Lausanne Joue

Lausanne has two ludothèques. Instead of lending books, these libraries lend toys and games. The Pinocchio has been around for 40 years and La Cigale et la Fourmi for 20 years. They got together and organized a big anniversary weekend: Lausanne Joue. A friend of mine who volunteers at the Pinocchio asked me to bake the cakes for the event; two 3-tiered cakes with decorations to match the flyers and posters. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity.

I was there to cut the cake right after the speech by one of our city official. Kids were coming up to me asking if they could have a dice, a car, a marble, and if everything was edible. Yes, every bit, and every bit got eaten up. 

 

Marble Cake

In this case, the cake itself is not marbled, the icing is. I came up with this marble technique when decorating a cake for a silver anniversary. I started mixing white and black fondant while pondering how to give the cake a silver appearance. I soon noticed the marble effect, stopped mixing and rolled out the fondant. I found it gave the cake an elegant look. Since then I’ve made the marble decoration with lots of different colors and more or less blending.

Soccer and Baseball Cakes

I wanted to do something fun for my nephew’s birthday since we had the rare opportunity to be around for that family occasion. I had made soccer ball cupcakes before, but never a ball cake. As for the world cake, I baked the cakes in Pyrex bowls for a nice round shape. I covered them in white fondant then added details with black fondant for the soccer ball and red food coloring for the baseball.

Surprise-Inside Cake

I made this cake for Martina’s birthday in January. I cut a round hole in the bottom layer of chocolate cake, filled it with Reese’s Pieces then added the second layer. I covered the cake with Vienna cream frosting and spayed on yellow, orange and red food mist to create a colorful icing. It was fun to see everyone’s surprise when we cut into the cake.

Fondant 102

On our last trip to Fresno a few months ago, I went back to Creative Cakes for a refresher class and to pick up some more supplies. They remembered me! I suppose they don’t get too many customers from Switzerland. I wanted to learn how to make a ruffle cake this time. It took me a full two hours of careful work to get all the ruffles made and placed on the cake. I will save this decorating technique for very special events!

Fondant 101

While in the States a few years ago I looked up cake decorating classes in Fresno. I wanted to learn to decorate with fondant because it can make a simple cake so elegant. I found the perfect place just a couple of miles from my in-law’s house. I was able to schedule a 3-hours one-on-one class with the owner. I brought a cake I had baked at home and after learning how to cover the cake with fondant, she showed me different decorating techniques on each quarter cake. The store is full of every conceivable cake-decorating tool too, so I bought all the basic items I needed to get started decorating with fondant on my own.

Soccer Ball Cupcakes

A friend asked me to make soccer themed mini cupcakes for her son’s birthday party. I looked up soccer ball images and realized it would be simple to make them using white and black circles. I rolled out white fondant and cut circles the diameter or the mini cupcakes. Next I rolled out black fondant and cut out circles half the diameter of the white circles. Then I cut five slivers off the black circles, turning them into pentagons. I moistened the middle of each white circle and stuck a black pentagon in the center. I made indentations in the white fondant from the 5 corners to the outside of the circle. Finally I stuck the black slivers on the outside of the circle, centering them on each indentation. Voilà! Don't you just love geometry!