To Margaret...my hero

The picture above is a cake I made for my cousin Jenn's wedding....look familiar?  It was based on Baroque in Patent Leather, a cake that graces the cover of this beautiful, inspiring, and (at least for me) life changing book.....

I made Jenn's cake when I was a baby cake designer.  I was living in New York at the time and was totally obsessed with the woman I call my hero.....Margaret Braun!  If you don't know who Margaret Braun is....first of all....shame on you!...and secondly...she is the woman who changed my life.  I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true.

In 2002 (I was in college a the time), I found this book.  I must have read the book 100 times in the first week.  I was consumed with ideas and found myself practicing my piping skills everyday.  I would tape a piece of parchment paper to my dorm room wall and practice over and over using toothpaste.  What?  Listen, I was a poor college student and toothpaste is cheap....and it actually looks and pipes like royal!....but you have to get the super cheap, pasty kind.

Now, 12 years later.....here is what my book looks like today....

She's been through it....just for the record, I eventually bought another copy so I could try to preserve what was let of this one.....because it is SIGNED!!

...and yes...I have had many, many adventures in sugar!  She signed my book at a demo at Macy's in NYC.  As a young cake designer....it was one of the best days of my life.  So naturally, much of my early work looked very Margaret-like......

God this picture is old!  Sorry for the quality..I think I used a disposable camera.  

The best thing about Cakewalk, is that it taught me to be fearless and try to push the limits of cake design.  It gave me chance to understand the importance of detail and develop my own style!  This is when I understood that MY cakewalks were the fashion shows, magazines, and pop culture I loved to obsess over.  I started to pull inspiration from everything around me.

Okay enough about me....let's talk about the work.   Here are a few of my favorites from Margaret...

Seriously, she even managed to reinvent the polka dot!

   Chalice toppers are a signature Margaret statement.

I love this fashion cake by Margaret....

Gorgeous!  It was inspired by Italian designer Rene Caovilla....check out this shoe he designed...

This is everything!...cake inspiration for days!!

And we can't forget her movie work...

Meet Joe Black

Bride Wars

And this showstopper from Rachel Getting Married....

That could not be more awesome!

A couple weeks ago, a friend asked me to create an over the top baby shower cake....something that didn't scream BABY!  Ha....so no blocks or strokes.  I was looking though my fashion archives and realized this was the perfect time to pay respects to the woman who I have always looked up to!

Margaret is known for her sculpted tiers, hand painted cakes, and signature cake toppers.  I have to get all three things on this cake.....and my added touches with some fondant texture.

I started by sculpting the top edge of each tier...

I run my knife along in a wave pattern.  Then I coat the cake in white chocolate ganache.

I know...it looks funny....stay with me...

Next I smooth the ganache, cover in fondant, and use my fingers to pinch and define this top edge.

I add some texture...you guys have seen this before in my Stella McCartney cake....

It's time to paint....

I am using pink food coloring, white to tone it down, and then a lightly damp craft sponge to wipe the color off.

I paint color into the lines....

Then I use the craft sponge to wash the color over the surface...

I added some embellishments.  Once again....it still looks a bit crazy...stay with me;)

Let's talk about the topper.  I need to make an ode to a chalice without actually making a chalice.  I am gonna try to make a golden rattle.  I start by making a chocolate piece from my Pavoni mold.  It needs a hole though so I can feed it through the dowel.  I am gonna use a bubble tea straw.

I dip the straw in chocolate...

Place it into the top of the mold and hold it to dry so it remains level....

Then I popped the top off and filled the mold with chocolate....

Okay I got a couple air bubbles but I'm gonna gold leaf this thing so it won't matter.....

The cake is stacked and ready to paint....

With the middle tier I wanted to add some polka dots but in a different way than Margaret does them.  So I gave them some texture...

I also added some bows based off this cake Margaret made for Puff Daddy's baby shower....

It's coming along!!  Here is the finished topper....

I just continued to paint until there was nothing left!!!

And here she is all together....

Yay!  I love her!  And she made it on TV!.....

The cake was for Kim Z. from Don't Be Tardy on Bravo!  I also got the chance to meet Margaret again in person!

Here was my cake from her class.

I would like to send a huge thank you to Margaret Braun for being my hero, giving us this amazing book, and allowing me to do this blog post.....because....by the way....Margaret is super down to earth....watch this Master Class....

That's all for now;) Bye!!

Doir, Hermes, Marchesa!!

I have to begin this post with some exciting news.  My zipper cake was featured in Grace Ormonde!  And it got a full page (see above).....so exciting.  Okay enough bragging;)

Recently I was asked by my friends at Sashay events to create a cake for a photo shoot.  Naturally, I went straight to my fashion archives to find the perfect inspiration!  But this cake ended up with a few different inspirations.  I couldn't decide on just one.

My first ideas came from the house of Christian Dior.....

As you can tell, I am feeling the gold and white!  I have always loved Dior, not only for the designs....but also for the shows.  Here is one of my favorites.  All of the dresses were inspired my flowers!  

That couldn't be more awesome!  Seriously, cake inspiration for days.  Here is another look that I love.  

So I am thinking white with a gold pop....something simple and textured with a dramatic statement.  I have also had this Hermes bag in my collection of pictures for a while now.....

Simple and all about the texture.  I have done texture like this many times and I keep going back to it because it's so chic.  Then, I found this Marchesa look....

White and gold it is!!  I want to make a simple and clean looking cake with texture and a dramatic hand made gold statement.  I started with this tool from Fat Daddio....

First, I rolled out some gumpaste...

Next I cut out some circles and placed in the mold...

Then stamp...

Perfect....kind of.  See the mold will distort the circle a bit, so you have to re cut the design after you stamp....

I did graduated sizes and staked them....

Good....but not enough.  I also added some textured pieces cut with an iris cutter and some using this little diamond cutter from Country Kitchen....

Here is the whole band put together....

Now I cut the whole thing in half to create a band to go along the bottom tier....

Yeeeessss!!!

Now for the gold!  I use this product from Albert Uster....

You can find this at www.nicholaslodge.com. I mix a bit with a little vodka (you can use lemon extract or even lemon juice if you cannot use alcohol).

Now there's a statement!  It came out great.  I also made this little broach from the same cutter....

And here she is.....drumroll please!!!

Yay!!  Okay speaking of the Hermes bag.....here is a link to my friend Elisa Stauss' class on Craftsy, where you can learn to make your own bag!  Click the picture and it will take you to the class.

And you can learn more about fondant textures in my class Fashion Inspired Fondant!  Here is the link to the class for a discount!!!....

One more thing.  At the top, the is a button labeled "Craftsy Classes!!"....I have added discounted links for my classes and my friends classes. Enjoy!

That's all for now.  You can subscribe by entering your email at the top right!

Bye!