Tutu Tutorial!

My daughter's ballet recital was yesterday.  Ever since she was 2, she has wanted to be a ballerina!  She is 4 now and was very excited for her first recital.  I'm excited to be making my first tutorial!  I hope it helps you next time you have a ballet theme.

Here she is waiting to perform The Lion King!
 

I volunteered to help out backstage, and brought along books, crayons... and CUPCAKES!  The girls loved these, and they were really easy to make. 

Since my daughter doesn't care for the taste of fondant, I chose to make my tutus out of a 50/50 fondant/chocolate clay mix.  Incorporating the chocolate clay made the dough more pliable, and I was able to work with each piece without worrying that the dough would dry out.  Best of all, she loved the taste!  (She's a tough critic!) 

STEP 1:  Create a template for the leotard.  I cut mine from a food safe paper plate.

STEP 2:  Use your template to cut out the leotard.  Use the small hole from Tip 10 to easily cut out the neckline.

STEP 3:  Set on wax paper to dry out a bit while you work on the ruffles.

STEP 4:  Using a round cookie cutter, sized a little smaller than the diameter of the cupcake, cut out pink ruffles for first layer.  Place on foam.

STEP 5:  Create ruffle effect using ball tool.  Press indentations into the dough at roughly 1/2 inch increments going all the way around the circle. 

You will begin to see a ruffle effect forming. Press 3 times into each indentation.

STEP 6:  With a knife, cut out a slit in the centers of each of your top ruffle layer.  Make sure it's wide enough for your leotard to sit in, without being too wide.  You don't want the leotard to fall right through. 

STEP 7:  After the top layer of ruffles have dried/firmed up a bit, place the leotard inside.

STEP 8:  Make your second layer of ruffles.  Follow Step 5.  You won't need a slit in this layer.  I made mine a lighter shade of pink.

STEP 9.  Pipe buttercream onto your cupcake.  Place bottom layer of ruffles onto the buttercream.

STEP 10:  Pipe thick dot of buttercream on top of the bottom layer of ruffles.  This will be the glue to stick the two layers together.

YOU'RE ALMOST DONE!

STEP 11:  Place top layer of ruffle with attached leotard onto the bottom ruffle.

See how easy this is?  And I think they look great.  Simple and cute!  There are so many ways you can continue decorating these.  Adding bows, flowers, glitter, changing the colors... the possibilities are virtually endless.  This is a great basic canvas to get you started!  Have fun creating!

Jack's Birthday Cake

As you may have caught on, I am a big fan of Buddy Valastro's.  I love watching him on TLC, whether it's on Cake Boss, The Next Great Baker, or most recently Kitchen Boss; although I have no interest in cooking for pleasure anytime in the near future (maybe when my kids are a little older and appreciate more than chicken nuggets, hot dogs and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese).   

I really love his sculpted figures and 3-D cakes, and oftentimes, he talks about his use of modeling chocolate as a medium to create his amazing works of art.

Personally, I have been wanting to give modeling chocolate (also known as candy clay or chocolate clay) a try for quite some time.  I love learning new techniques.  So with Jack's 6th birthday coming up, it was the perfect occasion to give modeling chocolate a try.

After contemplating a theme for Jack's cake, I decided on Dreamworks' recently released kids' movie, Kung Fu Panda 2, and got busy sculpting the main character, Po.

Working with modeling chocolate was a dream!  It didn't dry out on me whatsoever while I was sculpting.  I was even able to leave it uncovered while I worked on my piece.  In the past, when I've used gumpaste to make my figures, I've had to work very fast before the pieces began to dry out and crack.  I've also used a 50/50 mix of gumpaste and fondant.  I've found the 50/50 mix to be easier to sculpt with than straight gumpaste; however, the pieces can take hours or even days to dry, and that can be a problem when you're working on a last minute cake order! 

To attach Po's limbs, I merely had to press them into his body.  For heavier pieces, I used a dab of water, and for Po's head, I used a little bit of melted chocolate as glue.  My finished Po stood straight up on his own without the need for wires.  When I was ready, I simply attached Po to the cake plate with melted chocolate, and he survived the 30 minute drive to Jack's birthday party compltely intact and undamaged!

In the future, I will probably opt for using Rice Krispie Treats (RKT) to sculpt the bigger parts of my figures - in this case, Po's head and belly, which I would then cover in modeling chocolate.  Doing so would result in a much lighter figure, and would require less chocolate, which is a more expensive ingredient than RKT.

Happily, Jack loved his birthday cake, and Po survived undamaged even after being poked and picked at by several curious children!  Modeling chocolate definitely doesn't replace gumpaste or fondant, but it is a great option for sculpting figures, especially for kids, because it tastes . . . well . . . like chocolate! 

*Modeling Chocolate Recipe

1/3 c. light corn syrup (such as Karo)
14 oz. dark or white chocolate

Heat chocolate over double boiler, stirring constantly until completely melted.  Immediately add light corn syrup to melted chocolate, stirring until a dough is formed.  (The dough will begin to separate from the sides of the pot.) 

Turn dough onto sheet of wax paper.  Blot any residual oils with paper towel.  Wrap dough tightly in clear plastic wrap and either store unrefrigerated overnight, or refrigerate 2-3 hours before using.

*Tips

1.  If you do not have a double boiler, you can create your own by placing a glass or metal bowl sized to fit over a pot containing a few inches of simmering water.

2.  You can use any variety of chocolate, from chocolate melts (chocolate flavored wafers that require no tempering) to high quality chocolate that must be tempered.

3.  If desired, you may color the modeling chocolate by adding gel or powdered food colors to the cooled dough.

4.  Finished dough will be hard.  This is normal.  Break off a workable amount of the dough and begin to knead for pliability.  If the dough is too hard to knead, microwave it on high for 5 seconds at a time until it is just soft enough to knead.  If you mistakenly overheat the dough, you can pop it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes, or simply let it rest at room temp until it firms back up.