Last Minute Birthday Cake

Needlework Birthday Cake

Been really busy with cakes over the last week. First the Karaoke cake, followed by the really detailed Nightmare Before Christmas cake. I thought I could rest for a bit… then the phone rang. My sister called. Her daughter’s, fiance’s mother is turning fifty in a couple days. Could we make a cake with whatever I had left over from the last couple of cakes? The birthday girl loves to knit and quilt, sounds like something that we could “piece” together!

Only two days for this cake. I went with both the knitting and quilting theme. First I had to make the details that would have to dry overnight. The gum paste knitting needles, two spools of thread, a yarn needle, and an old-fashioned pincushion. To the pincushion, I added white edible pearls to look like pin heads.

pin-cushion

Pincushion, thread and thimble close-up

After finishing the add-ons I started thinking about the quilt. Having quilted with fabric and wood in the past, I chose to do a simple square and triangle pattern. One square, then one square cut into four triangles. On the computer, I drew up a quilt pattern using colors chosen from what was left from other cakes. I knew I would have to add to those, but it gave me a starting point.

Having the quilting pattern figured out I moved onto the rest of the cake idea. I found one 9″ x 11″ sheet cake and a small 3′ deep x 6″ round cake in the freezer. We’ll use those… somehow.I have a few reference books; namely, the trio of Hello Cupcake!, What’s New Cupcake? and Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh, My!. I love them for the decorating ideas; but, would much rather use them on cakes. There was a real cute knitting cupcake in one of those books I could use! Of course, that meant making some cupcakes. I would do that first thing in the morning. Day one is done.

Day two… Cupcakes are in the oven and my sister is on her way. The cakes are out of the freezer, thawing. Time to color some frosting for the skeins of “yarn”and set aside for later.

We decided to go with white fondant over both cakes so the colors would pop. The small round was set on the base rectangle in the top right corner for height. Plenty of room for yarn and needles.

quilt-cake-side

Side view of draped quilt.

My sister colored and cut the fondant as I made the quilt. I would partially drape the small round cake with the quilt, so size was not crucial. I’d start with two inch squares and build the quilt from there. Whatever size it ended up was going to be fine. It took longer than planned, but then again what doesn’t?! I ended up layering the pieces of the quilt on a rolled out white square of fondant. After the pieces were together, I used a rolling stitching tool to “stitch” around each piece. Detail is so important to the overall look. Somehow we ended up with the perfect amount for each colored fondant piece… just like we planned! Yeah, right. The quilt was draped over the round and really brightened up the cake.

The white fondant on the rectangle base cake looked too white. Let’s color some fondant yellow and I will make a measuring tape to trim around the cake base. I add the measuring increments using edible black ink after letting it set up for awhile. To give it some movement, I made it longer so I could loosely roll it up at the corner.

measuring-tape

Measuring tape trim from fondant and edible ink.

Next, the cupcakes. I needed six to make two skeins of yarn. One on each end with “yarn” piped on it and one in the center to hold up the label. Originally I thought of making a detailed label somehow, but it looks like the perfect place to personalize the cake with edible ink. The piping of the yarn took a little work to make it look like the end on a skein of yarn. Loop the yarn back and forth across the cupcake leaving a little bit bigger circle in the middle with each round, gives it a needed depth.

Time was running out…We really needed to get this cake assembled. The quilt was already draped. I set the the knitting needles in place first because I wanted the yarn to go over part of the needles. Then I put the cupcakes in place. I rolled out two pieces of green fondant and fit the label on the skeins. I then rolled two white rectangles and personalized with name and age, again with edible ink, and added them to the green labels.

yarn-closeup

Close-up of yarn skeins and personalized labels.

The finishing touches included; piping some yarn from one skein through the yarn needle, setting the spools of thread and silver thimble in place, and setting the pincushion on top of the top cake.

It’s always a rush to take photos before packing the cake. Luckily my sister was making the delivery! We are very proud of our cake made from “leftovers”! Things went smoothly and we got it done in time…Now I get to rest.

quilt-cake

Knitting and quilting accessories on sheet cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

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