Showing posts with label piping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label piping. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

She's Got an... Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot.... Dress!



Tue-Mar-9-2010

Hi everyone....

WOW... I took a week off and I feel like I have not posted anything here for years....
To start off... yesterday was my birthday! yeahhhhh and DH took a day off and spent the whole day with me... took me out to a nice dinner.... got me some gifts that I had been wanting and just made the day special...
I have not been idle this week... I can promise you that... but I am working on a special special wedding cake that requires a lot of my time because of all the flowers that I am making...
I love making flowers... wait until you see it...

Anyways... on to the task at hand.. this is a special request project that I am doing... I am very exited to get started with it... so today is THE DAY! I will begin shortly so... come back.... you will be seeing some progression pictures that I know you will enjoy...

Talk to ya in a bit...
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Wed-Mar-10-2010

Hi...
Well... progress is going great.... outline done... dried... flooding done.... I have pics I promise... tomorrow I will post them.... well... maybe tonite..

This is the "scoop" ... today DH (Dear Husband) got the house all set-up with FiOS!! it's awesome... super duper yuper cuper superfantastic!! fast... so so fast... cable resolution... incredible... so I see him setting up a box in the kitchen (ps. we do not have a tv in our kitchen) and I'm like: "Are We Getting A TV for the Kitchen?!?!?!" and he's like... well... we will.... BUT NOT NOW! later on when we can afford it... but sinse the install is today I got it done so when we do get it... it's already set with the signal... so I'm like... fine... as soon as he goes back to work, of course I get on the computer to look at Kitchen TV's... as I am cooking... he gets home and we start talking about the TV's I was looking at... he says: "They are too expensive".. I say: "I saw one really affordable"... he says... "Show me a TV for the kitchen that's affordable and I will go get it right now"... I start searching like crazy and he keep repeating the same thing... so as I turn away from the PC to serve our dinner... what do I see?
A BOX! huh? yeah A BOX! right behind me... and it's a NEW TV BOX! so I start screaming and hugging him... he is the besttttt... he got me my Kitchen TV on his way home from work.... now he's mounting it... I can't wait... Ohhh and BTW, I can hook up my PC to it and use it as a Monitor also!!! woohooo...

I know... I know... what does that have to do with the itsy bitsy yellow polka dot.... dress??? nothing... just thought I'd share hehehehe
I do have pics and they will be here shortly... this project I am doing is one of those that I am really really enjoying... I love using RI and flooding... well maybe I just like saying flooding... lol

Talk to ya in a bit
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Sat-Mar-13-2010

Good Morning!

It's the weekend... and a wet one... today I will deliver on all the promises of pics I did before lol.. anyways... there is a story... and might be a long one but a story none the less.... here is what happened....
As I mentioned... having a great time with this project... I got all set up with my "mise en place", I like to have everything I need right at hand...

I did my RI batch and colored the batch with all the colors needed to do the transfer... i use the "plug & pipe" method... it's the best...
I got all the colors ready and the best part is that with this method... I don't have to stop what I am doing to change bags... or change tips or anything... I can just "plug and play"! Now time to play.... we begin with a blank canvas.....
After that I cleaned up and got my mise en place for the next phase of our project....

I tape my image and place parchemnt paper over it to be able to see a clear picture of what I am about to pipe...
So I start myoutline and seems a bit too runny for an outline but it's working fine... it's holding and it's also setting wuickly... so I don't let that bother me at all... here is the outline....



I let the outline dry for a few hours... 3 maybe 4.... the on to flooding... that was tricky.. FUN... but tricky cause you kinda need 3 hands for this part... you have to flood and use a scriber to make sure all the corners get RI in them... otherwise you might risk have your corners with gaps.... but I was able to do it and I wa happy with the result.... as you see here... it's looking pretty good so far.....
So.... after a few more hours.... I am antsy and can't wait to see what it looks like so I decide to take a pic (mind you... if I would have done what I KNEW I should have done... there would have been no need to peek 'cause the pane would have given me the liberty to do so... BUT! you know me... always wanting to do things "The Dalis Way" and that way doesn't always pan out.... as I carefully remove/cut the taped parts... get a nice sturdy foam pad and place it on top so I can plid & see... the tails "b r e a k s"! I gasped... but quickly snapped out and reminded myself that with RI this WILL happen and there are ways to adderss it... so no worries... but when I flip and look underneath.... hummm...

