How to Make Fondant Rope Bows for Nautical Themed Cakes

I did this cake 12 years ago, and I still remember wrestling with the bows. If I had done them the way that I'd do them now, they wouldn't be such a problem.

Here's my new method of doing the rope bows. It's a lot more secure and you don't have to worry about the bows falling apart.

The rope mold is available here: Rope Mold

Kara Buntin owns A Cake To Remember LLC,  online cake supplies at  www.acaketoremember.com and www.acaketoremember.etsy.com

How To Deal With Phone Calls If You Hate The Phone

I'm not a fan of the phone...It always rings when I'm on my way out the door to do errands, or when I'm in the middle of something and have to interrupt what I'm doing to check it.

I do love caller ID, because it lets me avoid the telemarketers.

When I was doing cakes people would call me all day with inquiries, and I had a little system set up to handle them and to set up appointments. I tended to not answer the phone at all if I was working, but if I did I had a little intake form to fill out as I spoke to the bride. It included the basic information that I would need, and I made sure to fill that out completely. I also had my cake schedule right next to the phone so that I could check on availability before I started filling out the form.

If you hate talking on the phone, or you feel that you need time to work up quotes before getting back to people, you can always leave a message that sends people to your website to fill out your contact form. A message like "Sorry we can't take your call right now, we're working on cakes for other customers. To get a quote or receive more information, please fill out the contact form on our website at www.buymycakes.com and we'll get back to you within 24 hours."  If they leave a phone message anyway, you can call them back to get the information, and tell them that you'll email a quote back. It's better to have everything in writing, so emails are better than phone messages.

If you're really phone-averse you could go so far as to leave a message that says that the inbox isn't checked more than a few times a week, and if they want a quicker response they should use the website form.

If you want to be totally hardcore, don't put your phone number on your website! Offer your email address and your contact form as the only options to get in touch with you. This is risky because some people still don't like doing business online. There are plenty of online businesses who don't have their phone numbers listed, though, so it's up to you. I personally wouldn't totally eliminate the phone, because sometimes people need to call you directly for whatever reason.

The best way to handle phone-aversion is to have all of your forms ready to go right next to the phone, and to give yourself time to get back to people with price quotes. Don't feel that you have to give them a price during the phone call, that rarely works out well. Give yourself some time, figure out the details, and email it back to them to take the conversation online.



Kara Buntin owns A Cake To Remember LLC,  online cake supplies at  www.acaketoremember.com and www.acaketoremember.etsy.com

Video: How To Use The Pinecone Mold To Make a Realistic Cone.

Here's a demo on how to use the pinecone mold that will make a large, detailed edible pinecone. It's not fast, but it will be worth it to make a realistic one to use for a cake topper.  Use chocolate in it for extra points!

To see the walkthrough instead of the video, read this blog post: Pine Cone Mold Blog Post

Kara Buntin owns A Cake To Remember LLC,  online cake supplies at  www.acaketoremember.com and www.acaketoremember.etsy.com

How To Make a Gumpaste Pine Cone

I have a new mold in my shop, and it's a fun one. Witness the pine cone mold! I love this because you can make a small or large one by adjusting the number of scales and rows that you put on it. This is how to use it by starting at the bottom and working your way up, and on Friday I'll be posting a video showing how to make it starting at the top and working your way down.

Start with about 20 of each scale size and let them dry overnight so that they can be pressed without breaking:

Make a base and cut it to be the size that you'd like.

Add some water to the base on the side without the scales.

Make a cone of gumpaste and attach it to the center of the base. You might need to experiment to figure out what size to make it, but for the most part just make it a little smaller than the width of the base and you'll be fine.

Make the center of the cone and insert a wire (I used about an 18 gauge for this.)

Insert the wire into the cone (make sure that it isn't too long, don't let it poke out the bottom.)

 Add some water or gum glue to the base of the cone and the flat bottom surface.

Start sticking the largest scales into the cone, keeping them a little longer than the base.

If you need to break the scales to make them fit into and around the cone, go ahead and do that. You want the rows to be about the same width all the way around.

Make one row, then do a second the same way, but overlap the scales so that the one on the row above lines up with a space between two scales in the row below. They shouldn't be right over each other, they should be alternating.

Keep making rows of scales that overlap the spaces below, and do about three rows for the largest and second to largest scale.

When you get to the top part of the cone, use the second smallest scales and stick them straight into the center section so that they stick farther out with spaces between the row below. (The top of pinecones tend to have more space between the rows if they've started to open up.)

Keep inserting the smaller two sizes of scales until you get to the top. Angle the scales up more as you get higher.

By the time you get to the last row,  the scales should be angled up to be fairly upright like the top section.

Check the pinecone and see if there are any "bald" areas. Insert a scale into any spots that might need one to fill it in.

And now you have a gumpaste pinecone!

Click here to get the mold set: pine cone mold


Kara Buntin owns A Cake To Remember LLC,  online cake supplies at  www.acaketoremember.com and www.acaketoremember.etsy.com

How To Keep Your Silicone Molds From Cracking

Here's how to keep your silicone molds from cracking and breaking when you flex them too much.

Click here for the molds on my website: Cake decorating molds


Kara Buntin owns A Cake To Remember LLC,  online cake supplies at  www.acaketoremember.com and www.acaketoremember.etsy.com