Chanel Classic Handbag Cake

I made this cake for my mother-in-law's birthday.  She loves Chanel and had requested for me to replicate one of her purses a few years ago.  This year, although being in the middle of a home remodel, I HAD to make her cake....I couldn't let another year go by.  She absolutely loved it and didn't let us cut it.  Luckily, I had also made some cupcakes to go along with the cake that everyone enjoyed.

So, here are the photo's of the process....

2 days prior, I made the Black MMF using black candy melts.  The recipe can be found under the "MMF Recipes" tab above.  You can also use dark brown/chocolate candy melts.  The black candy melts I had were more dark brown rather than black and I had to add a few drops of the black AmeriColor Gel to it to get it darker.

I think the black candy melts I used were either by Merckens or CK....I don't remember exactly but I do know that they were not the Wilton ones.

1 day prior, I made the blossoms, flower petals, and Chanel logos for the cupcakes with MMF (I mix the MMF with tylose to help it dry faster and harder like gumpaste).  I also made the chain links to use for the purse straps with MMF too.

I made over 100 links and only joined them in two's (you'll see why later).  I lay them over popsicle sticks so that they would dry with some curvature to them rather than being plain and flat.

I baked a 10" square cake (10 inch wide purse), and cut and stacked 3 tiers. Each tier was 2 1/2 inches wide by 2 inches tall (6 inch tall purse).

Carved the cake to the shape of the purse and covered it over in Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC).  I also inserted 2 dowels down the middle to help hold the purse up since it was narrow and tall.  Then, I put the entire cake into the fridge overnight to get nice and firm.

The following morning, I covered the cake over in MMF.

The 1st piece I did was the front.  I rolled out the MMF and trimmed it to size.  I also used Dark Cocoa to dust the surface with rather than Powdered Sugar or Corn Starch to help keep the MMF from sticking to the table top.  It was great at giving the purse a dark, brown look that matched the color of the purse perfectly.  Using a ruler and a stitching wheel (a sewing tool), I scored the quilt design over the MMF.  Flipped the MMF over so the underside was now facing up, and rolled 1/8" of the edge over and all around so you wouldn't see the cut edges - I wanted to seams to look just like they were sewed together just like the seams on a real leather purse - hope that makes sense.  Flipped the MMF back to the right side and lay it over the cake.   With a fondant tool (a small ball tool will work too), I went over the quilt seams and lightly pressed it into the cake slightly to give it a little bit of a puffed up look.

The next piece I lay, covered the back of the purse and went up and over the front of the cake for the flap.  I then added the 2 side pieces following the same technique above with scoring the quilt pattern and rolling the edges under.  I then lightly rubbed the entire purse with a little bit of shortening to make it look more like leather.

Once the cake was covered, I got started on the details.  I painted each link with edible gold dust mixed with vodka.  Tedious but well worth it - you gotta have the gold, Chanel chain!

Update:  For those that have asked, the Gold Dust I use (according to the simple label) is, 24 kt. Gold Dust, Non Toxic (2gr.)  #C409.  It looks to be the same as this one:

To use, add a little bit of vodka to the Gold Dust to create a thin paste and sort of dab it onto the fondant pieces or use really short brush strokes.  If you use too much vodka, the gold dust will get too thinned out and difficult to get a thick coating of it on the fondant.  If you fondant is greasy and the dust is not sticking, lightly brush some corn starch over the fondant first then try painting it again.  HTH.

I then cut out 4 circles out off the top of the purse (2 in the front and 2 in the back) using a piping tip.  The holes were then covered over with round circles made out of MMF which were also brushed over with gold dust.

  

Now to the fun part...laying each pair of links on the cake and threading the leather strap through it.  I cheated.  The leather strap is actually 1 1/2 inch wide pieces of MMF pinched in the ends and shoved into each link giving it the illusion of the strap going all the way through.

I used the same technique when adding the shoe laces on the sneaker shoe cakes I had done before...see them below:

Tennis Shoe Cake

Running Sneaker Cake

Now you can see why I only connected 2 links at a time to each other.  The part of the links that are under the black strap are not seen so therefore, do not need to 'actually' be connected - cool illusion hah!

I looked over so many purse cakes trying to figure out how the straps were done on the cakes that did have edible straps and didn't like what I saw so after playing around with the links, I came up with my own technique....at least I haven't seen anyone who has done it this way or at least shown us how.  Now, with this tip, I hope to see much better chain links out there by you all :-)

I used clear piping gel to help hold all the links up against the cake and onto the cake stand.

The 'minor' imperfection that really bugs me is that on the following day, since we didn't eat the cake the night of the party, I took the photo that you see above, outside in the morning light.  As you can see, the cake settled and the 2 dowels used to hold the cake up appear as bumps (to me, they look like horns) along the top of the purse...err!  I've been told, by a dear friend, that it's actually a bulging wallet full of cash - gotta love her!  Next time, I'm cutting those things down at least 1/4 inch lower than the actual cake to avoid such an awful bump...Live and Learn!

