Simple Steps To Beautiful Cakes- #CakeMyDay 25 Winner Giveaway

This is a Fashionista Event and a promotional item was provided to me by Sweetworks. Hosts for this event are Still Blonde after all these Years and ModlyChic.

Momma Told Me: Practice Makes Perfect!

Some people call me a baker- I refer to myself as a dessert innovator. Even long before Cake Boss and Cupcake Wars were 'things' I found myself deconstructing sheet cakes and using rice krispies treats for 3-dimensional birthday cakes. I've made king kong, a pizza, a club sandwich, a bottle of Jack Daniels, a hamburger, ice cream cone cakes, a massive cupcake, and most recently the Reese's Cups cake. In fact, I have made my father a unique food themed cake for his birthday 10 years running, and usually start planning 6 months or more before the actual day. Yes I plan, and planning is so very delicious because, above all things, I intend for my edible art to be edible (not full of chalky fondant or cardboard rods) and only ever use edible elements for my creations. That means lots of trial and error and 'practice cakes' in the weeks leading up.

For my favorite cake, the Reese's Cake, I actually hand molded 2 8" Reese's Cup cakes with chocolate ganache, brownie cake and homemade peanut butter filling. Then I used the butt end of a sheet cake to help 'fluff' my fondant wrapper, and made a mock cardboard sleeve to set my cups in. A little hand piping on the top and viola, the spitting image of the beloved candy! While I usually innovate my own cakes, there are a lot of techniques and ideas I see online and in stores I wonder how to replicate in my own kitchen. And that's where the brand new Cake My Day book comes in. I recently had a chance to check out an advance press copy and holy smokes! you must pre-order this book whether you are a curious kitchen tinker or professional cake artist, the tips and tricks are priceless!

From the authors of the best-selling Hello Cupcake book, #CakeMyDay is a collection of hundreds of unique cake concepts and design ideas with step-by step techniques and tutorials. And there are even a few cake-master secret tips in there too (in case you are a strictly original cake creator.) Inside you'll learn how to properly level a cake, how to build 3-dimensional cakes from basic sheet and round cakes, frosting texture techniques, secret patterns and so much more! To help show you the world of possibilities the Cake My Day book opens up I've created what I call a 'technique cake,' where I've practiced a few different cake tricks. Consider it a dry run for future cakes where I'll incorporate the tricks individually.

For my first technique I wanted to play with the 'melted crayon' technique that seems to have taken the web by storm. I'm always up for making a mess and playing with colors so I was sure to start with a beautifully frosted white cake. Next I took 5 ounce of white melting chocolate, 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream, and 2 TBS corn syrup and nuked them in the microwave together for 30 seconds. After a good stir the mixture went back into the microwave for an additional 20 seconds, then was split into 6 small bowls where I proceeded to color each portion with candy coloring. Be sure you are using confection color specifically for confection or your chocolate will seize and it will be game over.

I could have stopped pouring colors after a single run and been quite happy with the rainbow finish of the cake but I wanted even more 3D texture and continued to overlap the drips until all of my ganache mixtures were gone. The end result was a bit more like a pile of melted wax or a very intense oil painting. Next time I think I'll add a teaspoon of shortening to help thin the mixture and create more of a watercolor effect- though the thick 'wax' texture of this recipe sure turned out pretty cool!

The melted crayon technique proved to set quite quickly. Taking a page (or several) from the Cake My Day book I decided to replicate an Argyle pattern with some colored Sixlets and chocolate Ovation Sticks from Sweetworks.net. Sweetworks sells many of the decorating staples used in the Cake My Day book and several of their bulk products can be used over and over across many of the book's designs and techniques so I highly suggest ordering the 14oz Sixlets bags and such when beginning a big cake project.

Because a cake covered in a rainbow of melting crayons wasn't quite enough I decided to try my hand at creating an Argyle Spring pattern with Irish Cream Ovation Sticks and brightly colored Sixlets chocolate candies. The Ovation sticks snapped/broke quite easily where I intended them to break and this was done fairly easy by hand and eye with no real planning. However, any proper cake designer would truly appreciate the official tips and tricks for a flawless Argyle cake design found in the Cake My Day book.

As if my cake wasn't a big enough eye sore already, I had thrown a special surprise on the inside- the actual cake itself. Cake My Day has several tips and tricks for putting patterns inside your cake (from polka dot to leopard) and even the most inexperienced of bakers can pull off a surprise cake with their tutorials. Of course you may remember I've also shared my own tips for making a polka dot cake on this popular post, as well. The technique for this style surprise cake is  bit different than the spots in Cake My Day's leopard sample cake, so I'm especially looking forward to getting my hands on the hard copy of the book to try that one out too!

So if all these colors and sweets haven't inspired you to get in the kitchen and pro order the Cake My Day book, I really don't know what will....Wait, I do! We're teaming up with 24 other bloggers to share original Cake My Day inspired creations AND 25 chances at winning your own Cake My Day Sweetworks prize bundle! That's right, we're going to send 25 of you a digital copy of this amazing book and a box full of candies used to create the amazing cakes inside it! Be sure to keep on reading to hear how you can enter and hop along to another delicious creation!

What Daughter Says: If only all of life's practice rounds were this delicious!

25 bloggers have teamed up to each offer a $50 Sweetworks candy and Cake My Day prize bundle, that's $1250 in prizes up for grabs! Each blogger is hosting their own giveaway so after you enter ours below be sure to follow the linky and hop onto the next blog!
Sweetworks Cake My Day Prize Package