A Thread For All Uk Bakers!!
Decorating By hailinguk Updated 25 Aug 2017 , 10:29am by Magic Mouthfuls
AThanks to all for the lovely comments. :)
Barbara, your pansies are gorgeous!!! Can't wait to see the cake now!!!!:grin:
Siany, I don't normally colour my sugar paste. Ready coloured are my choice. So I would check M&B as they have gorgeous colours. :smile:
Evening everyone!
Congrats Natt on getting to the next stage!
Ooooo the cakes- all fabulous! Lizzie, Mel, Jo, Nanny- you've done some lovely work (hope I haven't missed anyone out- if i have sorry!).
I would love to get some cake lace but I am queen of indecisiveness- can't decide which one to get. I want them all.
I am pretty happy today because the cake turned out really well. Although I had problems with SPD, I did ok in other areas. I was able to do the upside down method of covering cakes, although not spirit level but got razor sharp edges. I also did brush embroidery for the first time. It's not the most intricate design, but I wanted to start with something simple. It is coffee walnut cake with coffee buttercream. the last photo is to show the flower- just a 'fantasy' one. It was a doddle.
AThank you Bashini.
How did your cake go after? Hate having problems with the icing.
Do you always use ganache under your cake then? Even if its a jam and cream cake?
Bashini your cake is lovely, I really like the green you have used. I haven't tried the upside down method yet but I am planning to this week hoping it is as easy as it looks.
AJean what a lovely green that is.
I love brush embroidery, I havn't done it on a cake it but practised on a cake board once.
When you say upside down covering a cake, what do you mean? How do you do that?
As much as my cakes are ok and most of the time nice and smooth they are need crisp and sharp, always afraid smoothing too much as I get marks and dents, grrr
AI hate the cake Barbara. You really can see the bulges. :-(
Jean, your cake is fab!! Was the upside down method tricky? You have to put the cake in the fridge, don't you?
Barbara, It is upside down because the cake is literally turned upside down onto frosting. So basically you are using the surface of whatever you've put your cake on to achieve the flat top. If you don't mind I'll refer you to the website where I saw the technique rather than me waffling on about it. I'm terrible at instructions!
http://jessicakesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/video-tutorial-upside-down-frosting.html
Those are really lovely pansies! Are they handpainted or dusted? Do you mean you used individual rose petal cutters and then assembled the flowers? Lucky recipient whoever ordered that cake!
Roxylee, yes do try it! Dead easy! So much easier than trying to get the top flat with a spatula. The hard part is getting it spirit level :)
AI do know hoew you feel as if you remember mine was like it the other week, no one will notice I doubt except you, we are all terrible for noticing our own faults.
AJean, I coloured the fondant light purple to start but added gum trag to it first, then got deep purple and burgundy petal dust and dusted them with abit of yellow in the centre and drew the lines on with edible pen, glad you liked them, I cut out 5 small ish rose petals and balled them.
AYep Jean thats exactly what I did and glued them all togther, the bottom petal I raised slightly to dry against a pen, mad eh?
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I hate the cake Barbara. You really can see the bulges.
Jean, your cake is fab!! Was the upside down method tricky? You have to put the cake in the fridge, don't you?
Yes, after crumb coating you have to refrigerate for the cake to set. Otherwise the cake falls apart when you turn it upside down! It wasn't tricky- I found it surprisingly easy!
ACrikey I have missed loads !! Will have to read in full later, as silly as this sounds I need to achieve an aqua blue colour for this weeks cake, is it just a hint of blue and green ???
Jo, I'm fairly sure you have it right- blue and green for aqua blue (or rather add yellow because green has blue in it!). I think wilton has a colour chart for fondant that tells you how to get the colour you want. Google wilton colour chart or something and I'm sure it will come up!
ASorry Jean I meant I used the ball tool on the edges. Sounds like I told them off that did, ha ha.
Jo I have that colour cake to make this weekend too, for hen party with a dress on the top, I cheated tho and bought the colour Sugarflair Aqua, not sure how its gonna turn out.
AThanks petitecat, going to do colouring and the horse figure tomorrow, cake being picked up on Saturday. Nothing as amazing as the last pics on here, I'm in ore of you guys one day I hope to be as good !
Can I ask a favour, can anyone who has a minute take a look at this video and tell me what size they think the cakes are before carved. They seem really oblong so I'm wondering if its a sheet cake chopped. If so obviously that not something we do over here so what size would you think? I am thinking I would need at least 3 layers of a 10 inch round or do you think I would get away with an 8 inch? I don't want the cake to be massive as its for my sons birthday and I want it to serve 35. I know 8inch is 24 servings but was thinking with 3 layers I would get more than that out of it.
