Tutorial Preview
1. Icing the Cake
The boxed present section of the cake is then covered with a vintage cream coloured sugarpaste, of course if you prefer you can opt to use white sugarpaste for this. Covering in panels will make for a much sharper and neater finish on the cake.
2. Icing the Cake (Continued)
Trim the edges of the sugarpaste with a sharp knife then run your fingertips along the edges to soften them.
A button design is pressed into the sugarpaste using a button trim mould from FMM available here – http://www.fmmsugarcraft.com/products.php?product=Straight-Frill-13%252d16
Duck egg blue sugarpaste is used to create stripes for the cake, add a small amount of tylose powder to this to help it firm up if the sugarpaste feels too soft. A ribbon cutter is a very useful tool to cut even stripes, set this to around 1¼” (approx 3.2cm) in thickness.
Attach the sugarpaste stripes vertically to the cake with the help of a set square to get everything looking neat and straight.
3. Icing the Top
Apply an edible glue to the top of the cake in preparation for the lid, this ensures a nice neat and secure finish. More duck egg blue sugarpaste is rolled out to form the top piece (to about 3-4mm thickness) then, cut this approximately to the size of the box lid and trim off any excess once the sugarpaste is on the cake.
Four horizontal strips of duck egg blue are added to finish the box lid, to create these measure the thickness needed and follow the same steps as used to make the stripes in lesson 2.
4. Making the Bow
A bow on the box part of the cake adds an extra level of cuteness and expertise to the cake, this can be created by first using the vintage sugarpaste and ribbon cutter tool (Paul uses crimped discs on the ribbon cutter) Extra detail is added using the stitching tool and then the pieces are ready to use for the ribbon. Follow Paul’s method as shown when making the ribbon.
5. Painting the Buttons
6. The Boy
7. Other Ideas
8. Pro Lesson
Learn how to make a Birthday Present Cake, a great cake for a beginner to cake decorating. The Birthday Present Cake would perfectly suit a 1st or 2nd birthday celebration or christening and elements of the cake can be easily customised to suit either a boy or a girl. The cake features a large present with bow, sugarpaste model of a boy and decorative button design on the cake board. Super cute!
The sugarcraft techniques involved are ganaching and icing a square cake, creating a sugar model boy and sugarpaste bow.