The Sugar Lane

Purchase my new Fuzzy the Bear Tutorial

The Sugar Lane — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:11:44 +0000

You can now purchase my new tutorial which will take you through the steps to create Fuzzy the Bear. This tutorial has color photos detailing each step, as well as some great info on fondant, gumpaste and so on. the price is $12.99 until Jan 1st 2012 and then it will go back to $14.99. For more info go to www.gumpastefigurine.com

Lady Bug Cake

The Sugar Lane — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:09:48 +0000

Thought I would share my Lady Bug cake that I created for my niece who turned 3, she is just adorable….she gets so into helping her mom decide the theme for her party. Last yr she had a Barbie theme so I had created her a Barbie head cake like those that you could put make up on and fix the hair ( I actually had one of those as a child, and loved it). This year she had a few ideas but decided on a lady bug theme, I was in a big hurry so the cake did not turn out as best as it could, the mouth area was giving me problems but I made it work and had to get moving, I also wanted to do the eyelashes in a 3D form but did not have the time. I could literally spend ALL day on a small cake like this since I am always so into the details, my husband says I really need to do something about this and be done. He really gets soo irritated when I sit and work on each area of a cake until it is perfect. He always tell me no one is going to say, you know that cake is not perfect Donna you really need to put more time into it…..but I am just crazy about these things and not fixing the mouth on this cake almost gave me nightmares, lol. Oh well I moved on and dealt with it but to be honest my niece went crazyyyy when she saw the cake, she said it was the best ever, and of course that made me feel much better about it. I know that many of us have those times when we feel we could have done so much better on a cake but I guess we have to just know that we did our best and let it go.

Join me…In Cols. OH for a Figurine Class

The Sugar Lane — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:16:45 +0000

For those who may be interested, I will be teaching a Figurine Class at the Columbus, Ohio ICES, Day of Sharing on Saturday Sept. 24th

Here is a photo of what I will be teaching…… this adorable little girl eating cookies, called ” The Cookie Jar”.

For additional info regarding class time, cost and to sign up for the class here is the link……. http://www.ohioices.org/classes.html

I do hope that some of you who have been asking for me to do a class will be able to attend……….I look forward to finally meeting you in person. We will have a great time, and I will get to show in person how to do some of the more important aspects of creating figurines in person which makes it soo much easier when you see it done in person. Soo excited, cannot wait!!!

“The Cookie Jar”

In addition, I will be doing a demo on Sunday for all of those who plan to attend the Day of Sharing. My demo will show how I created my “Bruty Buckeye Guy”. Here is a photo of him….many have asked for yrs how to create him, so I will finally get the opportunity to show just how its done!

“Bruty Buckeye Guy”

For those of you who are newer to cake decorating you may be wondering what ICES means, well it is the International Cake Exploration Society and let me tell you if you have the opportunity to sign up with your local Ices chapter, it is a great way to join a group of cake decorators that you can share with and learn from. I have not met a better group of people who are soo willing to share their tips, techniques and answer those cake questions we have all had. For additional info for the Ices chapter in your area check out this link…..http://www.ices.org/index.html

Just a quick update!

The Sugar Lane — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 04:23:34 +0000

I have not posted for a while since I took the summer and spent as much time as I could with my family. I hope that all of you had an awesome time this summer with your family or those that you have in your life that are important to you!!! I could not wait till summer arrived! Now I look up and October is peeking its head around the corner, tell me it’s not so. I love the fall but with it comes colder weather and a time in life that most of us begin to settle in for the long haul as they say. I so look forward to the holidays and such but there is nothing like the time spent with family in the summer having cookouts, family get-togethers and for me family vacations to the beach. I love the beach, to me there is no greater place in the world for me to hang out….I love the sun, the sound of the crashing waves and most of all the walks on the beach at night looking at the stars in the sky. When I am at the Beach I feel as though I could reach out and touch God. Did I say I love the Beach….hehe

Well now I get to look forward to those cool nights sitting around a bon-fire with my family which is soo much fun. I cherish each and every moment I can with my family, you never know what tomorrow holds for sure. Make sure to live each day to the fullest. This summer a very close family friend passed away from cancer and it broke my heart to see such an awesome person leave this world. Me and my family will miss him much, it is soo tough to know what to do with all the feelings and emotions that over take who we are when these sorts of things happen even though death is a regular part of life….to me I will never get used to loosing someone who I love! All I can do is keep his memory alive with all the great memories we created together over the years while he was alive. I must say that he (Mark) make a huge mark in this world while he was here with us….he never walked around complaining he was always an upbeat person which I think is what made the times with him soo great. If you were in a horrible mood you could not stay that way around him ever, he brought the best out of those around him for sure! Mark you will forever be in our hearts!!

