ATTENTION BRIDES! A Wedding cake for under $50 !!

BE THE FIRST TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS LIMITED TIME OFFER!

ATTENTION DIY BRIDES! ATTENTION FRUGAL DIVA'S!

Wilton Fancy Scrolls Cake Stand

The "Do-it-Yourself Wedding Cake for under $50" eBook is FINALLY available! It is a start-to finish, hold your hand along the way tutorial on how to make your own classic and delicious 2 or 3 tiered wedding cake!!(or get an awesome friend to help or do it for you !)

 Includes full color photos and a 40 minute narrated instructional video! This takes the mystery out of "how do they DO that?!" and puts it in your own capable hands. In fact, the method can be used over and over again to make impressive large cakes for other celebration events; Baby showers ..(first comes love, then comes marraige..then comes...? ..in the baby carraige), Christenings, Anniversaries, Birthday Parties, etc.

There is so much more, as well. Advice on transporting your cake, ideas for the cake table, suggestions for DIY cake toppers...resources listed.

Wilton 10 Inch Featherweight Piping Bag

The following link will take you to an information page where you can get it.

http://youtu.be/pC2nePyCcl4


Thanks, in advance, for sharing this with anyone and everyone. There will be a contest on my Pinterest for those who make the cakes using this book. Can't wait!

Making your life a little sweeter,
Liz
The Party Hostess Diva on Facebook
Elizabeth Corbett on Pinterest

Vintage Tapestry Purse.it's a CAKE !

How do you get this cake from a photo of a vintage tapestry purse?

Well, I had to figure it out. I'll show you the basics of how I got there. 

Plan out your design and all the components on paper first. Make a list of the parts you'll need. For example, fondant purse handles that stand up, fondant around base and top for leather structure look and gold tone fondant for purse opening and clasp. 

The purse handles were made ahead of time so they would be dried and stand up on their own, just like the real purse. I made a comparison, by looking at the photo, of how tall the handles were in relation to the height of the purse. Also I made note of how far in from the edge, the handles are attached.

Satin Ice Rolled Fondant - Brown - Chocolate - 2 lb

I looked around my kitchen and pantry to find something round, the right size to dry my handles on. A large cardboard oatmeal container served perfectly. The handles (chocolate fondant and then black gel icing color kneaded in) were draped over the container with wax paper underneath to prevent sticking.

                                                                  

To carve out a purse shape , always start with mostly frozen layers of cake stacked on top of each other into the approximate width and height of your finished cake. This is where eyeballing comes in handy, if you're good at it. A ruler is great too if you don't trust yourself. You can always carve off more, so go easy when you start cutting. A large serated bread knife works great. 

Work quickly because as the cake defrosts, it will get softer, you want to get your final shape and dirty icing layer on while its very cold.

Wilton 2104-7778 Master Tip Set

As you can barely see in the photo above, I have inserted two tall Bubble Tea Straws (found on eBay and cake supply websites) to give support because of the narrow width and the height. Icing between the layers for "glue" and taste, of course.

Shown at left is the cake with a thick layer of icing because it will be covered in a small star decorator tip design, not fondant. The fondant pieces for leather and hardware have also been added. I simply measured the circumference around the bottom and made two long fondant pieces which were scored at the edges to look like stitching. (a rolling wheel fondant tool) A wooden ruler made the perfect item to trace for width.

The gold tone fondant at top was brushed with Wilton gold dust shimmer, found at any store that sells cake supplies. I recommend it highly, it really   adds a fabulous realistic touch to your fondant. It also comes in silver and pearl.

Wilton Fondant 20 Inch Rolling Pin

Next comes the outlines for the tapestry design. I was going for overall effect here, not exact copy. The black lines serve as the coloring page to fill in between and around. I predetermined which side would be the front, so made an extra effort on the design on that side, since it will be the first impression and show in photos. 

My colors had been pre-tinted. I ended up putting a touch of black into them to tone them down and give a more vintage look rather than bright. Experiment with a little at a time, you can always add more color. Once the outlines had been made, the filling in went very quickly. It was really fun to see it come together and I got more exited with the results as I went along. 

As a side note, if you are making a purse cake, that does not have a tapestry or floral design, you can follow these instructions up to the outlining part. The basics are the same for most all purse cakes.

When filling in the tapestry look, I recommend doing one color at a time rather than each flower, that way you can see that each color is even distributed in your overall design.

Filling in the background to cover the chocolate butter cream goes quickly. I used very dark black icing. (I was laughing to myself imaging birthday guests with black stained tongues) 

The purse handles were supported with a toothpick in each end that went into the top of the cake. I also pressed the handles together slightly as an additional precaution. For the shiny effect, I simply brushed the black "leather" parts with watered down black gel coloring.