As for the large flowers, I made them up.  These were the very 1st flowers I've ever made petal by petal.  There are 5 medium petals for the inside and 5 large petals for the outside all glued together with piping gel.  The large, pink flowers are dusted over in pink luster dust and I added pearls of white, silver and black in an assortment of sizes to the middle of each flower and mini blossom.  I just love how they turned out but I do need to take some classes and learn the REAL way to make flowers someday.

I made both regular and mini sized cupcakes frosted with IMBC and topped with the Chanel inspired decorations.  The white, round disks have the quilt pattern on them too which is hard to tell from the photo.  The C's for the logo were made using circle cutters.

The cake is on the pedestal while the 2 purses on the table are the non-edible, real ones.

And alas, 3 days later, we finally cut the cake....and ate it too.

Thomas the Train Cake

Choo choo, here comes Thomas!  An 8 inch cake covered and decorated in Marshmallow Fondant (MMF).  Stevie turned 3 so I used the "3" theme randomly around the cake:  3 pieces of wood for the train track, 3 yellow stripes on Thomas, 3 rocks/boulders, 3 bushy trees, and 3 tiny flowers on each bush.

Although this was the 2nd time making a 3D model of Thomas, he was still a challenge...so many parts to add on to such a little guy - he barely stood at 2 inches.  The inside of his body is RKT covered over with modeling chocolate and I used dry spaghetti painted with black gel colors for the 4 rods that are in the front.  Dry spaghetti and piping gel was also used to secure the puff of steam to the funnel and into the body.

Note:  When making edible treats for kids, try to use dry spaghetti over toothpicks - they will bite into anything...and everything.

I kneaded and marbled 3 shades of brown together to create the mountain and rocks with then scored it all over the place with a ball tool to give it some ridges and cracks.  I also made the mountain stick up over the top of the cake a bit.  Finished off the cake by adding the rolling hills in 2 shades of green, white clouds and trees.

A view around the cake....

I left room on the top for Stevie to add a No. 3 candle

Giant Cupcake Cake

This year for my nieces birthday she requested for a giant cupcake, a blue liner with hearts and sprinkles..what fun to make and I absolutely love, love, love the way it turned out!

I wanted to create something unique and different from the typical giant cupcake and found this cake created by Las Vegas Custom Cakes (www.LasVegasCustomCakes.com).  I used it as my inspiration piece and I just loved how it gave you a tiny peek at the actual cupcake like your would see on a regular cupcake.

I baked 5 cakes:
2, 8-inch rounds
2, 6-inch rounds
1, 4-inch round

Cakes stacked - imagining what the cupcake would look like

I used a 6 and 8 inch to build the bottom half of the cupcake and the remaining 8, 6, and 4 inch cakes to carve the swirl for the top of the cupcake.  The swirl could have been made shorter...something to consider if I would make another so it wouldn't look so much like an ice cream swirl.  We did get about 50 servings out of all these cakes.

Stacked and ready to be carved

Carved and Crumb Coated

The top half of the cupcake was filled and covered entirely with White Chocolate IMBC (IMBC with melted white chocolate added into it - yum!)  I had never carved a swirl before and it was a challenge trying to get the curve to work amongst the 3 tiers of cake - I must have turned the cake a couple hundred times picturing where the swirl was going and carefully carving it out - thank goodness for a turntable =)

The bottom half of the cupcake was filled with White Chocolate IMBC but the outside was covered in Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache since I wanted something more stable to hold up such a tall cake.

I carved the cake to look like a cupcake and then covered it over with ganache.

I then piped long ropes of ganache over wax paper, put them in the freezer for 5 minutes to set a little, then peeled them off and placed them evenly spaced around the cake to help create the creases of the cupcake liner.  I did try to pipe the ganache ropes directly on the cake but they turned out uneven and the angle was difficult to work with.

Once everything was set and firm, I covered the top part with chocolate brown MMF.

Boba tea straws were then inserted into the cake (they were used to support and hold up the weight of the top tier once stacked).

I then flipped the cake upside down, rolled out the blue MMF into a wide ribbon and wrapped it around the cake being sure to keep it all at the same height up off the base.  I did roll the MMF thicker than normal at about 1/4 inch thick.

Both tiers covered in White Chocolate MMF

Both tiers were covered and decorated in White Chocolate MMF.

White Chocolate MMF:  I used my recipe to making MMF with Candy Melts but replaced the Candy Melts with White Chocolate and added a 1/2 tsp of butter flavoring to it - delish!!!

Then to the fun part, adding the finishing touches.

The finished cake measured at 8 inches wide at the widest part and 12 inches tall.  It looked like a giant plastic toy rather than an edible cake =)  We all enjoyed it.  Happy Birthday Ally!

Tennis Shoe Cake (Nike Max Global Court Shoe)

My 2nd sneaker....what fun!  This was for my Father-in-Law and the 3rd tennis themed cake I've created for him.  I already have an idea for what I want to make him next year too =)

So here are some of the photo's on how I created a replica of the Nike Max Air Global Court Shoe as seen here:

Carved cake

Crumb Coated in IMBC

The entire shoe is carved out of cake.  A Banana Cake crumb coated in Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC) and decorated over with Marshmallow Fondant (MMF).

