A Masquerade Ball for Charity

This weekend I had the pleasure of making some fantastic sugar creations to fit a Mardi Gras inspired charity event held at the local YMCA.  The event was hosted in order to raise money for men, women, and children of this community to take part in Y events that they would not normally be able to because of financial reasons.  What a fun and fabulous theme that I was able to run with.  Well, when I first accepted the position of creating the desserts, my mind went wild.  In the end I decided to play up not only the Mardi Gras celebration (with the cupcake designs) but also create a cake inspired by the more traditional masquerade balls held in Italy. 

left view of cake

right view of cake

fondant Mardi Gras beads and crystal cross accents

hand painted fondant mask #1

hand painted fondant mask #2

hand painted fondant mask #3

I believe I will start with the cake.  This spectacular creation was auctioned off at the YMCA event and was loaded!  At the bottom, I created a cake layer of fleur de lis stamped fondant painted gold to resemble a beautiful, gilded French wall paper.  On this layer I added Mardi Gras touches with the beads draped across one side in both purple and white pearls.  A deep blue,purple and gold Mardi Gras mask was also placed on this layer with coordinating flowers.  On the top layer, I added another Mardi Gras mask in greens and golds with a great deal of piping work.  The pièce de résistance was the more traditional purple and gold masquerade ball mask sitting atop a jesters costume.  The gold beads attached to the color added the perfect finishing touch to this collar and the royal purple feather plumes and crystal cross accents made it over-the-top!  What can I say, except I am IN LOVE with this amazing piece.  It even took my breath away!!

Mardi Gras Cupcakes with hand painted fondant decorations

miniature Mardi Gras fondant mask

miniature hand painted jester hats made of fondant

miniature hand painted comedy/tragedy masks made of fondant

The cupcakes were served after the dinner reception and needed to coordinate not only with the cake but also the overall Mardi Gras feel to the night.  I started with the traditional three colors of Mardi Gras and played off of them.  The miniature Mardi Gras masks were painted purple and dusted with edible glitter.  They rested on blueberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  The green jester hats were painted two shades of green and dusted with edible green glitter.  These decorations sat on a lime cupcake with raspberry filling and topped off with lime infused cream cheese frosting.  The final decoration was the gold comedy/tragedy masks.  These gilded decorations sat on a chocolate cupcake with cherry filling and topped off with a cream cheese frosting.



       “The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.”

                                                     ~ Albert Einstein

I would like to give an extra special thank you to my mom who worked her tail off to help make this event possible.  Without her, I would not have been able to pull this off!!  THANKS MOM!  I would also like to thank my super fantastic friends who came in to help make cupcakes and fondant decorations.  Thank you Amber, Karen, and Michele!!  You are all the very best friends a girl could have!