Creative cakes to make at home

Chef Dierre and her daughter both have birthdays coming up, so ideas are flowing around the kitchen in terms of unique cake ideas for each celebration. While we make professional, over-the-top cakes for our clients’ special celebrations, we just as easily have some advice to offer for your at-home cake projects.

One unique idea that we’ve come to love in the cake industry is the new trend, cake pops, which are essentially tiny pieces of cake shaped to your desire, placed on a stick and decorated how you see fit. The simplest way to make these at home is to simply roll the cake and icing mixture into a ball and dip it in icing.

Cake pops are especially fun for children’s birthday parties because you can make and ice them beforehand, then have the kids decorate them as part of an activity for the party. Set it up like a make-your-own-sundae bar and have dishes of various toppings, such as sprinkles, coconut and crushed peanuts. The best part about this cake option is that it’s interactive and easy and each child will only have a small piece of cake instead of a large slice so the sugar overload can be limited.

One feature that often takes ordinary cakes to the next level is fondant, but many people shy away from it because it’s used by the pros and is often viewed as more complicated than it actually is. Though fondant can sometimes be finicky without the right conditions, you just have to simplify it and treat it like Play-Doh or pie dough.

First and foremost, when you’re colouring fondant be sure to use food colouring paste, not liquid, as liquid will only dilute the fondant and make it unusable. Be warned, though, that colouring paste is potent so be sure to wear gloves that you don’t mind getting colour on when you’re handling this.

Keep the fondant you’re not using covered so it doesn’t dry out and roll it out using icing sugar or corn starch instead of flour. When you’re kneading the fondant and rolling it out, just let your inner child come out and treat it like Play-Doh.

You don’t need a bunch of fancy gadgets to get the desired shapes with fondant, just look around your kitchen for shapes that are right in front of you – like the end of a piping tip for small circles or jar lids for large circles. And don’t feel like you have to cover the entire cake with fondant. We often use buttercream to ice the cake and then add fondant polka dots.

Check out our cakes album on Facebook for more ideas that you can take home. Plus stay up-to-date on happenings at our Food Shoppe by following us on Twitter – @NEThymekitchen.