Fun plaques to finish cakes - Tutorial Tuesday

There are a variety of plaque shapes out there to use and one of the most fun is the plunger set with the quilted embossed panels. These can be used in so many colour ways and designs as they are, or combining with silicone moulds and alphabet cutters. The following gives some ideas as well as combinations of tools to achieve the example shown. These can be used on cookies as well as cakes

The single plaque plunger 7.5 x 4.5 should be able to be used in all these designs although there may be a slight difference in fitting some of the embellishments

1 Using plaque plunger size 8 x 4.5 cm from the set of four plaque cutters cut a black embossed shape from gumpaste or stiffened fondant.

2 Paint the embossed lines if you wish to highlight them. Here I have used a mix of the gold's from the metallic paint range. It is easier to paint by lightly rubbing the side of the paintbrush over the raised edges rather than directly trying to paint the thin lines with the end of the brush. Any mistakes can be cleaned up with a cotton bud dipped in vodka or similar alcohol. The frame edges were also painted

3 Using the curlicues cutter make two of each shape and glue them like so to make a frame for the plaque. Once the curlicues are painted the plaque frame blends in with them to add extra depth.

4 Letters can now be added if required - this plaque will easily hold two alphabet initials around 15mm high or less of whatever alphabet type you have available

5 Using plaque plunger 7.5 x 4.5 cm cut a white shape from gum paste or stiffened fondant. This can be embossed with the quilted panel if you wish. Also mould the large bow in the "ribbon bows" silicone mould out of pale pink gumpaste and cut the letters BABY from the clikstixs range from a mixture of "small uppercase" and "small lowercase" or all uppercase

6 Glue together as shown

7 Using plaque cutter 7 x 4 cut required plaque shape. Using the Wilton baroque mould, make the following shapes 2 left and 2 right of the scroll shape. They are the ones shown left (partially) and right directly under the string of pearls at the top of this photo

8 Stretch the curl out as shown and glue to the frame of the plaque, curling the ends where needed to make sure it wont overlap with the curl on the other side once its placed into position.

9 Make a left and a right of the smallest baroque curl and glued them in this position

10 The frame was then painted with a mix of the metallic gold paints

11 Another mould with so many combinations and small embellishments is this one the "tiny decorative features" mould. The pearl string makes an ideal border embellished by the shapes as shown. The small bow can also be used or make a border using one of the flower designs for a pretty alternative.

I hope this inspires you all to further ideas and designs, we would love to see what you come up with!