Ladies Purse

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Instructions

I found this cake design in one of the cake decorating books by Collette Peters. I found this cake design in one of the cake decorating books by Collette Peters.

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Difficulty:

Category: Cake Decorating

Type of item: Food

For: Women

Style: Retro / Vintage

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Materials

Cake board. Fondant and royal icing. Clay gun. Non-toxic powdered colours. Gumpaste. Various cake decorating tools.

What was your inspiration?

A cake designed by Collette Peters.

What are you most proud of?

Though I did have some difficulty with the fondant, it still turned out very nicely.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

I baked 4 layers of cake for this one, and sculpted them into 2 main pieces. Each of the sections was separated from the other with a board and dowels. Covering it with the fondant proved to be a challenge since the top of the cake is much smaller than the bottom, and the weight of the fondant at the bottom threatened, and did, cause the fondant at the top to tear. I decided to add a second thin layer of fondant that would only cover the top section and just resemble an additional layer of cloth. I then added a ruffled layer to go around the top. For this I used a 50/50 mixture of fondant and gumpaste so that it would dry much faster, still allowing me to adjust the ruffle as it dried.
The tassles as the end of the rope were made using the clay gun. The purse itself and the rope were coloured (PAINTED) using a mixture of powdered colour and vodka. When dry, I piped on the designs using royal icing. The handkerchief at the top was cut out of the fondant/gumpaste mixture, shaped to give it a natural look and I used plastic food wrap to support it while it dried. The cake itself was a marble cake with vanilla buttercream icing separating the layers. The easiest way to carve a cake is to freeze it and carve it while it is in its frozen state.