[quote="LisaPeps"]http://www.thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=413&osCsid=6qvtpk71jlv30q2a65b1b5ia37

They were selling them at the show for £20... although I saw a woman just take one off the shelf and walk off with it... appalling.

I bought mine about a month ago, though I haven't used it yet. I didn't want it to risk messing up my fondant on the show cake.
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I bought my Mat well over a year ago and would thoroughly recommend it for rolling out as the sugarpaste doesn't dry out and it makes positioning over the cake much easier. I have had some problems with "pockmarks" which Kathy from Sweetwise talks about on one of her YouTube videos. I did discuss this with her at the show and she told me they have modified the material the Mat is made from and she gave me a new one to see if that resolves the problem. That's what I call customer service!
Even with that I love it as I can smooth out any imperfections with a light coating of icing sugar on a smoother.

Disgusting that someone would steal something - don't know how they can live with themselves..

Congratulations on your awards ladies - well done!

Well done ladies, those cakes were amazing and your prizes were very well deserved!

I got 'the mat' lately and really love using it, it means the fondant doesn't get ripped or stretched when being moved and make it much quicker to cover cakes (for me anyway as it always took me ages!).

Talking of fondant I've been trying out different brands of fondant and certainly didn't like the silver spoon one I used today and was wondering what everybody else used to cover cakes with?

I use the Tescos own brand or RegalIce. The Tesco sugarpaste has just had a change of packaging so I hope that doesn't mean the recipe or supplier has changed. Yet to try it.

I used to use Tesco but following a recommendation on here I switched to asda so much better to work with I couldn't get to asda the other week and had to get Tesco (new style packaging) and it was just the same quite dry and much harder to cover a cake and smooth compared to asda.
Tried dr otker regalice it's ok....asda still best (and I work for Tesco!!!)

I buy regalice from my local sugarstore now. Used to use Tescos own, then they seemed to change the format of it as it went all sticky and seemed to take longer to 'set'.

well done to all who won a prize and to all that took the time to enter. x

anyone had a go at making your own marshmallow fondant?!

I've made my own marshmallow fondant. I didn't like it as you couldn't roll it as thin, covered well but sometimes had little pick marks. I've also made michele fosters fondant, wonderful to work with, one of my favourites but such a PITA to make. I've made Jennifer dontz' semi homemade fondant, which is also excellent but the ingredients are quite expensive to get hold of. This is my absolute favourite "homemade" fondant.

I'm using Massa ticino tropic at the minute, it's a dream to work with and rolls super thin but I'm not keen on the taste (doesn't matter that much as you roll it so thin) but it's expensive.

I couldn't work with regalice or covapaste, had a nightmare with those.

Haven't tried the supermarket brands yet. But I think the key to making fondant more workable is to add chocolate.

meant to add a friend in US just tried satin ice for first time & hated it, so I guess its to each his own!!

I got some M&B in deep red for the wedding cupcakes I used and it smelt horrid!! And didn't taste great either!
I used the renshaw black for my minnie mouse (which doesn't seem to be very popular on here) and the penguins on my winter wonderland cake and didn't have a problem with it.

What does everyone pay for their fondant and where do you get it from?

I generally buy Renshaw Regalice for around £8.50 for 2.5kg but may look to buy online as this is from a cake store so quite pricey. I believe cakestuff.com is one of the cheapest for regalice/covapaste!

Haven't tried any others as I get on fine with Renshaws, did try making my own MMF but found it went crumbly very quickly before I'd finished working with it so I haven't tried again. Coward! ha ha!

I pay £12-15 for covapaste 5kg and paid £31 today for 10kg of renshaws regalice
I do like the smell of covapaste have to say. M&B love the colours and because they are strong colours but does smell weird to me - like play doh perhaps lol?

I paid about £48 for 7kg of Massa Ticino tropic. The quality of it justifies the price and because you can roll it out so thin, it goes further. I only use it for covering, any fondant details i use regalice. You get it from town and county fine foods (just google it). Next cake I'm going to try 50/50 Massa with regalice.

