Ok, I hope some of you will have patience and bear with me! I am completely new to this, Ive always had an interest in cake decorating....and volunteered to do a baby shower cake for my sister in laws baby shower.

Ive spent hours today browsing for ideas..... but several things have me totally confused.

1.) Can you decorate a buttercream cake with fondant? I read one place where a women said, you can, another said the fondant will be too heavy for the buttercream and the decorations won't stay on...

2.) When doing buttercream you put the crumb layer on--- most places I read say you let that dry possibly overnight before putting the final layers of bc--- but then I read that you shouldnt leave bc out??? Can the crumb layer dry in the fridge? Can someone give me a little direction on this? Are there certain bc's that can stay out, or does all have to be refidgerated?

3.) BC or Fondant??? Fondant to me looks awesome, but it appears most don't want to eat it, and will pick the fondant off-- seems like a waste of hard work?

4.) What is the best bc recipe for a newbie? Same Q for fondant?

5.) What is the viva method? I like the look of smooth cakes, how do you do it using bc?

6.) Am I in over my head to take on this task when really I have no cake decoarting experience... just the desire and creativity to try?

Any ideas on a very cute but simple baby shower cake? She is having a girl.

THANKS in advance!!!!

Hi there, and welcome to CC!!! Here are my answers to your questions:

1. Yes, you can decorate a buttercream cake with fondant. I've put fondant dots, stripes, etc. on the sides of a cake iced with buttercream and have never had problems with the decorations falling off.

2. If you do a crumb coat, you don't have to let it dry overnight ... you can put the final coat of BC on right away. What kind of BC are you using? If you are using all-Crisco BC, then you don't need to refrigerate it at all. If you use BC with butter in it, I think there are different opinions about whether or not it needs to be refrigerated. I use all-Crisco BC, so I don't know the definitive answer for BC made with butter.

3. BC or fondant ... this is an age-old question. I guess it depends on the type of fondant you use. I think Wilton's fondant tastes awful, but Pettinice, Regalice, or Massa Grischuna taste great. I've never tasted MMF, but lots of CC'ers love it. There are lots of people who don't like fondant, but there are plenty who do like it. Since there is a layer of BC under the fondant, you can please everyone, because the fondant can be peeled off by those who don't like it.

4. Here's my BC recipe. It always works great for me.

2 cups Crisco
2 pounds 10x powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
3 T vanilla
1 T butter flavoring

Mix all ingredients in a mixer, scraping sides and bottom of bowl frequently a few times. Let mixer go for 5-7 minutes. That's it!

I mentioned my favorite fondant brands above. The recipe for MMF is in the recipes section of CC.

5. Here's the link to the How-To for the Viva method: http://www.cakecentral.com/article10-How-To-Create-Faux-Fondant-The-Paper-Towel-Method----Viva.html

6. I don't think you're over your head. You have the desire and creativity, so I think you can do anything you put your mind to! I say go for it, and have fun!!!


If you do a search for baby shower cakes in the photo gallery, you will see lots and lots of great ideas!

I hope I have helped some, and I wish you lots of good luck! Keep us updated on your progress towards your SIL's baby shower cake!

Welcome to CC Darlene!

1. Yes, you can decorate with fondant on a buttercreamed cake. The only time you might have a problem with decorations falling off is if you try to stick something large and heavy on the side (like a large 3-D rose), otherwise....no problem!

2. If your BC doesn't have any milk or other perishable ingredients in it, it can stay out! If it's just powdered sugar, butter and/or shortening, water, flavoring.....it will be fine! Once a cake is iced with buttercream, it won't dry out overnight because the icing seals the moisture in. If you just have a thin crumb coat on, I would probably keep it in the fridge overnight just to be sure.....But like jess said, it doesn't need to sit as long as that before you put the final coat of icing on.

3. Fondant (at least MMF - recipe on this site) tastes great! As long as it is rolled THIN - like 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch.

4. Any crusting BC recipe on this site is great!

5. Viva method - my advice, take some time and read some of the threads on it.....they are invaluable! Do a search in the forums under "Viva" or "faux fondant".

6. You can do it! Good luck!

Welcome to Cake Central. I think the answers above are what you are looking for. Good luck on the cake and be sure to post photos!!

Cindy

Welcome! You have been given great advice! Just wanted to add that you can leave a buttercream out that has small amounts of milk/cream safely for a day. The recipe I use came from a reputable baking rescue webiste.