I did some great projects over the summer that were a lot of fun but I did not get to do as much as I had planned but you all know how that goes. I hope that you are all doing well as we head into the fall season. Those of you with children, I hope that they all got back to school ok and are in the swing of things now. My youngest is in his senior yr of high school this year, it is soo hard to believe. Time just goes by faster each yr. His high school band was invited to perform at Disneyland in Orlando next spring I am soo excited about that. I know they will do a great job. My oldest son is planning to get married next yr (in the fall) so I will have a very busy year ahead planning the wedding with my soon to be daughter in-law whom I adore! Yes…I am going to be doing their cake, I thought long and hard about it and to be honest I cannot allow anyone else to do the cake for such an important day. I will have to plan things out so I don’t lose my mind that week, haha….. The colors are going to be a dark purple color and a cream color, we have not really got into the specifics of the cake just yet but I will surely keep you all updated as to what they decide. Who knows maybe we can tape the creation of their wedding cake, that would be fun, but I may get quite busy editing out the parts where I lose my mind….hehe. Well I guess that is all for now, just wanted to touch base and share a little of my summer with all of you.

Have a great week!!!

Shoebox Cake and Zebra Print High Heel Sugar Shoe

The Sugar Lane — Fri, 06 May 2011 23:36:08 +0000

I recently made a Shoe Box Cake along with a Gum Paste High Heel with a Zebra Print decoration…..this was a fun cake to create and the first time that I created a zebra print shoe. I made this cake for a very good friend of mine who has been going through some tough times in life and I was so excited to make a cake that was all about her. She is one of those people that loves shoes!!! I created a label for the shoe box from my edible printer and attached to the end of the cake. To add a little pizzazz to the box shape I decided to add edible sugar diamonds across the front side of the cake and I think that it turned out pretty cute. There were some areas on the cake that I was not too happy with but overall I guess it isn’t too bad. To create the zebra print….I rolled out black Satin Ice Fondant and took an exacto knife to cut squiggly lines and placed those shapes into place on the shoe which you can see in the pics that I have attached.

I purchased the edible sugar diamonds at www.globalsugarart.com for those who are interested……

Shoebox Cake With Sugar ShoeGumpaste Zebra Print High Heel

Clear Edible Spray for Cake Decorating

The Sugar Lane — Fri, 06 May 2011 22:19:29 +0000

I found a very cool product that is awesome and works great for getting that shiny look alot of us in cake decorating are always trying to achieve for our creations. This product is edible and can be sprayed on fondant or gumpaste creations.

Here is the link for those who are interested in purchasing this product…i will say it is kinda pricey at $24 however a little goes a long way so it should last you quite a while.

http://www.shopchefrubber.com/product.php?productid=15816&cat=1186&page=1

Making Perfect Cut Out Cookies

The Sugar Lane — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:36:45 +0000

From time to time I receive a question that requires more info than a typical cake decorating question…so below is a question from the comments section here on my blog that was asked regarding making cut out cookies along with the answer. I hope this makes everything much clearer for you Gerri as well as anyone else who has trouble making perfect cut out cookies.

Question—-Hi Donna, I love these onesie cookie baby shower favors and elected myself to make 40 for a baby shower next weekend. I have tried to make them already and it way harder than I thought (way harder!) I used already made sugar cookie dough and did not roll it out so 4 out of 10 cookies looked like a onesie where the remaining cookies shape were hard to figure out. Then decorating was tough – I used frosting in a bag with the wilton tip. My question is it will take me a long time to cook and decorate, how far ahead can I make the cookies so they won’t be stale? Thanks and any other advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Gerri Dando

Answer—-It can be very tough at times to get started trying to create something that you may have found on a website or in a book, but with the correct information and tools you should be right on your way to creating the best looking cut out cookies, regardless of the shape. I usually try to make my cookie up about 3 to 4 days ahead of time so that I will have plenty of time to decorate them and making sure that they hold their freshness. I store them in a container with a sealed lid until I need them for a special occasion or an order.

