Ombre Petal Cake Variations

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!