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Inspiration

March Meet The Maker 2020

March 8, 2020      Leave a Comment

This month I am taking part in the March Meet The Maker challenge on instagram. Each day is a new prompt inspired by ‘Your 2020 Business Story’. Here are my first few posts:

STORY

I shared the story of my grey ombré wedding cake design in my blog post here. From how the design almost didn’t happen, the meaning behind the design, how it went viral and sparked a trend for grey wedding cakes and how it went on to be featured by @prestonrbailey @thecakeblog and @neighbours. 

March Meet The Maker- Sugar Ruffles Blog
March Meet The Maker- Sugar Ruffles Blog

HANDS AT WORK 


Here are my hands at work, painting watercolour lavender flowers, making sugar flowers and assembling everything together on the cake. 

March Meet The Maker- Sugar Ruffles Blog

I have a full FREE tutorial for this watercolour wedding cake available below and you can find my simple wax flower tutorial here.

TIME

One of the questions I am asked the most when meeting with clients is How long does it take to make a wedding cake? This is one of the most difficult questions to answer because each wedding cake is so different. 
I think it is easy for people to underestimate the amount of time that goes into making a wedding cake. So much goes into making a luxury wedding cake, from designing the cake, ordering and purchasing any special equipment/ ingredients, baking, making and preparing fillings, torting, fillings and ganache, covering in sugar paste, ensuring a smooth finish and sharp edges- and this is all before the decorating even starts!

March Meet The Maker- Sugar Ruffles Blog

The sugar flowers in the cake pictured below were all made to tie in with the fresh flowers being used in the wedding and the colours that were being incorporated throughout the wedding. 


The freesia sprays take approximately 1 hour per spray. In the image below you can see the freesia sugar flowers before assembly. Each flower is individually made from flower paste which is custom coloured, attached to wire and then brushed with petal dusts, before taping together. The ranunculus are constructed with 50+ petals per flower, before being brushed with petal dusts. The sugar roses were made in 3 different sizes and shades, the sugar leaves are all individually wired so that they can be placed at different angles throughout the arrangement and the gypsophila have floral tape applied to each individual stem. 
Overall the sugar flowers on this wedding cake alone are over 10+ hours of work. Sugar flowers are definitely a labour of love but also one of my favourite thing to make!

CLOSE UP

A close up of a sugar rose ready for dusting with petal dust. 

Sugar Rose

LOVE TO MAKE

My absolute favourite thing to make is sugar roses!

Sugar Roses by Sugar Ruffles, on Sugar Ruffles blog

I hope you enjoyed reading my first few posts of the March Meet the Maker challenge. Make sure to follow along with the rest of the challenge over on instagram by searching the hashtag #marchmeetthemaker to see all the posts from the amazing community of makers taking part.

Grey Ombre Wedding Cake- The Story Behind The Design

March 1, 2020      Leave a Comment

Today I am sharing the story of my grey ombre wedding cake design. From how the design almost didn’t happen, the meaning behind the design, how it went viral and sparked a trend for grey wedding cakes and how it went on to be featured by Preston Bailey, The Cake Blog and on Neighbours!….

Grey ombre wedding cake

Back in 2014 I had an enquiry from a couple who wanted a wedding cake in the style of a mountain. They loved walking in the mountains of the Lake District and wanted to incorporate this into their wedding cake design. Novelty cakes are not my specialty, so I wasn’t sure if I would be the right designer for them. But, the couple also told me they also had another style in mind with ruffles. I set to work thinking about how we could incorporate the elegance of the ruffles with the story that was so important to them, and that is how the grey ombré design came about. The grey ombré ruffles were to represent the mountains of the lake district, finishing with the ruffled effect continuing on top of the cake, to represent the snow on the top of the mountain. The couple loved this more conceptual idea! 

After the wedding, when I posted the wedding cake on Instagram I had never seen such a reaction to a cake design. The likes and comments flooded in so quickly and within minutes I had a message from Carrie at The Cake Blog asking if I would like to take part in a feature about the cake! You can read the feature here. It went on to become the most read feature on The Cake Blog that year! Since then the cake has been pinned thousands of times on Pinterest and has become one of my most popular designs. I have created many variations of this design and in many colours.

Grey ombre wedding cake

The popularity of this style was initially a surprise to me as it was quite different from my usual style- with no sugar flowers! But it sparked a trend for grey wedding cakes for me. This became a really popular colour palette for my wedding cakes for a few years following this.

