This technique begins with a fondant covered cake. I first brush the cake with vodka to get rid of any excess cornstarch and to ensure a smooth and flawless surface. Let the vodka dry completely before moving on to the next step. This should take about five minutes.

Mix your gold “paint.” I used some Super Gold Luster dust, a tiny drop of chocolate brown gel color and some Wilton copper dust thinned with a small amount of vodka to get it to a thin, easily paintable consistency. The brown and copper tones down the color and gives it an antiqued quality. You can eliminate the chocolate brown and/or copper if you prefer.

Using a flexible brush, apply the gold to the cake in a random pattern similar to the photo. Just smudge it on and don’t worry about making the shape perfect. In fact, all the shapes should be slightly different. Don’t over-think it!

Next, mix up some black or chocolate brown gel color and add a little vodka to thin it.

Paint the black color over the gold spots in a random manner like so. Again, don’t over-think it. Wiggle your brush a little to give it a more natural look. You don’t want it to be perfect.

Next, paint more black spots on the cake in the bare areas.

When you finish painting on the gold and the dark spots and they are completely dry, dip a wide, flat brush in your remaining gold paint that has been thinned with more vodka since it is probably dried out at this point. A fan brush is better for this but any wide, flat brush will work. Just make sure to fan the bristles out and ensure that the brush isn’t too wet, just slightly damp. You may want to blot your brush on a towel to ensure that it isn’t too wet. Using a back and forth motion, lightly swipe the damp brush across the cake while turning the turntable in one direction to blur and smear the spots. This gives the cake a more natural look.

I hope you enjoyed my first ever tutorial! You can find my newly launched Facebook page here: http://facebook.com/customcakesbykendra

COCA-COLA CAKE (Adapted from Garvin County Extention Homemakers Recipe Book – 1980)

Preheat oven to 350. Place liners in a 12-cup cupcake tin. (The original recipe calls for baking it in an 8 X 8 X 2 pan.)
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Whisk together and set aside.

In a saucepan, heat the following until fully melted:
1/2 c. butter (1 stick, unsalted)
1/4 c. marshmallows
1 tsp. cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 c. Coke (I used Cherry Coke)
(Plus, I added the juice from about 1/2 a jar of Maraschino Cherries. The rest of the juice will go in the icing.)

Add wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.

Lastly, stir in:
1/4 c. buttermilk
1 slightly beaten egg

This recipe makes one dozen cupcakes and can be easily doubled. The cupcakes can be frozen as well, so make a double batch and have some for later! I would frost them after they’ve come to room temperature, though.

CHERRY BUTTERCREAM
With an electric mixer, blend:
2 sticks butter (you can use 1 stick of butter and 1/2 c crisco to make it more stable)
Juice from the reserved 1/2 jar of Maraschino Cherries)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

When butter/cherry/vanilla mixture is smooth, add in:
~ 4 c. powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. You can add more or less sugar to get the consistency you want.

After frosting, place a single cherry on top of each cupcake.