A

Open it in windows paint, edit the resolution. If you need more details remind me tomorrow ill get the PC out.

AHi all, just watching and reading when I can. All great cakes - you should be proud. Pat yourselves on the back just once instead of getting your magnifying glasses to to look for faults. I have had my 7 year old niece with me this weekend. Saw Mathilda in London on Sat (fabulous production) take young family if you can or borrow one if you don't have your own - well worth it! Discussing cakes - She said, "I can't believe people don't appreciate how good you are." Out of the mouths of babes eh! So how come we don't believe in ourselves?

Anyway back to cake pricing: Agree with all that has been said about how we underprice. Fundamentally we need to get in our heads that our prices are not negotiable without a change in design. I don't negotiate with my hairdresser, I pay for her skills, expertise, overheads etc, etc. But we need to be able to set our baseline accurately and then apply the markup with confidence ( and that is the hard part). Wish I was good at that!

Costing I am good at. I have a spreadsheet set up to do that but it's estimating my time I fail miserably at so ALWAYS end up out of pocket big time!

Cake Lace: just tried my first batch. Instructions said 1 tspn of Part B to be added but all the videos I am seeing say 1/2 tspn. What are you using? I have managed to get it off the mats but am staring at it with emotions crossing between love and horror. How can I get something so lovely but SO FLEXIBLE and STREEEEEECHY on to the side of a cake. Due out this week so having horror premonitions already!!

See- nobody pays for the nightmares do they?

G' night all xx

AI am gobsmacked by the prices of those cakes. That chocolate one can be made in people's sleep it's so simply. Who pays that kinds of money!

I hate services /designers that think they can charge extortionate amounts because of a perceived reputation. Like hairdressers for celebrities - at the end of the day it's still just a hair cut. Granted some hairdressers are better than others but how much can a haircut really be worth! Though I suppose the fault probably lies with the people paying the prices!

Anyway rant over.

Ps. I don't even like that fireman Sam cake I don't like the top of the cake. I'm sure yours will be much better nanny!

AHi Jo, I'm making a christening cake for this wkend too, she wants a white cake with some booties, old fashioned type booties, I made them and even managed to thread ribbon through them, she wants some bunting to and obviously the date, white cake, blue booties, will show you the booties if you want, there are some nice ones about though.

Chasingmytail, thats the only thing I do find the lace very flexible and very very stretchy, I used half tsp, thats what It said to use, the only thing I do find and not sure if anyone else had same prob, was my whisk didn't reach to the bottom of the how'll so I held it up , for 6,8 mins, what did I do wrong there then? I made 4 pieces (practise only) I have the Ophelia mat, very detailed, only few bits broke, I stored them with greasproof paper, grrr.

AOh Nanny I'm sure you're cake will be great after my recent disasters my confidence is very low! This is two tier square like my previous trial, she wants white and pink - well not baby pink that would be too simple she wants like coral pink. Which I have managed to get before with pink and yellow mixed, but just hoping after colouring my sp behaves not like last time! Going to colour it on Thursday.

The botties I will do need to be simple and quite easy as it's me doing them !! Have bought the stitch effect pme tool for edges as think this will be cute, yes please Nanny would like to see yours ...

A[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3241951/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

Heres my booties Jo, like I said she wanted them to look abit old fashioned, havn't finished the bunting yet though.

Coral, oh flip, sounds lovely though and cant wait to see it.

AAh they are lovely and bunting looks great! The cake will have a series of spots on it in respective colour ie white cake pink spots, pink cake white spots. I am doing the large 9" base white as scared of colouring a large area of cake! Board will be pink with white date. This is actually a 'naming day' which is similar to christening..

I think I will try and do my booties tonight so that's another think ticked off this list !

Can I ask for those of you that use tylo added to sp how much do you use? I have found when doing mine that when I add it to coloured sp the colour almost stretches out bit like an elastic band.. I have tried using trex but doesn't seem to help. Maybe I'm adding too much as looking for an instant result, I thought tylo powder was instant or do you add a little then rest it for a while... ? Any help would be appreciated ;-)

Morning

 

Bashini I put the cheap ebay mats in the oven with my cake lace and they were fine, you only have it on low and they are just the same as an other silicone that can be used in the oven. I did prefare the lace that I air dried over night though I don't know if it was because I had rested the icing in the fridge for a while before storeading it or because I air dried it but it seems a bit stronger and was easier to get out of the mats. It could just be because I didn't have much luck with the first batch I did in the oven but I would definitely say rest the mixture in the fridge even if just for ten minutes before you use it mine was thicker consistency after being rested.

 

Nanny love the booties, Can I ask again what cutters you have that makes those letters please. My whisk didn't reach the bottom of the bowl properly Nanny I never even thought of holding it up I just scraped the bowl down a couple of times. Looking forward to seeing your Grandson's cake.

 

Catsmum My Claire Bowman lace says 1/2 tsp for a mix using 42g powder but you can use more if you want a softer lace.My lace I did in the oven is harder to move it feels thinner than than the one that I air dried but they are both able to be just picked up and moved even after me airbrushing it all after it had dried for a couple of hours it was back to the way it was before and able to be moved easily. If you need to you could try putting it on grease proof and the use that to lift it up onto the side of the cake and press it against it.

 

Jo my pot of tylose says to add 1 teaspoon to 250g of SP, If you want it firmer than that just add some more. It depends what powder you are using Jo tylose is instant but I have used cmc and find i have to rest that over night, but but will be firmer if rested. I had this stored in my favourites if its any help to you, it's a booties template and the second one is for girls mary janes but that show's you how to put them together.

