Aaaahhh! Zombies got my cake!!!

So judging from the picture above, you are probably thinking that this will not end pretty.  And you are right...kind of;) 

Late last year, my friend Kimber asked me to make her wedding cake.  It was to be a fun and shabby chic kind of event.  The venue was a farm north of Atlanta (Cagle Family Farms)  which made for a beautiful back drop.  If you have never been to north Georgia.....let me tell you, it's really beautiful, especially in the spring and fall.

But before we go any further, let me say.....Kimber is not your traditional bride!  Mostly, the wedding was to be like any simple DIY style wedding. However she wanted the cake to reflect a different side because she creates the Halloween haunted farm at the location.  So zombie cake was the order;)  And though it is not really my style, I was super excited to do something different!

Plus, before we "zombiefy" and cake, we have to make a pretty cake with lots of piping.....what I love most.  So I figured why not make a blog post of it!

And here we go....

First I cover all the cakes in fondant.  It's a four tiered cake....12, 10, 8, and 6 inches round, all 4 inches tall.

It's pretty much all piping.  And the way I like to map it out is to paint it on first.  For those of you who have my Craftsy class Modern Piping, you know that I like to "ghost paint" before I pipe.  If you don't have the class, you should!  Lol!  The top link on the right side of the screen will guide you to the class:)

Basically, it's a mixture of black piping gel and vodka (mostly vodka!).  This creates a very faint paint that will serve as my guide for the piping.   I do this so that if I don't like how the painting looks, I can clean it off and start over before I commit to the piping.....

 

Here is the solution.  So you can see how light it is.

 

So I paint it on and it just gives me a faint guide to follow with the royal.

 

See, then I just follow the lines with the royal.  I am using a number 2 tip.

After the frame work is piped, I go back and add embellishments.

 Looking good!!

Here is the cake all stacked and ready.

 

And a close up.

 

 Oh and I also made some sugar flowers to match the ones being used at the event.

 

 

 

So before we get to the "gore"ification of the cake (if that's even a word), let's look at some shots from the wedding....

 

 

Aaawww.  So cute...

 

This picture is really tiny but beautiful.

 

 

And this.....

 

Ahh!  I think she's had too much to drink!  Lol.  Put on some make up girl!  And brush your teeth!  This a wedding for the love of God!

This is a shot from the show ....

 

also filmed in Atlanta. Just for the record, once I was driving down the street close to the set and I saw a zombie on his cell phone!  It was pretty funny.  I guess the "undead" extras on the show have a bunch of down time.  No pun intended.

Okay the time has come.......if you are squeamish, this might hurt a bit!

Before.....

After!

AAAAHHHH!!!  I didn't take process pics of the bloody part but it was just a mixture of corn syrup and red food color....oh and because I watch Dexter I knew exactly where to place it;)

Here are some other shots.

 

The topper was handmade to look like the couple!

 

 

Creepy one from Instagram....oh and you can follow me!  @joshuajohnrussell

Also, there was a grooms cake.  She wanted a diver's hat or helmet.  Here are a couple pictures of the target;)

And here is the cake

Pretty cool!  I was proud of how it turned out!!

I think that is all for now!  I have a couple of announcements though....

First, my friend Elisa Strauss has a new Craftsy class that will teach you how to sculpt a dog out of cake!!  God knows you will never learn that from me!!

Here she is...

 

If you have been doing cake for a while I am sure you are familiar with her books Confetti Cakes and Confetti Cakes for Kids

 

 

And here is the dog:)))))

 

This is a link to the class for 25% discount!  It's well worth the money....trust me!!

 

 

http://www.craftsy.com/ext/JoshuaJohnRussell_DogCake25

 

 

 

Okay for real that's all.  Follow the blog for more updates....I have some good stuff in the works with Cake Decoration Heaven, Cake Central Magazine, and Grace Ormonde!!!  Just found out today and I am dying!!! ...no pun intended again;)

 

Follow me:)  www.facebook.com/joshuajohnrussell or www.twitter.com/joshuajohncakes

 

Add a comment below and let me know what designers you love or techniques you would like to see.

 

Bye!

 

 









Silly, silly, silly

 

 

This post is going to be silly.  Hence the title;)
So the cake above is one I created for Kim Zolciak's daughter.  The party was candy themed and the cake was super fun to make.  It has rainbow sprinkles, lollipops, gumdrops, gumballs, Starburst, Skittles, and Fruit Stripe Gum.  Talk about a belly ache!!

 I did not take process pictures for the cake:(  So when I was asked to make a 21st birthday cake for a friend I wanted to make a similar style cake.  This time using art as inspiration and I knew just the thing!

 I was in NY a couple years ago and stumbled upon this amazing building....

