Frozen Buttercream Transfer Tutorial

Okay, you guys know how I'm not a cake decorator, right? Like, you've been here through all of my rants about how the Cake Boss and similar shows have made people think baker = decorator when most decorators aren't actually great bakers. (I know a lot of cake decorators who use box mix because it's easier, quicker, and they can spend more time decorating. I'm not hating, I'm just saying that you don't have to be both) I know with me, I really don't have the patience for most cake decorating. Occasionally, I'll go a bit manic and decide that I can make royal icing transfers or dalek cupcakes, but even then, I'm aware of my limitations and try to keep things simple.

So when I tell you that that cake up there was super easy to decorate, you'd best believe me.

A frozen buttercream transfer is a cake decorating technique that works pretty much like it sounds. You create the design with buttercream and freeze it to transfer on to the cake. It's similar to the RI transfers I did for my Balance cupcakes, but unlike royal icing, the buttercream will only need 1-2 hours in the freezer to "set," and it won't harden. That means once you put it on the cake, you just need to let it defrost for about 15 minutes, and the buttercream is soft and creamy once more. People will think you're magic when they realize the design is delicious frosting and not edible paper.

Also unlike a RI transfer, if a frozen buttercream transfer cracks or breaks while moving it, it's no big deal. Let the buttercream soften for a minute and then press the cracked pieces back together, smoothing it out gently with your finger or a piece of waxed paper. Mine broke into three pieces when I moved it to the cake. Can you tell where it happened? Cause I sure can't.

Can't draw? No sweat. Coloring pages work perfectly with this technique. You can find all sorts of free coloring pages online (which is what I did), or you can get coloring books for cheap just about anywhere (and if you've got kidlets running around, you can just borrow one of theirs)

Source

This is the image I used, which I got for free on AZ Coloring. If you're just doing a character cake, you can just print it on out and get started. However, since a frozen buttercream transfer is an inverse technique, if you have any writing like I did, or if your image has to face a certain way, you have to flip the image. You can do this in any photo editor, or even in a Word document, which I did (the pan I used was roughly the same size as a piece of printer paper, so that was the quickest way to make sure the image took up most of the page).

If you're using a physical coloring book, you can scan the image in and flip it, or you can trace the image on tracing paper with a sharpie, then just flip the tracing paper over.

Tape your image onto a flat, portable surface (I used a cutting board), tape a piece of waxed paper on top of it, and start outlining. If your outline color is black, you're probably going to want to use a tube of black decorator's icing rather than homemade. True black is hard to get without massive amounts of food coloring and the premade black is less likely to bleed. Most people recommend using Wilton, but I didn't feel like going to Michaels just for a tube of frosting, so I used Cake Mate brand, which is carried in my local supermarket and has special tips you can screw right onto the tube. The tip was a little too big (the smallest they had was a #3), but otherwise it worked out fine.

Once your outline is finished, stick it in the freezer for about 15 minutes to set up. This is not strictly necessary, but it will help prevent bleeding and makes it easier when you fill in the rest of your colors.

While your outline is chilling, you can go ahead and mix up your buttercream. You don't want to use store bought frosting as you need the butter for it to freeze firm, so you'll want to use a recipe that's at least half butter (half shortening). If shortening skeeves you, I see no reason you can't use all butter, it will just need more time to thaw, and it won't take color as well.

I used 1 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup solid white vegetable shortening, 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste, a pinch of salt, and I didn't actually measure the sugar, but it was probably about 4 cups.

Once your outline is set and your buttercream is ready, you can start filling in your colors. I had planned out my colors before hand and I knew I would need a lot of white, so I just went in order of "colors that can be used to make other colors" (leftover pink was used to make purple, yellow made orange made brown). There's probably a better way to do it, but this worked for me. Make sure your buttercream is at room temperature, pipe it in (I didn't use a tip, but you can if you need more control)

Now, I specifically chose this design to cover the whole top of the cake, which is why I needed fill in all that white in the last picture. You don't have to do that. It depends on your design and your preference. I just like to do it this way. If your transfer is not going to take up the whole cake like mine, you'll just need to use your background color (in my case, white) to fill in any gaps (like the holes in the "hoot hoot"). Stick the transfer back in the freezer for another 15 minutes.

