Archive for the ‘DIY Projects & Tutorials’ Category
Featured DIYer: Raechel (And Her Invitations)
We love it when you guys and gals want to show off your rockin’ DIY projects!
DIYer Raechel sent in her handcrafted invitations that she made with her cousin Marion of mayanrocks.com.
Congrats, Raechel! We hope you had an amazing wedding day!
Cake Month: Boxed Mix or Scratch Recipe?
One of the most important decisions you’ll make about your DIY cake, and one that tortures many a would-be DIY cake maker, is what kind of cake to make. In a later post we’ll go through flavor and filling options but this one’s devoted to the boxed mix or scratch dilemma.
There are few debates as heated in the cake world as the use of boxed mix versus scratch cakes. While I am a strong advocate of the latter, I do want to give a fair look at both sides to help you discover which option is best for your needs.
Box Mix Pros:
- Convenient, pre-mixed packages mean little measuring and no guesswork with ingredients yielding a pretty consistent result from cake-to-cake.
- Packages can be purchased way ahead of time and stored until needed.
- Box mixes are inexpensive, especially when purchased on sale.
- Most people are very familiar with box mix flavors and have fond associations of those kinds of cakes (reminds them of childhood, for example).
Box Mix Cons:
- Limited flavor, texture, and “weight” options.
- Box mixes use a lot of chemicals for stabilization and preservation.
- Some mixes have a chemical taste to them.
- You’ll need to buy a lot of boxes to feed your wedding guests; it’s harder to scale to feed large groups.
- Box mixes are not always less expensive than baking from scratch.
Pros of Scratch Mixes:
- Unlimited flavor options. If you can dream it, there’s likely a perfect cake flavor waiting for you to discover it.
- You control the ingredients and can add to or modify recipes to suit your needs. Wheat allergies? Vegan? Organic ingredients only? Carrot cake without nuts? No trans fats? Diabetic options? No problem!
- Freshness. Made-from-scratch cakes don’t need chemical stabilizers or preservatives. (Take a look at the ingredients on a box mix cake.)
- Scratch recipes often yield cakes with more body and substance – better for wedding cakes.
- Pride. There’s definitely a satisfaction that one gets from making something that takes creativity, patience and skill that can’t be experienced with shortcuts.
Cons of Scratch Mixes:
- Baking from scratch requires measuring ingredients accurately.
- Some argue that scratch mixes are faster; over at The Kitchn, they they proved that wrong.
- Baking from scratch doesn’t yield standardized results.
- Depending on your ingredients, scratch cakes can be more expensive to produce.
- Scaling recipes up or down is easier than with a box mix.
As for cake mix being less expensive than scratch, you may be surprised at what we found in the DIY Bride Test Kitchen. That’s another post, though.
My best advice is for you to do a taste and bake test with scratch cakes and box cakes to find the ones that fit the taste, texture, and budget that you’re aiming for. (Check back for the DIY Bride Test Kitchen results.)
Remember: a wedding cake needs to taste great, no matter how clever or fancy it looks.
Cake Month: Fondant Taste-o-Rama
Throughout the month of May, we’re discussing all DIY cake-related matters. Join us for how-to, tips, and inspiration.
Some of the most common cake-related questions are related to a popular cake icing called rolled fondant. (Most just call it fondant, though there are different kinds. More on that in a later post.) For those of you not yet in the know, rolled fondant is a thick, somewhat stretchy and slightly chewy sheet of icing that produces a smooth surface on a cake. {Check out the gorgeous fondant design by the outrageously talented April Reed.}
- Cake by April Reed
In certain cake eating circles, fondant is a dirty word. There are some who will turn up their noses at the mere mention of the “f word”. See, they think it tastes icky. And, unfortunately, their experience with it was probably not that great. Not all fondant has a yuck factor, my friends, as not all pre-made fondants are the same.
We at the DIY Bride Test Kitchen (well, ok, just me at my kitchen counter) decided to do a taste test among the most popular fondant brands.