One a the first books I read when starting my business was ‘Dear Preston- doing business with our hearts. A practical and friendly guide to running your own creative service business’ by Preston Bailey. I would definitely recommend this book To anyone working in a creative business! So I was really excited when my grey ombré cake was featured on the Preston Bailey Facebook page. It received so many lovely comments and also some funny ones too, as it had been described as a ’50 shades of gray cake’ on the post. Some commenters didn’t think this was an appropriate theme for a wedding cake ?. Little did they know the true meaning behind the cake!

The grey ombré wedding cake was also featured by Sam Saboura, host of TLCs Something borrowed something new, which was really fun, because my Mum and I love watching that programme!

The design has since been recreated by wedding cake designers all over the world. I love it when I get sent photos from other cake designers of their grey ombré creations or questions about how I make it. I even saw a version of this wedding cake design on Neighbours recently!

It has been really fun to look back at the story behind my grey ombre wedding cake design. I am taking part in the March Meet the Maker challenge on instagram this month. With todays challenge being STORY. You can follow along with the challenge on instagram and I’ll be posting weekly roundups here on the blog.

5 top tips for stencilling on cakes

February 4, 2020      Leave a Comment

Today I will be giving you a closer look at two of my new wedding cake designs.

I’ll also be sharing some top tips for stencilling on cakes from stencil designer and cake artist Silvia Favero. If you are feeling frustrated with using stencils, definitely check them out below.

Sugar Ruffles Blog- Stencilling

Stencilling is not a technique I use very often in my cake designs but after seeing Silvia Favero’s beautiful double barrel stencils, I wanted to incorporate some stencilling into my new designs.

Sugar Ruffles Blog- Stencilling

I tried the Silvia Favero ‘Florence’ stencil and found it really easy to use. I was really happy with the results! I used royal icing for the stencilling and then to complete the design painted a lustre over the top.

5 top tips for stencilling on cakes

One of my followers on Twitter noted that it looks like a brocade effect, which I thought was a really good description for this look!

5 top tips for stencilling on cakes

The detail on this design is so pretty, I wanted to keep the rest of the cake really simple, and so I added a single pink sugar rose on each tier.  

Sugar Ruffles Blog- Stencilling

For my next design I incorporated a stencilled tier with a subtle pink lustre, along with sugar flowers and petal ruffles. You can find my tutorial for how to create these petal ruffles here.

Sugar Ruffles Blog- Stencilling

Again I used the ‘Florence’ stencil and used royal icing for the stencilling and then painted a pink lustre over the top.

5 top tips for stencilling on cakes

Internationally renowned cake artist Silvia Favero is the creator of the beautiful ‘Florence’ stencil that I used in my cake designs.

She has created a stunning range of food grade, double barrel, cake stencils. You can view the full range of stencils here store.silviafavero.com.

Today she is sharing her 5 Top tips for stencilling on cakes with Sugar Ruffles blog.

5 top tips for stencilling on cakes

1. Choose the correct stencil design depending on your skills. If you are a beginner, choose designs that have small holes. This prevents making mistakes when using royal icing or buttercream. Almost all of my stencils have small holes, so that anyone can use them.

2. For the perfect stencilling the most important thing is how perfect your cake is. Make sure that your cake is straight and even and that the stencil is in complete contact with your cake, without gaps. The taller your cake is, the more gaps that could appear. If that happens, try to press the stencil to the cake and put the icing on just once. If there are a lot of gaps, use the stencil you like for making a border or to cover parts of your cake (I see many cakes nowadays using that modern design).

3. There are many ways to put the icing on for stencilling. My favorite is using a plastic card (like a credit card), they are small and flexible and they allows me to go little by little putting the icing on and removing it at the same time, so I have more control in my stencilling.

4. When using on fondant, I wrap and pull the stencil tight against the cake, and use a piece of paper and masking tape to tape both sides of the paper to the stencil. I prefer that instead of using pins (I don’t like holes) or butter on the cake (I don’t like the greasy effect).

5. If you use a good quality cake stencil, use the royal icing to fill the openwork of the stencil and leave it the same thickness as the stencil. The design will look more elegant and neat, and prevents you from having spikes of royal icing. Remember to take out the stencil quickly before your royal icing begins to dry.

Thank you so much to Silvia for sharing her tips for stencilling on cakes! You can view the full range of stencils here store.silviafavero.com.