The last step, which I forgot to take pictures of, is a layer of more white (or whatever your background color is) over the entire transfer, making sure it's smooth and even. This makes sure you have an even base for the transfer. If you skip it, the frosting might sag once it thaws, and that doesn't look good.

Place it back in the freezer and freeze for a minimum of two hours. Once fully frozen, you can flip it onto your cake, or if you're making it ahead, like I did, wrap it up in a few layers of plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer until you need it. I made mine a week ahead, but as long as it's wrapped tight, I don't see why you couldn't keep it in there for 2 or 3 weeks.

Place it on the cake while still frozen, then let it thaw for about fifteen minutes. The transfer is thick, about half an inch thick, so piping a border around the edge helps it look a little more seamless. Of course, I'd never piped a shell border before in my life, so I'm not sure it actually did much to help. Once the buttercream is thawed, you can cut the cake as usual, and watch all your guests try to figure out how you did it.

It's My Very Favorite Gun: DIY Vera Prop

Hey guys! So, I know I kind of unexpectedly took the summer off. I didn't mean to, I just had my cousin's wedding in Florida, and then I got sick, and then I got lazy. *innocent whistling* It was way too hot this summer anyway for serious cooking/baking. I subsisted mostly on rice and frozen veggies because my rice cooker does not heat up the kitchen, so I really had nothing to share with you. But I have some fun stuff planned for Halloween!

I did meet Felicia Day, though, so that was exciting. It was at her book signing, I didn't like meet her on the street or anything. She was super cool and I actually managed to have a coherent conversation with her. (In your face, social anxiety).

The way the signing was set up, I gave my book to one of her handlers, who made sure she had my name before I even got to her, so when I stepped up to her table, she was already signing it and didn't see me right away. I stepped up, and not knowing what to do, I said hi. She asked me how I was, I said, "Good, how are you?" (I was going for coherent, not sparkling conversation, okay?)

She finished up, and goes to hand me my book as she says, "I'm goo-- *gasp* oh my god, I love your shirt!" I was wearing my Knights of Good Guild t-shirt, and I nearly died at how excited she got. "That is an OG Guild shirt, man!" she said, as she got up to take a photo with me. So I told her how Clara was my first ever cosplay, and she hugged me.

Her handler took these pictures with my phone. I didn't know until later that he took this one too.

She told me to tweet her a picture later. As I was about to leave, she stopped me and said, "You'll like the book; there's a lot of Guild stuff in there." And I replied, "Thank you," because that's clearly the correct response, and I stumbled out of there in a fog of fangirly bliss.

Not that it's actually necessary for you to know any of this, but it's so rare that I have cool stories like this to tell people. Also, you should totally read her book, because it's really good and pretty funny.

Anyway, NYCC is this week, yay! (And Felicia Day is going to be there. My mom says I should ask if she remembers me. I find it very doubtful that she would, even if a tiny part of me has decided we're totally BFFs now) The brother and sister-in-law finally watched Firefly about a month ago, after I loaned it to them about a year ago and decided they want to go as Jayne and Kaylee. I told my brother he should get a toy gun and paint it as an easy Vera-like prop. He just looked at me with this perplexed look, so I told him I would do it for him.

This isn't exactly a tutorial, since I really didn't know what I was going to do until it was actually on the gun itself, but I did take some in-process photos, so I can kind of walk you through what I did.

Source

This is the reference photo I worked off of. I knew I was never going to get it screen accurate, but I did want it to be clearly based off of the show prop. So, it's more like Vera's little sister, related, but not the same.

