Although it looks like a fondant covered cake on the outside, the inside is made of Mars Bar Slice. The colourful balls on top are also made from mars bar slice dipped in candy melt.

To create the cake we made a batch of mars bar slice and then pressed it firmly into a lined round cake tin. It was then placed into the freezer for short time, so it set firmly and held its shape. It was then removed from the cake tin, stuck onto a silver cake board (using some melted candy coating) and covered in chocolate ganache. The chocolate ganache cover provided a smooth finish ready for the fondant cover. 

** Handy Hint: Make sure the ganache is a little runnier than usual as it sets really quickly once it goes on the cold cake*****

We then covered the cake and board in one using chocolate fondant. 

We made the balls the same way you make traditional cake pops. Firstly we rolled the mars bar slice into balls and popped them in the freezer to set. Once they were set we placed the cake pop sticks into the balls (using a little bit of candy melt on the ends to get them to stick). Then each pop was dipped into melted candy and decorated with candy coated chips, jimmies and candy writers.

Once they were set we popped out the sticks and assembled them on the top of the cake. We again used melted candy to stick each ball in place.

The final details were then added to the cake including candy beads around the cake base and ribbon on the cake board.

The cake was a hit and it tasted delicious:) You can find the recipe for mars bar slice on various recipe websites. We used the recipe from taste.com.au.

]]> http://www.somethingforcake.com.au/blog/index.php/fondant-covered-mars-bar-slice-cake/feed 0 http://www.somethingforcake.com.au/blog/index.php/making-a-skylanders-fondant-logo http://www.somethingforcake.com.au/blog/index.php/making-a-skylanders-fondant-logo#comments Fri, 05 Apr 2013 05:47:28 +0000 Something for Cake http://www.somethingforcake.com.au/blog/?p=396 Continue reading →]]>  

We created a Skylanders Giants cake recently and thought it would be a great opportunity to break down two of the techniques we used including;

1.  Making the logo from fondant using a custom made template. 

2. Covering the cake board in fondant

This week we will firstly show you “step by step” how we created the logo using a custom template. You can apply these steps to any design or image you are trying to replicate with fondant. It is a great technique as there are not always cutters and pre made cake tools to create every design and style you are after.

Step 1: Print out the Sklanders logo( we simply googled “Skylanders logo” and several images came up in  the search engine). We have printed two as we will use both for different parts.

Step 2: Cut one of the templates out, only cutting around the outside edge of the logo. Then with the second cut out each letter individually. 

Step 3: Take your coloured navy, white and orange fondant and knead some Tylose powder into it. This will ensure that the letters and background set hard. To see further details on using Tylose powder please click HERE.  It is advisable to only knead the Tylose in when you will be using each colour

Step 4: Using a non stick rolling pin, roll out the navy fondant and then place the background template on top of the fondant. Hold in place and use a craft knife to cut around the edge of the template. 

Step 5: Roll out your orange and white fondant and place the paper letters on top. Then cut out the individual letters one at a time (again using a craft knife as the blade has an ideal fine tip).

Step 6: Place the letters on the navy background cutout. It is best to get them aligned into place before sticking them down. You can use a little bit of sugar glue or even water to stick the letters in place once arranged. If you use water make sure only a very small amount is used.

Step 7: Once the letters are in place it is time to shade the additional colours onto the plain letters. You can see that the orange letters gradually get redder in colour at the tops. The white letters have a blue shaded colour at their bases.

We have used petal dusts to create the shaded colour on the letters. For the white letters; we mixed blue petal dust with some cornflour to create the exact shade we were after and then applied it using an eyeshadow brush. For the orange letters; we used some red petal dust and did the same.

Your logo is now ready completed and ready to be stuck onto the cake board.

Products used were:

* Bakels orange, white, black and blue fondant (the back and blue was mixed together to get the navy colour

*Craft knife

*Tylose powder

*Blue and red petal dusts

*Green non stick board (for decorating on)

*23cm non stick rolling pin

*Sugar glue

* The size of the cake ( including the depth )

* The shape of the cake

*How confident you are with using fondant. You will find that you may need to roll the fondant thicker if you are a beginner.

