Tutorial Tuesday: How to make a checkerboard cake

This was my first attempt at a checkerboard cake. If I could do it all again, there are things I would do differently, for sure. So keep an eye on that commentary. I’ll say this is a more advanced project. If you’re not already pretty great at frosting cakes, this probably won’t end well for you.

I started with two different color cake layers which I then sliced into four thinner cake layers. Mistake #1. I either should have made four layers the original size… or I should have just worked with the two layers as they were.
I let the cakes freeze for a while so they’d be easier to cut. Then I found some round things… like bowls and containers that I could use as guides to cut rings out of the cakes about two inches apart.

I arranged my layers and then put some wax paper on my board and some frosting to hold down the first layer.

Carefully place each layer and carefully frost the top of it. Using hot water on your spatula will help you to keep from shredding the cake. Stack and frost each layer. Don’t forget to alternate color schemes. It’s a labor of love.

Once it’s all stacked, you can sort of smoosh it down with your hands maybe… you can see here why my layers being too thin was an issue. Once I got to this part, I was starting to panic. It sort of looks awful…
Somehow, I used my cake frosting magic to turn that into this:

From there I chilled the cake for a while and then covered it in fondant.

My results were decent…

If nothing else, strawberry and lemon always taste wonderful together.

I had a great time this weekend in Wisconsin with my bff Liz. If I get time, I’ll add some great photos from our trip at the end of this post soon!

Tutorial Tuesday: How to make gum paste

Gum paste and fondants are two different things. Fondants is softer and doesn’t dry hard. Gumpaste will dry and harden to create decorations that really hold up.
You only need a few things to make gumpaste.

-1 tablespoon of gum-tex
-1 table spoon of glucose
– 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar
– 4 table spoons of warm water

Wilton makes gum-tex and glucose which you can find at almost any craft store’s cake decorating aisle.

First, sift together THREE cups of the sugar with 1 tablespoon of gum-tex into a large bowl.

Next, you’ll want to make a well in the center and set it aside.

Next, mix one tablespoon if glucose with 4 tablespoon of warm water in a glass container.

I had to scrape my tablespoon out with another spoon to get it all in there.
Now stir it a bit and pop that in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Then pour it into your well.

Now start mixing from the center with a silicone spatula. Much like when you make dough, incorporating the liquid into the dry ingredients a little at a time.

Once you’ve almost reached the edge of your dry ingredients, add any food coloring you’d like to add.

Then continue to stir and mix until you can knead your mixture.

Keep kneading until your gum paste becomes a satin finish, pliable ball.

Now seal it tight in a ziplock bag and let it sit for 8 hours or over night at room temp.

When you’re ready to use it, mix in the last cup of powdered sugar and knead well.

I’ve already had great results with my Cricut cutter!

As always… Happy caking!

Tutorial Tuesday: Fondant Figures

So, I’ve had many requests for a tutorial on fondant figures. To be honest, I’m not so great with them. I suppose mostly because I never really make them! Well, it might seem a bit unusual, but I was scouring the web for something else the other day when I stumbled upon quite possibly the best fondant figure tutorial I’ve ever seen in my life. I was so excited about it. It made me feel like anyone could read it and make a pretty rad figure.
Immediately, I wanted to share this information with you all. The blog is Eat the Evidence and you can find this wonderful tutorial HERE.

I know it seems silly to outsource a tutorial, lol, but seriously, I could never do it better than this and I’m not about to steal someone’s work and act like I came up with it.

Upon more reading of her blog, I discovered that I’ve seen her work and I am already a fan of hers! And she lives in Austin. I’ve lived in Austin and for the record, I couldn’t imagine making cakes any place more humid than here in Ohio. Whenever I see people who make cakes in these hotter places, I am just in awe of them.

Well, maybe some time tonight I’ll have time to try to make a figure based on this tutorial and I can show you guys what I made! Until then, please check out her blog and enjoy that epic tutorial!

Don’t worry, I have A LOT of stuff coming up. I’m going to have cake coming out my ears!!

For a distraction, here’s a photo of a choco taco I ate last week. It was delicious.