A Weekend of Baking...Tropical gerbera birthday cake

Once I had baked both cakes (Victoria sponge with strawberry jam and chocolate mud cake with white chocolate icing) I covered them in white fondant and left them to rest. I then measured the top tier and drew out my design for the polka dots, taking into account the size of the spots, the spacing from the top of the cake and the width of the ribbon.

Once I was happy with the design I then wrapped the greaseproof collar around the cake and transferred the design using a pokey tool.

I cut out my fondant spots using my smallest round plunger cutter and then stuck them on one colour at a time to ensure they were all in the correct place.

I was originally going to stick my gerberas on to the cake using just royal icing, but when I picked one up and felt its weight, I realised the icing probably wasn't going to support the weight. Luckily the gerberas were not completely set hard, so I managed to push cocktail sticks into the bases which I could then secure into the cake with royal icing for support.

You can see the finished polka dot tier in the background.

To finish the bottom tier I cut lots of coloured stripes and let them dry slightly before attaching.

I then used sugar glue to attach each stripe, and then cut them to length with a knife once they were attached to make sure they were flush with the top of the cake.

Here you can see the completed and dowelled tier without its ribbon finish. 

When I assembled the cake I stacked the polka dot tier on top of the striped tier and added all of the ribbon in complimentary colours to the fondant colours chosen.

When it came to placing the gerberas on top, I didn't want to have them flat as I thought this wouldn't really do them justice. I made a cone of white fondant and stuck this to the top of the cake, then arranged the gerberas leaning up against it. To cover the cone I used the remainder of the polka dots scattered down the sides to add a little more decoration.

I attached the gerberas to the sides of the cake with a dab of royal icing on the back then pushing them in using the cocktail sticks, which held them perfectly secure.

I was really happy with the finished cake and was lucky enough to see this one cut and even got to sample a bit at the party, which was fantastic. I'm so glad the couple loved it as much as I enjoyed making it.

A weekend of baking...Sugarcraft Gerberas

I have been asked to make a 30th Birthday cake for a couple, and after meeting with them and sending off some sketches, they have chosen the following design, a tropical gerbera cake with gorgeous bright tropical colours. I think this will be my most colourful cake to date!

They had specifically requested gerberas on the cake, and I was looking forward to making them as they were a new flower to add to my repertoire. I bought some PME cutters (which you can find here: http://Craftcompany.co.uk) and chose my tropical coloured fondant in lime green, orange and fuchsia pink.

To give me a head start in making the flowers, I searched YouTube until I found a fantastic tutorial from McGreevy cakes which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7NoxpInzXQ. It's a brilliant video that shows you all of the hints and tips to make the best flowers possible. Following the guidance in the video, below are my pictures from making my first gerberas.

Measuring the light green sugar paste for the centre of the gerbera...

...before texturing it with a cocktail stick.

I made all of the centres first and then left them to dry a little before using for my flowers.

I cut out two each of the different petal sizes and put them in a plastic wallet to keep them pliable. On my first attempt I rolled the fondant too think, so make sure it is very thin to achieve the delicate petals of an actual flower.

I then snipped each of the petals in half with scissors. Note to self: Must buy smaller pair of scissors for sugarcraft work as kitchen scissors are too big for this type of delicate work.

I stuck a centre to the smallest petals using sugar glue, and then folded the petals up and over it...

...until it was covered all the way around. I then repeated this with the second of the smallest petals so I had two layers stuck over the centre.

The medium and large petals needed to have their petal thinned using a Celstick. Don't be afraid to thin the petals quite firmly with the thicker part of the stick to give a nice cupping effect. In the picture above I haven't thinned them properly and I have a line, rather than a nice smooth shape. I went back over them and made sure they were much thinner.

To finish the gerbera off I stuck the two largest petals together, trying to make sure that the petals didn't overlap, then repeated this with the medium set and finally stick the centre in the middle. I lined a shallow mince pie tray with kitchen roll and gently pressed each gerbera into one of the dips to give it a nice shape. 

Once all nine gerberas were completed, I left them to dry overnight. 

Sketches and Stitches

After deciding on a direction for my re-brand, I drew out my design on paper, and then transferred it to calico ready for stitching. I have a colour palette in my head combining a range of greens with navy and a dusky pink, so hopefully when this all comes together the combination will work. 

I want to have all of the elements separately for combining in different ways, so I will stitch the garlands first and scan in the design, and then add the text to the centre. I wasn't happy with the placement of the text when I added it to the paper, so when I transfer it to the calico I will be able to move it around to find the perfect place.

I have also transferred a separate larger text piece so I can scan this in separately as well.

I have had a couple of designs ready for transferring for a little while so I traced these through today as well and picked my threads ready for stitching.

I was wondering how I was going to remember which colour I wanted where, and also why you would have card embroidery bobbins, and then the penny dropped...! 

I labelled the paper designs with the numbers for the threads and then numbered the card bobbins with the numbers so that when I came back to the design I knew which colour to use where! 

The design above has a particularly subtle palette and you can't be 100% of colour in a photograph, so I'm glad I have a diagram to help me.

I shall call it stitch by numbers! Someone must have though of that already...

Embroidery and Re-branding

Over the last couple of weeks I have been focussing on our wedding planning, mainly sending the invitation wording over to the stationers to start work on our designs. I'm really looking forward to seeing our initial designs! 

As a result my poor blog has been a little neglected, both with content and with its re-design. I started to put together some ideas for new logos last year in an attempt to refresh the design, but I never really got started. However, after starting to read the fantastic Fiona Humberstone's book 'How to Style Your Brand' I have been inspired to make a start and do it properly. 

I sat down one evening and went through the first exercise in the book, and wrote down everything I wanted the blog to be. I love getting my ideas down on paper, it makes them much more realistic and I feel like I have more of a focus now to make the blog as good as it can be.

Originally I thought I wanted a very graphic hand drawn logo with a watercolour background, and I started experimenting with calligraphy and colours, but as I got more into my embroidery, I realised I was neglecting something that has become a passion. As a result I have changed the idea and have decided to embroider my logos and elements before digitising them to add texture and the handmade touch I love.

Recently with my pictures I've tried experimenting with different shapes, styles and wording to make my offering a little more modern, so hopefully these will appeal to a younger audience. I'm really hopeful I can do another craft fair this year, so hopefully a wider product range will attract more Customers and give me a chance to gather some feedback.

I'll keep you posted on how my re-brand goes, hopefully interspersed with lots more stitching and design ideas!