PART 2 Binge eating M&M

To get the look of the planters peanut bag I used my edible printer and frosting sheets to get the planters peanut bag and the logo for Chester Cheeto, I made edible tootsie roll wrappers and Hershey’s wrappers made from the edible frosting sheets and printer I backed those on to fondant to make them sturdier.

For the Cheetos and Cheetos bag I hand painted the Cheetos bag with diluted food coloring and the Cheetos are out of fondant too to get a cheesy effect on them I rolled them in orange edible glitter.

I then stacked and filled my cake for the M&M and once the cake was chilled again I began to carve it I would of preferred to make the shape more true to the shape of a real M&M but I had to take in consideration where the cake had to travel to also we were experiencing extremely hot weather in Chicago so I wanted to make sure the cake arrived in perfect condition. If you look closely you will notice that the M&M doesn’t have his famous symbol well that is because the hand would cover it so I decided it wasn’t necessary but looking back I wish I would of added it! Also the hands are made of a fondant modeling chocolate mixed with a flexible wire strung through the middle so that it provides extra support.

The finished product after all the elements were added

M&M Binge Eater 3D Cake Part 1

I know it has been awhile sine I posted something but thankfully we had a great wedding season at Yum Squared Bakery and we are in the process of getting things together to get a store front but that's another post. I'm excited to give you a look into what it takes to make one of our specialty 3d cakes so enjoy!

I recently received a call from a client for a 75^th birthday party cake for her father in law. When I asked what were his hobby’s she told me gardening but she didn’t want to do a garden themed cake so we dug a bit deeper and I found out he is a big time junk food eater! Once I found out that piece of information I knew what I had to do make his favorite food in to a cake!

I was given a list of his favorite foods I wanted to come up with a concept that would take his love for junk food and take it a step further! The recipient of the cake loved M&M’s, Cheetos, Hershey’s kisses, strawberry ice cream, Planters peanuts and Tootsie rolls. That’s when it hit me! A giant M&M who went on a binge and ate a ton of junk food! I wanted to make everything on the cake edible so the first thing that I had to figure out also I needed to make the cake easy for transporting because my client who by the way is a really good friend of ours was out of town so I wasn’t sure how far the cake needed to travel this was bad on my end I have a habit of not following the rules I set for doing cakes for clients for friends and family and I don’t send out a questionnaire that helps us decided how to construct a cake. (Note for any one new to baking or to designing cake always take into consideration how far your cake has to travel and if you will delivery or if your client will pick the cake up this little oversight can affect the way you construct your cake or you may need to add additional information guiding your clients on which elements to put where.)

Next I drew a picture of what I was envisioning so that I could have something to go by while decorating the cake I started on baking the amount of cake I needed(by the way I spared you a good laugh I am  horrible at drawing and I didn’t include mine)

I figured that I needed 3 10inch cakes for the M&M and I also made two 6 inch cakes for the Cheetos bag and the Planters Peanut bag. The cake was to be strawberries and champagne but I also made the Planters Peanut bag vanilla bean with fresh strawberries for the kids at the party to eat because our strawberries and champagne cake is not for anyone under 21.

After I made the cakes and let them chill for a few hours I suggest at least 3 to 4 hours so that they are firm for carving.

For the Cheetos bag I took the 6inch cake and cut it into the shape of a chip bag I did this by eye. My suggestion when carving a cake take little cuts if you are uncomfortable carving but don’t be scared to make a mistake, the mistakes are what makes great cake artist you have to make mistakes so that you can learn how to fix them so that no one knows. Most of all if you get frustrated wrap the cake put it in the refrigerator and take a break trust me I do this a lot.

Back to the cake so once I cut it into a bag shape I cut it in half and filled it with fresh strawberries and my champagne frosting I also then carved the cake more to resembled a bag and then applied a thin layer of icing I did the same for the planters peanut bag as well and then placed the cake s back into the refrigerator.

While the cakes were chilling I made Fondant, I don’t buy fondant I like to give my customers the best tasting ingredients and I would rather make my own it takes a little work and I know what’s going in it and it tastes good!

 Once my fondant was made I stared in on the decorations, I used food coloring to get the color of peanuts once that was done the pictures below show how I formed the peanuts

 I also used a slipat brushed with cornstarch to keep the fondant from sticking to the mat I also used it on my gloves so the fondant wouldn't stick.

traveling 3D zebra print cake

I was approached by a client to create a zebra print school bus cake for her granddaughters 3^rd birthday. The party theme was zebra print meets fabulous rock star princess. The grandmother & parents hired a jungle bus (if your like me and didn’t know what that is it’s a school bus gutted out with playground and gymnastic equipment in place of seats.) They also wanted matching cupcakes and cake pops for the party as well.

The entire bus was edible it was a vanilla bean cake with fresh strawberries and banana filling. I also added lights to the bus and a edible chocolate photo with matching edible photo’s on the cupcakes and edible glitter #3’s which was a organic apple pie cupcake. The other cupcakes had hand painted zebra print disk that were edible with hot pink sugar flowers and a zebra swirled vanilla and chocolate frosting. the cake pops were hand painted as well. 

I was a little worried about this order the client was driving the cake outside of the Chicago land area and had to refrigerate it over night  but the cake traveled well I was told it arrived intact and ready for the party. the birthday girl loved her cake and as you see form the picture it fit in the clients refrigerator !

3D Lighting McQueen Cake

In the past few weeks I have been knee deep in wedding cakes so when I got this request for a Disney cars cake I was so excited! The client’s wanted a 3D Lighting McQueen cake for their sons 1^st birthday. I was excited and a bit intimidated at the request I hadn’t seen a cars movie but I was familiar with the main car Lighting McQueen.

So first things first  I quickly downloaded the cars  movie from Direct Tv and began my research getting to watch the movie was a much needed break for me from the hot commercial kitchen that seems even more humid since it has been hot in Chicago. I baked a total of 3 half sheet cakes and two rounds and got to work. After carving the shape of the car which by the way was a process that involved a lot of choice words and  Google image searches I wasn’t too happy with the shape I cut so I decided to come back and try it again. As a cake artist time can either be your friend or enemy in this instance it was beneficial to me since I gave myself enough time to do the cake.

In the end I think the cake came out pretty good if I was to do it again there are lots of things that I would do different but overall I was happy with the end product and the client was thrilled with their custom cake creation made entirely of cake with matching smash cake.