AThanks chasingmytail, ebay's usually the first place I look, saves time and shoe leather!

AI know the flower cutter conversation happened a while ago but I keep seeing you talk about it and now I really want one haha. I especially like the primrose. Where did you get them from? I saw going to attempt to scroll back and find the answer for myself but I'm being lazy and goodness knows how many pages I'll have to reread... :grin:

AI got mine (hydrangea) from ebay. £7.29 free P&P. I hope they sell primroses too cos I want one!

AYou can also pick them in Tkmax, they have some fab things in there, had lovely butterfly moulds the other day.

AArrrggghhh, Got the flower wrong,its petunia not primrose, just saw it on Amazon at £7.95, sorry ladies.

ADo you go to the TK Maxx in Newport or Cwmbran nanny? Last time I went to the Newport one it was rubbish. That was years ago now tho.

ANannycook the one on the right looks like it could be a blossom cutter. I think you can do apple blossoms with this. I will have another look when I get to work cos it's a bit small on my phone.

AMaisie and dayscakes, usually I go to Merthyr retail park, but wherever I end up and theres a Tkmax I'm straight in there.

Another place which is really good for things like this is Home Sense, anyone heard of it, its abut of a spin off of Tkmax, the only one I know of is in Llanishan, outskirts of Cardiff right by three Tax offices, exactly the same lay out as Tkmax, and sell the same cake Dec stuff, worth going honestly as I had a few things awhile ago half price.

AYes I love home sense nannycook. It usually has more choice and a wider range than TKMaxx but I think it's pretty much owned by the same people as it sells the same stuff. There is one in the arndale centre in Manchester City centre - I can't remember where you're all from now if anyone is from round here?

London/Es*** borders - don't think we have Home Sense.  We have TK Maxx but that place gets righ on my nerves - stuff everywhere - worse than Primark!  However, I might go again now I know you are all getting bakeware in there (I usually look for a size 18 top for an hour to find they are all on size 8 hangers! Lol).

Oh dear - seems like they don't like where I live!  (Neither do I really!)  Maybe I should have put London/TOWIE border!

DaysCakes I still would not put the Ganache in the fridge.  I leave it on the bench even when it is 30C.  It's cooled off here this week and we are down to 25C and my cake is doing quite nicely on the bench, waiting to be decorated.

Thanks cazza1 - I will dip my toe in the water soon and make some.  To be honest - it scares me a little bit.  My daughter is very keen that I do a handbag cake soon and I believe that ganache is the way to go since it looks like you can get really crisp edges.  I think my next hurdle will be to find out what sort of quantities are required to cover different cake sizes.

Kathy

A

Wow! Is that dark ganache Cazza? I had a real nightmare at 24C last year with white ganache, I had to put foil on the windows to get the temp of the room down! ...I bet the neighbours thought theyd missed a holocaust warning!!!

oops, I hope I didnt scare you off trying it dayscakes?! It's still the absolute bestest thing in the whole world in my opinion! Especially for 3D cakes!

Yeah, I usually use dark chocolate.  But this week the temps have been between 25-28C and I have been working with white chocolate with no problems.

A

I bow to you! Is that 3:1 or 4:1 maybe? I plan on trying 4:1 this summer :-)

Never made sugar flowers but like the Ranunculus http://www.pinterest.com/pin/16184879883784892/ similar to this one.  What I do like about these is the less frills as I think many of the other flowers look to frilly and unrealisic - this looks fresh, crisp and modern.

Can anyone pass me a link to a good tutorial.  I have seen some done on a Australian cake FB page and they are ultra thin and perfect.    https://www.facebook.com/141238232605114/photos/pb.141238232605114.-2207520000.1396434420./555789357816664/?type=3&theater

Oh Chasingmytail - I like that.  Never done that one before but it does look like you could use the old style tiny round rose cutters rather than the teardrop sort.  I don't know if there are any decent tutorials but there might be one on here perhaps?  When I do flowers I use a ready made petal paste.  I used to make my own but lost the recipe.  It had Dr Wernets denture powder in it! Lol - had a minty freshness about it. :)  If anybody has this recipe I would love to have it again.

Hi chasingmytail - I was wrong about the cutter.  There's a tutorial on here:  http://cakecentral.com/b/tutorial/gumpaste-ranunculus-tutorial

AHi crazy-Gray, for whit choc it's 3:1 chocolate to cream.:-)

Here is one that I made. I use just circle cutters. :) this was my first try....

[IMG ALT="Close up of the flowers - Ranunculus and roses."]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3082810/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

3:1  I should clarify that I do put the cake in the fridge immediately after ganaching to get it really hard before hot knifing and putting the fondant on, but after it is iced it doesn't go back in the fridge.  I always let my ganache set up on the bench overnight.  The one time I put it in the fridge it was so hard it was unusable.  Heaps easier than when I buttercream and have to leave a big space in my fridge for the cake cos buttercream does not cope very well with the heat here.  Neither does ganache or fondant for that matter when we have Summer temps.  I've decided that December, January and February might be good months to avoid cakes.

A

Quote:

Originally Posted by bashini 

Hi crazy-Gray, for whit choc it's 3:1 chocolate to cream.

Here is one that I made. I use just circle cutters. this was my first try....

Beautiful beautiful flowers!

I find 3:1 perfect 99% of the time, it was just so hot one week last summer it just wouldn't firm up on the cake so if it gets hot again this year I'm going to trial higher ratios vs adding pure cocao butter....it will not beat me! lol

I have heard of people using 4:1 when the weather is really hot but have not tried it myself.

Bashini - those flowers are amazing! :)

Thanks Crazy-Gray! :-)

ABashing that flower is beautiful. I don't think I have that much patience for flowers just yet.

A*bashini oops sorry! 8-O

ANo problem. :-)

Thanks sugarluva. Its very easy to make.

AThank you Kathy. :-)

AWow I've got some catching up to do it seems LOL!

Re cake tins, I use Lakeland, Invicta & PME :)

I've got the Blossom cutter sets too, Hydrangea and Petunia but I really want the Frangipani and Lily ones too!

I love your Ranunculus Bashini! I need to practise mine as I have a wedding cake in May that's going to have them on, along with daisies and sweetpeas :)

Will catch up with everyone else's news now, but as requested, here's the Oz cake which I finished and delivered today :grin:

[ATTACHMENT=1604]image.jpg (729k. jpg file)[/ATTACHMENT]