Keep an eye out for WellWed magazine later this month. 

Cakes of the Hamptons has a hydrangea cake there!

How to Make a Birdhouse Cake

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.

Push the bird gently into cake. Using a touch of royal icing, add a flower to the end of the perch. Add name if you want, in this case: "Octavia."

And here you have a beautiful, quirky, and fun Birdhouse Cake!

Contact me with any questions! Thanks and have fun!

CakesoftheHamptons@Yahoo.com

And here is a picture that the customer just sent. Thank you!

PANDA CAKE

My client wanted this cake for her son, whose walls were painted by his artist grandmother. The client wanted the cake to have a panda bear that resembled the one on her son's wall, as a nod to Grandma. I handcrafted this little panda and bamboo out of gum paste.

 These little guys ended up being adorable,

with their own personalities!

ELEPHANT CAKE

This is an elephant jungle cake I did for a client. Her little girl's bedroom walls were hand-painted by her grandma. The client wanted the elephant to resemble the drawing on the wall (below).

Hand-painted flowers are a little tricky but not really hard, if you learn to do them step by step.

EIGHT cakes to do this week. Yay!

Working on four cakes this week!

Here are two cakes I did over the weekend. The Minnie Mouse was really fun. The Lego/Minion cake was fun but doing the panels on the sides of the cakes was challenging.

In this Lego cake, I wish I would've put the 4 to the right and added two blue Lego "circles" to the left. Also, I could've put the cupcake in front of Minion without the cake round underneath and left off the real Legos, making way for two red rounds. Next time! That's what experimenting and growing is all about!

Here are two cakes I did for a WellWed Magazine photo shoot. The blue one, below, will be in their September issue! www.WellWed.com

Just found a link to Cakes of the Hamptons on the new site called Borrowed & Blue. Check it out!

http://www.borrowedandblue.com/the-hamptons/wedding-cakes-desserts/cakes-of-the-hamptons

Who would've guessed that the cake world could be so exciting! First there was the interview with Newsday, then Cakes of the Hamptons was asked to participate in a WellWed Magazine photo shoot, and then yesterday when I went to the Blue Duck in Riverhead to do a tasting with a potential wedding client, there were about 20 people with huge movie cameras in there doing a documentary for Bank of America about small businesses!! They ended up taping me and the client!! Stay tuned for more details as they unfold! Here is a grainy picture I took of one end of the bakery.

They say if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. I have been blessed in my life to have this happen to me. Here is what I'm "working on" today:

My first attempt at "ombre." This is the top tier of a three-tier cake, which will be trimmed in roses. Not sure yet what color. Hoping to find antique roses, otherwise will go with peach or pink.

 "Lucy is 2!" trimmed in pearls, to match the Minnie Mouse ears on an upcoming cake.

 Here is a new mold I got. It looks like lace. The trick is to make it thin enough to look real but not so thin that it falls apart when you lift it!

These little anchors are for a sea-themed cake this week. The macaroni sticking out of the bottoms of the ones on the right...that's so I can just stick them onto the top of the cake and insert the macaroni down into the cake. I used to use thin wires until one came out once and was in the cake when the customer cut it! Only edible stuff, whenever possible!! Lesson learned.

Three new cakes this week!

HERE ARE THREE NEW CAKES FROM THIS WEEK...

MINION from the Despicable Me movie

 Rustic Raffia Wedding Cake

                                                               Groom's sports cake

I worked out of the Southampton Blue Duck today and I couldn't resist taking a picture of little Toshi eating a Blue Duck cupcake! 

So adorable!!

Toshi, enjoying his Blue Duck cupcake!

Here is one of today's cakes that I made: