Know what’s better than a DIY? An easy DIY, and we have two of ‘em. The best part is, you probably already have most of the materials in your home.
Our Necco wafer cake takes the classic Necco wafer candy to a whole new {trendy and sophisticated} level. For the full project, see our DIY tutorial on Project Wedding.
Our fruit gem cake is perfect for spring. You’ll find the full project instructions on Project Wedding.
Photos 1, 3, 4: Val McCormick
Photo 2: Brooke Allison Photo
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We’ve scheduled two classes so far for 2013. Our Tier I: Introduction to Cake Design class begins next Sunday, January 20th. Although this class is a beginner-level class, it’s also perfect for students who have some cake design experience and want to brush up on their skills. We find a lot of our students have already taken the Wilton class (as an instructor of mine once said, “Everyone starts with Wilton.”) but want a more professional-level understanding of cake artistry.
Tier I meets four consecutive Sundays from 10am to 1pm. All materials and supplies are included, and students receive their own piping kit and gel color kit. Cost: $399. Register here.
We also wanted to accommodate people who couldn’t commit to four consecutive weeks, or those who live too far to make the trip weekly. Our Fondant Intensive is designed for students who already have a background in cake design but want to improve their fondant skills. Students learn the tools, tips, and techniques used by professionals to give their cakes a flawless finish and learn ruffles, bows, single-cut flowers, and more.
The Fondant Intensive meets on Sunday, March 3rd, from 10am to 4pm. Register here.
And since no blog post is complete without a few cake photos, I thought I’d share a few recent ones.
Baby shower cake inspired by the mom-to-be’s baby shower invitation:
Cake for Bride’s Magazine featuring sugar raspberries, sugar succulents, and sugar poppies.
Cake covered in rice paper that we cut with a craft punch and accented with some orange sugar ranunculus:
Please feel free to contact us with any questions about our classes. Hope to see you there!
Read MoreI started decorating cakes in 1995 and have picked up some really great tricks along the way. Some I learned from other cake artists, either by reading their books, taking their classes, speaking with them directly, or even watching them on t.v., and some I figured out on my own. I’m happy to share them here with you.
1. Smooth first. Rolling fondant smoothly is a skill unto itself, and it can be difficult to avoid minor irregularities when you roll by hand. If you use fondant, you most likely already use smoothers on your fondant-covered cakes, but you can also smooth fondant before you apply it. Once you’ve rolled the fondant, while it is still lying flat on a hard surface, use your smoothers to work out any bumps and eliminate any air bubbles. Source: Melody Brandon (www.mysweetandsaucy.com)
2. Set color by steaming. When used correctly, petal dust can really bring sugar flowers to life, but it can also give them a chalky, matte appearance. To reduce the dusty look and work the color permanently into your petals, boil some water and gently wave your sugar flowers over the steam for a few seconds. (I’m very accident prone, so I always set a strainer on the pot so that if I drop my sugar flowers they don’t end up in the water.) At first the flowers will appear quite shiny, but the sheen will almost completely disappear. Note that this method will also slightly deepen the color, so be sure to experiment first. Source: Jacqueline Butler (www.petalsweetcakes.com)
3. Keep a paint fan deck handy. Most brides have pretty definite preferences when it comes to color, but “peacock blue” can mean different things to different people. I’ve found computers to be unreliable for color matching, since colors on computer screens can vary greatly. Instead, I keep a paint fan deck in my office so that clients can tell me on the spot what color they want. This also saves them a trip to Home Depot for a paint chip. You can purchase Benjamin Moore fan decks online for about $15. Source: Erica OBrien