The contenders, in no particular order:
- Wilton Pure White Rolled Fondant
- Fondarific Buttercream Flavor
- Satin Ice Vanilla Flavor
- Fondx Virgin White
The methodology: cut off a hunk of fondant, eat it, review it, rate it. Real scientific!
The Results
#1 : Fondarific. Of the 4 fondants tasted, Fondarific had the best flavor and texture. Sweet and creamy with melt-in-your mouth consistency, Fondarific, was by far the tastiest and gets the highest recommendation. No cloying aftertaste, ingredients taste fresh, no chemical smell or flavors detected.
#2 : Satin Ice. Many, many cake pros use Satin Ice as their fondant of choice. The SI sample was very mellow in flavor and had a very pleasant consistency. It wasn’t as flavorful or as smooth as Fondarific but it was still very good.
#3 : Fondx: I had a hard time choosing between Satin Ice and Fondx for the #2. Fondx lost out my just the tiniest margin because I thought the more mellow flavor of SI would compliment more cake flavors. That’s not to say that Fondx has a strong flavor at all, it’s just more flavorful than SI. If I were to make fondant cake today, I’d be torn between Fondx and Fondarific. They’re pretty similar in consistency and texture, both are quite tasty.
#4 : Wilton: This was by leaps and bounds my least favorite fondant of the bunch. Slightly grainy with a chemical aftertaste, Wilton’s fondant was just nasty compared to the others in the bunch. I have to admit that I used Wilton fondant for a project in my upcoming book (cue shameless self-promotion) The Crafty Countdown and it was perfect for non-edible decoration. {Peep a sneak peek at the Owl Cake Topper.}
- Owl Cake Toppers From The Crafty Countdown
More Details
- Wilton is the most widely-available fondant. You can pick it up at craft stores like Michael’s (and Michael’s often offers Wilton cake decorating classes).
- The price breakdown (please note that most fondants get cheaper when you buy in bulk – over 5 lbs.) Prices below are approximate. Search around for the best deals.
- Satin Ice, $6.49 for 2 lb. ($3.50 per pound)
- Wilton, $6.79 for 1.5 lb. ($4.52 per pound)
- Fondarific, $11.79 for 2 lb. ($5.89 per pound)
- Fondx, $33.00 for 10 lb. ($3.30 per pound)
Essential Tools For DIY Cakes
Before you commit to going for your DIY cake dream, let’s look at the essential tools you’ll need. Remember to budget for all of the tools & equipment you’ll need to buy. It adds up quickly!
- A working oven. (D’uh!)
- An oven thermometer. Why? Many, many ovens are not calibrated which means that temperature inside the oven is quite often different from what’s on the dial (or digital read out). Cakes require proper temp settings otherwise you’ll get a burnt outside and runny inside.
- A mixer. I prefer stand mixers (KitchenAid rocks) because they can handle heavier and more abundant batters than hand held mixers.
- A rubber or silicon scraper to get all of the batter out of the mixing bowl.
- Mixing bowls.
- Whisk.
- Wire cooling racks. You’ll need to let your cakes cool before frosting and decorating. A wire rack allows full air circulation under and around the cake.
- Measuring cups for wet and dry ingredients.
- Measuring spoons for wet and dry ingredients.
- A long, serrated knife or cake leveler tool to level the cake.
- An offset spatula for frosting.
- Cake pans.
- Parchment paper to line cake pans.
- Pastry bag and tips for decorating.
- Rolling pin (for fondant, gumpaste, or marzipan).
- Fondant smoothing tool and/or brayer (if working with fondant).
- Non-stick mat (fondant).
- Cutters, molds (for fondant).
- Timer.
- Bamboo skewers or toothpicks to poke cake to check for doneness.
- Oven mitts.
- Refrigerator space to store the cake(s).
- Plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil.
- Cardboard cake boards.
- A box or way to transport the cake from kitchen to venue.