As you can see... looks "better" the other way... so I go back to my resources and research my concerns... well turns out I used the BC Method instead of the RI Method and this piece is not going to work as planned... we need to re-DO the whole thing over... so as it was I really really wanted to do this as a 3D before I began... but didn't think I would be able to model minnie mouse just like that... DH wasn't too confident either... so I started thinking and decided to try another thing... so Here is plan B.... FONDANT! fondant pieces! parts! think puzzle pieces!


I print another image... carefully use my blade to cut all the pieces to minnie....


Then... I start putting them in the new image I set up with some wax paper over it...
Above is with fondant on the hands and all the black pieces already placed....

Here is everything but the face... waiting for it to dry... then I will detail...

So.... as I look at it while going about and doing my wifely duties... there is something that has kept bothering me the whole time... my big head keeps telling me that I CAN do this 3D... I can model this girly girl! I know I can... but I try to brush it off... of course unable to... I get my girl on the car and we run to the toy store.
I'm thinking....2D... that would be very very possible... with a nice plaque behind... there I go and buy a little minnie figurine... and I start modeling it... carefully... confident... as you see here... I started with the bottom of her... and so far so good... of course! so far so good... I havent' done the hardest thing... THE FACE! that can make or brake this project... but I continue on....
Here is another pic with more details already done....
Here is another picture with the plaque already done... I will detail it when it's dry....

and here is the latest one... almost finished... and I tell my my friends... this just goes to show you... never think you CAN'T do something... if you set your mind to it... you can do ANYTHING!.... Last night I did some of the finishing touches... let me go get the camera and upload a pic... brb....
(3 hours later....)
I'm back... ok here is the other pic....
So... whatcha think? not bad huh?.... hehehe... after the hands dry... I will decorate the plaque and post the finished project alongside Plan B's finished with the details...
Right now the hands are drying... so once they are dry... we will see how it all cones together... I am also working on outlining the fondant puzzle... then I will see with of the two is better and that's the one that i will go with....

Cya in a bit...
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Tue-Mar-16-2010

Hi my friends..

Well as you can see it has been a while since I posted... reason being... we are working on a Bridal Show coming up and a expo and that's taking a lot of our time but none-the-less I have NOT forgotten about the yellow polka dot....... dress.. hehehe...

Good News.... It's finished... BOTH are done...
Bad News..... NONE.... thank God :-)

Here are the pics of both of them... this is a topper that I am doing for a very cute little girl from our church and this will be our present to her...

The First Minnie (Yellow Dress), made with fondant, lays/stands flat.

The second Minnie (Pink Dress) hand-modeled by looking at a Minnie toy...


After I finished both of them... I went to my cake artists forums and we voted on the best one.... although I like them both... I was leaning towards the 3D one, just because I feel it's more personal and it reflects my modeling abilities.... the other one it's really nice but the comments I got was that it looked more "store bought", let me make it clear... I made them both... really... so don't you go and say I bought one and passed it off lol....
But most people chose the fondant "puzzle" one... so that's the winner as so far... DH likes it better and my circle of bakers also picked that one more than the other.... just as I am typing I just changed my mind... I will not give her the one that got the most votes... I will show them both to her and let HER make the final choice...
But... I will see how I can add a voting "thingy" here so you guys can let me know which one you like best...

I must tell you that this project took a lot longer than I had anticipated, but it was only because I am a perfectionist and I am never satisfied with just "good enough"... I must be able to look at my work and be in awe myself.... so I tried quite a few ways and the ones posted here are the 2 best ones, in fact I'm so happy with both of them that I truly still don't know which one will be picked... if I go by what my peepz voted... then it's the yellow dress... so we will see tomorrow...
lemme check for the voting thingy....



Which Minnie You Like Best
Minnie in Yellow Dress (2D)
Minnie in Pink Dress (3D)
pollcode.com free polls


Kewllll I found it! hehehe... the Internet never ceases to amaze me.... anyways... take you time, you at both of them, be honest as to which one you like best... and please please please vote...
Well... this is it for now... I also wanted to let you know that I will be posting a new thread on something new that I am working on and just to give you a hint... it's super YummY... super Cute... Delicious... and you can order some for this coming Easter Holiday... so keep coming back for more updates because it's getting better by the minute lol...
Ohh... before I forget... I will email the pictures of both Minnies tonight and after she replies with the one she wants... I will tell you who the real winner is... so for now... it's still "UP FOR GRABS".

Sat-March-19-2010

Yellow Polka Dot Won... :-)


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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Mon Projet de Gâteau â Venir



Mon Inspiration




Mon Projet de Gâteau â Venir

It means.. My upcoming Cake Project in French!