Christmas Cake Idea- A Birdcage Cake Tutorial

December 18, 2019      Leave a Comment

In this tutorial I will be showing you how to make this birdcage Christmas cake, with a cute little robin, poinsettia flowers and Christmas roses. It is a really lovely Christmas cake idea, which is simple yet really effective. It would look beautiful as part of a Christmas celebration or even a Christmas wedding.

Christmas Cake Idea- A Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Christmas Cake Idea- A Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Christmas Cake Idea- A Birdcage Cake Tutorial

You will need

-A 6” round fruit cake
-6” semi sphere fruit cake
-8” iced cake drum
-Red, white, green and brown gum paste -Petunia cutter and veiner set (Petal craft) -Paintbrush
-Edible glue
-Small piping bag and nozzle
-Royal icing
-Circle cutter
-Holly plunge cutter and veiner
-Small blossom plunge cutter
-Foam flower former
-Beadmaker
-Sharp kinife
-Rose silicone mould
-gold edible paint
-gold dragees
-yellow nonpareils
-Rose leaf plunge cutter and veiner -Robin silicone mould
-Red orange and black edible food colouring dusts -gold sparkle edible shimmer dust

Preparation

Cover each of the cakes with marzipan and white sugarpaste. Stack the cakes on an 8” iced cake drum.

Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Roll out a thin sausage shape of gum paste and insert into the bead maker mould. Close the bead maker, pressing firmly.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Run a sharp knife along the edge of the bead maker, trimming any excess gum paste.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Open the bead maker and remove the string of beads from the mould.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Trim any excess gum paste from the edge of the beads using a circle cutter. Repeat to make several strings of beads.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Attach the beads to the cake, securing with royal icing. Arrange the beads to create 6 distinct sections of your bird cage cake.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Press a small piece of gum paste into the rose mould to create several roses.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Attach the roses to the cake along the join line with royal icing.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Create some additional strings of beads (steps 1-4) and attach to the cake above and below the roses to finish the edges of the rose border. Repeat this process to create a rose border along the bottom. of the cake.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
To create the top handle of the bird cage, roll a ball of gum paste attaching beads to the bottom and roses to the sides.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Create a small loop with a string of beads and allow to dry before attaching on top to create the handle. Secure the handle to the top of the cake using royal icing.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Paint each of the beads and roses on the cake with edible gold paint.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
To make the poinsettia flowers roll out some red gum paste and cut out 5 or 6 leaf shapes using the rose leaf cutter. Trim the edges of each of the leaves.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Arrange 5 or 6 petals together, joining in the centre and secure with edible glue.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Repeat step 12 to create another set of petals. This time pinching the bottom of each petal together.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Stick the pinched petals on top of the first set of petals with edible glue.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Allow to dry in the foam flower former and then pipe some royal icing into the centre of the poinsettia flower.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Place 3 gold dragees on the royal icing to create the centre of the poinsettia flower. Repeat steps 12-16 using white gum paste to create a white
poinsettia.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
TocreatetheChristmasrose,roll out some white gum paste and use the petunia cutter to cut out several shapes.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Then cut out several small blossom shapes.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Place the petunia shape inside the petunia veiner with the blossom shape on top and press securely. Repeat with each of the cut outs and allow to dry in a flower former.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Paintsomeedibleglueintothe centre of the flowers.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Sprinkle some yellow nonpareils into the centre of each of the flowers.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Next roll out some green gum paste and use the plunger to cut out and vein come holly leaf shapes.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Arrange the poinsettia flowers and Christmas roses on the cake securing with royal icing.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Arrange the holly leaves between the flowers, filling any gaps.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Push some brown gum paste into the top section of the robin mould and some white gum paste into the bottom section.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Remove the gumpaste robin from the mould and paint the breast of the robin using a combination of red and yellow edible dusts.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Paint the beak and eye of the robin with black edible dust.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Place the robin amongst the flowers on the cake, securing with royal icing.
Birdcage Cake Tutorial
Finally, using a large paintbrush, brush some gold sparkle dust over the white icing of the cake to create a subtle shimmer.
Christmas Cake Idea- A Birdcage Cake Tutorial

I hope you enjoyed this Christmas Cake Idea- A Birdcage Cake Tutorial. Check out some more of our tutorials below.