Its my daughters communion the week after so there will be more cake then so don't want to be left with loads after his party.
thanks all x
By the time you carve it it won't be a fiull 8 inch, so I would go for the 10 if you only have rounds to use.
As far as carving it is concerned I tend to layer before I carve because it comes out a different size when they are layered together with buttercream.
Do people not skin their cakes before they layer them?
ASiany I think the cake is at least 10" top to bottom, going by the length of the hands against the cake so I'd definitely go for 10" then carve down.
When I've carved before, I stack all the cakes, no filling, then get a rough shape if it's very different from my starting cakes, then I'll fill and layer, then refrigerate to solidify a bit, and then do a final carve to get the actual shape, Natts right once the filling is added it makes the proportions very different.
Good luck though, look forward to seeing it!
AThanks both. This is my back up cake if my wireframe iron man looks like a puddle of red and gold goop lol.
Following his tutorial as long as you get your carve right the decorating in quite simple but I want to be prepared in advance so if my other plan fails I can jump to this. I have a 10 inch round, do you think I'd be better with a 10 inch square? Happy to buy it if I 'need' it but don't want to if I don't. Ta x
AAlways good to have a back up plan ;) If you have a 10" square it might be worth using, if not given the shape of the cake I would think round would be ok.
Jean, love the brush embroidery cake, really pretty colour and the pattern really worked! I've done brush embroidery a couple of times and love it, I found it really relaxing for some reason LOL!
Very pretty pansies too Nanny, love that you repurposed rose petal cutters to make them look more real :)
Right I'm off to bed, night all! :)
ACan I just ask about the upside down method? I'm slightly confused. Do you crumb coat the cake then turn it upside down and then coat again? I always cut the dome off the top of my cakes (if they have one) then turn it upside down before covering so that the flat bottom becomes the top is this the same thing? i
Can I just ask about the upside down method? I'm slightly confused. Do you crumb coat the cake then turn it upside down and then coat again? I always cut the dome off the top of my cakes (if they have one) then turn it upside down before covering so that the flat bottom becomes the top is this the same thing? i
Sugarluva, Yes pretty much. Do what you usually do, but after settling and crumb coating and chilling the cake, then you apply the upside down method. It's when you spread some icing on parchment paper on a flat surface (like a big cake board). Then you turn a crumb coated chilled cake bottom side down/upside down onto the icing you've just spread. Use a spirit level to get the cake level then you start covering the cake, only this time, the cake board is now on top of the cake rather than at the bottom. When you are done, you put the cake back in the fridge to set it, take it out, turn it right side up, then take off the parchment paper. Any holes on the top can be covered in icing, but you should have a perfectly flat top and razor sharp edges.
Gosh I'm knackered! I've been editing my website. Hubby said my photos are too big and it will slow the site down, so I've been changing every single photo on the site for the downsized versions.
Off to bed, night night folks :)
AThank you for explaining that makes sense now I think. When you say start covering the cake though, do you mean with sugarpaste? Or buttercream/ganache? And how do you do either of those if the cake board is now on the top?
AAh just found a video of it. She makes it look very simple. I just imagine mine would be a disaster when it comes to turning it back over! Wouldn't mind giving it a try at some point though. Thanks for explaining!
AIt's with buttercream or ganache sugaluva. Once you have done the sides of your cake upside down put it back in the fridge to set, then when you take it out turn it right way up and remove the parchment paper. The tops covered from where you put it on the parchment I'm the first place.
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Thanks both. This is my back up cake if my wireframe iron man looks like a puddle of red and gold goop lol.
Following his tutorial as long as you get your carve right the decorating in quite simple but I want to be prepared in advance so if my other plan fails I can jump to this. I have a 10 inch round, do you think I'd be better with a 10 inch square? Happy to buy it if I 'need' it but don't want to if I don't. Ta x
Siany, I made a dragon cake and used an 8 inch round cake, chopped it up to get an oblong shape. I used the photo below to do it:
All I wanted was an oval base, and domed top to create the body of the dragon. I had 3 layers of cake plus the domed top. I used the scraps and mixed with buttercream to create the domed top on top of the oval base. The cake, with cake slices within reason, would have fed 20-25 using all of an 8" round cake. I'm sure you can use the 10" round tin and try cutting it up to get the basic oval shape then start carving from there?
Mel, Thanks! Yes I found the brush embroidery quite satisfying. My right hand was a bit achy after though, because I used my piping bottles, rather than a piping bag, to pipe the shapes. Its hard work when you're trying to press hard enough but still control the flow. Bags are better!
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