Vignette: Rosy Bridal Shower Buffet
[NOTE: The full post isn't showing up for some reason. Thanks for letting me know! I'm working to resolve the issue ASAP.]
—–
{This is a hastily-shot replacement for our lovely original shoot. My camera’s SD card completely died while downloading photos to my laptop. Only a few shots were transferred before the card died so we had to reshoot the vignette with lesser items than used in the original. I’m putting this up because the projects are still rather lovely though the presentation doesn’t do them justice. Foo! I hope you like it anyway.}
One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to add beauty and drama to a wedding design is to use rose petals. The incredible team at FiftyFlowers.com provided DIY Bride with a box of 6,000 rose petals for us to play with so that we could showcase creative ways to use them. Instead of doing a large single project we used the petals in several therefore maximizing our materials and creating our first vingette.
Becoming a bride often comes with a plethora of events before and beyond the wedding: showers, luncheons, craft parties. This month’s vingette pulls together some tasty recipes and easy projects to make a simple-but-feminine buffet for your shower – or even upcoming Mother’s Day.
The Projects:
- Handmade rose petal soap favors
- Rose-scented bath salt favors
- Rose petal ice cubes
- Rose petal table runner
- Rose petal monogram
- Rosy punch (no rose petals)
- Thai chicken salad with roses
- Shrimp cocktail (no roses)
- Cardamom cake with candied rose petals
- Floating rose cake stand
Projects, pictures, and instructions after the jump!
DIY Cake Month: First Steps
Throughout the entire month of May DIY Bride will be featuring do-it-yourself tips, inspiration, and instruction for making cakes, candy, and cookies.
Part 2
Once you’ve decided that you’d like to explore making your own cake where, oh, where do you begin? Don’t fret, my friends. In this post we’ll discuss the basics of getting started on your journey to cake bliss.
The Big Decisions
It all starts here, with these 4 questions.
1. What type icing do you want?
2. What cake flavor(s) do you want?
3. How many people will you be serving?
4. What design do you want?
Let’s break each of those down and talk about some options. [Read more below the jump.]
1. What type icing do you want?
It sounds kind of odd to chose your icing first, but it’s a key part of the cake decision process. Not only are taste and texture major factors, some icings are much more fragile than others. This is very important because some icings will, quite literally, melt when they’re warm. If you’re having an afternoon outdoor wedding in August butter cream icing may not be your best bet.
Types of Icing
Butter Cream (or Buttercream): One of the most common types of icing, butter cream is made with butter or shortening. The flavor is super sweet but takes on other flavors well. Mainly used for icing the outside of the cake it is also a popular choice for fillings and decorations, too. While it is versatile, buttercream is very sensitive to temperature (especially heat – it’ll melt when it gets warm!)
French Butter Cream: Similar to regular butter cream, French butter cream is made from whole eggs (not just the yolks like in other butter cream) which gives it a higher fat content. This makes a very rich and, surprisingly, light icing BUT it’s very fragile. The shelf-life is shorter than a regular butter cream and it’s more sensitive to temperatures.
Fondant: Fondant is a thick, slightly chewy white sugar substance that is used to cover a cake or to make decorations. There are different types of fondant: rolled, poured and sculpting.
Rolled fondant has a thick, dough-like consistency that’s rolled or draped over the surface of a cake. Fondant is made of sugar, water, and glucose (or corn syrup). There’s also a version made of marshmallow. It has a smooth surface and, in my experience, is a pain to work with. We’ll talk about this later but fondant is not very forgiving as it shows all sorts of flaws. It looks great when done well, though.
Poured fondant a liquid icing. It’s used mostly for small pieces like petits fours or for glazes.
Sculpting fondant is thick and used for molding decorations.
Fondants do take color well and can be flavored with oils or extracts.
Ganache: A mixture of chocolate and heavy cream, ganache is a delightfully decadent icing or filling. Melted, it’s great as a glaze. Chilled, it becomes a deep, dense truffle-like consistency. Ganache takes flavorings well such as liqueurs and coffee. It can have a matte or a glossy appearance.
