Sleek Ruffles & Stripes

Today’s featured cake is one of those cakes.  You know the ones that I’m talking about.  The cakes where your where heart takes a little leap and you know instantly.  I am in love!  Maybe it’s the clean lines.  Maybe it’s the bold colors.  Maybe it’s the sleek sophistication.  But this cake has stolen my heart and I know you’re going to fall for it too!  It comes to us from Jessica Harris, of the Jessicakes Blog, and sports her signature graphic style.  Black and white stripes, so crisp and neat, perfectly accented with a petite pink bow.  And then there’s the fabulous ruffles!  Jessica is turning the ruffle trend upside down with this design.  Well, I guess technically she’s turning the ruffle trend on its side.  But you get the idea!  In shades of pink, these ruffles are both vertical and totally modern.  It’s a new day for ruffles and things are looking fabulous!  Join me in swooning over this Sleek Ruffles & Stripes Cake!

Jessica Harris, of the Jessicakes Blog gives us the scoop on her design:

“I love clean, simple and graphic designs! I also love cakes that can stand on their own as single tiers. I enjoy giving my sweet friends small cakes for their birthdays, but a lot of designs need another tier to look complete. So, in my quest for single tier style designs, I came up with this horizontal stripe cake design last summer. I love it on it’s own…especially with that sweet accent bow I can personalize for any party! Now a lot of people might see this design and think, “SIMPLE!? – yeah right!!”, but it can be!! I actually put all the stripes on in one piece, like a sticker, using my wax paper transfer technique so the stripes go on clean and straight!! It only takes me about 45 min. to do the whole thing!!”

Jessica Harris tells us about her sleek ruffles:

“Now that I perfected my sweet little striped cake, I decided I wanted to come up with some additional designs that would work with it for larger parties. I love ruffles…they are SO feminine and so stylish right now.  But, since the stripes are more bold and graphic, I didn’t think a frilly, thin edged ruffle would be as great as a stylized ruffle design.  I created a template for the ruffles and ended up cutting out about 24 that would fit around the cake. I alternated the colors between a lighter pink and darker pink. It’s subtle, but I like that…almost as if they’re reflecting light differently and not completely different colors. I’ve done this ruffle cake twice now and I found the easiest way to put the dragees on is before I put them on the cake! So, after I cut the ruffles out of modeling chocolate, I score my stitching line and place my dragees with a little sugar water. I let them sit out for about an hour, then pick them up and put them on the cake about 1″ apart from each other. It worked beautifully and was SO much faster and easier than trying to put the dragees on after the ruffles were on the cake! I’m a mama to three little ones, so I’m all about fast and simple techniques to make beautiful cakes!!”

If you’ve fallen head over heals for this beauty, you’ll be thrilled to hear that you can now learn how to make it.  Jessica is teaching a class online at Craftsy and sharing all of her insider tips, tricks and techniques!  Not only is she sharing instructions and templates for these stripes and ruffles, but she’s also teaching fundamentals like covering cakes in buttercream, fondant and ganache.  Learn how to get smooth finishes, sharp corners and easily apply detailed patterns with her wax paper method.  You can find her new class, which just launched today, here:

Clean & Simple Cake Design with Jessica Harris

I know what’s on my to-do list this afternoon… learning from my sweet friend Jessica!  A big thank you to Jessica Harris for sharing her incredibly Sleek Ruffles & Stripes cake with us today.  It’s spectacular!

VENDORS & CREDITS
Cake:  Jessicakes
Learn How: Clean & Simple Cake Design with Jessica Harris