Wilton Disposable 12 Inch Decorating Bags, Pack Of 24

I hope you enjoyed this simple tutorial and you are inspired to perhaps try it out or something similar. Leave a comment if you have. I'd love to hear from you! For the butter cream recipe, go to my blog about the Perfect Cupcake. 

So here to the left, is the photo I worked from.(I know, not too much information, right?) and again, the final product, to the right. 

For more cake ideas for inspiration, join my email mailing list below to receive newsletters and other tips.

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Liz Corbett is an experienced cake baker decorator and hostess.  She has been planning and hosting parties and designing, decorating and delivering cakes for over 20 years. Her hope is that everyone will be inspired to more creativity and to gain the confidence to host events big and small with success. 

Baking Tip for the day.

BAKING TIP for the day. The next time you make cupcakes and you really only need 12, not 24, fill 12 cupcake liners and the remaining batter you pour into an 8" round cake pan or smaller. When the round layer is cooled, wrap securely in plastic wrap, then heavy foil and you've got an "almost ready" dessert in your freezer.

Wilton 307-831 13 Count Cupcake Stand

Some ideas for your one layer round? Yellow cake: split horizontally (when still partially frozen) and fill with instant vanilla pudding, chocolate glaze on top= Boston Creme Pie. Or with icing it's a just-the-right size small cake for dessert.

Wilton Aluminum Performance Pans 8 by 2-Inch Round Pan

Short and sweet ;)   that's it for today !!

making your life a little sweeter,

Liz
The Party Hostess Diva on Facebook
Elizabeth Corbett on Pinterest

check out my latest project: 
http://youtu.be/pC2nePyCcl4

Hot Tub Fun !! playing with gumpaste people...

What do you do with a 9 inch square cake, a photo of 4 friends in a hot tub and gumpaste and piping gel? Unleash the creativity! Fondant, of course is a wonderful medium to play with. Shown here is a square, two tiered cake, covered in icing then chocolate fondant that has been scored and marked to look like wooden planks. The inside was partially scooped out and filled with blue buttercream icing. On top of that, clear piping gel (fantastic stuff!) tinted blue for the water effect.

Wilton Gum Paste and Fondant Student Kit

  

Featured in the hot tub are figures made of gumpaste, with fondant bathingsuits and icing hair. Fun little touches are bottles of beer. See the spilled one on the right? candles, and a towel, all made of fondant. This was my first attempt at making people out of gumpaste. I would like to experiment further to fine tune the details and continue to work with the recipe.

Not much for "how to" with this post, but just wanted to share the photo. You could easily adapt this idea to a round swimming pool and fill with just little heads bobbing around and tubes and rafts. What would YOU like to see on a cake with this great water effect?

Wilton Piping Gel, 10-Ounce

This photo and other cake and food ideas are also shown on my facebook pg.(see below)

Making your life a little sweeter,

Liz
The Party Hostess Diva on Facebook
Elizabeth Corbett on Pinterest

http://youtu.be/pC2nePyCcl4

Edible Play-dough ! Beautiful flowers and trim!

I took a Gumpaste and Fondant class a few months ago and I'm still appreciating what I have learned. And will continue to enjoy the new skills for a long time. There are SO many beautiful creative things to be done with such a magical medium . It's sugar play-dough, basically. 

I highly recommend a nice set of the flower cutters (like cookie cutters), and the fondant/gum paste tools. If you make the flowers assembly line style, you can create a much higher volume of   flowers in a shorter amount of time. They need to dry anyway, so make ahead. I was VERY pleased to make the roses as I've always had difficulty doing them old-school on the flower nail. A little bit of arthritis and jitters from too much coffee have often prevented me from attempting too many. Not so with the gum paste! I cranked these out in a matter of minutes! It's all about working quickly and letting them dry in the proper shape. What a great concept to have leaves and flowers ready made for the next project! 

Wilton Gum Paste and Fondant Student Kit

I love the eyelet detail at the bottom. SO simple and a fun alternative to the usual shell or rope border.  A roller tool that cuts even strips and a cutter that makes the eyelet lace detail. I feel like a kid with my new toys !

Check out a Wilton class in your area. Many Michael's Craft stores offer them. Well worth the time and money. 

Wilton 1907-1107 Set of 10 Gum-Paste Modeling Tools with Storage Case

Next up... modeling people and tiny items! fun !!

making your life a little sweeter,

Liz
The Party Hostess Diva on Facebook
Elizabeth Corbett on Pinterest

http://youtu.be/pC2nePyCcl4

Friendship Bread

According to Wikipedia, Amish Friendship Bread is a cake-like sweet bread made from sourdough starter, a portion of which is often shared with friends in a manner similar to a chain letter. The starter is a substitute for baking yeast and is shared with friends and a portion saved out to start another cycle. 