Here are step-by-step photo's of the 1st sneaker cake I did 2 months ago:  Running Sneaker Shoe Cake

I basically followed the same steps as I did on the Running Sneaker Cake and worked on a well chilled cake removing it out of the fridge a couple hundred times to measure and fit each piece of the shoe together - keeping the cake cold also helps with keeping the IMBC firm and easier to work with.  It's a long and tedious process assembling the shoe section by section and it felt like I was "sewing" together a real shoe =)

Photo's of the shoe with scaled measurement and cutting out the "Nike" out of black MMF

Just getting started is always a challenge...what to do 1st and where to place that very first piece so all the other pieces miraculously fall into place is challenging.  I think the best part to start on is the very front toe area of the shoe and then move up to the middle with the shoes tongue.  Once that gets pieced together, I assembled the sides followed by the details along the very bottom of the shoe and lastly, assembled the back heel and the ankle opening.

Right before adding the shoe laces

Close up o the shoe laces 

Excited to share how I used clear piping gel to create the air pockets  =)
I did a thin layer 1st, let that rest and set overnight then added another layer over that...worked perfectly!

Outer side of the shoe

Inner side of the shoe

To finish it off, I dusted some of the grey areas in pearl dust to give it some shine and look more like the same plastic-like material on the shoe.

The one thing that was out of proportion which I wished I paid more attention to was to make the top "ankle" opening wider...once I was done, I noticed that I was about an inch short and couldn't fix it.  I had my scaled measurements down correctly on paper but in the midst of assembling the cake, I lost track and never went back to remeasure and double check.  You just have to have tiny ankles to get into these shoes - LOL!

Shoe Size:  9.5 US
Shoe Dimensions:  10x5x3 inches

Caitlyn's Castle Cake

My daughter Caitlyn has been begging for a castle cake for weeks.  And in her exact words, "I want a purple castle cake with a princess in a poofy, blue dress and Darth Vader"...yes, Darth Vader.  She's infatuated by Darth Vader and even wanted to dress like him for Halloween last year - I talked her into being a cute little Witch instead but I may not win the battle this Halloween, we'll wait and see.

She sees the cakes I make all the time and spends the entire year asking for each and every one of those cakes to be remade for her but she'll tell you exactly what you wants on each down to every little detail.  Plus, she's always baking a cake in her play kitchen and making decorations with play dough.  So, this year, as a surprise, on the day of her actual birthday, I completely let go and let the kids frost and decorate their very own 5 inch square cakes.

They got to do whatever they wanted to make.  I gave them a bunch of MMF in different colors and my box of cutters to use and left them alone to do as they pleased.  Caitlyn jumped right in and had her cake all covered with decorations in no time at all.  She was so happy and definitely in hog heaven over her cake and with also having complete freedom to do as she pleased - A priceless moment.

A few weeks later, I made her actual birthday cake.  With family visiting from out of town and only 2 nights to get it all done (1 night preppping and baking and another night to assemble and decorate), it was a group effort having my cousin and sister-in-law help out with some of the cake.  We were up until 4am the day of her party getting the final touches done....phew!

With only a few of us celebrating her special day between the cousins, I kept the cake small (10 servings).  I built the cake off a 10 inch square Chocolate Cake.  The bottom tier measures around 5.5 inches x 4 inches tall while the dome is a 3 inch round.  The cake is filled and covered in Italian Meringue Buttercream and decorated in MMF.

The purple MMF is grape flavored - made with grape JELL-O
(Click here for the recipe)  

I didn't get a chance to take photos through out the process and this is the only one I have before assembly.  The 2 tall towers are paper towel rolls that I covered in foil then over with MMF.  Giant ice cream cones were inserted into the paper towel rolls and since the tops kept cracking off, I brushed them over with chocolate.  The pink tower is a large sugar cone.  The 1st sugar cone crumble on me when I tried to cover it with MMF and so on my 2nd attempt, I brushed the inside with a thick layer of chocolate to give it more strength.  I ended up cutting it almost in half and recovering it over with another piece of MMF to fit on the cake better.

Top View:  The path is rainbow sprinkles - Caitlyn's request

The entire castle is dusted in Violet Petal Dust

Cinderella

Although she wanted Cinderella in a big poofy dress, and with almost not making her due to time, she was still super happy to have her on the cake...at least looking out of the window is better than not having her at all - gotta love kids!  For the tiny flowers, I used a 3 different sized blossom cutters.  The largest ones are no more than a 1/4 inch wide; very tiny flowers.  I piped the green vines in Royal Icing.

THE Darth Vader

And she got what she wanted...Darth Vader on her cake.  He's made out of modeling chocolate and the light saber is a toothpick painted in gel colors (it had the perfect groove for the handle).

It was funny to hear the guys at the restaurant say the cake was "totally cool" - a castle cake, cool?  Nah, we all know, it was Darth that was cool (LOL).

cheeeezzzz!

I asked her what happened to Darth, she points at the rest of his
body while chewing on his head (note the black teeth)