A cake fit for McQueen

I couldn't be more excited about this post!  I get much of my inspiration from fashion...duh...but most comes from the house of Alexander McQueen.  I have a bit of an obsession.  Although he is no longer with us, Sarah Burton continues to "wow" the world with her work overseeing the creative direction for the line.  You might recognize her name from the world famous royal wedding.....she made the dress...



Perfection!  She was also named International Designer of the Year in 2012 by Elle UK.  And so his name lives on as well as the over the top looks and impeccable British tailoring......and as for the runway shows...well you can see for yourself.  This is my favorite!!



Here is a short from his biography.....



Alexander McQueen shows are known for their emotional power and raw energy, as well as the romantic but determinedly contemporary nature of the collections. Integral to the McQueen culture is the juxtaposition between contrasting elements: fragility and strength, tradition and modernity, fluidity and severity. An openly emotional and even passionate viewpoint is realised with a profound respect and influence for the arts and crafts tradition. Alexander's collections combine an in-depth working knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, the fine workmanship of the French Haute Couture atelier and the impeccable finish of Italian manufacturing.

Yep that pretty much sums it up. 

The men's line is always amazing as well.  I went to NYC in August....just to play....I'm always going for cake stuff;)  This time though, it was just to hang out.  While there, my friend Pete surprised me with an early Christmas present.....



These babies:)))))  Pete, you are the best!!

I was gonna get these but my face is too small;)



I mean look at that coat!  That could be a cake.....see what I mean!

Okay lets talk about inspiration.  I love the texture of the woven dress here.  So that is where I  want to start.

Also, I couldn't choose just one single look for inspiration.  So I'm using a few and making a cake as my ode to McQueen!

I know I have used the diamond impression mat before but this time I am gonna put a spin on it and try to make the illusion of "woven fabric".



So to start, I cover the cake in this pink fondant and make my impression.  Then deepen the lines with a gumpaste tool. 

Next, I start roughing it up.....but only every other diamond.





So here is part one....finished.  Looks a little cray cray at the moment.....

Now I am taking a different color (this wine color) and rolling it out.



And then I use the same impression mat on this to get my lines.



Now I cut the diamonds apart.

I am going to place them one at a time.  So I keep the others in a plastic bag so they will not dry out.

I paint the back with a little piping gel.



And place it in the untextured diamond space.



Now I texture each one the opposite direction as the diamonds in light pink.

Here is the end result....

Fancy!  Okay let's move on

Here is the next look that I am in love with.  Even in this still shot, you can see the movement of the fabric.  This is why I love fashion shows so much.  This is not a ready to wear look....but it's exciting and makes you want to see more!



I think she stole my sunglasses;)

So for the next cake, I have to create this movement.  Since it's the middle tier, I also want to have a middle piece that draws the eye in.  Oh yeah, it's gonna be a skull.....signature McQueen.  So I made this little skull.  I couldn't really shoot the process....but I just started with a ball and worked it with my fingers and gumpaste tools.....

I am using the pink one.  The grey number was for practice.



For the ruffles, I start by rolling a strip of fondant.  I used fondant because gumpaste would dry too quickly and we need to thin this and work it for a while.

Now I take the small side of the ball tool and thin by pulling out.  But I still leave a thick side to secure it and to make the ruffles seem a little spread apart.



Now flip and ruffle over and do the same technique with the larger side of the ball tool.....so we don't tear what we already made.



Now I wind it around an object that the skull will fit into and let it dry before gluing to the cake with piping gel.  This will start the foundation for the ruffles.



So you can see I just keep going and changing colors slightly...not really for an ombre thing, but to show variety....



I also added some pearls for the skull's background. And painted them with pearl dust.

Looking good!  If you want to learn more about making ruffles for cake, you should try Maggie Austin's class on Craftsy.com (shameless plug:)

Okay.  Now for the last tier!  McQueen has a line of clutches that are amazing.  This one is the Britannia clutch.  I like it because of the flag design.  So I decided that for the top tier I would make my own.  But not an actual purse (lol).



Here is the tier.  I'm not going into detail here because this post is getting long!!  I will show these techniques in a future post, however.



This is the texture underneath.



I used butterflies because of this look....





It's like a butterfly family reunion on her face;) and I love it!



Now for the finishing touches.  I made a little skull and some brass knuckles!



This is the first time I have ever made brass knuckles out of sugar.  Not a surprise.

Here is the middle skull all gussied up!



And here she is all complete!!  Drum roll.....



That's all for now.  Thanks to Pete again for the sunglasses and to Sarah Barton and the McQueen house for inspiring me everyday.  Oh and this won't be the last McQueen post:)

www.alexandermcqueen.com

If you want to learn more, you can take my class on Craftsy.....click the link below!



