Charla Brummel, of Charla Blue Photography, recently had a 2nd birthday party for her adorable daughter Brooklyn. The theme of the party was inspired by, believe it or not, an Ikea quilt. To translate the design into cake, I made individual panels, some using edible images and others that were stenciled, and fondant ric rac. (I’ll be posting a how-to on the fondant ric rac soon.) I’m on a major cake bunting kick, so I added an edible bunting topper. Charla says she’s not creative, but as you can see from the table she designed (not to mention her artistic photographs), she lies.
This is Brooklyn:
And these are pictures of her party:
And as if you couldn’t tell by all the pictures, I really liked the cake.
We just added a new class to the schedule. The next Tier I: Introduction to Cake Design will begin on Saturday, November 13. We’ll skip Thanksgiving weekend and continue on December 4, 11, and 18. For more information, or to register for one of our classes, please visit our website: http://ericaobrien.com/classes.html. These classes sell out quickly, so be sure to sign up soon.
At first, we sort of made fun of my friend Brian when he went to ice cream college. Brian, along with his wife Jackie, owns Ample Hills Creamery, an artisan ice cream company in Brooklyn, NY.
As it turns out, ice cream school has nothing to do with the fun stuff, like mastering the art of the perfect scoop or the correct combination of toppings for a banana split. Instead, the focus is on the science of ice cream. I love blueberries–they’re my favorite fruit–but when I tried making blueberry ice cream, all I got was blueberry-flavored ice crystals. The problem, Brian learned, was the ratio of cream to water. Blueberries have a high water content, so more fat (i.e., cream) is needed to balance out the ratio. The value of Brian’s newly acquired knowledge is that he can now create his own ice cream flavors.
I’ve never been much for the science of baking, choosing instead to focus on the art of cake design, but I do like the idea of playing around with recipes. I recently purchased BakeWise, by Shirley O. Corriher, after I heard her interviewed on NPR’sAll Things Considered.
In it, she explains why some cakes don’t rise properly. Among the countless other things that can go wrong in the baking process (baking powder that’s past its prime, inaccurate oven temperature, not properly creaming butter, etc.), there is the very real possibility that the recipe is just plain wrong. Wrong? It never occurred to me that an existing recipe, let a lone a recipe that’s actually in print, could be wrong. Corriher explains that the problem is often the ratio of leavening agents to flour:
If a cake falls or does not rise well, you might think that you did not use enough leavening [baking soda or baking powder]. More frequently, however, the problem is just the opposite. When a recipe contains too much baking powder or soda, the bubbles get too big, run into each other, float to the top, and POP–there goes your leavening! Your cake or muffins will be very heavy or fall completely…Even in “good” cookbooks there are many recipes that contain excessive amounts of leavening agents. Unfortunately, this leads to heavy cakes, quick breads, and muffins. Guidelines for ideal quantities of leavening are:
For each cup of all-purpose flour (4.4 oz/125 g) in a recipe use no more than:
1 to 1 1/4 teaspoons (5 to 6 g) baking powder
or
1/4 teaspoon (1 g) baking soda
This is just one of the gems in Corriher’s book. BakeWise is the baker’s equivalent of ice cream college, and gives readers the confidence to tweak existing recipes that just don’t work and the tools to create original recipes. Don’t be surprised if you soon see Erica OBrien’s recipe for blueberry cake.
Last July, I went to a birthday party and saw a little girl wearing this adorableGymboree dress:
Obviously, I was left with no choice but to make it into a cake: a fall cake with edible miniature fruits and matching mini loaf cakes, and accompanied by the gorgeous blooms of Honey and Poppies. (If you notice a slight change to the colors, you can thank Megan, my creative yet bossy co-conspirator from Honey and Poppies. She didn’t like the blue and made me change it.) This shoot was featured on The Wedding Chicks. Special thanks to April and Amanda from April Smith & Co. Photography for their skill with a camera.
It’s always interesting when a couple comes to me with a collage of cake photos to use for inspiration. My challenge is to find the common design element that links them all together. Sometimes, the commonality is a color palette. Other times, there is a design theme, and still other times it’s a combination of the two. Devin and Brian brought these cakes to me. (All photos courtesy of http://www.theknot.com/).