 

 

It's called The New Museum and the building caught my eye because....well, it looks like a cake!!

 

Here's a little bit of Wikipedia....

 

The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to presenting contemporary art from around the world. On December 1, 2007, the New Museum opened the doors to its new $50 million location at 235 Bowery^.  The seven-story 58,700-square-foot facility,^[9] designed by the Tokyo-based firm Sejima + Nishizawa/SANAA and the New York-based firm Gensler, has greatly expanded the Museum’s exhibitions and space. In April 2008, the museum's new building was named one of the architectural New Seven Wonders of the World by Conde Nast Traveler.^[10]

 

 

The thing I was most intrigued by though, was the sign!!.....

 

The giant rainbow "HELL, YES" made me giggle and I had to find out where it came from.
This hilarious creation comes from Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone.  He is definitely one to Google!  Here are some other pieces he created....

Aaaahhh!!  How cool is that!  Rainbow/Candy cake it is!!

I wanted to start with a base that the colors would "pop" from.  So I made this grey color for the fondant covering.

 

 

The bottom tier will be mostly about the rainbows!  They are the star of the show.  But I need a little texture.  You know how I love my texture mats!!

Hounds tooth?  Yes!!  I like to roll out a bit of fondant and make a test before committing to the cake.
 

 

 

Yes.  This is it.  Just a note....when you are using the texture mats, take your time!!  If you use them slowly and carefully make sure every bit of the fondant is being imprinted, then the final product will be much better than a rushed job!

 

I like to use the fondant smoother first and then go back over the mat with my fingers to make sure every detail is imprinted.

 

 

Beautiful!  Let's make the rainbows.  This is so fun!!

 

First I make all of my colors from fondant and add some Tylose to ensure the rainbows will dry and be firm enough to stand up.

 

Now we just roll, cut, and layer using the oval cutter set from Ateco.

I glued each layer with a bit of piping gel.  You could use water, sugar flower glue, or royal icing as well. 

Now I chop them in half....

 

 

....and use the smallest oval cutter to take out the middle and form the arch.

 

 

How cute is this!  I painted over them with a bit of piping gel so they would look shiny and bright against the flat grey color.  This could be a cake by itself!....but I think we need more!!  Two more tiers....

 

 

 

I stacked the cakes with bubble tea straws.....this I have shown in the previous post for Kim Z's wedding cake replica.

 

Oh and the rainbow sprinkle base is super easy!  All you need is the drum, piping gel and a ton of sprinkles....

 

Brush the gel over the base....

 

...add the sprinkles....

...shake off the excess...

 

 You can use a funnel to get the sprinkles back into the jar for later use.

 

Then I add a little chocolate to glue the bottom tier to the base.  Notice that the middle of the cake base has no sprinkles!  This is because we want the bottom tier to me glued to the base and not to the sprinkles! 

 

 

and now for the Skittles.  Yes, I had to separate them by hand!

So this is super easy.  I just used piping gel and placed them one by one in a pattern.

 

Yay!!

 

For the top tier, I just used the left over rainbow colors to create stripes with a ribbon cutter. 

 

 Here she is with the finishing touches!  I made this "21" and black and white fashion flower to pull it all together.

And that is not all.  So my friend has a really good since of humor and we teased her about turning 21; that it's the one day in your life (we at least for an American) were everyone wants to by you drinks and get you really drunk.  So her friends ask if I would write something on the cake that suggested that she was going to throw up.  Lol.

I found this funny clip art and figured it was appropriate for the theme and inspiration....

I couldn't resist!!!

 

Ha ha!!  She got a kick out of that!  See, cake doesn't always have to be serious!

Here's a couple other silly cakes I did in the past....

 

 

This giant Nintendo controller was a grooms cake and so much fun to make!

 

 

Angry birds!

 

M&M...now this is a candy cake!



 

Lady Ga Ga cake!  Talk about a fashion cake!

 

 

Well I guess the Wicked cake was more whimsical than silly.  But it got me tickets to opening night!

 

 

And lastly.....I taught a class this weekend at my friend Nicholas Lodge's school, ISAC and just wanted to share some photos.

 

My students were great and we had a fun two days together....

 

 

Here is my cake that the students were recreating.

 

 

 

And here are some action shots of the students work...

 

They all did so well! 

That's all for now! 

If you want more updates, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.  And don't forget to follow the blog for more tutorials.

Also, I will be teaching two live classes this year in Boston and in Canada.  Here is the info....

Boston Class in June:

This is the cake I will be teaching in Boston, click the link for more information....



http://www.onebitesweet.com/#!class-joshua-john-russell/c21j7

 

 

And Canada I will be teaching with my cake friends!  Click the poster for the link and information...

 

 

 

 

This is the cake that Karen Portaleo and I will be teaching!!!

 

Bye!