Ruth Rickey is a former lawyer, administrative law judge and bakery owner. Ruth was named the top Bakery Manager in the world for the IGA stores (3200 stores in 31 countries) in 1999, then opened Ruth’s Sweete Justice Bakery in 2000. Ruth closed the bakery at the end of 2011, so that she could focus strictly on teaching and judging. Ruth began a custom product line of cutters, veiners and dusting powders under the name Sugar Gypsy and has started an educational blog called SugarZen.
Ruth has been seen on all 3 networks that have cake programming. She won WE tv’s Wedding Cake Wars, she assisted Pat Jacoby’s team twice in their victories on TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off and she has been featured in 3 different Food Network specials about the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show. Her cakes have graced the pages of national and international publications for years.
Ruth was given The Sweet Life Hall of Fame award at the National Capital Area Cake Show in Virginia and the Cake Support Award at the Cake Masters Awards in Birmingham, UK. She is also one of only a few dozen ICES Certified Master Sugar Artists in the world!
Ruth has taught all across the US and is now teaching and demonstrating internationally.
Today, Ruth is going to teach us how to make this stunning holiday cake using stenciling, ruffling, and hand painting techniques.
Start with a cake in your chosen size already covered in fondant. You can use Sugar Smoothers to smooth the fondant and get crisp edges.
Put a thin layer of shortening on a non stick mat and roll out your fondant or gumpaste on the shortening coated mat. I used Sugar Gypsy's Silicone Baking Mat.
Trim the fondant and turn the paste sticky side up. Then, place your stencil on the sticky paste. I used the Ho Ho Ho stencil from 2T Stencils.
Using a soft brush, dust the stencil with petal or luster dust. Luster dust grabs better and is less likely to smear. I used red petal dust.
Remove the stencil and trim the fondant into strips. Attach the strips to the cake, like ribbons on a gift box.
Next, cut out scalloped circles in red gumpaste. I used Choco Pan red gumpaste and a standard plastic circle/scalloped circle cutter set.
Using the pointed Sugar Shaper, ruffle the edges of the scalloped circle. I used the light blue sugar shaper, regular size, in soft. To ruffle, use your dominant hand to turn the shaper quickly back and forth, while using pressure from a finger on your non dominant hand to maintain consistent pressure.
Repeat with three smaller scallops. Attach each scallop, larger to smaller, in the center where the ribbons meet. Use a brooch mold to make a decorative sugar brooch to place in the center of the cake. I used Brooch 4 from my Brooch collection at Sugargypsy.com. Paint the brooch as desired. I used non-toxic gold metallic luster mixed with lemon extract on the facets of the brooch and used Super Pearl luster dust mixed with lemon extract for the stone.
For the border, cut out small scalloped circles in red gumpaste and ruffle as before. Scrunch the circles and place at the base of your cake.
Now stand back and admire your creation! This cake is an elegant and festive addition to any holiday event!
We hope you enjoyed this instructional by Ruth Rickey! You can follow Ruth on Facebook, subscribe to her Sugar Zen blog, or visit her online at RuthRickey.com and SugarGypsy.com.