Birthday Cakes

Hot jelly run-in technique was used for both the contemporary flower decorated birthday cake and the presidential seal cake. 

Hot jelly is made with equal amounts of apple jelly and glucose or corn syrup, brought to a boil and a small amount of  water added to the desired consistency.

The outline of the design is first piped in chocolate onto marzipan or rolled fondant.  The colored jelly is then flowed into the design using a small paper cornet. The mixture is quite hot, so it is necessary to use gloves.

The birthday cake borders are made with chocolate marzipan in two parts.  The first is made by rolling out a thin strip of marzipan and using a straight edge as a guide to cut out the fluted sections with a circle cutter.

The outside border was made with a rolled section of marzipan that has been crimped into place with a decorating tool.