress. Ideally, the flattened mixture should be as compact as possible and level, about ¼”. Press heart cutter into mixture and lift up. Place hearts on lined baking sheet. If cutter will not release heart, gently tap with the back of a butter knife. Repeat 10-20 times or as many as desired. If hearts will not hold their shape, add more egg white or meringue liquid in small increments and mix thoroughly. If sugar builds up in cutter, rinse with warm water and pat dry before continuing.

Pour remaining colored sugar back into bowl and proceed to Step 3.

Step 3.

Add ½ cup sugar to colored sugar  from Step 2 to lighten. Mix thoroughly. Add 1 teaspoon egg white or liquid meringue. If desired color is not achieved, continue adding additional ½ cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon egg white or liquid meringue and mixing thoroughly until desired color is achieved.

Repeat Step 2.

Continue with Steps 2 and 3 until desired shades and number of sugar hearts are achieved. We recommend at least three to five shades. Leftover sugar can be stored in ziplock bags for future use.

Step 4.
Heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat hearts in oven for 10 minutes. Allow to harden overnight. Sugar hearts will be the consistency of sugar cubes.

Design Options:
Place 10-20 sugar hearts in treat bag. Staple ribbon to bags. Tie ribbon. Can be given as gifts or used as favors.

 
For cake: Attach sugar heats to cake using royal icing. Begin with darkest color on smallest tier. Continue  with lighter colors.
  

  

Special thanks to Brooke Allison of Brooke Allison Photo, a genuine talent and all around funny gal.

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How To: DIY Custom Cupcake Wrappers (plus a wordy introduction)

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Erica OBrien in custom cupcake wrappers, DIY, wedding cake long beach, wedding cupcakes | 8 Comments

When I moved to California from New York in 2005, cupcakes had already exploded all over the New York confectionery scene. The Cupcake Cafe had become a New York icon, with Magnolia Bakery, not to mention countless others, not far behind. On the west coast, the cupcake was just entering its renaissance.

“How passé,” I remember thinking. “Cupcakes are, like, so NYC 2004.”

And then, “this too shall pass.”

Boy, was I wrong.

If cake was a blank canvas waiting for me to bring it to life, cupcakes had a life of their own. They didn’t need me as much. Slap a little icing on top, maybe throw some sprinkles at it, and your done. I’m an artist more than a baker, and the idea of churning out 150 identically iced cupcakes just didn’t spell creative to me.

For a while, I refused to make cupcakes. But the requests kept coming, and my resistance eventually wore down. I sold my first batch of cupcakes. And so I learned to appreciate the cupcake, albeit several years too late. Indeed, designing cupcakes can be just as artistically challenging as designing a cake. Now, I just think of them as smaller canvases.

I admit that I’m still not a huge fan. I have no problem with the way they taste, per se, although I do find that they dry out in the baking process more easily than cake. I have a problem with the esthetics of the cupcake. Sorry, but in their natural state, they’re just not fancy enough for me. And they’re not uniform enough. So, I put my own spin on cupcakes: I make my own cupcake wrappers. I’m not talking about the paper baking cups. I’m talking about a custom wrapper that goes around the cups. Here’s how I did it.

First, I designed a template. Once I had the shape right, it was easy. I went to Michael’s and bought some 12×12 scrapbook paper I liked. This is where the DIY wrapper is superior to the store bought wrapper: The possibilities are endless. (Well, almost endless. It depends on the available paper.)

Then, I traced the template onto the back of the paper.

Cut the paper. It now resembles a rainbow shape.




Used my daughter’s fancy scissors. (Note: It’s helpful to have a seven-year old who has all sorts of fancy scissors so you don’t have to buy any, but if you don’t have one, you can just go to your local crafts store.) Be sure to cut the outer edge of the paper (i.e., the top part of the rainbow

Wrapped the cupcake wrappers around the paper baking cups and taped the back. You are now read to use your custom cupcake wrappers. Just drop in your already baked (and still wrapped in their paper baking liner) cupcake.

Here, several of my cupcakes designed to match the custom wrappers.


