American Baker in Germany

 Every year I try to make at least one steampunk cake. I just like the style and think it's fun. So, here's my version this year. I used 6-inch and a 4-inch cake dummy and frosted it with vegan American buttercream. Then I rolled out a strip of white fondant. Then I used a edging cutter to make a lace edge. And I added small holes with a round piping tip. And wrapped it around the bottom of the 6-inch cake. I covered the top of the cake as well as the top edge with forest green fondant. There was still a gap between the edge of the green fondant and the lace. Then I cut out some half circles with a circle cutter out of the forest green. I laid it along the edge of the cake overlapping until the entire gap was covered. Then I covered the top tier with burgundy fondant. Obviously, it was quite dry and cracked quite a bit. But instead of ripping it off and trying again, I decided to use it how it is. So, I stacked the tiers on top of each other. I rolled out some gold fondant and ...

Making roses out of buttercream is a skill all cake decorators should have. This is how I make them. First, I pipe a dollop on a square of parchment paper. Why do I do this? It creates a base for the rose so it's not too light and has a bit more substance to pick up and place on the cake.  Then, using a petal tip with the thin side pointing up and slightly tilted toward the center, pipe a cone shape.  Then pipe petals by creating an arch with the thin side of the tip pointing up.  Pipe overlapping petals around the cone.  Then keep piping  more petals around the center cone.  Try to start the next petal near the center of the previous petal.  As you get farther out, you can flare out the petals slightly.  I have to say, I was really happy with the result.  Buttercream flowers don't look as realistic as fondant flowers, but they go a lot faster.  And, let's be honest, they're really pretty.  You ...

I've decided to break down how to make sugar flowers one flower at a time. I'll start with the best ones I make. A fondant rose. They're really not nearly as hard to make as you think. I'll show you a few different ways.  Forgive the unnatural color. I needed something that would show up on camera well. I started out with a band rose. It's pretty easy. All you do is cut a strip out of fondant and roll it up along one side and turn down the top line.  Another variation is to ruffle one side of the ribbon before rolling it together to make it look just a bit more realistic.  Check out how cute these look. Now, granted, these are not meant to look realistic. They are meant to look kind of cartoon-y and really easy to make.  But we can up our game. So, to make a more realistic-looking rose, you cut out a bunch of circles out of fondant and flatten the edges with the pads of your fingers to make it less perfect. Then make a small cone of fondant and wrap t...