4. Refrigerate fondant. Whoever said fondant can’t be refrigerated obviously never traveled to Malibu, CA via the 405 Freeway on a blazing hot summer afternoon. (You can read more about that cake fiasco here.) Although some condensation might appear on your fondant cakes when they’re taken out of the fridge and exposed to warmer air (making them quite tacky to the touch), the condensation eventually evaporates and the fondant returns to its original matte finish. Just be sure not to touch it during the sticky stage or you’ll leave fingerprints. Source: Melody Brandon (www.mysweetandsaucy.com)
5. Use convoluted foam mattress pads to absorb shock. That’s right: I said convoluted foam mattress pads. You know exactly what it is–that egg crate-shaped foam used to add extra cushioning to your bed–you just never thought to use it with your cake. Since bumps, pot holes, or bouncing during cake delivery can all cause damage to cakes, it is important to minimize the shock. Placing foam padding beneath your cake board will help cushion the blow and protect your cakes from damage. Source: Nancy Kay (http://www.nkconfections.com/)
6. Try scalpels. X-acto blades are great for cutting fondant, but the sharpest blades available are the scalpels that surgeons use. You can purchase disposable scalpels online. They come in all different shapes and sizes and are quite inexpensive, so you can experiment until you find one that works for you. Source: Elisa Strauss (www.confetticakes.com)
7. Use blue painters tape on fondant. When I need to apply a horizontal band to my fondant, I first apply blue painter’s tape just below where I want the band. If the tape is not straight, simply take it off and start over. The tape acts to guide the application of the fondant band and ensure that it is level. It adheres just enough to remain in place, but peels off easily without pulling the fondant beneath it. Source: Mary Maher (www.thecakegirls.com)
8. Use vodka. Because of its high alcohol content, vodka evaporates very quickly and won’t dissolve the sugar in your fondant (unlike water), making it ideal for liquefying powdered food color and diluting paste coloring for painting on cakes. Vodka can also be used to wipe away stray marks and mistakes on your cakes. Moisten a paper towel with vodka and gently take away dirt and marks. For smaller areas, wrap paper towel tightly around a toothpick. I buy the largest, cheapest bottle of vodka I can find. Source: Charm City Cakes
9. Use foamcore instead of cardboard. Although convenient, pre-cut cardboard rounds absorb a lot of fat from cakes, weakening the cardboard’s structure. I use foamcore instead. It’s pricey, rough on blades, but nothing beats its sturdiness. Source: Colette Peters. (colettescakes.com)
Read MoreSomewhere around the late ’80s, I swore off gold. No more gold earrings, gold bracelets, or gold necklaces for me. I also renounced pastels. Pinks and lavenders, mint and seafoam green, and especially mauve and peach were now officially anathema to me.
Then, almost overnight, I love gold and pastels again. I’m not sure when it happened or how, but I took a look at my cakespiration pinboard, and the majority of my pins were pastels and gold. Check these out and you’ll see what I mean.
And then it’s full speed ahead, with a new pair of gold earrings, a pastel duvet cover, and this cake with a gold chevron and pastel sugar flowers inspired by my Pinterest boards.
Special thanks to Brooke Allison for the photos. Damn, she’s good.
Read MoreAfter much anticipation (and years in the making), we’ve opened our retail shop. Okay, it’s not exactly “ours”. I call it our sister shop, and it’s quite literally my sister’s shop. My sister Jessica, The Soup Girl, and I share the commercial kitchen in the back of the house. The front is divided between her retail area and my consultation studio, but I’m selling my cupcakes on her side.
Since part of my personal mission is to educate the world about what a good cake/cupcake should actually taste like, retail is proving the perfect forum for me. Although most bakeries–even some high end cake design studios–bake from mixes and purchase large vats of “buttercream” that often contain no actual butter, we bake everything from scratch and use real butter. All of our fruit flavors are made in-house by reducing the whole fruit with sugar until all that is left is intense, concentrated fruit flavor. We use really good quality chocolate (Callebaut), fruit purees (Boiron), and vanilla paste (Nielsen-Massey). We sold out of every single cupcake the first two days we were open. (I’ve since increased production to keep up with demand.) Apparently Hamden, CT was just waiting for a quality cupcake.