Today is Sunday and for the past 3 days I have been having a very very bad toothache... waiting for tomorrow to call the Dentist for an appointment. But for now i have been taking some aspirin and using ice packs to try to control it... haven't slept all night.

Even though I am in pain as the good ol' saying goes... "Le show must go on".
I have an upcoming project for a French themed Birthday cake and I will start working on sample work for this today. My inspiration is from Peggy Porschen, she has a beautiful cake but I will make the tower 3D instead of doing a plaque of it... It's all pink and black with some white in it, but not much... looking forward to this great project!

I will be making some pastillage (I make all my working supplies/mediums from scratch!)to make the parts for "La Tour Eiffel" I have the template already for it... when it dries then I can pipe the details with royal icing. Then with some royal icing (medium to thin consistency) I will pipe some cute "FranÇais Caniches".


Of course I will post some progress pics for your "Plaisir".


Happy Sunday to all.
dalis.soto@yahoo.com



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Monday, Jan 25th 2010.

Well here is the scoop.... last night I did a batch of the royal icing to start the outline for the french poodles.... of course me thinking I am sooooo good that I don't need to measure water to get the consistency that I need.. I added toooooo much water... but I still thought it would work... so I took some and colored it gray, some black, some pink and some claret (dark pink), I got my bags ready and all set up for piping first thing this morning.


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Tue. Jan 27th 2010


So, I wake up this morning... all excited and ready! I get my tray, tape my template, overlap my wax paper and start piping.... well... let's NOT call it piping lol... it was like thick juice was coming out! I was livid! BUT I said to myself.... you can either get mad, grumpy and upset (which won't solve ANYTHING)

OR...
you can just happily start another royal icing batch and DO IT RIGHT!
So that's what I did... I did another batch.... measuring everything and it worked fine... as a matter of fact it was even better because I was able to try a new method I just learned from http://www.cakecentral.com/ on how to load your icing bags with the cling wrap method... here is the link... it is THA BEST!
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-588591.html

So I color all my batches and got them ready...
here is the before (left) and after (right)....




Now... I will start piping my templates... wish me luck.... and I will let u know how it all goes.... it's a rainy day today... feels very peaceful here... I like that a lot!

Talk to ya' in a bit.....

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Hi Again....UPDATE!

Just finished doing the outlines and some of the piping on top.... now on to fill the inside.... I hope it comes out ok.... I am not too good with royal icing... I am better with gumpaste and fondant.... we will see soon!

Well.... maybe I can make them out of gumpaste...humm... lol
I am not liking the results so far... but then again... I am not done... as soon as the finished product is done I will see...
Thing is... I will not give anything that I wouldn't consider THE BEST! so we will have to see...
Maybe I should start coloring the gumpaste just in case... nahhh that means that I am sure it will fail... gotta have some trust in my talents lol

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It's 01/25/2010 @ 11:06 pm

Ok so I will post the finish product pics tmo morning.... but I think I am going to try to do them out of fondant... not too pleased with the texture of them... and hubby says the poodles noses look like it's been doing some illegal stuff for a while and it's all discombobulated lol....

I took a break for the rest of today... have been working on this all day long... watched some tv (Thank You DVR!) lol

I record all Food Network Challenges... even if I have seen them before... I can watch them forever! lol... and Amazing Wedding Cakes too love both shows....

Good night for now... thanks for letting me share with you....

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Wed. January 27th 2010

Hi and Hello my fellow friends....

Well here is where we are at with our project so far... I finished my royal icing decals.... they are okay... really..( I will post pics) BUT they are not as great as I know I can make them... so I went ahead and started making the poodles out of fodant today... and I am only on my first part of the gray and black one and I must say.... it's looking so much better already... I am excited! I can't wait for this part to dry in order to complete the other part....

To color was easy because I added a tiny bit of black fondant to white and got the color right away... now for the claret? (fushia) that's when I know it might take lnger because I have to use gel for it (unless I airbrush the color...humm?) actually I mixed red fondant with whitw fondant and got the color right...will see what works best.... tonite is baking time... will be baking a 4 inch high 12' square, a 4 inch high 10' square and a 4 inch high 8' square... needs to feed a lot of people.

I will also make the cake board out of fodant today to give it plenty time to dry... well that's it for now... talk to ya soon... will be addig pics in the next couple of hours...

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Thursday, January 28th 2010

Well I never came back last nite lol... I was knocked out... anyways... here is the latest news on the french project...