You want to start off with a toy gun. I got mine from Wal-Mart for $10 (it was part of a set with a big machine gun, a hand gun, a knife, a grenade, and string of "bullets"). I forgot to take a before photo, and I can't find a picture of it online, but it was Kid Connection brand, which I think is just basically generic Wal-Mart brand. It was very cheaply made, but that ended up working out better since I could easily cut off extra parts.

The first thing you want to do is take it apart, lightly sand everything down with fine grit sandpaper, and clean it (I did this part in my tub because that just seemed easiest). Wipe it all down with rubbing alcohol and let it dry. When that's done, just spray paint everything with a flat black paint that works on plastic.

The gun I used didn't have an ammo clip, so I made one out of cardboard and craft foam. You'll notice that cardboard and craft foam are a bit of a theme. I painted some of the fake bullets that came with the gun gold and cut a window in the clip so it would look like it was full of them. I just tried to match color and design to the reference photo.

For the muzzle, I used a cardboard tube from a roll of aluminum foil I just finished, I cut it down to a size that looked right, and hot glued it onto the gun. Then I painted craft foam silver, cut out alternating notches, and glued it on top.

You can see that the scope in the reference photo sits on top of a silver bar, which worked for me, because my gun had a handle there I needed to cover. I bent cardboard over the handle, and covered it with silver-painted craft foam. The scope is just a pirate telescope I got from the dollar store painted black.

The show prop had a weird metal piece attaching the clip to the gun, so I recreated that out of more craft foam. Then I painted sections gold and antique copper to add more visual interest. The antique copper paint is by Folk Art, and it was a really pretty color that covered very well, so I recommend it.

I just finished off with some weathering, which was more fun than it should have been. For areas that needed to look more metallic, I dry brushed on some more silver paint. To add some grime, I used some watered down black paint and immediately wiped it off, which is especially effective in areas with a lot of raised detail, or I dry brushed more black paint on. For some "battle damage," which I went a little overboard on, I took a cheap brush, hacked it up so it was uneven, and used it with more silver paint to add random scuffs and scratch marks

Like I said, it's not screen accurate, but I think it ain't too shabby, considering.

Nathan Fillion is also going to be at NYCC, so I plan on telling him all of the weird things people have Googled about him that have lead them to my blog (including "Nathan Fillion singing peanut butter song.")

And because I know you want it, here's Needy McSnuggles, "helping":

 He fell asleep on my open toolbox. And you can't see it, but he's on a bag of screws. Comfort

I put down cardboard to measure and cut, and he immediately decided it was his new bed

UPDATE: I got Nathan Fillion and Jewel Staite to sign Vera! I was a little disappointed I couldn't get Gina Torres to sign it too, but her line was too massive. Nathan recognized it immediately as Vera and said I did a great job on it, before quoting, "it's my very favorite gun." (!!!) So she's officially Mal approved. Jewel Staite didn't say anything about it, but I got the feeling she was tired, and probably didn't make the connection. She was still super nice though.

We were instructed not to take up Nathan's time with extra conversation, since we were at the tail end  of the photographing session, and he had a schedule to keep, but he didn't really pay attention to that and was being his friendly, charming self to everybody (the SIL was fangirling too hard to notice he was being especially charming to her, which is a thing I will never let her live down. EVER.)

Felicia Day did not recognize me, as expected, not that I asked "hey, remember me?" But I brought my Guild Companion for her to sign, so we had another short conversation about Guildie things. She was about to close the book and hand it back to me, when I mentioned how I identified with Codex, and she opened it up again to write "you rock!" So you could say my plans of becoming best friends with Felicia Day are right on track.

So now I have Con Crud, but the fact that Nathan Fillion appreciates my crafting skills and Felicia Day thinks I rock makes me feel a lot better. XD

EXTERMINATE!: DIY Dalek Cosplay

Hey guys! Guess who wins the "best sister ever" award, alongside the "best wedding present ever" award, and is eligible for the "best nerd-themed joint bachelor/bachelorette party ever" award?