I have located this cake guide chart by “CakeBaker” in the UK. It is a great overall guide to help you work out how much fondant you will need. Remember though that this is a guide only and is based on fondant that rolled 5mm thick. 

We hope that this helps you when trying to work out how much fondant to purchase.

We thought that as we shared Lydias daughters Lalaloopsy cake last week we would also share her sons Lego birthday party. Both her kids happen to have their birthdays the same week so as you can imagine she was pretty busy:)

The colourful display of Lego treats were a massive hit at the party and the cake pops  were a great lolly bag treat.

We used a range of our products to create the cake, cookies and cake pops including:

* Coloured Bakels Fondant

* Red, blue, yellow candy melts 

* Coloured jimmies

* 6″ Lollipop sticks

* Bakels Missisippi Mud cake

* Bullet candles

*MDF Cake Board

*Couverture chocolate

*Cellophane bags

I was searching through some of our last cake creations and wanted to share this colourful Lalaloopsy cake that Lydia created for her daughters birthday.

I am sure you will agree that she has done an awesome job and it was a massive hit with Sasha and her friends:) They were all very excited at how much it looked like the actual doll.

The shape of the head was made by baking a 2D circle in a Pyrex glass bowl, and the dress section was carved from a round cake. Lydia used our Bakels Mississippi mud cake mix as it has a nice dense consistency and is perfect for carving and decorating with fondant. Not to mention, it is also delicious!

Both the arms and legs were made and modelled using Bakels fondant that had been mixed with Tylose powder. The Tylose Powder is used to get the fondant to set and hold its shape. The same technique was applied to make the hair. You can take a look at one of our previous blog articles HERE to read how to use Tylose Powder.

The dress pattern was created by using our edible image sheet. They were ideal and we couldn’t believe how similar they were to the actual dolls dress pattern. The edible sheet was cut into strips and then placed on top of the pre-made fondant dress pleats. 

The facial cheek details and eyes were made again with Bakels fondant and the mouth was created with an Americolor edible pen.

To make the button eyes Lydia used two different sized circle fondant cutters. The larger one was used to cut out the eye size, and then the smaller one was used to make the rim imprint on the button. Finally the stitches on the eyes were made by rolling two very small strips of black fondant and sticking them on as a cross.

We had a lot of fun especially as it gave us the opportunity to create some tasty treats that we have not made before.

It was our first time to create toffee apples and we really think they added a fun element to the table. The best advice we can share when making toffee apples is; use a candy thermometer and make sure you use the toffee as soon as you have made it as the toffee sets very quickly. We had to make two batches as the first one set before we had a chance to use it all.  Also try not to be tempted to lick the toffee (as we were) before it sets as it is really hot and will burn you.

To make these toffee apples we followed Jamie Oliver’s recipe. We then added rose flavoured turkish fairy floss to the tops of the apples for a splash of colour.

Other yummy treats we made for the table were pink and yellow cake pops, vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream, coloured popcorn and champagne jelly with strawberries. 

We were able to use our Push Pop containers for the champagne jelly. They were ideal as they could be filled with the jelly mix and then popped in the fridge to set. They held the perfect amount and offered a fun way for the guests to eat their dessert.

To create this table we also used our;

* Paper Eskimo Baking cups

*Paper Eskimo Paper Straws

*Non Pareil Sprinkles

*Lollipop Sticks

*Bakels Cake Mix

*Paper Eskimo Styling Tags

* Candy Melts

One of the most asked questions we get is “How many pieces of cake will I get from the cake I am making”?

There are a few factors that impact how many pieces you can get from a cake including the size of the cake, style of cake ( you generally will want larger sized portions if the cake is a lighter cake like a sponge), the size of the pieces that are cut and how deep the cake is.

We have put together a two serving guides below based on dessert portions for mud cakes that are approx. 3″ x 3/4″ x 3″ Deep.

We created this Barnyard Animal cake for one of our cake demonstrations a little while ago. We had a really great response to this class so we thought we would share some of our notes on modelling the little pigs.

1. Colour the Fondant: To start colour some fondant with pink colour paste or food dye ( preferably use gel paste in fondant). When you have achieved the desired colour break off a little and add some more food colour to the smaller amount to make a darker shade of pink(this bit of fondant will be used for the snout).

