Hello! I am an artist who has decided to try cake decorating after a close friend suggested it. I have been making cakes since August of 2010. I'd watched a lot of the various cake shows on TV and dec...
Hello! I am an artist who has decided to try cake decorating after a close friend suggested it. I have been making cakes since August of 2010. I'd watched a lot of the various cake shows on TV and decided to try making a sculpted 3D cake and have fallen in love with making them. After that first cake I decided that this was what I wanted to focus on and have since taken basic, intermediate and advanced cake decorating classes at an area cake shop (Cake Carousel.) While I am continuing my education in the decorating basics I have been making various sculpted cakes on my own for friends and family and have started entering cake shows for the fun and the learning experience. I'm sharing my experiences and the cakes I'm having so much fun making here at Instructables; this is just the coolest site!
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I mixed the greenish brown shade myself, using the leaf green and brown colors.
I'd let the fins dry for about 2-3 hours before I applied them and painted them. The cat tails were made out of gum paste, not fondant, so they dried pretty fast, about an hour or less.
I made the rice krispies ahead of time and kept them covered until i was ready to use them. They stayed pliable for quite a long time so there was no rush to mold them and it didn't take too long to mold them into the fish halves.
As far as tips go, uh, I'm not sure, lol. When sculpting the fish I just tried to look at the basic shape of the fish without the fins, and try to sculpt what I see. I did an online image search and found pics of bass from several different angles. when I'm carving cake I start with the cake and trim off cake to eventually get the shape i want but with the rice krispies I had to build up. Makes it a lot easier to handle the rice krispies if your hands are coated with a light layer of crisco or butter, to keep your hands from sticking to them.
For the fondant, it's always easier to me if i have a good non-stick surface to work it on, like a large silicone mat or the vinyl mat that I use. Can usually find some at fabric stores and have it cut to whatever size you need. I've use Wilton's fondant rolling and cutting mat before and hated it. Everything stuck to it so bad. With the vinyl mat I use i usually coat my working area with a very thin coating of crisco just to help things not stick. I also do this and use this mat when I'm making the fondant, for the kneading part. You will want to work quickly when rolling out the fondant and covering your pieces so that the fondan't doesn't dry out and crack. I also don't roll it too thin, to help avoid tearing or cracking when I'm smoothing it over sculpted pieces. I guess I usually roll it somewhere around 1/8" thick. For large pieces of rolled out fondant I roll it up on my rolling pin to make transferring it to the piece easier. Then just un roll it over the piece you want it on then start smoothing it down from the top then down.
I hope any of that helped! Sometime I will have to do a video because I'm not great at trying to explain these things, lol!
I had gotten my vinyl from a cake shop (still pretty inexpensive at $6) but I saw our local Walmart had some (in the fabric department) so I'd say there's a good chance they have it at yours!
Good luck with the cake!!! Feel free to ask more questions! Have a wonderful night and day!
Here's how mine turned out... Thought it went pretty well being as I'm only 16 haha
I actually rolled it into a big circle and covered the fish from over the top, allowing enough slack/extra fondant to go into the mouth so I could use my fingers to smooth it out inside the mouth after I finished covering it.
I hope that makes sense!
Thank you!
Tami
You are so helpful, I really appreciate that so much!
Cathy
I just delivered a cake today and I made the Rice Krispie® treats on Tuesday, covered/sealted them well, and then used them to make the sculpture on Friday and covered it with royal icing and fondant, painted it on Saturday, finished it all that night, and delivered the cake today (Sunday.)
Once all covered up with the fondant, they stay pretty fresh, and even last quite a while before covering in fondant; provited they are well covered/sealed.
Last year for That Takes the Cake 2011 I made Hellboy's head out of Rice Krispie® treats covered in royal icing then fondant. I took only his head home after the show and 8 days later cut into it and the treats were still great, and yummy. :) But it was February and still cool out. Not sure they would have been fine in summer here in Texas, so I guess factor in your climate!
That's awesome! I'm sure he will LOVE it. Good luck!
:)