J's {not Oprah} Favourite Things & Giveaway! Part 1

Thanks to all who entered and shared my giveaway. This Sweepstake is now CLOSED. See below.

Ice-cream on brownies and frosting on cupcakes

Bright coloured fondant and cake stands that coordinate
Starbursts and gold dust to give it some bling
These are a few of my favorite things...

Does the cake above look familiar to you? Think hard...well, not too hard. You need only click back to my last post to see my Ranunculus flowers perched atop this little beauty. And under all the green and glitter is a moist, mouthwatering, lemon-curd filled, citrus cake. 

We'll get to the recipe in a different post, for now, let's talk about the cake's exterior and how those fantastic starbursts came to be.

Back in January, I had an idea for a cake (one that I have yet to make) that would require piping skills, for which I just did not have the patience. So I thought I could try to achieve a similar look with a stencil. I looked, but could not find a culinary stencil in the pattern I'd envisioned. I contacted Designer Stencils and shared with them, a photo of what I had in mind and about a week later they created this, fashioned from one of their wallpaper designs. I thought I would give it a test run... eight months later. 

Stencils are a favourite decorating tool of mine and I have a collection to back that up! They are a great alternative to piping and offer so many design options for amateur pipers, like myself (I so desperately need to work on my piping skills). That said, like anything else one wants to be good at, this too requires a little practice. When done well, stencils can yield stunning results - like this, for instance. Here is my first attempt at stencilling. I have since improved, but there is always room. 

Stencilling does not always have to be done on fondant, or with royal icing. My giraffe cake is a good example - it's cocoa stenciled on buttercream. This time around I thought I would bring a little bling to the design with the use of edible lustre dusts - another favourite.

Unless I absolutely have to, I avoid cutting my stencils to accommodate any one particular cake size. Instead, I find if you place the cake on a raised surface with a base smaller than the cake, you can better manipulate the placement of the stencil. 

I placed the cake on a cake board the same circumference as the cake, covered the top of the cup with a piece of anti-slip cupboard lining (you know the stuff you buy in rolls at the dollar store), and placed the cake board on top. Danger of tipping, so work carefully!

Of course, keeping the stencil in place is also crucial to the process. This is where I find the Cake Wrap Kit comes in handy.

Once I had the stencil positioned to my liking, I used three large brushes, like the one shown in the photo above, to apply the various colours of edible dusts. I carefully removed the stencil and let set a little before attaching the stencil again to do the other side of the cake. I layered some of the colours and BAM, we've got ourselves some blinged-out starbursts!!

Fondant coloured with Avocado food gel. Lustre dusts in Gold Shimmer, Metallic Ginger Glow and Electric Orange mixed with a little Gold Shimmer.

Speaking of starbursts... Did you know the Milky Way will see a starburst in approximately 200 000 000 years? Well, I couldn't wait that long and you don't have to either!

I Sugar Coat It! is celebrating its first birthday this month, and what better way to get the celebration started than with a little fireworks - in the form of starbursts! One lucky reader will have the opportunity to create their own starbursts using some of my favourite cake design tools. 

Starburst Cake Side Stencil 

Cake Wrap Kit

Small Scraper

It's easy to enter! 

1. Login to the PunchTab Giveaway Widget below using your email address or Facebook account.
2. You will be prompted to:
• Leave a comment telling me, "What is your favourite cake design tool?" You must leave a comment in order to be entered.
• For extra entries, perform any of the additional actions listed in the widget - Tweet, Google+1, Become a Fan. 

Contest ends Monday, August 20th, 2012 at 12:00PM (EST)

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

We Have A Winner!

CONGRATULATIONS, JUDY ROBINSON!!

~chosen by random draw via PunchTab Plugin~

38		Judy Robinson	comment	2 days ago
You have been selected as a winner in Isugarcoatit's giveaway. Judy Robinson My favorite tool is Stephanie (my niece and business partner) I do all the baking and she does all the decorating.

The winner will be selected using PunchTab's Giveaway Widget random picker and announced in this post and notified by email. (You must leave a valid email address - it will not be displayed). Please note that your comment may not appear immediately; it does not mean it was not received.

This giveaway is open to Canadian (excluding Quebec) and continental U.S residents only. Apologies to my international readers - due to high shipping rates, I am unable to extend this giveaway to you. However, future contests that do not require shipping will be available to those outside North America.

Official contest rules are here.

A special thanks to Designer Stencils for donating the stencil for this giveaway. The other two items and shipping are from I Sugar Coat It!.

This is the first of two birthday giveaways - STAY TUNED!!

I hope you have enjoyed this post! To never miss a post, subscribe to my RSS feed, or through email.

This giveaway is sponsored by I Sugar Coat It!. Designer Stencils has kindly donated the stencil included in the prize pack. I did not receive compensation, monetary, or otherwise, for this post.