 2. Add a Hardening Agent ( Tylose or clear gel): Knead some tylose powder into the coloured fondant. You will start to feel the consistency of the fondant change and start to harden a little. When this happens you have added enough tylose. Too much tylose will make your fondant to hard to model and also crack.

3.Head and Body: Take a small bit of the light pink fondant and roll into a ball in the palm of your hands for the pigs’ head. Then take a larger piece of the fondant (approx double the size of the head) and roll into an oval shape.

Use a small piece of skinny spaghetti and insert into one end of the body piece. Put a little bit of sugar glue onto the head and insert onto the piece of the spaghetti in the body.

4.Legs: Roll out a thin sausage of fondant and cut into 4 short pieces. Use 4 pieces of skinny spaghetti and insert into the ends of each piece. Then stick each leg piece into the underside of the pigs’ body.

5.Ears and Snout: Roll a little piece of the darker pink fondant into a small oval ball. Use a sharp implement like a toothpick to mark two nostril holes. Using sugar glue, stick it onto the pigs face. Then make two small triangle shaped pieces of fondant and curl the tops over slightly. Also using the sugar glue stick these onto the top of the head for the ears.

6.Tail & Eyes: Roll out a skinny piece of fondant and twist into a spiral. Then stick to the pigs’ bottom using a little sugar flower glue. Use a black non-toxic pen and place two dots for eyes on the pigs face.

To make the baby pigs simply follow all the same steps except make all the pieces smaller. The only parts that will be different are the little legs. Instead of rolling out long sausage shape with spaghetti inserted, simply roll 4 little balls and stick them on.

]]> http://www.somethingforcake.com.au/blog/index.php/modelling-barnyard-animals-with-fondant/feed 0 http://www.somethingforcake.com.au/blog/index.php/pretty-candy-pops http://www.somethingforcake.com.au/blog/index.php/pretty-candy-pops#comments Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:46:22 +0000 Something for Cake http://www.somethingforcake.com.au/blog/?p=332 Continue reading →]]> Well after our little break it is definitely time to get back into sharing our latest cake decorating ideas. We created these sweet and simple candy pops for our warehouse window display.

They are really easy to make and we think they would make a great treat at any celebration. You can make them in so many different colours and designs to suit the theme and design of your event.

How to make Candy Pops

1.Choose your candy mould design. We chose to make pink butterflies and strawberries however there are hundreds of fun designs.

2.Melt your chosen colour of Candy Melts. You can either purchase the pre coloured melts or alternatively you can buy candy colouring and make different coloured melts yourself. If you are going to colour them yourself you can add the colour once you have melted your candy (only use oil based colour or specific candy/chocolate food colouring)

3.Pour the melted candy into the mould and place 4″ lollipop sticks in the cavities of the mould (while the melts are still wet).

4.Pop the filled mould into the freezer for a few minutes until the candy is set.

5.Remove the mould and gently flip out the set candy pops. Use your hands to hold the candy in place while flipping the mould over so they do not fall and crack on the bench.

6.Once they are flipped out you can then decorate them with candy writers, sprinkles, royal icing, edible glitter, lustre powder and more. We decided to use some Wilton Metallic Pearl spray to give them a shimmery finish.

7.We displayed the finished candy pops in a pretty pink tin bucket. We placed a piece of styrofoam on the base of the tin for the candy pops to be pushed into. We then filled the gap with cool mints to finish the look.

The most common question we are asked about using Tylose Powder is “How much should you use in the fondant”?

Unfortunately there is no real exact guide as there are different factors that influence the end result such as humidity. In areas with high humidity you will need to use more Tylose than is places with low humidity.

The best way to gauge how much to use is by kneading a little at a time into the ball of fondant you are using.

For example; Try taking a small ball of fondant the size of a golf ball and knead in approx. 1/2 tsp of Tylose powder. You will start to feel the fondant consistency change and start to feel firmer.

You will know if you have added too much Tylose as as the fondant will be too hard to knead and work with. In this case you can add some more fondant to the mix.

Handy Hints:

*Only mix the Tylose Powder into the fondant when you are going to use it. If you mix the fondant too far ahead of time it will set before you are ready to use it.

*When you have made your decorations  leave them overnight to completely set.