I decided to do the poodles in fondant... they are coming along so much better as I said before.... now I am about to start putting them together.... this morning I had to go shopping for some stuff for the house and for this project.... after that I remembered that I needed to do the fondant drum ASAP! cause it needs lots of time to dry.... so I went ahead and did that already... when it's done I will post pics....

Also, I started assembling the Eiffel Tower... all the pastillage pieces are nice and dry now I am putting it together with royal icing as glue... will post pics too.. after the tower then I will do the poodles and then.... to make icing... and bake!!! YuMMy!!! the pics above are of the poodles in royal icing and the part in fondant drying already... talk to ya soon!

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Friday, Jan. 29th 2010

Well... this morning I woke up early to start making buttercream... well my toothache came back... this time 100X worst than before... I was stting on the steps crying.... really sobbing in pain.... so I called my regular dentist and her team wasn't very sympathetic or helpful at all... so I yahoo'ed a dentist close to home... and found one.... He was closed today... but when I explained my situation he was kind enough to open just to take care of me... that has been the bestest experience I had with a dentist... he looked at my problem... drilled in and put some numbing medicine that will hold me over until I can finish this project (I told him all about it) and then early next week he will fix the problem.... That WILL BE my new denstit from now on.... he treated me like a person not a member# from and insurance... I will post his info in case you need a dentist... I highly recommend him.... now I am... NUMB! can't feel half of my lip and PIAN FREE!!!! no pain pills req... he gave me some antibiotics for the infection and made me feel like I was important.... Thank God for leading me to him..... anyways....

All cakes are baked! now on to making YummY buttercream.... a lot! then on to fill and frost the cakes.... then... cover in FoNdAnT... then STAACK!!!!! and the best DeCoRaTe! will post pics!!!!
Love ya guys....

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My friends it is Saturday, January 30th, 2010....
BTW: this cake is due in 13 Hours!!!!!
Well.. I did 24 cups of icing... that should have been more than enough for filling and icing a 12", 10" & 8" square cake....
My hubby...my partner gets home... of course he always helps me... and for that I LOVE HIM MORE! cause he works all day and comes home and always asks what needs to be done so he can help.... so he decides to fill the cakes 3x! instead oif taking the two cakes... filling in the middle and on to crumb coating... he takes each square... torts it... and fills it... so each square cake has 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of icing.... so of course what does that mean? NOT ENOUGH ICING! so he (all the while I am putting the Eiffel Tower together and airbrushing it... (I got upset cause I wanted just filling in the middle... sat down for a bit being angry AND I FELL ASLEEP!!!! gggrrr when I woke up... I found him making icing... I'm like why??? and he explained it all... so he made two 9 cup batches... that makes it 42 cups!! so....
I stopped on the Tower... and start dirty icing... with a new tecnique.... and as I start icing the first tier... I got overwhelmed and started to cry... but.... I prayede to God... and started doing it... and it came out pretty easy and quick (so I thought...quick...) look at the time lol 4 AM!....
I already frosted the 8" and the 12"... now on to the 10".... will get back to you soon... I am not as tired as I thought I would be... good!
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Sat. Jan. 30th @ 10:13 am
Well... morning morning morning... hehehe... slept 4 hours! but I feel okay thanks to Our Lord.... I started right away.. already fondanted the 12" tier.... pretty easy.... thought would be hard to do in a large square cake... but not too hard.... now on to the 8"... That Ateco mat is wonderful! makes it easy.. now some people I see that they ROLL the fondant with the rolling pin... others... I see they PUSH the fondant with the rolling pin.... I usually roll it... tried some pushing.... it works too...
Its.... 12:08 PM.... ALL CAKES ARE FONDANTED!!! yeahhhh looks great.. you'll see... now I clean up my work table ( I can't work on a messy surface...)
Now I will use my black royal icing and my gray one top add the details to the tower... then I just remembered I need to write... Bon Anniversaire Kristie...(Happy B-Day in French!)
that shouldn't be that bad lol... well I will start adding the decorations... the bow... then he poodles.... then the Eiffel Tower... I will put that on the cake at the venue.... all I need is for it to fall and break while we drive it there! lol
I was mean with hubby last nite... I apologized to him and wrote him a thank you note... for all his help! I ADORE MI AMORE!
Well.... talk to you in a bit lol....
1:09 PM re-did all my royal icing batches... (needed some more) now on to add details!!!!
WELL..
SATURDAY, JANUARY 30th, 2010 @ 5:09 PM.... CAKE IS FINISHED!!!! (it's due @ 6:30 pm)
I will never cut a timeline this short ever again! my back is killing me and I feel like going to bed for 30 years lol....