P.S I love seeing the cakes that you’re making, so if you use one of my tutorials please tag @sugarruffles in your Instagram photos and stories so I can take a look! 

Wisteria Sugar Flower Tutorial

November 12, 2019      Leave a Comment

Today I am sharing one of my most popular tutorials. My wisteria sugar flower tutorial. Click on the link above to download your free copy now!

Are you looking for a new flower to add to your sugar flower skill set?

With my wisteria sugar flower tutorial you will learn something new and different that you can add to your sugar flower and wedding cake portfolio.

In this step by step tutorial you will learn how to create beautiful wisteria sugar flowers and how to use petal dusts to give a life-like look to your wisteria.

You will also learn how to create a lustre effect on your cake and use a mould to create pretty floral swags.

Wisteria sugar flower tutorial
Wisteria Wedding cake tutorial

Hanging flowers are a huge trend for weddings and wisteria adds a really elegant touch to a wedding cake.

Wisteria sugar flowers
Wisteria Wedding cake tutorial

Save this tutorial for later and pin it to Pinterest.

Wisteria sugar flower tutorial

More Wedding cake and sugar flower tutorials

Watercolour wedding cake tutorial

Wisteria wedding cake tutorial

Autumn wedding cake tutorial

Please let me know in the comments below any tutorials you would love to see on the Sugar Ruffles blog. I’d love to hear from you. 

P.S I love seeing the cakes that you’re making, so if you use one of my tutorials please tag @sugarruffles in your Instagram photos and stories so I can take a look! 

How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould

November 5, 2019      Leave a Comment

Did you notice the pretty edible jewels on the wedding cake that I shared last week in my Sugar Sequin Tutorial? Well this week I am sharing exactly how I made them, and the best part is that they are made with white modelling chocolate so they are really delicious as well as looking pretty. I am going to take you through step by step, including how to make your own jewel cake decorating mould.

How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould

You will need:

–Silicone Plastique Putty Mould Making Kit

–Small jewels

–White modelling chocolate 

–Snowflake lustre dust

How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould
Begin by measuring out equal parts of the blue and white silicone plastique clay.
How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould
Knead together the two parts until completely combined and an even colour has been achieved.
How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould
Select some small jewels. Roll out the clay to twice the thickness of the selected jewels.
How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould
Press each of the jewels into the clay ensuring that the detail on each jewel is completely submerged.
How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould
Leave to dry for one hour at room temperature with the jewels submerged in the mould.
How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould
After 1 hour remove the jewels from the mould and wash the mould thoroughly.
How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould
Press white modelling chocolate into each of the crevices of the mould.
How to make your own jewel cake decorating mould
Remove the white chocolate jewels from the mould and brush with lustre dust.

Check out some more of our tutorials below

P.S I love seeing the cakes that you’re making, so if you use one of my tutorials please tag @sugarruffles in your Instagram photos and stories so I can take a look! 

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Pink carnation sugar flowers. These were really fu Pink carnation sugar flowers. These were really fun to make! 

Did you know that pink carnations symbolise gratitude. 
I’ve also  just found out that, in America carnations are the official Mother's Day flower. 

#sugarflowers #carnations #mothersday #sugarflowerart #petaldust #cakeart #sugarflowerartistry #pinkcarnations #pinkflowers #sugarart #cake #instacake #instaflower
Working on some carnation sugar flowers for a new Working on some carnation sugar flowers for a new spring project in my Sugar Flower Artistry group. #sugarflowers #carnations #sugarflowerartistry #sugarflowerclass #cakedecorating #sugarruffles #flowersofinstagram #cakesofinstagram #sugarflower
This month my sugar flower artistry members are wo This month my sugar flower artistry members are working on Calla Lilies. I love the colour of these Picasso Calla Lily sugar flowers! Using petal dusts really brings these flowers to life and helps to highlight all the details. #sugarflowerartistry #picassocallalily #sugarflowers #sugarcallalilies #cakedesign #cakedecoration #weddingcake #cakestagram #sugarcraft #purple #sugarruffles #flowersofinstagram #flowerart #flowercraft #sugarflowerclass
I’m really looking forward to getting started on I’m really looking forward to getting started on the Sugar Rose Artistry Masterclass with all my lovely new students next week. I can’t wait to see all the beautiful sugar roses that you create!

