My eight-month-old granddaughter is being baptized, along with her cousin, who is a month older. Two beautiful baby girls. Seems like pink and white is in order.
I wanted to make something that could be saved from the cake for both girls. I wondered about little baby booties. So, I went online and looked at some cakes that had used booties as decoration. I found one that gave a pattern for booties that looked easy enough, so I downloaded and printed it.
Cake for a double baptism of two, sweet baby girls.
First thoughts… Wanting to put some texture on this cake I thought about quilting the fondant. A simple diamond pattern should do it. Maybe add some edible pearls at the corners of the quilting. Pink roses for the top and two sets of booties. Little baby rosebuds to circle the top tier. Sounds good. I’ll have to figure out how to do it as I go.
Time to make some roses. A few full roses, buds and mini buds, then leaves for all. How many mini roses does it take to go around the cake? Don’t really know… but it sure seemed like I made way more than enough.
The booties out of gum paste were easy… after I figured out how to stuff the bootie with plastic wrap to hold its shape. Also, I needed to come up with a tie for the bootie fast, before it dried totally. I did not want the gum paste to break when putting the ribbon through. I wanted something light and airy, with a little sparkle. I have a small hat box with all types of ribbons in it and, lucky for me, I found just what I wanted in it. Love when that happens! I knew I saved this stuff for a reason. I added a little flower to each of the toes for a more feminine detail. They needed a little sparkle, so I brushed them all with an opalescence dust. Now they go with the ties much better.
Booties and roses on quilted, pearled fondant.
This was my first fondant-covered cake. I read and followed the directions on the store-bought fondant and everything seemed to be working well. I did learn that weather makes a big difference in working with fondant. Work fast but sure. I wasn’t sure when to do the quilting, so I opted to just get the fondant rolled and put on the cake first.
Quilting needs to be done quickly after smoothing the fondant, especially on warm days when it will dry fast. After looking at the cake, I decided that I’d just put pearls on the top tier. I added some pink to the bottom by wrapping a band around it.
I piped a trim around the base of the top with vanilla frosting. That way I could stick the mini rosebuds around and finish off the trim.
To decorate the top of the cake I started with placing the booties and filling in with roses. When adding leaves I noticed that I needed another filler. Back to the hat box… I found quarter-inch white ribbon. I made loops and placed groups where needed and it helped soften the topper.
It was a wonderful day all around. Great food and family… and the cake tasted good too!
