We recently caught up with Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes. Elisa's My Little Pony Alicorn cake lit up the social media cakesphere last month, and when we heard she used Sugar Structures to support it, we had to ask how it went! Read our interview with Elisa and see what a cake pro has to say about using Sugar Structures for a sculpted cake armature!
What's your past experience with structured or sculpted cakes?
I’ve been making sculpted cakes for the last 20 years!
What made you want to try Sugar Structures?
I was tired of having the feeling of crossing my fingers every time I made a sculpted cake- hoping (praying!) that the stars aligned and my cake wasn’t going to come apart while delivering it.
When I knew I was making a pony (ahem, ALICORN…not a UNICORN, not a PEGASUS…an ALICORN people!) I remembered seeing Kaysie Lackey’s Craftsy/BluPrint class and had a feeling the Sugar Structure would make my life way easier…and it did!
How did you customize your Sugar Structure kit to make the design you needed? And what planning/preparation did this involve?
I bought the 4-legged Standing kit but once I started my “practice” run I realized that the character I was making had much higher legs then a cow does. So luckily I also had the 2-legged Standing kit and the extra parts in that kit enabled me to extend the legs. Once I extended the legs I was enjoying the ability to customize by combining the two kits based on the template I made! It was liberating!
How was it working with Sugar Structures? Can you describe the process?
I have to say- the entire time I kept worrying that at some point something was going to go wrong. Let’s just say I am a cup-half-empty girl when I’m working on massive sculpted cakes…and years of experience being stressed. :-)
But I couldn’t believe how easy it was!
The hardest part, honestly, was figuring out where to put the back-hind leg so I could stabilize that part of the kit with 3 holes and drill the screws in. After that, putting the pieces together were pretty easy as I worked against my template. (And I suggest before starting every cake like this that you make a life-sized template.) Every once in a while I needed to get out a wrench to help me screw something extra tight in order to face a part in the correct direction based upon my design.
I also used Zoe’s Fancy Cakes' Unicorn YouTube video and Kaysie Lackey's Sculpting Magic Craftsy tutorial for guidance.
Do you have any advice or someone making their first sculpted cake?
MAKE A PLAN! Whether you are using dowels or a Sugar Structure from Innovative Sugarworks, or building your own- don’t just start doing without a plan. You wouldn’t want to live in a house that an architect just threw together would you??
Would you recommend Sugar Structures to another cake artist?
ABSOLUTELY…in fact I just did! One of my friends was making a cake of a character that is standing on two legs but it is very top heavy. In the olden days I would construct something out of dowels, hot glue, and foam core…now I don’t have to. :-)
Keep your eyes peeled for more fantastic cakes from Elisa by following her online:
Facebook: @elisastraussofconfetticakes
Youtube: /ConfettiCakes
Web: http://elisastrauss.com