For the design of the cake some of the most simple things look the best. Don't go crazy if the icing isn't perfectly smooth. Since you aren't familiar with decorating you might try making some marshmallow fondant and roll pink and white balls of fondant to use as a border that way you don't have to buy any tips at this point. You can cut strips of pink fondant to lay on the cake vertically. Then using the wilton premade fondant (since it dries harder than MMF) you could make a bow for the top of the cake! Bows are made in sections, dried and then assembled and left to dry again. But that could make for a simple design sure to wow the party guests and with the vertical stripes on the cake it will cover alot of icing imperfections! And it is pretty fun to play with fondant to boot! I have some with stripes in my pics. HTH

Just wanted to say hi and welcome to your new addiction

Welcome Darlene. Yep, looks like your questions were answered above. I have a baby shower cake (the onesie cake for a boy) that is frosted in buttercream and decorated with fondant baby clothes, onesie, and baby booties in my photos as well as on my web site if you'd like to see how one looks. I use Italian Meringue Buttercream so it does have to be refrigerated but served at room temperature. Good luck in your cake decorating venture and remember we're always here to help you out!
Jacqui

Welcome fellow newbie!! You will learn so much from this site. I find myself as much as possible and have learned a tremendous amount just from reading these type of threads.

Cakesbyjess - in your bc recipe you called for milk - do you keep this non refrigerated? My recipe has no dairy at all in it so I can easily leave it out. However, I would like to try the one you posted. Thanks.

kycake ... Yes, I store my BC at room temperature. I know it sounds crazy, since it has milk in it. Back when I took the Wilton courses several years ago, my Wilton instructor said that it was ok to leave BC with milk in it out of the frig ... something about all of the sugar keeping the milk from going bad. I've never had any problems with the icing going bad at all.

My fav B/C recipe has half butter/half shortening and a couple of tablespoons of heavy whipping cream, I have left it out a couple of days and never had any problems with it.

By the way...Welcome Darlene, I am new to all of this as well, but I would say practice, practice....I am improved about 100 times over since I started (but still have a long long way to go).

Welcome Darlene,
I concur with all of the above. Use the search for more thoughts and ideas. The galleries are really fabulous for ideas as are bakery sites online. Just remember to have fun and don't let it stress you out! We all started at the beginning and all are still learning!
PennySue

A HUGE Thank you to everyone!!!!!!!

I can't believe how welcoming this forum is... I was expecting most to laugh at me, no experience.. and trying to tackle a cake for public viewing LOL

I have until September 2nd, so Hubby & I plan on practising the next few weekends...

Im SOOOO Excited!!!!!!!!

A few more questions....

Do you use liquid or powder food coloring? When in the fondant making stage does it get mixed in... when your making it? Or does it get added when you have a batch of set white fondant? Does it blend easily then?

Any good fillings, that would stand up to the heat--- Im in Arizona, so heat comes into play when transporting my cake.... will be a 30-45 minute drive in an air condition vehical.

Also, how do I locate a cake decorating store nearby, any chains? Anyone from AZ that might now? I know craft stores sell stuff, but I figured if there was something more specific to cakes?

Also, I figure my test cakes will just be a box cake.... what about the final product--- go with a recipe, or just use boxed???

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!

I dont "do" fondant yet, but I will answer as many questions as I can.....1) I use a coloring gel/paste, comes from the craft stores by Wilton (We have Michaels, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's in my part of the country) liquid colorings will thin your buttercream. You only dip a toothpick in it get a tiny bit on it and mix it into your icing (small amounts at a time--unless you are going for red). Also the color will somewhat deepen overnight.

I have only used boxed cakes so far....I think most of us do. Many use doctored up boxed mixes but I cannot really help you with that part. If you go to recipes you will find many recipes for fillings. I would caution you to make sure you know if the filling requires the cake to be refrigerated or not.

As far as coloring the fondant I think it would be a whole lot easier if you do it when it is still a liquid. Just add it to the marshmallos before yoou add all the sugar.

And the type of food coloring I use is a gel you can buy wiltonts brand in craft stores like Michaels and Acmoores. I do believe that gel is the most popular type of food coloring used when decorating cakes.

And if you are more comfortable using boxed cake mixes use boxed, but if you have a scratch recipe that yourgreat at and have consistent results then do scratch. It is all in what you prefer. I use a doctored box mix recipe that I love because the results are very consistent.

Hope that helps it is always nice to be able to answer a few questions instead of ask them.

Hi and welcome to this awesome place!

I've been making MMF for a little while now and if you are going to use a lot of one color, then add the gel color in the liquid stage. If you would like to make a few differnt colors to work with, then add the gel color after the MMF is finished. Just knead in a bit of color at a time. It really isn't that hard at all. Just keep your hands greased with crisco while you are doing it.

I only use doctored cake mixes. They always turn out great.....add taste good too!

This site is great for purchasing supplies....as well as many others out there.

Have fun!!

I would highly recommend the Americolor gel colors they have on sale here. I will never use wilton colors again unless I am desparate after using the Americolors-they really are that good!
When coloring fondant that is already made,it takes a bit of kneading to get the color completely mixed in but not exhausting work.

A whipped ganache filling holds up pretty well and is strudy enough to go unfridgerated overnight.

Use whatever recipe you are comfortable with-that's where you'll get the most sucess. I don't experiment for important things! I send the experiments to school with dh!

Welcome to Cake Central, you are going to love it here!

You will learn so much! and get so many ideas!

Good luck on your SIL's baby shower cake, I know you will do GREAT!

and remember.....Post Your Cake when you're done!

