3 Days with the Master of Sugar Flowers

Here it is...my 3 days with the ONE and the ONLY Ron-Ben Israel of Ron-Ben Israel Cakes.

Question and answer with Ron

Ron is known to the cake world as the master of sugar flowers. My 3 days in his class validates all rumors. He was amazing. His techniques and flowers were spot on. They were beautiful, graceful and so life like. But more than just sugar flowers, his cakes are amazing as well. If you have not seen them, it is worth the time to check them out. They are clean and precise, the way I would want my cakes to be.

I am an amateur when it comes to sugar flowers. My definition of flowers don't go past beyond the cut out flowers I made for my Tangled cake. I did take a class 15 years ago but I did not care for them. They did not inspire me. Ron's class completely changed my views on sugar flowers. I have an increased appreciation and the confidence to try them once again.

Here are some photos taken from class plus photos of the flowers I made. Well, what's left of them. Unfortunately, some of my flowers did not make it safely back particularly the roses (which were my fave!). I still wanted to share them just the same.

Sweet peas

Sweet peas, rose buds, peony and hydrangeas

My poor rose...

Ron's sugar flowers. The photo don't do it justice.

I pass!

Thank you Ron for sharing your talent. I am truly grateful for this opportunity. Thank you too to Minette Rushing of Custom Cakes for being such a gracious hostess.

Tangled

I love it when kids personally ask me to make their birthday cake. My latest little customer is Victoria. A month before her 4th birthday party, she comes up to me and says: "I want a Rapunzel cake with long glowing hair!". And on another occasion, she made sure I would make Rapunzel's dress purple.

"Tangled" is my now new favorite Disney movie. It's funny, not too cheesy, and it's the first movie we watched as a family with my 3 year old. I was excited to do this special cake request but I was nervous at the same time. To make a character's face is difficult. Any person's face for that matter. So lets just say my brain was "tangled" for awhile. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the lantern scene so I went for the braided hair and of course, the lanterns.

Everything in this cake is edible. Well, except for the cake board, light and the stamen. So lets just say it's 99% edible. Rapunzel is made out of rice cereal treats covered with fondant and modeling chocolate. The base is a 12 inch round chocolate cake filled with vanilla buttercream. The lanterns are edible too! Victoria did request for glowing hair so to get as close to a glow, I applied some luster to the hair.

My 3 year old was my critic. When she saw bald Rapunzel, she said she didn't like it. She even showed me a face of Rapunzel! I got nervous! But once the hair was on, she said she likes it. Whew! I hope you all approve of it as well. It's not perfect but I tried my best :)

Happy 4th Birthday Victoria! Thank you for picking me to make your special birthday cake!

Sebastian's Skates

My dear cousin Sebastian turns 8 and loves ice skating. He celebrates his birthday at a local skating rink and I was in charge of making his cake.

This "cake" actually served more as a centerpiece. The boot is made out rice cereal treats covered with fondant. The skull on the side is an edible image designed by my sister. The cake that was actually served was a 10 inch round chocolate cake filled with vanilla and strawberry buttercream, which also had the skull. We also had 3 dozen red velvet cupcakes iced with cream cheese frosting. The kids wanted to cut into the skates but my aunt wanted to keep it so no cutting happened.

Happy 8th Birthday Sebs!!

Lauren (Heart) Elmo

Lauren turns 1 and she loves Elmo. Her mom, Jill, created a fun and Elmo filled party for her baby and having my cake be part of it was great.

Things that served as inspiration for this cake were Lauren's candy station banner, candies, and of course Elmo! This is my 3rd Elmo cake but know what, I love making Elmo cakes!

Below is a photo of baby Lauren holding her finger up just like Elmo. Isn't she a cutie?

Cat in the Hat

Dr Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" now airs PBS Kids. Ben is one of this show's biggest fan so for his 3rd birthday, he gets what he loves. Ben is particularly obsessed with the Thingamajigger. But with a budget to work with, I thought of doing the cake this way to have all the characters including the Thingamajigger without going over her budget.

The TV screen was inspired by an icon on the Cat in the Hat's website with modification and hand painted with black outlines which is a Dr Seuss trademark. The screen, on the other hand, is an edible image. Cake is chocolate filled with chocolate mousse.

Ben and his Sister Rebekah were excited to see the cake and I was too! My 3 year old and I were happy with the cake turned out and couldn't wait for them to see it. We were all happy!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ben! Till next year :)

2D Pablo

A year ago, I made a 3D snowman cake for Bam-Bam's 2nd birthday. This year as he turns 3, we went 2D of his favorite character Pablo of Super Spy Backyardigan.

The cake was 12 inches high, chocolate cake filled with buttercream. Photo above shot at an angle shows the dimension of the cake.

Bam-Bam and his mom picked up the cake and it was great to see Bam-Bam's reaction. He loved it and exclaimed "Pablo!!!" with a big smile on his face. This is why I love my job.

Turntable Cake

This cake was for my daughter's teacher's husband who is into music and his turntable. A photo of his actual turntable was given to me to replicate. I did the best I could to get as much details into a small cake to serve about 10 people. I was told he loved it and took out his other favorite thing-- his SLR camera with back drop and all and kept taking photos!