Cakes of the Hamptons: August 2013

Here is how I make a birdhouse cake...

I make these a few days ahead of time:

tiles for the roof, made from fondant (about 65); cover the cake drum; make the bird, flowers, and the #1.

Roof tiles:

The "roof tiles," below, are fondant and I just used a ruler to cut strips

and an Exact-O Knife to cut little edges

Cake drum:
I used a laser rolling pin for the design. I covered the cake drum with piping gel, rolled out the fondant with a laser rolling pin, and covered. I always cover the sides, too, but not everyone does. Pierce any air bubbles with a straight pin and smooth out carefully with fondant smoother, taking care not to smooth away the design! Let dry overnight then adhere grosgrain (ridged) ribbon to sides using hot glue gun. If you use satin ribbon, the glue will show through.

Bird and number:

I used a ball of blue gum paste and shaped it into an oval. I then just squeezed a spot to shape a neck and rounded the head a little. I also flattened the area where the tail would be. I placed a thick piece of spaghetti into its side while it was still pliable so that I could adhere it to the cake when it came time to assemble. I also put a "perch" made of a small dowel and draped a blue piece of gum paste over the dowel and attached to the bottom of the bird using edible gum glue. I propped it up (see below) to dry. Make sure the bird (or any fondant / gum paste product) does not dry directly onto the pan or it will be hard to remove. Ideally you should place drying pieces on a piece of wax paper with a little baking powder on it.

I used a tool to indent eye sockets and placed a small piece of white gum paste into sockets. After dry, I used an edible marker to make eyes and eyelashes. I painted on red dust for the rosy cheeks. I cut a small piece of blue gum paste and sliced it with my Exact-O Knife and used for hair, wings, and tail. I put the beak on with a small piece of spaghetti attached while the bird was still pliable.

For this particular flower:

I used a flower plunger, three colors of gum paste (light pink, medium pink, and peach), and edible pearls. Once I plunged the flowers, I immediately indented the middle where the pearl would go, then put them on curved flower shapers to give it a little movement. After they were dry, I adhered pearls using royal icing.

Cakes:

Left cake: 5" round, 5" high (but wish I would've used 6" high)

Right cake: 10" round, 6" high;

This is a 10" round, 6" high

I sliced the sides of the top into "slants" for the tiles and carved out a space in the middle for the smaller cake to sit into. Take care at this step. You want the hole deep enough so that the small cake won't come out during transport but you don't want it so deep that the smaller cake goes down too far, losing height. My smaller cake was 5" high but next time I will use one that is 6" high instead. Also measure the small cake and hole carefully because once you try to "drop" the small cake into the hole and the hole is too small, it's a pain to remove.

This bottom cake is still too chunky and rounded. (below)

I sliced off more of both cakes so that they would have more of an angle for the roof tiles and more of a peak on top.

Using cookie cutters, I cut the blue birdhouse "door" (somewhat thick) then cut a hole in the middle using a circle cutter. I put it aside (on baking powder) to "set" while I cut a black circle slightly larger than the hole opening. After they were both "set" (about five minutes), I was able to work with them without finger marks. Attach the circle to the underneath side of the blue with gum glue. Simply put onto cake. It will adhere to the buttercream.

Do the same with the bottom "door."

Add the half circles around base. These were just circles cut with a serrated circle cutter then cut in half. Attach right onto the cake. Don't worry if they don't go all the way around exactly. You can "fix" when it is time to add the vines and flowers.

Next, add the small shell border. This really gives it a nice, finished look! I used a #16 tip here. Pink, peach, blue, or green, to match the cake decorations would've looked nice, too. I was afraid I wouldn't match it exactly so I chickened out and went with white.

Now you can start adding the roof tiles.

Lay tiles around the roof one time, as in the picture above, then start laying the second layer on top. I put a small dab of buttercream on the underneath side of a tile, gently pressed, then removed excess with a slightly wet paintbrush. The birdhouse is not supposed to be straight and is off-center so you might need to add a third row of tiles in some areas.

Add green "vines"

Add flowers to the vines

Add leaves to the vines

Using my shell tip again, I filled in the top of the birdhouse, where the white area is, with stars. I then added the number in the center and surrounded with leaves and a flower.