This was my first real attempt at using the new Cricut Cake machine to decorate a cake. I had the vision for this cake in my head for months, but it didn't turn out quite as I had planned. I knew that there would be some learning curve to this (I had used the machine once before), but was hoping it wouldn't take all day like it actually did.
First lesson...fondant or gum paste? And what is the difference anyway? Here's the best answer I found: "The simple answer is that you use fondant to cover a cake and you use gum paste to make flowers and bows." Mmmm....okay...I have always used fondant before for making all of my decorations. And if memory serves me, that's what Wilton taught in the class I took....wow...12 years ago (geez I feel old now). Well the machine did not cut Spongebob out of fondant well at all...not like it did the last time I used the machine. It was way too soft and pulled like taffy when the blade went through it, a big part of that probably being the 1,000% humidity that day. So I researched online a little more and found that "you can make your fondant act more like gum paste by kneeding in about a cup of gum paste mix into a pound of rolled fondant. This will make it dry harder than it would normally." First I tried mixing in confectioner's sugar to stiffen it up a bit and offset the humidity. That worked okay, but the blade still pulled it like taffy and didn't get crisp cuts. Attempt number two was adding Gumtex in. That really made it dry and instead of pulling like taffy, it broke when it was pulled during kneading....which is another difference between fondant and gum paste that I found while I was researching online. I thought I was on the right track and did get some good cuts, but not enough. More internet research led me to Tylose powder, which I had never heard of before. It's a fine powder that you can work into fondant to make a quick transition to gum paste. Well it is not available at Michael's or Hobby Lobby or even our local cake store....scratch that idea. I had to run out for an errand anyway, so my next move was to use my trusty old 40% off Michael's coupon to buy a bag of Wilton ready made gum paste. There was even a big sticker on the bag that said, "Perfect for digital cutting machines!" It took a while getting used to working with it, but it did cut better.
Lesson number two was about size and reasonable expectations for this new machine. Let me just start by saying that I KNEW going into this that the licensed cartridges (Cars, Sesame Street, Superman, etc) are always soooo detailed that there are usually six layers and extremely small cuts. However, I had not used a licensed cartridge before (even to cut paper) to know the complexity of such things. I love to paper piece...but gum paste piecing is sooo much different. I knew that I needed to make the characters large so I started with 4 inches. I didn't want a shadow behind my characters, but I did need just a plain base on which to start layering. After some trial and error, I finally figured out that I needed to make the plain base 1/2" bigger than layer cuts. There were some itty bitty pieces of Spongebob that I knew just weren't going to make it, but the most frustrating pieces (and ultimately what caused me to give up on him) were his arms. Each time, the blade just kept pulling and moving the pieces around on the mat and his arms ended up too skinny and short. I tried bumping up the size to 6", but same problem. (He would've been totally disproportionate to the pineapple anyway). I did finally get Gary done at 6" because he had simple enough pieces (and that's cool because Gary is who my nephew loves the most anyway!). Unfortunately he never made it to the cake though because he did not have enough time to dry and harden.
(I forgot to take a picture of him the day of the party, so this is a few days later after he'd had a chance to dry and my 17 mo old nephew had gotten to hold him.)
Using the Cake Basics cartridge, I made the lettering last (at the end of an exhausting day so they are not exactly the best). The humidity was lower in the evening and the gum paste had gotten a little dry (throwing it in the microwave was not helping it very much either). I was determined to not waste what I had though so the letters and flowers came out a little rough along the edges.
Luckily I had already shopped for Plan "C" (the figurines) the previous week just in case. Of course Spongebob is getting harder and harder to find now so I was limited to these figurines at Toys 'R Us.
The pineapple was made by stacking 4 six inch rounds and using the center column from one of my cake plate sets for support. I freehanded the windows and doors from fondant. The two large pieces of the pineapple crown were cut from the cartridge, but the single leaves were freehanded.
Hopefully the next cake will go smoother now that I'm further along the learning curve.... I still think the Spongebob cake turned out well and a certain little four year old boy loved it...which is all that really mattered.
Happy birthday, Griffin. Love, Super Cool Aunt Jenn
