Princess Cakes

I was looking for a nice alternative to cupcakes for Jennifer's Christening.  Something pretty but not too time consuming, and something that could sill be served as individual potions.  Swedish princess cakes are traditionally large cakes but I have seen them made in single portions.

The first stage in making princess cakes is actually making cupcakes.  I went for vanilla and cherry sponge, in a medium sized case and left to cool on a wire rack.  (TIP roll back the sides of the cupcake case while they are cooling so that you get less sticking to the case).  So once you've made your cupcakes, you want to decapitate them!!  Then put the "head" of the cupcake onto the upturned base, as such:  

(excuse the clipart lol)

Now between the layers you add your fillings.  Using jam helps the layers stick together and hold its shape,  I used a cherry jam to compliment the sponge.  You can use pretty much anything in your layers, and in traditional Swedish Princess cakes there are many layers.  In individual cakes its easier to have fewer layers.  So with my jam layer I added a marzipan layer.  I used my circle cutter to give a nice uniform shape and to make sure they would fit the cupcakes as I prepared the marzipan before the cakes.

The next stage is the most fun and the most messy.  Your cake is not exactly a perfect dome shape just yet, to get it we use an American style frosting or fresh cream frosting.  I love this one (but others are available).

The way I find easiest to cover the cakes is to start at the top with a big dollop of frosting and spread downwards, making sure to get into the gap between the top and bottom of the cake.  I then used a chocolate spatula to round it off a little more, but a knife would work just as well.  At this stage it should take the general shape of a dome but doesn't have to be perfect.

The next stage is the rolled fondant icing cover.  I used rolled icing with gel colours following my tutorial HERE on sugarcraft cake toppers.  Traditionally Swedish Princess cakes are green, I however went for a range of pale and pastel colours, greens, blues, white, pinks, purples, yellows and peaches.  Roll out a large amount of icing on a flat surface which is covered in powder icing.  Roll to about 4mm thick, too thick and you  wont be able to shape, too thin and the icing will rip.

Make sure you rolled icing is large enough to more than cover your cake, and line up the centre of the cake with the centre of the rolled icing.  Starting at the top of the cake, very lightly smooth down the icing to the shape of the cake.  Try not to push too hard because you will just push the frosting out and lose your shape.  at the bottom of the cake, flatten the icing onto the surface without getting any folds on the cake... this takes some practise to get right....  then using your fingers smooth over the cake to finish off the domed shape.  (TIP use powdered icing on your hands to stop you and the cake sticking together)

Once your happy with your shape, its time to decorate.  I used my homemade SUGARCRAFT FLOWERS AND LEAVES to finish these cakes off, so that they would match the PETIT FOURS I also made for the day.

The finished result, displayed with the other cakes.

I also made some for my Baby Cafe group.

Cup cakes (old)

Ive found a stash of pictures of some of my cupcakes from when I first learnt how to decorate with butter icing so I thought I'd share them with you.  

This is what my very first set looked like with just icing on.

And then with the sugarcraft flowers and leaves on to finish.  

This cake was decorated by cutting small marshmallows diagonally and laying them in a ring, and finishing with silver and pink sugar pearls.  

All boxed up they looked so nice that I didn't eat them and had to throw them away after keeping them a week to show off to everyone and anyone.

Those cakes were all done at Centre Parcs on one of their activities offered at Nottingham, I really enjoyed it even though I was about 23 weeks pregnant and the smell of the sugar made me feel sick.  I was amazed at how well my first attempt came out.  

A few weeks later I tried out my new skills for a birthday party.

I think my first attempt was better, but I was still just learning at this point and didn't quite have the right ratio of icing sugar to butter.

So then there was the Halloween part at work, I made these yummy treats.

Then I tried to make rainbow icing.... now this wasn't so great, I made very dark colours which didn't look very tasty.  Dark colours also tend to mix badly giving a brown mushy colour in patches.  These cakes weren't much of a hit, but theres a lesson in every fail.  this lesson is "pale colours are better on cakes, bold colours aren't tasty."

I'll share the pictures anyway so you can all see my disaster ;D

Christening Buffet Platters

I made the platters for the christening, not exactly crafty I know but I was pretty proud of them, this is the fruit one.

The melons were cut using a cake cutter, just added a nice little bit of fun.

Dipped Marshmallows

Again this was a nice sweet treat I made for Jennifer's christening.

These were the biggest marshmallows I could find, good old America makes everything bigger than the rest of us.  These things are the size of cupcakes!

Start by breaking up your chocolate into a cup and place the cup into a pan of water on the stove, on a low-medium heat.  Using a cup rather than a bowl just makes it easier to dip later on.

While that is melting, prepare your toppings by pouring a level amount into a cupcake case or small container.

I used 4 types, sprinkles, stars, sugar crystals and hundreds and thousands.