There is nothing backing up the connection of the sweet stirred-bread to the Amish people, although the name has been taken from them. True Amish Friendship Bread is "just sourdough bread that is passed around to the sick and the needy", according to Elizabeth Coblenz, author of the syndicated column, "The Amish Cook", and member of the Old Order Amish.

Apparently the recipe first appeared on the internet around 1990, but the actual recipe is several decades old.

Farberware Bakeware 9-by-5-Inch Loaf Pan

A common recipe using the starter, also known as the Mother Bread,  suggests using one cup (240 ml) of it to start a new cycle, giving the remaining batter to friends, typically in airtight plastic bags with instructions for feeding the dough and the recipe for baking the bread on the 10th day of the cycle. 

A typical cycle involves adding or "feeding" the starter with 1 cup each (240 ml) of sugar, flour and milk every 5 days. The 10 day cycle produces approximately 5 cups of starter which must be either given away, baked (each 1 cup of starter makes 2 loaves of bread) or used to start a new cycle. Given the obvious multiplication facts, unless you want to bake ALOT of cinnamon bread, on day 10, it is best to pass it along to friends, with the option of saving one cup for yourself to start again.

The Amish Cook's Baking Book

Despite some instructions which say otherwise, according to the article in Wikipedia, the starter can be frozen for later use or if a few days delay is desired, refrigerated, which slows the fermentation process to about half. I may try this just to see how it works.

The end result is a very sweet and moist cinnamon bread. You may vary the bread slightly by adding nuts and or raisins to the batter before baking.

The bread pictured was made from a starter given to me at a workshop, and goes nicely with coffee !  Be warned: once you cut into the first loaf (it makes 2) you better freeze the second loaf or it will all be gone in a day or two depending on how many in your household or how much you can't resist. It's delicious ! 



I'd love to hear from you if you've tried the Friendship Bread. 

making your life a little sweeter,

Liz
The Party Hostess Diva on Facebook
Elizabeth Corbett on Pinterest

http://youtu.be/pC2nePyCcl4

Happy Baking !!

Steps To The Perfect Cupcake

A cupcake is a pretty standard thing to bake, but here are some tips to end up with a professional looking treat, taking your reviews from "oh, that must be home made, to "wow, did they come from a bakery?"



First, a cupcake liner is a must, there are SO many fun options out there. You can check out your local craft store, and on eBay, you can buy custom colors in bulk, for a special event. I found these awesome zebra/hot pink ones at the grocery store. Don't use the pastel thin ones that sometimes end up greasy and sheer, a heavier paper is a must. And with many you can even go without a standard muffin/cupcake tin.


Cupcake Creations 32 Standard Cups: Pink Zebra

Next, I recommend using a mechanical scoop to neatly measure the batter into each liner. I have all 3 sizes in stainless steel by Pampered Chef. They take prime real estate in my bakery gadget drawer.
If you fill the papers only half full, they will rise to the top of the paper and you have plenty of space for plenty of icing, and who doesn't love icing! 

Wilton 2104-7778 Master Tip Set

For a uniform professional looking swirl with your icing, I recommend the #1 M Open Star tip by Wilton. I like to use a coupler in the decorating bag for stability and the convenience of switching to a different tip with the same bag/color.

If you decide to add sprinkles or sugar, it is best to sprinkle on when icing is moist, before it sets, otherwise they won't stick. Ice several, then sprinkle, then move on to the next ones and repeat. Sprinkle over a bowl and you can reuse the ones that fall off. No waste. Less is more when it comes to sprinkles and sugar, you're looking for an accent of color.

I save the sturdy plastic trays that party platters come on, as seen above, (including the domed lid) Wash in hot sudsy water, remove or cover the sticker, and you have a perfect presentation container for your next bake sale or away from home casual party. No need to worry about leaving your favorite container or plate. 

And of course, always always always make your frosting from scratch. Leave the tub-o-plastic icing at the grocery store. Wilton's, Buttercream is a no-fail favorite. Whip until light and fluffy and smooth preferably with a quality stand mixer. (see my post on my 20+ yr. faithful companion) and finally, NEVER, use margarine...or spreadable plastic as I like to say, ALWAYS use real butter!

Cupcakes 'N More Dessert Stand-Holds 23 Cupcakes 1

 Experiment with flavors, a touch of vanilla and a hint of almond is a nice combination. Substitute orange juice for the  cream or milk and you have a delightful citrus icing. (garnish with orange zest?) Or how about peppermint extract , a drop or two of red food color to make a pale pink icing and top with crushed candy canes, on a chocolate cupcake..divine! 

If you'd like to see more cupcake and cake ideas, check out my facebook page, Party Hostess Diva. I'm also on Pinterest, as Elizabeth Corbett. 

making your life a little sweeter,

Liz

see my latest project at this link:
http://youtu.be/pC2nePyCcl4



Happy Baking !!