Sugar plaques can be made a number of ways but the easiest is to use an edible image.  Below you will find the steps taken to make Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz cake pictured above.

You will need...





white gumpaste
edible image(s)
Exacto Knife
piping gel
decorator's brush
2 wooden dowels (optional)
white candy metls (optional)






Directions:

Step 1





Using a Exacto Knife, cut out your image and remove it from the backing paper.








Step 2

Roll out you gumpaste to at least 1/4 thick.  You can make it thicker but it will take longer to dry.

***Decorator's Tip*** It is important to use white gumpaste because it will not take away from the color of your image. Gumpaste will also harden faster than fondant.


Step 3

Place your rolled out gumpaste on a cake board or cookie sheet.  This will ensure your image does not tare or become distorted.  Then, with a brush, cover the back of your image with piping gel.

***Decorator's Tip*** Make sure you apply the piping gel as close to the edge as you can.


Once your image is covered, place it on the gumpaste and cut it out using your Exacto Knife.

***Decorator's Tip*** Notice how I have left a strip of gumpaste hanging below the image.  This is an optional step.  It was done because Emerald City will be standing up on the cake and I wanted the sugar plaque to sit in the cake a bit so it would survive delivery.





Step 4 (optional)




After a day or two, the gumpaste will be dry enough to add dowels to the back.  To do this you melt white candy melts and coat the top of your dowels.  Place the dowels on the back of your image at the appropriate height.  For extra security, add a little more chocolate over the dowels and let dry.







You are now ready to place your plaque(s) on your cake!

To make this cake you will need...

3 square cakes (each layer should be 2 inches smaller than the one below...ie 4, 6, and 8 inches will work great)
1 large cake board
square cake dividers in sizes that match the size of your cakes (ie 4, 6, and 8 inches)
wooden dowels
white buttercream icing
white fondant (optional)
red, yellow, and blue gumpaste
red and yellow royal icing
red and blue icing colors
tips #2 or 3 (optional) #5, and #21


Directions:


Step 1

A few days in advance, make the gumpaste streamers and royal icing letters.

To make the streamers, roll out pieces of gumpaste to look like long, skinny, tube shapes. Just like when you played with Play-dough as a kid. To get a curly effect, wrap the gumpaste around a wooden dowel and let dry. The coiled pieces were made by curling the gumpaste on a flat surface. All gumpaste pieces should dry for at least 24 hours on wax paper.

***Decorator's Tip*** Before you go to bed, flip your pieces and they will dry faster. Be careful, they may stick to the wax paper.

To make the letters and numbers you do not have to have perfect piping skills. Write the words Happy New Year and 2006 on a piece of paper. Lay wax or parchment paper over top and trace using royal icing and tip #5. Let them dry over night.

***Decorator's Tip*** You can also print the letters and numbers off the computer. For added decoration, pipe over each letter/number again using tip #2 or 3. The royal icing will need to harden slightly for this to work.


Step 2

Place each cake on the appropriate cake divider. Level, tort, and fill each cake. Then, ice the cakes with white buttercream icing. At this point you can either leave your cakes iced in buttercream or you can cover them in fondant.


Step 3

Stack your cakes. If you are nervous about traveling with this cake, hammer a sharpened dowel through the center of all 3 tiers.


Step 4

Pipe your boarder using tip #21. I made stars around each tier. You have 2 options to get a striped effect.

1. You can fill your piping bag half with red and half with blue icing but make sure it is evenly divided.
2. Paint a thick stripe of red coloring on the left side of your piping bag and a thick stripe of blue coloring on the right side. Fill the bag with white buttercream icing and pipe your boarder.

Step 5

Place your decorations around the cake. To help them stay you can use a dot of buttercream icing. If your cake is covered in fondant, royal icing will hold the best.

This guide will give you step-by-step instructions on how to place the edible image on the side of the cake and how to decorate the top to look like a baseball field.

If you are having a Playoff or World Series party, here is a great and easy idea for a baseball cake. I made this cake for a Mets fan and used an edible image on the sides.

Please note that if you are interested in using an edible image as I have here, I am unable to sell pictures of any copyrighted material. This means that I cannot sell images of team logos. If you are still interested, I can create a pinstripe with or without the team name.

To make this cake you will need...

2 Square cakes the size of your choice
1 Square cake board approximately 2-4 inches larger than the cake
White and Green buttercream icing (you will also need a small amount of icing in the team's color)
Tip #233 a.k.a. the grass tip
Tip # 2, 3 and 5
2 edible transfer images
Crushed animal crackers
Baseball player toppers




Directions


Step 1

Level, tort and fill your cakes. Place them in the center of your cake board and ice the sides with white buttercream icing. Once covered, place your edible image on the side of the cake.


***Decorator's tip*** By using white on the sides, you will not change the color of your image once the paper melts into your icing. If you have ordered this image from us, you will need to trim the picture to fit the size of your cake. Also spray the side of the cake lightly so the paper will melt into the icing, leaving a seamless transition. All other instructions will be included in your shipment.


Step 2

With green icing, ice a small area on top of the cake so the animal cracker crumbs have something to stick to. Then, using tip # 3, pipe a barrier for the crushed animal crackers around the base lines as well as a hill in the middle for a pitcher's mound. Then crush the animal crackers and place them on the pitchers mound and in your marked off area.


***Decorator's Tip*** It is important to decorate in this order so that any loose crumbs won't ruin your cake.



Step 3

Using tip # 233, pipe the grass on top of the cake. Then using tip #5, pipe a boarder in your team's colors ; I have used orange. Then use that same color and tip #2 or 3 to pipe your message on top. Finally, place the baseball players on top.

Here is a super easy Halloween Pumpkin cake. In this guide you will learn how to stack the cakes and decorate in order to recreate this Jack-o-lantern. If you are looking to challenge yourself, cover the cake in orange fondant.

To make this cake you will need...

2 cakes baked in a bunt pan
Orange, green and black buttercream icing
Small paper or plastic cup
Round cake board



Directions

Step 1

Make sure the tops and the bottoms of the cakes are flat so the cake doesn't tip when it is decorated. Place the cakes on the cake board then fill and cover with orange buttercream icing.

***Decorator's Tip*** Place the bottom cake on the cake board so the smaller part is down and the larger part is up. The top cake has the large part on the bottom and the small part facing up. There is really only 1 way to do this so the cake looks like a pumpkin.

Step 2

Cover the small cup with green buttercream icing and place on top of the cake.


Step 3

Using black buttercream icing (or a tube of black) and tip # 3 or 4, pipe the face.

***Decorator's Tip*** If you don't trust yourself piping free hand, first draw the face with a toothpick.

That's it, 3 simple steps and you have a Jack-o-Lantern Cake. Now that you have extra time on your hands, you should check out a great blog for the crafter at heart. Destination Handmade has a little bit for everyone.

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