We officially opened last Thursday, and I would describe the experience as exciting, exhuasting, exhilarating, and emotional. (Megan, if you’re reading this, forgive the alliteration. It was completely unintentional.) The neighborhood we’re in is extremely welcoming, and so many people came out to show their support. We couldn’t be happier with the location.
Below, some photos of The Soup Girl’s retail shop, our staff, and me and my absolutely fabulous intern working on some cupcakes. I’m saving the photos of my studio until it’s completely finished.
And if you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by!
I’ve waited a long time for this. Our new website went live on Friday, July 29th. It took a day or so to work out some kinks, and I might have gotten a little overzealous on the image sizes in the galleries, but it’s here and I love it. I’d like to thank Joe Renteria of Webpage Dynamics, who held my hand through my first website five years ago and exhibited tremendous patience and understanding this time around too. Thank you Joe! Also, I am extremely grateful to my friend Alison Neuru, who translated her skills as a post-production photo retoucher into website designer. Lastly, thank you to Monica Majors of Paper Cut Industries who skillfully designed our new logo. I am fortunate to have such wonderful (and talented and savvy) friends.
Here’s a screen shot of the brand spanking new Erica OBrien Cake Design site. (To see the rest, please visit our site.) I hope you love it as much as we do!
Skilled artisans make their craft look easy–effortless even. A good musician offers no indication of the hours and hours of time spent practicing. The same is true for cakes. I often get calls from potential clients–fans, no doubt, of popular television shows like Ace of Cakes–who request a cake for 30 guests in the shape of a Prada shoe sitting atop a Ferrari. When I tell them the price, they’re floored. I don’t blame them: On television, a 40 hour job is edited down to 20 minutes. Combine that with the artists’ expertise, and a challenging cake design looks ridiculously easy.
Logo design is no exception. Effective logos are eye catching, artistic, and memorable, all while accurately representing the organization or business. If you’ve ever thought, “I could do that myself”, you’d be wrong. There is a whole process to logo design. There are fonts to consider, issues of balance, design principles and theories, not to mention the psychology of branding. Color, I found out, is the last step. A good graphic designer, like any artist, makes the whole process look deceptively simple.
I turned to graphic designer Monica Majors of Paper Cut Industries to design my new logo. Hers is an in-depth process that begins with a questionnaire (I just love a questionnaire) about your business. The answers help her identify your style, taste, brand, and look. Then, after careful consideration, she presents “Round 1″ of your logos.
Round 1 includes three options, all in color and black and white. A good logo, Monica explained, should stand on its own and not be dependent on color. She further fine tunes and tweaks the logo in subsequent rounds until she arrives at the perfect design.
These are my “Round 1″ logos. I really liked Option No. 1, but I wanted the logo to somehow be more symbolic of cake. I asked Monica to create variations of Option No. 3 using different fonts and colors.
I narrowed down the colors to pink and a greenish aqua. I liked the round shape because I felt it best represented cake. I thought perhaps we could create a border around the circle to symbolize the piped border found on a cake. Here’s “Round 2″.
Finally, “Round 3″. My idea for a piped border around the logo didn’t have that “clean” look I really like, so we scratched that. While I like a lot of the script fonts Monica chose, they too lacked the streamlined style I’m known for, so I opted for two different sans serif fonts. I had a really hard time choosing between Option No. 3 and Option No. 6 in the Round 2 logos, but I finally settled on Option No. 3. In Round 3, Monica recreated the final design in a variety of color combinations.
And finally, introducing my new (larger-than-life) logo.
Thank you so much Monica. I love it.
Please note: All images are copyright material of Paper Cut Industries and are not intended for reproduction without their express written consent.
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I’ve always loved those rocks with words etched on them, and attempted (rather unsuccessfully) to make them out of fondant. (I’ll have to give this another try at some point.) I wanted this ruffle to be vertical, like the ruffles on the pillow below, but it needed something else so I added a ruffled rosette.