If you look in my pics, the last 3 cakes (golf, winter wonderland and peppa pig) I did I used the Massa Ticino, IMO you can really tell the difference in the covering of the cake.

Thank you so much for all your replies, I think I might look online now and maybe try some other options. Quite interesting about the asda stuff too, there isn't a store nearby but next time I'm near one I'll make sure to get some to try out. I've tried Sainsburys own brand and wasn't keen though, hopefully the new tescos stuff will be better (if they've changed it and not just the packaging).

Hello!

Been reading some of the posts here. To answer some questions:

Fondant: Regalice is best for covering cakes because they are more stable. However, I've recently tried Covapaste and I LOVE IT! Officially switching to this one now! It is much better when cover large cakes. I still buy regalice though if I need coloured fondants. For emergencies, I use Dr Oetker's (not sure about spelling) fondant, it's good enough. I heard Asda's fondant is quite good too but I haven't tried it myself.

The Mat - if you can covering large cakes on a regular basis, I highly recommend this one. A bit expensive but totally worth the money!

Wonky Cake tins - I came across these (search for "Topsy Turvy / Wonky Square Cake tins 4 Tiers" in ebay) cake tins while searching. I was wondering if anybody has bought/ tried them? Thinking of buying one. I like the convenience of this but I am worried it might not work. I'm guessing baking cakes in these will take forever because it is so deep. Also worried of uneven baking or worse burning parts of the cake.

Hope you can help!

Thanks!

I was at sainsburys yesterday & noticed they now sell Mich Turner ready to roll icing, in a black box, made by silver spoon, its about £3.50 normally (1k) but was on offer for i think around £2.60. I didnt buy as have just bought lots of covapaste, but wondered if anyone has tried it, it is suppose to be madagascan vanilla flavour!

Onto the covapaste, tried it last night, loved it, very stretchy compared to regalice, can be rolled very thinly, covered really nicely, but a very dull finish, I find regalice very shiny in comparison.

Hi everyone, just a quick quesion, do you any of you know how to upload a step by step to the article section please? I tried to find and couldn't find anything.

Hi all, ladies I have a huge ask but this one is going to give me sleepless nights if I don't get some input soon I've been asked to quote on a cake. i'm finding it really difficult to see all the detail on this cake. To me it looks like hydrangea blossoms?? with butterflies? or are the butterflies just on wires? I've posted a photo in my gallery = its the all white wedding cake. However, here comes the crunch as well, they want a quote for this cake in 7 tiers!! Only to serve 160 people though in red velvet so naturally I suggested dummy tiers starting from a 16" round. What honestly would you say a price for this kind of cake would be. A figure jumped in my head but it's hard to really see the decoration really well. Any help on what the deco is and also a rough idea on what you'd price would be so helpful and thank you!

Hi allabout, what a great opportunity you've got. But its going to be an expencive one even though you use styrofoam. My price guide would be between £800-£900 with all the decorations.

I am sure you know how to make the Hydrangeas, but here is a great tutorial if you like to have a look,

http://petalsweet.blogspot.com/2010/01/hydrangea-tutorial-part-one-by.html

And for the butterflies, I would use the Patchwork cutter's butterflies and let them dry completely and stick them on the cake. If you want some of them to go on the flowers, I would wire them.

Here is how you can do them.

http://sugarteachers.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-make-sugarpaste-butterfly.html

HTH.

Hi all you UK bakers,I haven't posted for a while but have been following the thread.

Well done to everyone in the show!!! I couldn't go as it was the weekend of my daughter's wedding and the first time I made a proper wedding cake. It all went really well and since then i have made a three tier baby shower cake and a huge engagement cake so I have been busy caking.

I am now also set up as a business too and registered with the la.

Anyway I wanted to just add to the discussion on sugar paste, I use Sweet Silk from Sweet Success, it is really good and gives a smooth finish and is also good for modeling. I ordered a sample pack of some others and used them all to cover some mini cakes and the sweet silk came out tops on taste, ease of use and looks.

happy caking everyone