 

http://cakecentral.com/g/i/1177659/years-ago-i-wanted-to-make-the-baby-shoes-but-did-not-like-the-baby-booties-for-a-girl-so-my-husband-made-a-couple-of-changes-to-the-pattern-i-got-which-is-now-posted-here-and-came-up-with-this-one-hope-you-like-it-spanish-instructions-posted-on/

 

http://cakecentral.com/g/i/1688588/a/1689585/mary-jane-template/

 

hope it helps.

AThanks Roxy that's perfect exactly the style I need ! Probably going to do a small bow on the top for detail, my tylose is this as attached they are no instructions with it but suppose that's what you get from buying cheap from amazon! Will try to rest overnight then as is cmc. .[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3241965/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

These are the booties I was going to try in white ...[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3241966/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

Jo have a look on the classikool website, they may have instructions on there :) I use gum trag and leave overnight.

nanny they are fab! Glad to see they are old fashioned and not chav trainers.  I have a christening cake to do as a gift for my SIL. Mine is going to be very simple - giraffe model but may use bunting.

 

Question Nanny: Tappits - what basic material do you use - mne never look sharp and I am banging them and swinging the frigging thing around the room and eventually they come out (on the floor!).  Need best tips please.

I need tips to Nanny.

 

Jo I mostly use that same cmc and rest it overnight.I used the blossom sugar art tylose recently that I got with a mould a while ago and that works straight away but think that is more expensive than the cmc. I just mix 250g of SP with it and wrap it well then store in an airtight container so I have some if I need it ready done. Booties are cute will look lovely in white on your cake.

AGood morning!!! Thank you Roxylee. I'll head to Amazon to check on the mats!!!:grin:

AJo, you can use the paste straight away when you add cmc but gum trag you need to leave it over night. But for making something like booties, I prefer 50/50 flower paste and sugar paste.

Chasingmytail, again I use flower paste for my letters and you have to roll it quite thinly. Once you cut the letters, leave it to dry, so it's easy to handle. :-)

Bashini I got mine on ebay from china about £2 each if your in no rush for them they would be cheaper than amazon.

Good morning all!

 

There's a lot to catch up on. Nanny I'd like to know the name of the letter cutters you use as well. They are on my wish list!

 

Ah tappits- I nearly threw them out before but I have the hang of them now. First off, I use gumpaste rather than just plain old SP. Roll out GP(gumpaste) as thin as required. Have a small pile of cornstarch nearby and press tappit onto cornstarch and then tap the tappit () onto counter to get rid of excess cornstarch. Press tappit cutter onto GP. Turn over and get rid of excess GP. Run fingers on edges of the letter you are cutting to get rid of fuzzy edges. Now set tappit aside and make another two letters. This way the first letter you have made is firming up in the tappit before you try and get it out. When getting the letter out, hold the tappit vertically at about 45 degree angle and hit the edge of your kitchen counter with it. Letter should fly out with ease. The other way I get them out is, hit the tappit face down onto the counter, making sure the letter is nowhere near the top that hits the counter. Reshape letter straight away if needed. I always make at least two of each letter to be on the safe side. Brush any remaining cornstarch off the letters and neaten edges with exacto knife if there are still fuzzy bits.

 

I'm looking forward to your finished cakes! Off to have brekkie with squirt then making SMBC.

 

Jo with regard tylose, I add the powder to SP until it's quite difficult to knead if I am making figures and flowers. I tried less of the powder when making some anemones but it took an age to firm up and when I moved it, it broke apart. 

AOoh that's a good price Roxylee. Will check on eBay too!! Thank you!:)

chasing, your wedding cake is in favourites! Well done!

Thanks Petitecat.

ACutters, I cant remember roxy, Bashini has the same maybe she knows, they are abit fiddly, very tiny, I use a scribe to get them out, I find it helps if the sp is firmer and very thin.

My grandson's cake is hopefully easy, ha ha ha, when is cake decorating ever easy, saying that I just covered my first 12" round cake and board, not easy but I'm happy with it especially as it blue black colour, shows up everything.

Bashini I always search then click the buy it now tabat top of search page, then p+p lowest first out of the crop down box and all the cheaper ones from china will be first in your search list then

Thanks Nanny

 

Bashini can you tell me what cutters they are if you know please. 

AWell if I'm honest those are fiddly, but I find these never come out with tapping them ad they are small, but I do find using a pin just to flick the edge up then very carefully praise them out, flatten and beaten, time consuming but I do use these more than any of the others, the funky ones are the best for coming out I find.

Actually now I remember someone on here told me about those letter cutters. Can't remember who and what (sorry!! I've a memory like a sieve). But is this it:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001SSD5L4/?tag=cakecentral-20+cutters

I was looking at those this morning and thought they might be the right ones but wanted to make sure before I spend.

AYep Jean, those are the very ones, well done you.

Thanks Nanny and Petitecat. Now just have to practice how to get them out in one piece without throwing them out the window 

Roxy, lots of youtube videos about using tappits.

Will check them out thanks petitecat. I think last time even though I rolled my paste thin it wasn't thin enough. I managed to get the groovy letters to work ok after a few tries but the smaller script ones were a nightmare, I will try again in the next week or so I might roll the paste with my pasta machine so can get it thin and even.

Thanks Petitecat about being in favorites first time ever and a bit of a shock!

 

The reason I have always used SP for tappits is the colour/shade I'm using.  If using gumpaste then I suppose I'd have to match a colour up.  Or do i assume most people concentrate on using white for lettering?