Thank you all again!

Im sure I'll have a billion more questions as I go, but Im just so amazed at the warm welcome and responses.

We have Michaels & JoAnn's--- Actually there is a JoAnn's on the way home, so I may check that out for my supplies.

I have the plan of what I want to do in my head (I spent like 3 hours yesterday browsing the baby shower gallery--- soooo many cakes LOL)... we are keeping it relatively simple, esp for my first cake.... and I have 2 weekends to practise, so I think this weekend we will practise making a cake w/ all fondant--- and next weekend try Butter cream w/ the viva method & decorating w/ fondant and see what we like the best....

Then the morning of September 2nd will be busy!

Im so excited!

Enjoy making your practice cakes ... that can be a lot of fun! Looking forward to seeing pictures!! Good luck!!!

Everyone has already done a wonderful job of answering your questions, but I just wanted to say welcome to CC Darlene!!

I also wanted to say that if you use a box cake mix, no one will know the difference if you doctor it up. Some people already mentioned that they use doctored mixes, which is what I do. In case you're not familiar with it, you'll follow the directions on the cake mix box but with the following alterations: Substitute milk for the water, add a container of pudding (I just use a Snack Pack of whatever flavor the cake is), and add one more egg than what the recipe calls for.

It turns out incredibly dense and moist, and people ALWAYS tell me how good it tastes (I don't tell them they're eating Duncan Hines! Lol). I made the groom's cake for my wedding this way, and actually had people comment that they liked my (box mix) cake better than the homemade wedding cake.

Good luck with the shower cake, and again, welcome!

Just wanted to say good luck and Welcome to Cake Central.

I agree with dodibug....although I baked my son's birthday cake the day before his b-day, I waited until the day of his birthday to decorate it (did I mention I also scheduled first b-day pictures as well)!!! I was so stressed out and near tears most of the day that it wasnt until the party was underway that I got to relax...the cake turned out fine, but in retrospect I would have done it the day before (and am planning on doing that for my nieces b-day coming up).

Dodi,

Thanks for the tips!

I planned on baking the cake Friday night, and making the fondant/frosting that same night..... then icing and decorating Saturday--- the baby shower won't be until late afternoon, and I work full time so won't have much time during the week to get things done. I'll have a good 6 hours or so to frost/decorate etc on Saturday..

Think that will work? Should I make the frosting/fondant Thursday night instead? same with the cake... or will one night for those be fine?

You should be able to tell by doing your practice cakes whether or not you have suffient time (dont forget to allow time for you to clean yourself up after getting the cake done). I would just leave even more time for the real thing, I am still in Wilton course II but it seems like all my cakes for my classes sometimes come out better than the ones I do for something (perhaps thats just the nervousness level)!

It won't be a huge cake, and we are keeping it pretty simple... so I think seeing I don't have to have it done until like 2-3pm, that if we start at 6am--- normal waking time we should have the cake decorated in plenty time... but then again, yup thats what our practises will be for...

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!
I am new to all this myself, but i happened upo this site a few months ago, and got "sucked in" lol its so addicitve. The people on this site are so knowledgeable and so caring and will help you with anything. i know that i had never really decorated cakes until i found this site and went crazy making cakes i was so exited. now i am taking a wilton course and had my first order cake last week.. all thanks to cake central.lol as far as the recipes go, check out the recipes section of this site. if you find it here its probably good. i use dr'ed cake mixes too...have only tried a few from scratch. they are much easier, especially since you like me and just starting out.... you will def become addidted here. and yes the people here are very welcoming. good luck on your cake and let us know how it goes!!!!!!!

Q about the doctored cake mix--- if you add the milk, extra egg & pudding cup--- does the baking time need to differ from the box?

It is a wet pudding cup right? Not a dry pudding mix you add?

I think you can add either the wet pudding cup or the dry box mix, but I add the already-made pudding cup myself. The baking time usually does increase slightly, but I'm not totally sure on how much time as I usually do several boxes of mix at once due to the size of cake I need. I think my oven may be a bit off as well because I always tend to have to bake 10 minutes longer than the directions say.

I'd just check on it when normal baking time is up and then every few minutes after that until it's done (not jiggling and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean). Sorry I can't be of more help than that!

Ok next question (You guys having fun yet? LOL):

I want to do a 2 tier cake, round.... won't be a huge cake...

I looked quickly through the gallery to find an example... so kind of like this cake...

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-photos_display_12_-55979.html

(Hope that works)

I know nothing about stacking.... my wedding cake was interesting, it was 3 teired, stacked right on top of each other... it was a beautiful cake... the lady who made it, inserts cut straws into the center of the cake to add strength integrity.....

Can you stack the top layer directly on the bottom layer if you strengthen it like that?? Or does a board have to be used under the top peice?

I hope you can understand my question.... pretty much can you just stack one cake on top of the other??? Or how do I go about stacking like the cake example I showed above?

Thanks for being patient with me.