The Easter holidays ended on a bang for us! My son has been desperate to grow those few magic centimeters to allow him to ride the big theme park rides. On Sunday we headed to Thorpe Park for our first visit there. We headed straight to Nemesis Inferno where the queue was very small to try our luck. When I say 'our' I mean my husband and son! I do not do the big rides, even Dumbo in Disney has my belly doing somersaults!
On this first ride they didn't even check his height! He must have looked the right size so he got to ride. The look on his face when he came off was priceless! One extremely happy boy! So we headed to another of the big rides, Swarm. This looked worse than the last one! Off they went again to try their luck. My husband could see in front that the attendant was checking heights, so he told my son to play it cool, as if he's been on it before. The attendant measured him and the bar touched the top of his head! As he was so ecstatic he forgot all about playing it cool and made a fist bump and screamed 'Yes!'. Needless to say this ride was an even bigger hit than the first. All I have been hearing these past few days is how he can't believe he went on them. When we measured him before we left he appeared to be just under the minimum height requirement but I guess we were wrong. I am glad we were as he has been waiting a long time to ride the 'proper' coasters and thrill rides.
On Sunday it was very cool and cloudy, not a hint of the lovely weather we have had lately. This week so far has brightened up a bit, so this makes it the perfect time to share with you this ombre birthday cake that I made for a dear friend.
A few years ago I attended some Wilton cake decorating classes. I finally learnt how to make buttercream roses. Before that, everything had been self taught, looking at the instructions in the back of Wilton books or just having a go! I had never attempted roses before and once I learnt I did them loads! However, more recently I haven't done them at all! I have made roses out of fondant but the buttercream skills I let slip. I decided to have a go for my friends recent birthday. I wanted her cake to be feminine but also bright for Spring. The cake itself was a light white sponge so I made delicate lemon flavoured frosting to complement it.
The roses are not perfect, some looked a little cabbage like, however, seeing as I haven't even attempted any for about 3 years I was pleased that you could at least tell what they were supposed to be! The main thing I was disappointed with was the consistency of my frosting. It is supposed to be stiff for making the roses so that they hold their shape and so you can easily remove them from the flower nail once piped. However, my frosting must have been too stiff as the petals cracked as I piped them. Next time, use more water!
I followed the Wilton method for the roses which you can find in the back of any of their annual cake decorating books or here on their website.
I made the roses a couple of days in advance and left them in the fridge to firm up.
I kept them on their wax paper squares until it was time to place them on the cake. I do have a tool to remove the roses from the paper, however, as I had left them in the fridge for a couple of days I was able to gentle remove them by hand and place them directly onto the cake.
I went searching for some ombre techniques on Pinterest. Most ombre cakes go for just one colour, which of course makes sense! I decided I wanted to incorporate 2 colours in my cake, merging into one another somewhere in the middle. I found this tutorial for an ombre cake and frosting by Java Cupcake here and decided to follow the basic principal for frosting the sides of my cake.
I started by crumb coating the cake and placing it in the fridge for a short while. When I brought it out I started at the bottom with a bright lemon colour.
I followed Java's instructions and spread on the frosting nice and thick. I then moved onto a slightly lighter lemon colour and frosted further up. I finished with a pink but left the top of the cake white for the roses to sit on.
I did take the pink up onto the edges of the top to blend into the white. As I was using 2 colours rather than one I decided I wanted a different finish to the sides. I used a comb that I purchased from Hobbycraft, and using a turntable, I spun the cake round carefully while holding the comb against the side of the cake to create the lined effect,
I did this once or twice to get a nice defined line going round the cake.
I then took a toothpick and marked out roughly on the top where the roses should go. I then piped a little buttercream onto the base of each rose before placing it on top of the cake.
I did start out marking a heart but decided the roses looked best in a round wreath shape.
Finally to finish off the cake, I piped a row of lemon drop flowers around the base. Whilst I don't mind that the cake had a rough finish to it I didn't want it to look 'unfinished' which is how it felt before I piped the border.
I left them plain rather than adding in middles so that the colours would continue to flow.
As you can see from the close ups I did cover my board with yellow fondant to complement the cake. I didn't like the gold edges of the board showing so I added a fun Spring themed ribbon to the sides. I piped the initial of the birthday girl in the middle of the roses to finish it off.
If you are looking for a quick and easy technique, you can't go wrong with buttercream ombre. Plus it was really fun to do!
Have a great week!
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