Thank you so much to everyone who signed up for the waiting list after enrolment closed yesterday. If you’re interested in joining us next time, make sure you’re signed up to the waiting list so you'll be the first to find out when Sugar Rose Artistry opens for enrolment again, as well as receiving an exclusive discount. 

Charlotte x

#sugarroseartistry #amesiarose #sugarroses #sugarflowers #cakedesign #sugarart #sugarflowerclass #cakeartists #sugarcraft #petals #petaldust #creativity #lovewhatyoudo #
Such beautiful work by my Sugar Rose Artistry stud Such beautiful work by my Sugar Rose Artistry student Chantell!

Sugar Rose Artistry is designed so that once you have learnt all the foundations of sugar rose making and petal dusting, you complete 5 sugar rose petal dusting projects to practice and consolidate all your skills. So that by the end of the course you will have mastered colouring and dusting techniques and created you own unique style. 

Then moving forward you can apply the techniques you have learnt to create any variation of sugar rose. It was so lovely to see my student Chantell, share a picture of a new variety of rose that she had created today, using all the techniques she had learnt in the course! The possibilities really are endless once you have mastered the foundations!

Enrolment for Sugar Rose Artistry closes on Sunday 31st January. (In 2 days!!!) You can send me a message for more details if you’d like to join us.

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful work Chantell!

#sugarrose #sugarflowers #sugarroseartistry #cake #cakedecorating #sugarflowerclass #sugarflowercourses #cakeartist #studentsuccess #prettyflowers #creativelearning #rosesarebeautiful  #sugarcrafting #flowerpaste #gumpaste #sugarruffles
As well as all our petal dusting projects, in Suga As well as all our petal dusting projects, in Sugar Rose Artistry you can learn all the foundations of sugar rose making including two different sizes of sugar rose, calyx and a spray of leaves. Even if you are a beginner, we break everything down, step by step, so that you’ll have everything you need to master sugar roses.

You will also learn how to dust, glaze and assemble an ivory rose, so that you can elevate the artistry in your work and take your roses to the next level. 

I talk in more details about the course in my Lovelace rose workshop. (You can still catch the replay)

#sugarroses #sugarflowers #sugarflowertutorial #sugarflowerclasses #sugarroseartistry #flowersofinstagram #flowers #flowerart #cakeartistry #cakelife #cakeacademy #sugarcraft
Some lovely testimonials from my Sugar Rose Artist Some lovely testimonials from my Sugar Rose Artistry students! Enrolment for the course closes at the of this week and we get started on 8th February. If you'd like to join us and raise the level of artistry in your sugar roses you can find all the details in my profile. #lovetolearn #cakegoals #sugarflowers #sugarflowerart #sugarflowertutorial #sugarroseartistry #petaldust #studenttestimonial #sugarflower #sugarflowerclasses #learnflowers #flowers #flowerstagram
Scroll across to see some beautiful student work f Scroll across to see some beautiful student work from inside Sugar Rose Artistry! #sugarroseartistry #sugarflowers #sugarflowerclass #sugarroses #cakeclassesuk #cakecourse #learnsugarflowers #studentwork #cakedecorating #creativeclasses #proudteacher
Here are some of the sugar roses that you can lear Here are some of the sugar roses that you can learn how to make in 'Sugar Rose Artistry!'

 First you'll learn all the foundations of sugar rose making including how to make two different sizes of roses, calyx and leaves. Then you'll learn the foundations skills and techniques of petal dusting and complete your first colouring project- an ivory sugar rose. Next you’ll have the chance to practice and consolidate all these skills by taking on a new sugar rose project each week, until you have created all of the beautiful variations shown here! By this point you will have you will have mastered sugar rose making, colouring and dusting techniques and created you own unique style! 

Which rose would you most like to learn to make?

#sugarroseartistry #sugarroses #sugarflowercourses #sugarflowerclass #sugarflowers #vintage roses #petaldust #sugarroseartistry #cakedecorating #cakesofinstagram #howto #caketutorial #flowersarebeautiful
Enrolment is now OPEN for Sugar Rose Artistry- A m Enrolment is now OPEN for Sugar Rose Artistry- A masterclass in creating and colouring sugar roses & the art of pricing sugar flowers.  You can find all the details at the link in my profile. #sugarflowercourses #sugarroses #sugarflowers #sugarroseartistry #sugarflowerclass #cakeclasses #cakesofinstagram #cakedecorating #cakedesign #petaldust #vintagesugarroses #cakeclassesuk #sugarart

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