Marzipan: A coating made of sweetened almond paste and eggs. Marzipan can easily be molded and colored. It tastes great but should be avoided if anyone in your guest list has nut allergies. It’s also pretty expensive and can be harder to find in amounts needed for large cakes.
Meringue – Made from sugar, water, and egg whites, meringue is a light and airy frosting that doesn’t have much flavor on it’s own. It’s a great companion for flavorful cakes that you don’t want masked by heavy frosting.
Rolled Butter Cream: Similar to rolled fondant (below) but softer with a shinier surface.
Royal Icing: Used primarily for decorations and icing cookies, royal icing dries very hard. This is great for intricate decorations and it usually doesn’t need refrigeration. A very hard icing that works well with delicate decorations. It’s easy to make, takes color well, and the taste is … “meh”.
Whipped Cream: Similar to meringue, whipped cream is a great (and uber-light) frosting. However, because it’s whipped cream it needs to be chilled and kept refrigerated so it’s not ideal for wedding cakes.
2. What cake flavor(s) do you want?
This is the fun part of the cake process because you can pretty much have any cake flavors you want in any combination. Chocolate and mint? Thai coffee & cinnamon? Green tea and ginger? Peanut butter and bacon? You bet!
The main considerations here are:
- Any food allergies that you need to watch out for? (Stay away from anything with tree nuts as a general rule — because a lot of people are allergic to them.)
- Will the majority of your guests like the flavors? That peanut butter-bacon combo may be just a little too weird for your friends and family.
- What will YOU absolutely love?
- Do you have access to the recipes and ingredients you need to pull off your masterpiece?
3. How many people will you be serving?
Before you settle on your final design, you’ll need to know your guest list tally. The size of your guest list will determine how much cake you need. And beware here! Wedding cake servings are calculated as much smaller than “normal” cake slices. A common size for a slice of wedding cake is 1” wide by 2” tall.
4. What design do you want?
Ah, the BIG question! What do you want your cake to look like?
- Let’s start with shape. Cake pans can be found in circles, squares, rectangles, hexagons, ovals, and all sorts of novelty shapes.
- Next, how about color. What’s your wedding color scheme or theme?
- Now, decoration. You can do just about anything you want here. Start checking out cake galleries and wedding magazines for inspiration.
Those are the very basics. We’ll be discussing more fun stuff like time lines, budgeting, and recipes in the coming days.
Is A DIY Wedding Cake For You?
Throughout the entire month of May DIY Bride will be featuring do-it-yourself tips, inspiration, and instruction for making cakes, candy, and cookies.
The the siren song of a do-it-yourself wedding cake is a hard one to ignore. It seduces. It cajoles. “Make me” it sings. “You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it. Maaaaaaake meeeeee.” It lures you into a false sense of culinary mastery and into the treacherous waters of cake disaster.
While there’s nothing quite like peer pressure from inanimate baked goods, most couples hire someone else create their wedding cakes. For a few adventurers, however, making their own cake is all too temping. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you as you fondle fancy molded cake pans at Williams-Sonoma and linger a little too long in the Wilton aisle at Michael’s. Oh, I know your type.
You and I are kindred spirits, you see. We are would-be cake couturiers with grand visions of effortless, elegant culinary masterpieces adorning our table tops. We have pans. We have nifty decorating gadgets. We’ve watched every episode of Ace of Cakes. It’s just baking, right?
The harsh reality is that cake making is harder than it may appear. There’s a great deal of chemistry, artistry, and patience that goes into creating a beautiful, tasty cake. This, of course, doesn’t mean it’s impossible for a home baker to make something spectacularly divine. It is possible! But the big question here is: is the DIY cake experience right for you?
If you’re considering a DIY wedding cake, here are the most basic considerations to help you decide if this route is a good idea for you.
- How many guests will you be feeding? (General rule: the bigger the cake, the harder to bake/decorate/transport.)