For the baker: I don’t allow the paper to touch my cupcakes. The paper isn’t greaseproof, so any grease or fat will stain the paper, and not all paper is foodsafe. If you’d like a copy of the template, shoot me an email with “cupcake template” in the subject line at: erica@ericaobrien.com

For the bride: If you’ll be serving cupcakes at your wedding, you can ask your stationary designer or graphic artist to print sheets of paper that will match your invitations. Give the paper to your baker and instruct him or her to follow the directions in this post.

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The Wedding Cake: Big Dreams on a Small Budget

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Erica OBrien in cake plate, cake plateau, cake topper, DIY, faux tiers, for the baker, for the bride, wedding cake long beach, wedding cake los angeles, wedding cake size | 2 Comments

Size does matter, especially when it comes to your wedding cake. For many brides, the bigger the better. Perhaps you’ve always dreamed of a five-tier cake, but the reality of your budget won’t allow it. Not surprising. In today’s tough economy, many brides are forced to find creative ways to stretch their budget, and get more for less. Below are five practical and relatively inexpensive ways to make your wedding cake appear bigger.

1/Increase the Number of Tiers. In a traditional wedding cake, each tier increases in diameter by 4″, so a cake for 100 guests typically has three tiers: 6″, 10″, 14″. Let’s say you have your heart set on a four-tier cake, but you only have 100 guests. Adding an 18″ tier would be cost prohibitive, not to mention extremely wasteful. By decreasing the difference in size of each tier, you could have a four- or even five-tier wedding cake to serve 100 guests. For a five-tier cake, the diameter of the tiers would be 5″, 6″, 7″, 8″, and 9″. The less space between the tiers, the taller and leaner your cake appears.

Keep in mind that this also gives your cake a more streamlined, modern look. Notice the difference in the two cakes below. Both serve 100 guests. The one on the left is a traditional, three-tier cake with three inches between each tier. The one on the right has only a one-inch difference.

2/Elevate your Cake. Another way to increase the grandiosity of your cake is to lift it.

Cake plateaus are more traditional looking, have wider bases, and usually come in gold or silver. (They tend to be pricey, but you can recover almost all of your money by reselling on ebay.)

The term cake plate and cake stand are used interchangeably to mean a plate on a pedestal. Cake stands range from antique to vintage to brand new, with looks ranging from traditional to modern. One caveat of a cake stand: A standard cake stand will accommodate a cake up to 10″ in diameter, while the largest tier of a typical wedding cake is anywhere from 12″ to 18″. Be sure to confirm with your baker the size of your largest tier before you purchase a cake plate so you know it will fit.

A traditional cake plateau (left) and a reproduction milk glass cake plate (right):

Make your own. There are many creative ways to create your own cake stand, but there are some challenges. First, wedding cakes can be extremely heavy–hundreds of pounds–and you have to make sure that your structure can support the weight. Also, your stand should be proportionate to your cake in both height and diameter, so check the dimensions with your baker. Lastly, some designs look better in theory than in practice. Although a glass vase filled with lemons and used as a cake stand might sound like a great idea, it doesn’t mean that it will have the visual appeal that it does in your head. Purchase some dummy cakes in the sizes of your tiers and play around with different ideas before you invest a lot of time and money (not to mention emotion) into your DIY cake stand.

3/Add a Faux Tier. Many cake designers are happy to add a faux (or fake) tier to your wedding cake. Since faux tiers are non-perishable, the designer can work on it weeks in advance (at his or her leisure), so they are generally less expensive than a real tier.

4/Add a Cake Topper. Vintage wedding cake toppers can be found at flea markets, garage sales, or your grandma’s attic. Ebay always has interesting finds as well (just search “wedding cake topper”). Adding a topper will give your cake more height, creating the illusion of a bigger cake. We found the custom toppers below on etsy.com:

5/Use a Smaller Table. The larger your table, the smaller your cake will appear. A cake with a 12″ bottom tier would be dwarfed by a 60″ round table. Using a smaller table will make your cake seem bigger in proportion.

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