Mimolo Design

Creative design studio

Masterclass - How to paint a cake

Jemima O'Lone5 Comments
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You will need:

1 x cake covered in sugarpaste

A set of concentrated food colours (I use Wilton colour pastes)

Sugarflair Superwhite (for making pastel colours)

1 x Cake Decorators food pen (I use the Rainbow Dust pens)

2 x food safe paint brushes (with soft bristles)

1 x paint palette or a plate

30 ml vodka or gin for diluting food colours and cleaning brushes

Thyme

Step 1 Cover the cake with sugarpaste and leave to firm for several hours or even over night

Step 2 Practice your design on a piece of paper before you are ready to start painting.  Place your cake on a turntable.


Step 3 Pressing very gently with your food pen draw out your design on to the cake.    

Step 4 Pour a small amount of Vodka into a glass. You can use this to dilute the food colours and clean you brushes.

Step 5 Prepare the paint palette with a small amount of each food colour. You can use the food colours neat from the pot or you can add a small amount of vodka to dilute. To make pastel colours, mix the colour with a bit of Sugarflair Superwhite on your palette.

Step 6 Mix a little vodka with the green food colouring to paint the leaves. You can add a small amount of yellow to tone down the colour.

How to paint a cake

Step 7 Clean your brush in the vodka. Paint the flowers with the yellow and pink food colours. You can mix the pink and yellow to make a peach colour.

Step 8 Decorate the cake with a thyme wreath. Use a small amount of wire to join each stem of thyme together until you have enough to wrap around the cake.

Painted cake tutorial


Tips You can use other clear spirits to dilute the colours, however, vodka works best as when evaporated, it leaves no flavour on the icing.

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Click here to see some more of my Painted Cakes.

Walled Garden Wonders

Wedding Stationery, Styled Shoot, FloralsJemima O'LoneComment

When Chloe from Fox & Owl asked if I would design some wedding stationery for a photo shoot, I knew it would be good. I met Chloe at the Most Curious Wedding Fair and we have have had almost neighbouring stands for the past two years. Her ethereal style and eye for beautiful moments means that her images are always pure magic.

Mimolo Design Wedding Stationery Set

I wanted to create a stationery set with lots of texture - hand made papers and sheer paper overlays. I took influence from from the flowers of Fox & Thorn to create an illustrative, botanical and whimsical design of leaves and subtle flowers.

Redamancy  and The Wedding Enthusiast brought the shoot to life with their styling, full of texture - wool knits, dried flowers and eclectic colours. The beautiful location, Temple Newsam House & Gardens, provided the perfect backdrop for the shoot with rustic glass houses, plush with flowers. 

I was delighted to see this shoot featured on Rock my Wedding with their post named Whimsy & Daydreams In The Walled Garden.  

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Credits

Video Tutorial and Interview blog post on the Bake Club!

Jemima O'Lone2 Comments

To see the full video Tutorial on the Backe Club, sign up to become a member (30 days free) and login to see the video:

http://the-bake-box.com/bakeclub/recipes/cakes/painted-flowers-cake

 

The blog post on the Bake Club:

 http://the-bake-box.com/bakeclub/blog/mimolo-design

When did your business begin?

I started my business about 2 years ago. In the past, I had done a variety of design commissions, from designing some jewellery packaging to painting seascapes for an exhibition. I was then asked to design the stationery for a wedding and started to think how it could be a great idea for a business. In my work life, I was working as a freelance cook. I worked with a great friend, a talented chef who hated to bake! He designated me as the cake baker! After lots of trial and error I began to love to bake! I loved getting creative with the decorating. I was working in Switzerland in luxury ski chalets and was making lots of gingerbread houses and afternoon tea cakes. I then created my first painted cake and realised it could be just like painting on paper - you just can't rub it out if you go wrong!

When I came back to England, my business just seemed like a natural progression. I started building up work and people seemed to respond to it. I haven't looked back since.


What was the inspiration behind your business? Why did you decide to match cakes with stationery?

I love coming up with a design story for each couple. I realised that designing cakes and stationery go hand in hand. A save the date is opening chapter of wedding and the story runs through all the invitations, the stationery on the day of the wedding - order of services, seating plans and place names - and finally with the cake!


Is each design custom made to the bride/wedding?

Most of my designs are uniquely designed for each bride. I like to tell a story in the design that is completely personal to the couple! I could be inspired by the flowers and colours of a wedding, their pets, their passions and hobbies, travel. I have even included a couples custom made Christian Laboutin Shoes into the design! I really like it when I can include some playful humour into a design. I have started a collection of ready made designs for those brides on a tighter budget!

How long does it take to design and bring your visions to life?

Sometimes, thinking about the design and getting inspired can take longer than actually creating the work. Once I am inspired and I start creating, it all flows quite quickly. When it comes to cakes, I usually allow two days for a big cake. With cakes, you have a time pressure and you can't do it in advance. Luckily I like working under pressure!

 

What’s been your favourite design you’ve created?

I painted a cake for a friends wedding and I left the design as a surprise for the bride and groom. It was six tiers and around each tier was the story of their festival style wedding. When she came to see it for the first time, she burst into tears! Tears of happiness, I hope!

However, my favourite design is probably a botanical cake that I painted for Brides Magazine. I also have stationery to match this design.

The painted technique used for the masterclass is really lovely, what’s the inspiration behind drawing designs onto cakes?

I love baking and illustrating in equal measures and I realised that I could combine the two! I am really inspired by florals and botanics and that tends to be recurrent in my designs. I am also really inspired by children's book illustrations.

Do you have any tips for at-home bakers who want to create their own painted cake?

My main tip would be to plan out your design first on paper! Once you start drawing and painting on the cake there is no going back! Also, make sure you leave the cake to firm before you start your design. When the fondant is too soft - your food pen will pierce straight through it!

Come see Mimolo at A Most Curious Wedding Fair in London!

Jemima O'Lone1 Comment

I am so pleased to be exhibiting at A Most Curious Wedding Fair in London! The fair will take place at The Old Truman Brewery, 81 Brick Lane  Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 March 2016. So put it in your diaries! The fair is a creative mix of suppliers and, having been there before as a visitor, it is a real experience! I will be exhibiting as a bridalNEXT! supplier which was set up by Most Curious  'to support and promote fresh, fashion-led, new and innovative talent in the bridal industry'. I am really honoured to be a part of this category and also in the running for the Rock'n'Roll bride award! Get your tickets for the fair here
 

Katie Victoria Logo

Jemima O'Lone1 Comment

I have just designed the logo for wedding and events planner Katie Victoria! The brief was for a floral wreath design for the main logo and then a simplified version using elements from the main logo. You can see the lovely things Katie Victoria does at www.katievictoria.co.uk 

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An earlier proposal for the logo design before we came to the final design...