Monday, June 6, 2011

Cricut Cake - 50th Anniversary!

I am very proud to announce that I really do Practice what I Preach!! I am loving my family of Cricut machines these past few weeks as I helped my Mother and Father in Law to organize their 50th Wedding Anniversary!


At the top of our list was creating a masterpiece cake that would serve as the focal point at the reception. We put together a three tiered cake as well as 150 petit fours! 

The beauty of the cake was truly in it's simple look, however I would like to point out that it wasn't simple at all! Thank goodness I HAD Cricut Cake or we would never have had the same results. We decorated the entire cake by repeating a beautiful floral pattern from the Elegant Cakes Cricut Cartridge. The white gumpaste was a time saver as well as an elegant touch. To finish each tier we tied a length of gold ribbon along the bottom edge and that was it! 

Our bottom cake layer is an amazing Pound Cake recipe that I found online and the top two layers are styrofoam. Dorothy (MIL) re-vamped her 25th anniversary cake topper to create a new 50th cake centerpiece. 

For the petit fours, we used the same Elegant Cakes Cricut Cartridge to cut out monograms. We did G's, D's (Gary & Dorothy) and 50's to mark the occasion. This time I cut everything out of gum paste after kneading in a light golden color. A little bit of edible golden luster dust gave them just enough bling to make them perfect!

The petit fours were made from the same  Pound Cake recipe and we froze everything for a couple of weeks before the event so that we could manage our time and baking efforts a little bit easier. 
My tips and tricks to make this project easier??
     1. Ensure your Mother In Law has talent, patience and humor!
     2. Roll your gumpaste super thin to get a great cut.
     3. Freeze your gumpaste before cutting it. I rolled out a dozen sheets of gumpaste, put them all in the freezer and then went on a cutting rampage!
     4. When cutting such an intricate design, it is wise to pick all of the little 'bits' out of each design as you go. I rolled just enough gumpaste on each mat to cut ONE design out at a time. 
     5. To get nice 'soft' but 'square' corners on your petit fours, cut away the outer edges and the top of your cake. The fondant will drape evenly over all of the corners and edges without it poking through a sharp corner!
     6. If you plan to freeze your creations, ensure that they are completely frozen BEFORE you wrap them in plastic wrap or seal them in a container. This keeps any condensation from falling on your fondant/gumpaste and making it soft. Likewise, as soon as you pull everything out of the freezer, remove all coverings so that the fondant/gumpaste can breathe and adjust to it's new temperature without 'sweating'.

Happy Crafting!
Heather

2 comments:

  1. Wow! This is beautiful! I love those little petit fours!

    I would LOVE to try this for my daughters birthday!

    I was doing a yahoo search on Cricut centerpieces and came across your blog :) Im a new follower! Im excited to now look through all your other creations!

    -Jennifer
    http://mycreativecrafting.blogspot.com

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  2. Thanks Jennifer!! I'll have to go check out your creations too!!

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