Kim Z's cake replica

So last year I went to China with Karen Portaleo of Highland Bakery because she was asked to do cakes for a Halloween display at a mall in the Diamond Hill District of Hong Kong.   While we were there, Kim Zolciak of the Real Housewives of Atlanta tweeted that she needed a cake for her wedding.  The Bert Show on Q100 saw the tweet and just so happens that we had done the wedding cake for Jenn Hobby who was a co-host of that show at the time.  Here is her cake....

Vintage Christmas.....so fun.

Anyhow....you see where I am going with this.  Kim decided to use us as her cake peeps.  Of course the whole thing was filmed and the wedding was crazy.....like Colin Cowie crazy...and by that I mean he actually planned the event!  Talk about being star struck Kim, Kroy, and Colin. Cray cray!

Little did we know when we got off the 15 hour plane ride back that Kim's wedding was in 11 days! Yikes!  So on top of all the other orders we had, and the jet lag, we had to create an 11 tiered master piece. 

Just a side note here.....You always hear about how demanding and awful celebrities can be, not Kim.  She couldn't have been cooler!  From the tasting up until the day of the wedding, she was easy going and put all of her trust in us.  Here is the direction she wanted to go with design.....

 

 

 

BUT....she told us to be creative and let our artistry shine so here is the finished cake....

 

 

 

 

Whooo hoo.  And here is the best part.....it was in Life and Style Magazine!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

A year later, naturally she asked if I would make a small replica of the wedding cake for the 1 year anniversary.  I jumped at the chance!  And although it's not technically inspired by fashion, it IS pop culture....so I decided to make a tutorial and blog post.

 

When I first met with her, she insisted that the one year old anniversary tier be used in the cake.  Kim is very superstitious.  I was reluctant because I wasn't sure what condition the cake would be in.  But I was very surprised, when I picked it up, to find this....

 

 

Wow. It looked the same as the day I made it.  I pretty sure that foil and little help for Baby Jesus had something to do with it:)  Now I had to try and remove the flowers so I could re-ice the cake....

 



 





Again...perfect!  So now I scraped the cake to re-ice it.....

 

 

Mmmm....carrot!

 

While the cakes were baking I started the flowers.  On the original cake, Kim wanted crystals.  Now I have never been to keen on using them but they had to be in the design.  At this point I don't feel like it's that big of a deal,  as long as you know the caterer who is cutting the cake and trust that they will remove the crystals before cutting.

 

Here are the crystals I got from Etsy and some fondant that I kneaded a little Tylose into.  You could use gumpaste, but I wanted them to stay a little soft so they are easy to remove.

 

First I cut circles....

 

Then brush the circle with piping gel all over....

 

Next add a small hand rolled ball to the middle....this is the anchor for the crystal....

 

 

Then push the crystal into the ball so it won't move around...

 

For the flower part, I used a pasta machine taking the paste to #2 setting.  I know that seems thick but these are not real sugar flowers, so the thickness is needed to show the detail....

 

Start close to the crystal with one end and wind around....

 

 

 

Done!  Here is all of them....

 

 

 

 



 







The Vera Wang box was a set of cake cutters.  Kim was in the process of moving and couldn't find the originals.  And because they were Vera, that totally qualifies this as a "fashion cake"....see everything worked out;)

 

Okay lets cover some cakes!!

 

 

Once all the cakes are crumb coated, start rolling the fondant.

 

I like to use a French rolling pin.  But you can use whatever feels comfortable to you.

 

Once you have rolled the paste to the thickness you need, carefully roll it onto the pin.

 

Put the cake in place and unroll the fondant over the cake.

 

Now smooth using a fondant smoother.

 

Now to start stacking!  I like to use bubble tea straws for support.  There are many structural items out there including wooden dowels, but I like these best.  You can find them at most Asian markets or online. 

 

Then take scissors and trim the excess.

 

Now, I use a little royal icing to secure the layers to one another.

 

Place the next tier on top.

 

Now I start adding the flowers.  I am only stacking a couple at a time.  For one, I don't like to drive with completed cake.  The roads are too bad.  So I always allow myself some time for set up when I get to the venue.  I am using a piping bag and a little royal to adhere each flower.

 

 

The next tier up gets a crystal band.  This you can find at Caljava.  It's a great product because you can cut it to the size you need!

 

Brush the back with piping gel and adhere to the cake.

 

Yay!

 

The rest of the tiers repeat this design except for the diamond pattern....but I already went over that in the Stella McCartney post.

 

I stacked the cake before leaving just to make sure it's level. And then take it apart for travel.

 

All ready to go!!

 

Here is the finished product!

 

 

:))))))

 

That's all for now!  Thanks to Kim Z. for letting me blab about her cake.  And I can't really talk about it.....but you might see this cake and others on TV next year!  Stay tuned!