That's right, this girl.

For those of you just joining us, my brother got married this weekend. That's right, the same weekend as New York Comic Con. The biggest nerd event on the East Coast. In an attempt to still go, I asked my now sister-in-law if she would like to have a Comic Con bachelorette party. Her answer, of course, was yes (and then we let my brother come along, so it became a bachelor/ette) party. We pulled out all the stops: a limo into the city, a group Doctor Who cosplay, I made TARDIS corsages for the entire party...

The maid of honor was like, "Kim, I didn't know you could do this!"

I told her I didn't know I could do it either.

And a boutonniere for my brother

...out of dollar store flowers and mini papercraft TARDISes (I got them here, just resized them to make them a little bit bigger), and I even bought photo ops and we did autographing, even though that's not what I usually do at Comic Con, I wanted to make sure they had the true con experience.

(Fun fact: when I walked up to Brent Spiner to ask for his autograph, he asked if he could take my picture. Freaking Commander Data asked for my picture! That really actually happened and I have witnesses. I think I may be doing autographing more now.)

The bride insisted that I be a dalek for our group cosplay (so I was unable to just reuse my TARDIS Dress and Top Hat from last year. Le sigh), and you guys know me. Instead of just buying a dalek dress from Her Universe, I had to go and craft it up.

To start with, you want an a-line style dress in any color. I just happened to already have a blue skater style dress that had been one of the TARDIS dress contenders last year that I couldn't return since it had been on sale. I paid about $17 for it originally, I think. I also bought a petticoat skirt to wear under the dress, a cheap costume-y one, to give it a little more fullness. That's optional, but I think it helps make it look a little more dalek-y.

As always, cotton or cotton blends are best for a dress you plan on modding, and always wash clothes first since they are treated with stain resists that will also resist glue and fabric paint

The next thing you want to do is hunt down some craft foam balls, mine were about 3 inches in diameter, but smaller works too. I found them at the dollar store, two to a pack for a dollar. (In contrast, the ones at Michaels around the same size were 6 to a package for $6, so double the price). I bought out their entire supply since there weren't a whole lot left, and you never know if you'll be able to find something again at the dollar store, so I didn't want to chance coming up short. The cashier looked at me funny. The amount you'll need depends on the length of your dress, but I think I used around 15 (30 halves).

Measure the foam balls against the dress to determine the approximate number you'll need (I figured out the minimum and maximum I'd need, so I knew the actual number would fall somewhere in the middle), then using a large, sharp knife, cut the balls in half. (I may or may not have used my big chef's knife to do this. WHAT. My utility knife was too short) The foam balls I used had a seam around the middle, so I used that as a guide.

Now, the foam I was using wasn't very porous, so I was able to skip right to the painting. If you're using a more traditional styrafoam, you'll want to glaze it first using mod podge or school glue thinned with a little water, this way all the paint won't soak into the foam. Then you want to buy my new favorite thing: metallic craft paint. It's inexpensive ($1.50 for 2 oz. at Michaels), works on multiple surfaces, and actually does look metallic. I used the gunmetal color.

You're not going to cover the foam balls in one coat, so don't try. It's better to go with lots of thin coats than thick, uneven coats. It took about 4 coats of paint before I was satisfied with the color, and then I went with one last thin coat to cover any last brush marks or imperfections. And the good thing about thin coats was that by the time I finished painting the last foam ball, the first one was dry enough to paint over, so you could theoretically do it all in one sitting.

Watching Doctor Who on Netflix helps make this part less onerous.

I'm liking Pertwee.

While your foam balls are drying, you'll want to take some thick, black ribbon and glue it along the bottom edge of the dress. My dress was rather shorter than I would have liked, so I took the opportunity to add an extra inch to the length. I just took the ribbon I had left over from my TARDIS Top Hat, and lined it up with the hem of the dress. Don't try to glue it all at once, you'll make yourself crazy. Work in sections, and let them dry for a few minutes before moving on to the next section.