Getting started with cut out cookies……

1). It doesn’t matter if you use a pre-made cookie dough or one that you made from a recipe. It is entirely up to you.

2). If you’re using a cookie recipe allow your dough to sit in the fridge for about an hour, because when you go to work with the dough the heat from your hands with make the dough too soft. You need dough that is cold for the best results!

3). Split your dough in half, leaving one half in the fridge while you prepare to make your cookies.

4). You will want to prepare your work surface…..you can use your counter top area, (just make sure that you wipe it down very well before beginning) or you can use a silicone mat that is specially made for baking. Both ways work just fine. I will say that if you have a tough time picking up the cookie shape and transferring it to the cookie sheet then using the silicone mat may be the best way for you to cut out your cookie dough.

5). Lightly dust your work surface with flour or powdered sugar (confectioners sugar) which I use.

6). Dip the edges of your cookie cutters into some flour (I actually use powdered sugar instead, it is up to you as to what you use). This will help to prevent your cutters from sticking to the dough.

7). Lightly flour your rolling pin also and begin rolling out your cookie dough.

8). Its best to always begin in the middle of your dough and roll outward towards the edge areas.

9). If you begin to notice that your cookie dough is a little sticky, try lightly flouring your work surface and/or rolling pin a little more, depending on where it is sticking. (FYI–Do not over flour your dough, use as little as possible because the additional flour will affect the final taste of your cookies).

NOTE: How do I get my dough level….I use a product called Perfection Strips, really all they are is 2 strips of a flexible plastic material that I laid on each side of the dough and you roll your rolling pin over the dough to get the perfect thickness and level piece of cookie dough to create the perfect sized cookies. These plastic strips come in pairs with the following thickness: 2mm (1/16″); 4mm (1/8″) and 6mm (1/4″)…..Now if you don’t want to purchase this sort of product which is available as a set of 3 different thicknesses. You could try using a piece of flat trim cut into 2 pieces. I have inserted a picture so that you can see exactly how to use the perfection strips below.

10). Cut the shapes into your dough by applying even pressure with your entire hand on top of your cookie cutter, making sure to press all the way through the dough with a nice even cut around the entire edge for a perfect cut. Before lifting the cookie cutter away from the dough, give it a little twisting motion which helps to give you a very nice clean edge to your cookie shape, honestly this makes all the difference for achieving perfect cut out cookies……

11). Use a thin metal spatula to carefully lift your cookie cutout off your work surface. I dip my spatula into a pile of powdered sugar ( or flour if that is what your using) so that the cookie dough will not stick to it…….. Try to slide the spatula as far under the cookie as possible to help maintain its shape when transferring to the cookie sheet. Place the cutout cookies on a cookie sheet.

IDEA…..I leave the cookie cutter around the shape I have just cut out so that I don’t loose the shape of the cookie as I transfer it to the cookie sheet!

Once your cutouts are on the cookie sheet, place your cookie sheet into the freezer for approx. 10 minutes so that the cookies can firm up…….then into the oven to bake.

NOTE: If you would like to use a silicone baking mat you can roll out your dough right on the mat itself, then after cutting the cookies out just leave them in place and remove the remaining cookie dough. Once you have cut out all the cookie cutouts just transfer the baking mat to the cookie sheet. Anoher way of doing this is to roll out your dough on the mat, when finished transfer the mat to your cookie sheet, and finally cut out your cookies shapes with your cutters and remove any excess dough from the mat, then place the cookie sheet into the freezer for approx. 10 minutes allowing the dough to firm up. Then you can bake as usual, following the baking directions.

Entering a cake show, my fondant animal book and some other ramblings from my world.

The Sugar Lane — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 07:41:53 +0000

Hello to everyone out there in the wonderful world of Sugar!!! I hope that you are doing well, and things are going as best as possible with the way things are in the world today. I have learned that I cannot worry about it all and must keep myself focused on the things that are most important. So my focus is on God, my family, friends, relationships, and my cake world….and all the rest well I refuse to allow it to stop me from being who God created me to be.