Initially, I was stumped. Then I saw their invitation suite:
Mystery solved! Most of the cakes in the collage contain the same sage green found on their invitations. Devin was also really drawn to the birds on the second cake and wanted to incorporate them into the cake design. Here’s the sketch we agreed on:
Claire and Nhu got married at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. They wanted to incorporate both their Save the Date and their invitation in their cake design.
Save the Date
Invitation
The sketch we created.
We made the penguins out of fondant and allowed them to dry for about a week.
I am very critical of my work, so I’m always pleasantly surprised when I actually like something I’ve created. The Fiesta cake was for Quica’s 90th birthday celebration. I met with her daughter and granddaughter, and together we came up with the design based on the Delicate Doilies invitation from Wedding Paper Divas. The finished cake had Quica’s photo on it in an oval, beaded fondant frame. You can see some of the changes I made from the sketch to the final product.
Maybe it’s because everyone’s kids are back at school, or maybe it’s the preponderance of cake reality shows, but we’ve been receiving an inordinate number of inquiries about cake design classes. In response to the many requests, we’ve added to new classes to the schedule. The next Tier I: Introduction to Cake Design will be on Tuesdays in October, and the next Tier II: Intermediate Cake Design will be held on Sunday mornings beginning mid-October.
It’s always challenging to determine what size pans to use for a cake. Search the web and you’ll find that cake serving guides vary significantly. Earlene’s Cake Serving Chart shows that a 9″ cake serves only 22 guests, while Aztec Rental shows that it serves 32. I’ve always relied on an old Wilton chart. My print copy shows considerable wear and tear in the form of stray pen marks, grease stains, and random notes. See?
For whatever reason, it’s really hard to find the Wilton chart online, so I’m sharing it here for easy reference. Keep in mind that the standard wedding cake slice is 1″ wide by 2″ deep by 4″ high, much smaller than a typical birthday or party cake slice. I tend to use the more generously-sized party cake chart (email me for a copy–I couldn’t find it online) if the cake is for a party rather than a wedding. Oh, I should mention that I use only 2″ deep pans and don’t recommend using 3″ deep pans because they take too long to bake resulting in a dry cake. Here’s the chart.
I see the world in cake. I can’t help it! Everywhere I look I see fabric prints, magazine covers, china patterns, chandeliers, gift wrap, pillows, purses, greeting cards, labels, and logos all begging to be translated into cake. When I saw this photo in the Lowes Creative Ideas newsletter, I knew it had to be my next cake design. (The fact that there’s a slice of cake pictured is strictly coincidental. I swear.)
I really liked the idea of round objects in different shades of berry, and immediately thought of fabric flowers. I’ve been collecting random images for inspiration for years now and thought this one would work well:
See how this one has tiny words in the center? I imagine it on a wedding cake with words like love, honor, and dream. I hope to incorporate it into the design.
Below, the pencil sketch of the cake I plan to make using all of these elements as well as the paint chips I picked up for color swatches.
The design process is something that really interests me. This is the first post in a series (if two counts as a series) that will document my design process from start to finish. Check back soon (but not that soon) for Part II.
We would love to answer all of your questions! Feel free to contact Erica OBrien Cake Design. We’ll either email you directly or post your question on our blog.
And as if you couldn’t tell by all the pictures, I really liked the cake.
As it turns out, ice cream school has nothing to do with the fun stuff, like mastering the art of the perfect scoop or the correct combination of toppings for a banana split. Instead, the focus is on the science of ice cream. I love blueberries–they’re my favorite fruit–but when I tried making blueberry ice cream, all I got was blueberry-flavored ice crystals. The problem, Brian learned, was the ratio of cream to water. Blueberries have a high water content, so more fat (i.e., cream) is needed to balance out the ratio. The value of Brian’s newly 
.jpg "Fish Wedding Cake with Edible Penguin Toppers")
.jpg "feliz cumpleanos cake by erica obrien cake design | hamden, ct")
