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This is a spontaneous thing my daughter and I thought of making last weekend.
We have decided to make cupcakes and decorate them with cute roses and blossoms for her to give to her teachers as Valentine's Day treat.

I made a dozen chocolate cupcakes and swiss meringue vanilla buttercream frosting.

A very easy cake decorating project this week that even kids can do, well except for making the roses. They can cut the blossoms and put heart sprinkles.
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I arranged the cupcakes in a dessert box for a nice presentation.
Do you like them?


Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!!

 
 
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Recently, I am findng myself  in awe at the works of Jacqueline Butter of Petalsweet, a sugar artist who makes wonderful edible flowers. I wish I can attend one of her classes, but since I cannot go to California or Georgia, I am settling at looking closely at her work and teaching myself through trial and error  Trying to acquire a result close to her work  (in my dreams).

I still have to perfect my roses, hydrangea, peony, ranuculous, lily but I think I'm quite satisfied with my filler flowers. It is the easiest one to make, I know.  So I thought I'd share with you all how I made these filler flowers.

Here's the step-by-step instructions with pictures on how I made my filler flowers:

Filler flowers can be made in so many ways. I have tried the step-by-step instructions below with the use of a cutter and without a cutter. I prefer using a cutter for ease and much nicer look of the  petals.
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Cut a #24 guage wire into three or four parts. Using a long nose pliers, make a hook at one end of the wire.

You can use gumpaste or fondant, however gumpaste dries faster and dries well compared to fondant. So for making flowers, it is advisable to use gumpaste.


Roll a piece of paste   into a ball, about 1-1/2 cm in diameter.
You can change the size to your preferance.

Make one end into a pointed cone.

With the use of a pointed tool make a hole by inserting the toll into the center as shown in the picture.

Note: If you do not have a cutter, this is part where you need the scissors.
 Make five small equal incisions to make the petals.

Pinch the base of the cone using your fingers to flatten.
And then using a small non-stick rolling pin,
roll out the base until it becomes thin forming a "witch hat".
Note: Skip these steps if you do not have the cutter.

Get your medium blossom cutter and place it over the top of the "witch hat".
Cut out the blossom shape and remove the excess gumpaste.
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Now to insert the wire. Dip lightly the hook into an edible glue (or water) and insert it through the throat of the flower. Do not worry if the tip of the wire shows , it will be covered with a yellow gumpaste or you can leave it as is.

Edible glue: I used 2 tablespoons of warm water to a quarter teaspoon of Tylose Powder and allow the Tylose powder to melt.


Using a petal pad and a medium ball tool, smooth round the edges of the petals.
The paste should be very fine.
Transfer to a thicker/softer petal pad, using the small ball tool, very gently ball the petal until a gentle cup shape is obtained.
Roll a tiny peice of yellow gumpaste for the center of the flower.
Glue in the middle of the flower.
Paint the end of the flower using a flat brush with green petal dust.
Here is a picture of two filler flowers done using a cutter.
Another picture of a bunch of filler flowers without using a cutter.
Hope you enjoy my little tutorial. If you have any question, please feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Caking!
 
 
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On March 1, 2009, Eunice was diagnosed with a rare disease (not a contagious one) called dermatomyositis and  was confined at the IWK hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia for more than 6 months.

"Dermatomyositis is a muscle disease characterized by inflammation and a skin rash. It is a type of inflammatory myopathy. Causes, incidence, and risk factors The cause of dermatomyositis is unknown. Experts think it may be due to a viral infection of the muscles or a problem with the body's immune system. Anyone can develop dermatomyositis, but it most commonly occurs in children age 5 - 15 and adults age 40 - 60. Women develop this condition more often than men do.
Polymyositis is a similar condition, but the symptoms occur without a skin rash.
The muscle weakness may appear suddenly or develop slowly over weeks or months. You may have difficulty raising your arms over your head, rising from a sitting position, and climbing stairs."

You can just imagine what Edlyn and Ronnie (Eunice's parents) went through. There were no words eloquent or descriptive enough to fully explain their fear and how they felt during those times of uncertainty.
But God has done a miracle here – truly.
Eunice recovered and doing wonderfuly.

Today, the family still go to IWK for a monthly checkup and Eunice is growing to be a healthy, smart and beautiful girl. In fact on February 1st, she turned four (4) - we have the same birthday and I turned 4_!

Her birthday party was yesterday (Feb 5th) and we were invited.
 She loves Dora The Explorer and so I decided to make her a Princess Dora cake with cupcake tower. 


The Princess Dora cake was similar idea I did for my daughter's Barbie Cake (the top tier) which Eunice pointed out indirectly...her first words when she saw the cake - "I don't want Barbie"...so funny! But Mom assured her that it is a Dora doll - she smiled.

I made the cupcake toppers using fondant - stars, dora face, map, backpack and boots' boots. I also made the cupcake stand using a foamcore board, dummy cakeboard and ribbons. The stand makes a grand presentation for the creation.

I made 4 dozen chocolate and vanila cupcakes and Swiss Italian Meringue Buttercream colored in Lavander shades.  I also bought some cupcake wrappers for decoration, to make the cupcakes look cleaner. You know how the cupcake liners look greasy after they come out of the oven, the wrapper hides that look.

The Princess Dora cake is a chocolate cake, filled and crumbcoated with italian meringue butter and chocolate ganache; decorated in fondant. I like using Satin Ice Fondant than Wilton Fondant. I find it taste better and does not tear easily. However, the White-Vanilla flavor is so hard to color compared to that of Wilton. I almost used a quarter of the Wilton Food Gel Color but it still coming very pale. 
I am planning of trying the Virgin White Fondx Fondant next time.
Picture of the Laxamana family with the cake.
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Happy 4th Birtday Eunice!
 

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    Author

    My family and friends call me Bobie. An IT Specialist and have discovered cake decorating, a new hobby...my new passion.

    I started this website to share what I have created, story behind every cake, my experience with every creation and at some point share what I have learned. I hope you will enjoy your visit to my site.

    Located in Fredericon, New Brunswick, Canada.


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