I am working on some ideas for an upcoming cake show I want to enter…this will be my second one. I am soo stressed trying to figure out what categories to enter, then how many I should enter. Last year I entered 2 cakes and did rather well. Most importantly I need to decide what kinds of cakes I should make. I’m not sure if you do this but when I have the opportunity to do whatever kind of cake that I want I get myself all worked up. If I could draw you a map of all the different ideas I have had in mind you would just flip, I am literally ALL over the board as they say. I think the issue is that I have soo many ideas.

I keep a notebook for cake decorating with pictures of cakes that I want to do, lists of ideas that I have come up with, and then drawings of ideas that I have had from time to time so I keep all this info together in a notebook. Since back in the beginning I would have an idea only to let a few days pass and I could not for the life of me remember what the idea was. So that was when I decided to keep it all together in a notebook which 2 years later this thing has quite a collection of ideas. Now that I want to enter the cake show as I have said I am all over the place with ideas and I can’t seem to make a decision because there are soo many great ideas. I asked my family and boy were they alot of help, they told me whatever I decide will be great.

So this is a little of whats going on in my world right now along with making new how to videos, online tutorials and my top priority which I have been working on for some time, my book! I am so excited that I am finally almost there…I had started this project and intended it to be done last year but my computer crashed and I lost every photo that I had for the book, as you can imagine I was devastated and cried for days. I felt that maybe I was not supposed to do the book but after much encouragement from my family and of course all my great cake friends I started ALL over….ughhh what a chore. Wow putting a book together is sooo much work, I had no idea. I believe that in the end it will be worth it, there are so many that have written me and said please don’t give up on the idea, they feel that there are no other great fondant animals book on the market and are waiting for me to get mine finished. I guess I should get moving just wanted to check in with you all and give you a quick update. I have some more cake pictures to share just need to find time to get them uploaded…….

Christmas Cookie Tradition

The Sugar Lane — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:35:03 +0000

Its that time of year again! I love Christmas as much as the next person and with it comes all the different traditions that many of us welcome each Christmas season. We had our day of decorating Christmas cookies and let me tell you it was a day pack full of Sugar! We started with a tasty sugar dough and began cutting out dough with our favorite cookie cutters as well as those who decided to create cookies free-handed, without the use of cookie cutters and then came several different icings. I am one of those people who like more and this tends to get m in trouble, I could have used one icing for the sugar cookies, but NOO I had to have several different ones……so everyone had to sit and watch as I pulled out my recipes and ingredients for the different icings that I like to use, included was regular buttercream which is great on sugar cookies, but I love, love cream cheese icing on sugar cookies it just goes perfect with the cookies and then I wanted to use poured fondant since the taste is divine, then finally a regular for most, royal icing!

Each year my boys look forward to decorating cookies as we have done since my oldest was 2 yrs old. Every yr we always end up adding others to our day of decorating Christmas Cookies and this year was no different many of the boys friends joined us for our favorite Christmas Tradiiton……Jake, Andy, Mike D, and Evan. in addition my Mom joined us and boy was I grateful for that since she jumped right in and helped me with making the icings and baking the cookies that we were creating. I must point out that this year was a little different since we added a new member to the family, that person is my son Ryan’s fiance Casey, she is truly a gift from God and I adore her. She also jumped right in and joined us in our yearly Christmas tradition…..we truly had the time of our lives decorating Christmas Cookies together and created some great holiday memories that I will never forget. I hope you enjoy all the different holiday traditions that you and your family share together this Christmas Season!!

Below I will share some of the pics from our special day together!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Sugar Friends

The Sugar Lane — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 15:41:47 +0000

Just wanted to take a minute to wish all of you and your families a very Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!! When I woke this morning I began to think of ALL the things that I am thankful for and I must say there are many things that come to mind! First off I am so grateful to have met soo many awesome sugar friends here online over the past few years. I know that I don’t post as often as I would like but as many of you know it gets so tough when you have a family to take care of along with all the many other things in our lives….Please know you are always in my thoughts, I have formed some great friendships with many of you and I truly am blessed to have you as a part of my cake world. Some of the other things I am grateful for….my awesome husband who is all that, my kids who add so much to my life, my soon to be daughter in-law, my mom who has been very sick over the past few yrs….I am soo thankful she is still here with us for another holiday season, my brothers and sisters, my best friend RJ she is heaven sent for sure, and finally for me and my family’s health, and the home over our heads!!! Enjoy all that great food today and get some much needed rest!!!