The end of May means the beginning of summer, warmer days, relaxing, and the birthdays of two of my fave ladies. . . My sister, Linda, and my mom! I love making their cakes. It's the gratification I get when they first see their cakes, the praise when they taste them, and the free creative control I have with them.
This year, I was inspired to try out two very different petal cake techniques. A fondant rose petal version for my sister, and a whipped icing version for my mother. I've always wanted to try out an ombre color scheme on a cake, so why not with these too? My sister's was of course a gradation of purple tones, and a softer blue for my mom.
For the fondant petal cake, I stacked and covered the cakes in a light purple. I then rolled out a dark shade of purple and cut out the petal shapes. On top of a thin foam, I used a ball tool to ruffle the petal edges for movement. These were attached to cake as I completed each one, slightly overlapping the previous petal. I worked my way around the cake until I completed a row. The next was a slightly light shade. I repeated the same technique of ruffling the edges and attaching to the cake, but also overlapping the row below. I continued this until half of the top cake was covered in the lightest shade of purple. I finished the cake with a dark purple ribbon of fondant, and a beautiful flower in all the shades.
For the whipped icing version, I torted and filled 4 layers of french vanilla cake with bavarian cream with fresh slices of nectarines. My mom loves fruit in her cakes :) I then iced the entire cake in stabilized whipped icing, making sure to get the top as smooth as possible. The sides aren't as crucial since the petals will cover it. I divided the remaining whipped icing and tinted 4 shades of a sky blue. Using a #12 tip, I piped on dots of each color in a single column with the darkest at the bottom. I then carefully swiped down half of the dots with a small spatula, wiping it clean with each swipe. I then continued this process all the way around the cake, making sure to pipe the dot over the tail of the swiped areas. At the last column, I piped the dots without swiping them. I finished the top with same petal technique, and a message to my mom.
Happy Birthday ladies!
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