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The Eiffel Tower from start to finish



The French Cake, from assembly all the way to DUN!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Hello again my fellow cake lovers…
I am so so so sorry that it took me this long to update… but I was drained!!! I pulled an all night-er the day of the event and I took two days to recover lol…. Well there were other things that happened like my denstist fiasco… then my anemia started to act up so I need an infusion and will need a few more but on the the good stuff, here is the scoop….

As I said before the cake was officially finished at 5:09 PM…. And it was due no later than 6:30 PM! So we get in the shower and get ready because we were also guests at the event. So when we are getting ready to leave.. I pack my tool box and my cake knives and just glanced outside… guess what?!?! IT WAS SNOWING!!! I had no idea… I was so busy all day that I didn’t even look out the window… But anyways… hubby puts the cake in the truck (he says it weights easily 75 lbs!). We leave the house to drop off my baby girl at my mother in law’s house so she could watch her for us. But because it took longer to get there due to the road conditions.. I got dropped off at the event while my hubby took the baby over to grandma’s. So we “hide” the cake in the kitchen because the cake was going to be a surprise… so I went ahead and placed the topper (we took the Eiffel tower in a separate board to make sure it wouldn’t fall/brake). Then I took out my royal icing and started to remove any picks that we use to support details while they dry on the cake… I also added some piping details and just looked it over to make sure everything was good.
But let me just tell you about this great event. We get there and they had decorated that place to look incredible… I mean… there were tiny lights all over the place… Big Eiffel Towers… A DJ!… the tables looked incredible. Sara Lambert and Kristie’s mom were the ones that pretty much organized the whole event, but a lot of people helped to put it all together and I must say that they did an amazing job… It looked FRENCH! Romantic! Elegant! I mean the went all out for her. This will most probably be Kristie’s last birthday in the USA… Her hubby Bill, Kristie and their adorable children are leaving to North Paris mid-year as missionaries. This is something that Our Lord God has put in their hearts and they are working very hard to gain spiritual and monetary support for this incredible venture that they are about to embark on. So Bill wanted to make this a birthday to remember… They were expecting over 100 people there (due to weather conditions, some were not able to make it). They made all these different French desserts… and her mom (which I fell in love with! She is such a beautiful person, I know I just met her but I felt her goodness immediately!) and her Dad (He is the Pastor in the Church where the event took place, Wyoming Baptist Church) they were both dress French like with the scarves and French hats. Everybody looked beautiful there, there was a photographer.. A videographer.. I mean… ALL OUT!! Bill also did a video about Kristie that just brought tears to my eyes because it was just so real… so loving… Then people started coming to the stage to share all these great stories about Kristie… Bill said that he’s objective was to let Kristie know how much she is loved by everyone that knows her and he surely accomplished that because everyone there was just glowing, just so happy to be there. It was a bitter sweet event because we do not want to stop sharing with them, but as her father said… IF that’s what God has called for them to do… then he will happily accept this move.
Well they started singing “Happy Birthday” to her and that was our queue to roll in the cake to the middle of the floor (where they had an “exclusive” table). Everyone was so impressed and everyone loved how good the cake looked.. It matched the theme perfectly and her face was just gleaming when she saw it… Everybody took picture of her and Bill with the cake.
We then took the cake to the serving table where we disassembled the cake and started cutting it, not ‘cause I made it lol but those slices of cake looked perfect! Everyone raved about how good the cake tested and we got two potential clients that same night, not to mentioned everyone that took our business card with them.
Once we finished cutting the cake… we sat down and started to enjoy the festivities… then something happened….
YES… something happened…
This “something” has NOT happened in YEARS! (won’t say how many…lol)
They were playing some good good good goooooood music… and we started to dance!!! YES DANCE!! I wanted to dance ALL NIGHT… lol but I was so tired that I didn’t last that long hehehe
I can’t remember the last time we danced in a party lol.. It felt sooooo good I loved the time we shared with Bill, Kristie and all her family and friends…
Well I must say that this one will go down in history as one of my fondest cake orders aside from our own wedding cake order lol.
Here are some pictures as promised… The Eiffel Tower from start to finished and the cake assembly all the way to DUN!
I hope you enjoyed this as much as we did.
On to our next project…
Love, Dalis DeLeon




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