Feeling Brave And Put 3 Of My Past Cakes In The Gallery!
Decorating By Babbo Updated 7 Jan 2014 , 11:46pm by MBalaska
You might be a hobby baker but your work looks professional so I don't think anyone is going to be harsh! Great job on them!
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You might be a hobby baker but your work looks professional so I don't think anyone is going to be harsh! Great job on them!
Ahh thank you so much ;-)
Although I am yet to make a round cake smooth. It is always lumpy, I want smooth crisp edges ;-( any ideas?
That's why I always opt for non smooth options lol.
AWow the cakes are amazing!! How long have you been making cakes for? There are so many fantastic tutorials on YouTube on how to make a smooth round cake, you are so talented I don't think that it will be too hard for you.
Alovely cakes Babbo!! :-)
How do you mean lumpy? Three different but common causes are:
1: Air bubbles: 2 causes: 1a Icing a cool cake: the air traped inside after icing the cake expands as the cake warms to room temp: solve by either creating tiny pin holes in your fondant for the air to escape or allow your cake to get to room temp before icing. 1b The weight of the icing slightly compresses the cake squeezing air out from inside the crumb: solve by putting a tile and a weight equal to the weight of fondant you plan to use on top of your cling wrapped cake over night.
2: uneven/ too soft/ too thin crumb coat. Try the upsidedown method (google = lots of tutorials) and use a crumb coat thats nice and firm at room temp, if your filling is super soft you can use a different 'filling' to crumb coat with: Ganache works great as does a high sugar-to-fat ratio buttercream. soft fillings move about under the fondant as you try to smooth it it's infuriating!
3: filling bulges: the weight of the fondant squeezes the filling out around the edges making ugly side bulges. solve using a thicker filling like ganache, or use a dam: a thicker filling piped in a ring around the edge of each layer done before adding your usual filling.
I actually don't see any of the above issues in the cakes you posted but hope that helps! :-)
Gray
but doing the best with what we have is how a successful cake decorator rolls--
well done--
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Wow the cakes are amazing!! How long have you been making cakes for?
There are so many fantastic tutorials on YouTube on how to make a smooth round cake, you are so talented I don't think that it will be too hard for you.
Thank you I didn't expect positive feedback ;-)
I have been doing cakes on and off for just over
a year.
I have just been asked today (Tuesday) to make a cake for a friend on (Friday night)...
Can I please ask... what day would you bake the cake?
and then how long after would you decorate it?
Thank you in advance... I think I may end up with bumpy edges as I put the fondant on too quickly after crumb coating it with buttercream?
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3: filling bulges: the weight of the fondant squeezes the filling out around the edges making ugly side bulges. solve using a thicker filling like ganache, or use a dam: a thicker filling piped in a ring around the edge of each layer done before adding your usual filling.
I actually don't see any of the above issues in the cakes you posted but hope that helps!
Thank you for your help ;-)
I seem to get away with it with novelty cakes as I can hide the side with decorations, its on simple round cakes, plain ones with no room to hide. LOL
Reading your advice I think its point 3 I am doing wrong ;-( I bake a cake wait for it to cool, fill it with jam and buttercream.... coat it with a crumb layer then wait only an hour before putting my fondant on.
Should I be waiting longer? I've read people bake cakes 3 days before they are needed? Will my cake go dry?
My sides end up being more of a bowl shape than a neat circle.
As I say it doesn't matter too much as they are just for friends and family, but I would love to be able to do a plain (wedding style cake) just for personal satisfaction. ;-)
Sorry to ask a question when you are looking for answers ..... but if you don't mind (lol , you could consider it a big compliment )........... how did you achieve the bluestone effect on the castle cake? That is the effect that I have been thinking about using on my daughters cake and I have been trying to come up with a method of achieving the look that you have on yours. Thankyou very much.
A
Original message sent by Babbo
Thank you I didn't expect positive feedback ;-) I have been doing cakes on and off for just over a year.
I have just been asked today (Tuesday) to make a cake for a friend on (Friday night)...
Can I please ask... what day would you bake the cake? and then how long after would you decorate it?
Thank you in advance... I think I may end up with bumpy edges as I put the fondant on too quickly after crumb coating it with buttercream?
I think that I would bake the cake Thursday, let it cool and then fill and crumb coat. I would leave it to set overnight, and then cover with fondant and proceed with whatever decorations you want to add. I think it all depends on how elaborate or simple the cake is going to be, I've read on here that many people like to bake in advance and freeze the cake but I haven't tried that yet so I can't advise much on this. But I would say leave ample time after icing the cake- let it sit atleast three hours before covering with fondant. HTH
If you go to craftsy.com there are a couple of free classes, one on buttercream, one on fondant that may help you to achieve what you want.
AThank you everyone for taking the time to reply! I think I understand where I am going wrong now so I can keep improving ;-)
Ahow did you achieve the bluestone effect on the castle cake? Hello thank for the compliment ... I used a grey fondant and then used a small circular cutter to imprint in slightly to give it texture. I used a blue food colouring on a tiny piece of sponge to add colour to random places and a deep grey to add a different shade too ;-) it's really simple yet effective x
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