If you have a cat, he will want to assist you with this part.

Needy McSnuggles says your costume doesn't have enough cat hair

The next step is gluing the foam balls to the dress. Using the waist of the dress as a guide, space out the best arrangement for the top row. It just so happened that 4 worked for me. Then I took thin, black duct tape (left over from TARDIS Dress) and used that to space out the rows. Remember to put it on an angle to account for the flare of the dress. Then just space out the rest of the foam balls-- columns of three worked best for the length of my dress. Once you've got the spacing right, glue it on there (and remember that tacky glue dries clear if you make a mistake).

Let that dry completely (overnight is best) before working on the back of the dress. It's harder to do the back since you can't lay the dress flat, but it's also more important that the front looks good. :3

Watch some more Doctor Who while waiting for your dalek balls (heh) to dry.

Now all we've got left is the waist. Now, I glued the same black ribbon I used on the hem around the waist, but take the benefit of my experience-- that wasn't a good idea. I ended up having to rip off the back half and I was literally hot gluing it back onto the dress mere minutes before I had to leave. The problem is that the ribbon doesn't stretch along with the dress, so it didn't want to go over my shoulders or around my bust. I thought I had planned for it-- I left room in the ribbon along the sides, but it wasn't enough. So instead you might want to go with black elastic ribbon or just paint it on with black fabric paint. Or hot glue yourself into the dress the day of the con. I am proof that that works.

Needy McSnuggles is judging my inability to account for the lack of stretch in the ribbon.

Now onto the eyestalk. This was the part that I think really made the costume. What you need are 1) a paper towel roll, 2) duct tape (the regular silver kind is best. I had white so I used it and painted it silver. Save yourself some steps), 3) a sheet of black craft foam, 4) a blue LED light, found in the flower arranging aisle at most craft stores (mine was left over from TARDIS Top Hat), 5) scissors and hot glue. My beloved tacky glue just doesn't work out here. I know, I tried.

The first thing you want to do is cut the paper towel roll open and measure it around the LED. You want the LED to fit into it, but not fall through it (please note that in the pictures, I had rolled the cardboard too tightly. I ended up having to redo it. The light should be able to sit in the tube without being held.) Wrap the tube in duct tape, and you're gonna want to cut a couple inches off of it. I found this easiest to do after being duct-taped. Hot glue the light into the tube, being careful to make sure you can still turn it on and off.

Cut a wide strip of the black craft foam long enough to go around the light, with a little bit extra. I found it easiest to cut a shallow curve along the bottom of the strip, so when I wrapped it around the light, I was able to have it flare out a bit, allowing easier access to the light. Hot glue it to the tube, then decorate with more thin strips of foam. I added foam around the top to give it more depth, and very thin strips around the sides, to mimic the look of a dalek eye. Then I just added a little bit more of the metallic craft paint, mostly to cover the fact that I am not a neat gluer.

FYI, cats enjoy lying on top of black craft foam.

And they can't resist getting in the picture.

Make sure to test that you can get your fingers in there to turn the light off and on. PSA: the LEDs are extremely bright, and you're basically making a flashlight, so you may accidentally blind a few people since it will be at eye level. Whoops.

Then hot glue the eye stalk to a headband. Glue a small, disposable plastic cup on either side for the "lights." I had originally intended to put actual lights inside the cups, but I thought I already had the two white lights, and I only had one and no time to run to Michaels. If you don't add actual lights, you'll need to add a counter weight of some kind to the headband. Everything that you use to make it is so lightweight that the LED at the end of the eyestalk made it kind of top heavy. I had to keep readjusting the headband all day. Or you might be able to get away with using a heavy duty headband.