Take your chocolate off the heat once it is completely melted and remove the cup from the pan.  Now dip in your giant marshmallow into the chocolate, ensuring all of the end is covered and the coverage is  level up the sides.  Turn the marshmallow to catch any drips.

Now that the mallow is chocolaty dip it straight into the topping.

Put on your rack to set (topping side up).

All finished.

And displayed on the day.

Petit Fours

Another goody for Jennifer's christening, I decided to make some petit fours.

These are the cheating version of the cakes as I used ready made madeira cake loaf (I had enough to do for this christening lol) but you can use any thick baked cake.

What you need:

• Cake, ready made or homemade 
• Fondant icing sugar
• Water
• Gel food colours
• Wire rack

To start, cut out a square shape from your cake, I used a cutter which made 1" square cut, and the cake was about 2" high.

Then comes the hard part, I'm slightly lacking in photos of each stage, basically because it just didn't work for ages.

to prepare, put some baking paper under your wire rack.

Mix the fondant icing sugar with water as directed, and add the gel colour, whichever you are wanting to use.  Pale shades work better.

For your first layer, dip your cut cake in the icing, making sure all sides are covered.  Place on the wire rack and leave to set.

For the next layers, make a very thick icing and slowly pour the icing on top of the cake, using a spoon to direct the icing to cover all sides except the base.

 If the icing is too runny your layer will be too thin, if its too thick it wont make it to the bottom of the cake, it takes a bit of trail and error to get it right.

Move from cake to cake covering it as best you can, and don't worry about the drippings.  Once you are out of icing, move the rack onto a clean piece of baking paper, and reuse the dripped icing, covering each cake again.

For me, i did 3 or 4 of each colour so made small amounts of icing and managed around 5 reuses of the icing on each colour.

I left it to dry completely over night then repeated the next day until there was a nice thick layer of icing all around the cake (except the base) and no un-iced cake could be seen.

Yes its a long process, yes its a lot of work, but yes they looked amazing and people all asked where I'd bought them from, so they must have impressed.


To decorate I used melted white chocolate drizzled across the cakes and a single sugarcraft  flower or leaf to finish them off.

And now this is them presented on the day with my princess cakes.

Sugar Craft Cake Decorations

I like to make my own decorations and sugar flowers for my cakes.  Its quick, simple, looks amazing and is a lot cheaper and funner than buying them off the shelf.

Leaves

I start with some white rolled icing, cut off how much you need, and start to need it to soften it.  Make sure your board is covered with icing sugar to stop it sticking. To start just add a couple of drops of gel colour to the centre of your icing and start to fold it in and need it until there is a uniform colour.  This is the green intended for the leaves.

Roll the icing about 3 or 4mm thick, and use a veined cutter to stamp out the shape of the leaf, i used ivy and rose leaves.

Cut as many as you can from your rolled piece of icing then roll up and need the left over, re roll and cut again, keep going until there isn't enough to make decent cuts just so you make the most of the icing.

I also added extra colour when re rolling my icing so that there was a variation in the colour of  the leaves.

To dry the leaves, put in an air tight box or container and leave for a couple of days.  The heat and humidity of the room will have a huge affect on drying times, the first time I did these they melted, so remember to put the box in a cool dry place.  Lay the leaves out so that they are not touching each other.  I also used the same box for the flowers and layered it, using baking  paper to divide each layer.

Flowers

The flowers start out the same as the leaves, white icing, needed, then colour added and rolled to about 3 or 4 mm.  I used Petunia Cutter and Mould for these flowers.

first use the metal cutter to form the basic shape from your rolled icing.  (I used pink)

Then, using the mould (also called a veiner) place the cut out flower shape on one bottom side, and press the top into the icing.  TIP: make sure the mould has been covered in powder icing to stop the rolled icing sticking to it.

Then open up the mould, and this is what you should have... a nice shaped and veined flower.  Just remove from mould by pulling one corner to loosen.

I also made some two tone flowers by placing the inner colour into the top layer of the mould first in a ball.  

then placing the cut flower on the top, when pushed together the mould will bond the two colours like this:

Small Flowers

As a little extra decoration I also made small flowers using various shapes and sizes of plunge cutters and veiners from this set.  I mixed small amounts of pink, purple, cream, yellow and some white rolled icing.  This time I rolled it a little thinner as there were some very small pieces, very simply you stamp out the shape in the same way we made the leaves.  They were also left to dry with the larger flowers and leaves, but if you prefer any of these sugar craft items can be used soft but may flatten when put on the cake.

I have used these flowers and leaves on many baked items now and even on homemade chocolates and sweets.  They give a professional look to any homemade item, here is just an example of some princess cakes I made for BabyCafe.

And on the petit fours and princess cakes I made for Jennifer's christening.

Updated: I pulled out a low bit of baking paper from the box, which stuck to another bit.... and another bit... and another bit... so this is the disaster I was left with..... not a lot usable in this mess. :(