Engagement Cake

I made this 12" square cake for a friend's grandson, who was getting engaged. They didn't want anything too fussy or OTT but rather preferred a quite simple but elegant design. I made icing ribbons to create a parcel effect and supported the bow with sponge while it hardened. I dusted the edges of a sugar paste plaque with Royal gold powder and put the happy couple's names on it.

Polar bear cake

Last Christmas I made two of these cakes as presents for friends. The cake was of course Christmas cake laced with brandy with marzipan and fondant icing. Someone asked me about how I did it so I am putting it on my blog for them to read. This cake design is from one of Karen Davies books 'A Cake for Christmas'. The board is iced and then textured by hitting it all over with a brand new nail brush. I then made the peaks of ice from Mexican paste which dries very hard. They are dusted at the tips with blue edible powder then all over with snowflake lustre powder before being left to harden on a sponge pad. The polar bears are just modeled from sugar paste and positioned on the board with Royal Icing. The join between the cake and board is roughly covered with Royal Icing then sprinkled with Magic Sparkles before it set. To create the colour change on the cake itself I sprayed the 'snow' with PME pearl edible lustre spray but tilted the cake board slightly so that some of the spay wafted upwards onto some of the blue 'sky'. The snowflakes are also from Mexican Paste stuck on with Royal Icing. The great part is that because you halve your cake diagonally you can make two cakes from the two halves.