As it was, one of the faux lights fell off, so I ended up taking the other one off as well. I'm sure that didn't help the weight disparity either

Fun story: I did a photo op with Stephen Amell (I was buying one for my brother with William Shatner when I thought, ah, what the heck, I'll treat myself), and when it came to be my turn, he jumped back and went "aah" all joking like, then he told me I looked great, and put his arm around me even though we'd been instructed that Stephen had asked for no physical contact (which, considering I'd contracted Con Crud last year, I found to be completely understandable) and you can see that my face is red in the photo, and it appears that Stephen Amell is in possession of the singular talent of being able to make me blush in under 10 seconds.

Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) also said my costume was great, and Brent Spiner said I was "a vision" (direct quote. I have witnesses!), so despite being a little slapdash, I'd say my costume was a success.

As for the plunger, there is a Home Depot brand one for $3. It's smaller, with a shorter handle, so it's not ideal for actual plunging, but it's perfect for cosplay. The handle was bright orange, though, so I just gave it a quick sanding and painted it with silver metallic craft paint. I didn't have time to do anything for the whisk arm, but I was kind of happy to have a hand free for side hugs from Stephen Amell. Le sigh

How to Make Monkey Cupcakes

Hey guys! These are the cupcakes that, to my eternal shame, I nearly posted on Star Wars Day. I was just so excited to share this tutorial with you that I almost didn't notice the date.

A few weeks ago, the sister-in-law told me she had signed up to bring monkey cupcakes to a coworker's baby shower. And that by "signed up to bring cupcakes" she actually meant, "signed up to bring cupcakes that she was hoping I would make."

Obviously, I said I would, because YAY CUPCAKES!!! When I asked her if there was a theme, she said it was jungle themed. So I said, "hmm, I might be able to wrangle some monkey cupcakes." And guess what? They were totally easier than I originally thought, so I figured I'd share.

I was inspired by these cupcakes on Persnickety Plates.

Things you will need:
Cupcakes, any flavor (I used my Birthday Cake Cupcakes because they requested vanilla. I just used some cake flour for a more tender crumb, some vanilla bean paste, and added rainbow sprinkles to the batter)
Chocolate Frosting (I used my favorite recipe, but any kind works)
Chocolate sprinkles (one of those tubs they sell with the ice cream works best)
Nilla wafers, 3 per cupcake
Mini marshmallows, 1 per cupcake
1 tube of black gel or writing icing, which can be found in the baking aisle at most grocery stores

Step 1: Frost the cupcakes. I can never frost evenly without a piping bag, so I just snipped off a corner and piped a good blob on top. Obviously, piping is an extra step and not necessary; I just found it easier.

Step 2: Add sprinkles. This is why a big tub of sprinkles comes in handy. If you piped the frosting like I did, you'll want to smooth it out a bit so you get more of a flat top. Then just stick it straight into the tub o' sprinkles, roll it around a bit to get even coverage, give it a small shake to knock off the excess, and now you've got monkey fur.

Step 3: Add the Nilla Wafers. Start with the ears. I usually found a spot that either didn't get enough sprinkles or where the frosting had gotten on to the liner. Basically, take the opportunity to cover up any flaws. Add the ears at a slight angle so you can push them into the cake itself. This way they're nice and sturdy. Add them on either side of the top half of the cupcake.

Take a third Nilla Wafer and add a little bit of frosting to the bottom. Place it in the middle of the bottom half of the cupcake, so it looks like a muzzle. Then take the the black gel icing and add two dots for nostrils and a mouth.

Step 4: Add the eyes. Take a mini marshmallow and cut it in half with scissors. (You may have to reshape them slightly as the scissors will squash them a bit). Place them cut side down (this lets them stick) where you want the eyes to go. Take the black gel icing and pipe a dot on each for pupils.

And that's it. You can have a ton of fun giving each monkey a different expression. Even this non-decorator had no trouble with it. I did this on super-short notice, too, no time to go to Candyland for specialty items. Everything I used came from the grocery store.

These are perfect for a jungle-themed baby shower or birthday party. Or you know, any day of the week.