- How many hours of baking and decorating time will you need? And do you have that amount of available time? Do you have that amount of time right before the wedding when things are particularly crazy? A conservative estimate for a simple butter cream-frosted (no decoration) 3-layer stacked round cake to feed 120 people would take about 4 – 5 hours to make. (Measure, mix, bake, cool, frost.)
- How important are taste and presentation to you? To your guests? The wedding cake is a high-profile part of nearly every wedding. Will you feel comfortable presenting your creation no matter how it turns out?
- Do you have the tools — including a reliable oven — to do the job? If not, how much will it cost to buy all of the tools? Is your oven big enough to bake a 14″ round (or whatever is your largest size)?
- How good is your math? Baking is nearly all chemistry. Exact measurements are crucial to good results.
- How experienced are you at baking? At cake decorating? Are baking/decorating classes in your future?
- Will you bake from scratch or a mix?
- How elaborate will your design be?
- Will you have time (and budget) to experiment with recipes and decorating if you’ve never done large-scale baking/decorating before?
- Thinking of using fresh flowers for decoration? Great! Which common wedding flowers are are poisonous and should never be used on a cake?
- How will you store the finished (or nearly finished) cakes? Do you have enough ‘fridge space?
- How will you transport the cake?
- Who will set it up at the venue?
- Who will serve it? (Caterers will charge extra to do this for you.)
- What if something goes wrong? What’s your Plan B or worst case scenario fix-it?
We’ll be talking more about the questions above in the coming days to better guide you to decide if a DIY cake is in your future. I wanted to get you thinking about the time, skill, budget, and supply requirements to not only do it yourself but to do it well.
Makeup Monday: Covering Tattoos
Makeup Monday is our weekly Q & A session for those who’re interested in doing their own makeup for the wedding.
Question from Helene:
Hi DIYBride! I have a small tattoo on my shoulder blade that no one in my family knows about. (They’re very conservative. My dad would K-I-L-L me if he knew!) The tat is partially exposed by my wedding gown. Thoughts on how to cover it?
DIY Bride Says:
While our generation barely bats an eyelash at tattoos anymore, there are still situations where flaunting inked skin can cause unwanted attention. The cosmetics industry got the memo and have turned out some products that are made for camouflaging tattoos.
We got to test out Tattoo Undercover by Ferbs Cosmetics. Included was a bottle of foundation and Alibi Setting Powder. The set retails for $29.99.
How It Works: You apply thin layers of foundation over the tattoo, allowing each layer to dry before moving onto the next. Once desired coverage is achieved, apply the setting powder. That’s it.
The Pros:
- Easy to apply
- Coverage for our heavily-inked test subject was 3 layers.
- Natural-looking color/coverage
- Great for areas that don’t rub against fabric.
The Cons:
- A good foundation brush is needed. Our sponge wedge applicator was ok but moving to the brush made a world of difference.
- Our tester wore a tank top that rubbed up against the foundation-covered area. The foundation held up pretty well but needed touch-ups. The foundation was difficult to launder out of the garment the tester was wearing – but it did come out. Beware if your wedding gown will be in contact with the covered area.
Notes:
- The foundation is very heavy and heavily pigmented. Having a brush really helps control the amount that goes on for each layer which will make for more natural coverage.
- The setting powder is essential. Don’t skip it!
- Have the kit on hand during your wedding day for touch-ups.
Ferbs has a great how-video – and, yes, it really is this easy to apply!
Fab Fonts Finds: LD Cursive, Fontleroy Brown, DT Flowers
It sounds cliche but your choice of font can make or break your stationery design. With the hundreds of thousands of fonts available, finding the right one can be daunting. Don’t fret, pretty people! DIY Bride will bring you a weekly dose of the best free and commercial fonts.
| FontleroyBrown – Free |
 |
| LDCursive – $3.00 |
|
 Note: Lettering Delights is offering free product when you sign up for an account right now. Click on image [affiliate] to learn more. |
| DT Flowers- Free |
 |
