cake making and baking - ALL WELCOME

[sapphire1]

Ouch Jenkins! I love that cake, looks amazing! I was watching octonauts today and said to DH they would make cute cupcake toppers.

 

[jenkins]

Ouch Jenkins! I love that cake, looks amazing! I was watching octonauts today and said to DH they would make cute cupcake toppers.

They were surprisingly simple too, when I was doing the moshi monsters models I felt like throwing them at the wall lol

Xx

 

[FlowerFairy]

jenkins that is amazing!!! x

 

[midori1999]

Lovely cakes ladies.

Jenkins, your cakes are fantastic and very neat. Your modelling is great too. I hate modelling personally and as a result I think I'm crap at it...

I have taken the plunge and set up a Facebook page, which in turn has led to loads of enquiries, so I am now formalising it all. Scary!

Here are a couple of recent cakes and some cupcakes I've made, although cupcakes aren't really my thing, but I get asked to make quite a few. I'm trying not to be to busy as I'm on loads of meds for my pregnancy and they're making me sick, but I have trouble turning people down...

https://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/midori1999/B7BBDB3A-B2EF-4E9B-8B82-86457675DCC9-910-000000778278502D_zpsf3291d7b.jpg

https://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/midori1999/368338CA-A0E2-4744-AD62-BFDDCDB8F4A5-910-0000007713B70F3C_zpse4a71e3b.jpg

https://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/midori1999/4A164004-2FCA-4748-9E3A-F0927FAD9886-910-0000008E19D76DFD_zpse3e59204.jpg

https://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/midori1999/97C20138-6484-4593-A351-61DF5A88C746-910-0000008E39FEDDC2_zps310bed6d.jpg

https://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/midori1999/F7D7853A-FD0C-44D1-89D3-7D01D95B2568-910-0000008E4E3732F1_zps2490b936.jpg

 

[FlowerFairy]

Wow I love your Bob cake!!!!! Both really fab but Bob is amazing xx

 

[sapphire1]

They're all great Midori, I think your models are fab!

 

[FlowerFairy]

Had a go at a couple of thing today. A spotty cake and fondant roses!

 

[jenkins]

Flowerfairy - wow they are really great I love the roses

Midori - omg thanks, my neatness is something I am really trying to improve so that's lovely to hear thanks

Seriously, Bob's tool belt is brilliant!!!

My facebook page is Poppet's Pantry (pic of otonauts cake as profile pic), would love to like anyone elses if they'd like to share xx

oh this is my latest cake. Completely out of my comfort zone as the woman provided a pic of what she wanted. I did made some changes and she said that was ok but I was really nervous about this one. Was so happy when it was collected as I couldn't look at it anymore

 

[jenkins]

And Midori seriously your models are amazing!!!!!

 

[sapphire1]

Your roses are fab FF!

Love the Minnie cake Jenkins! Am off to 'like' your page

 

[jenny82]

Wow just found this thread and some of you ladies are really talented!

I've just started baking proper cakes. I used to only do it very rarely but I've made like 6 cakes in the last 2 weeks I am making a cake for my SILs engagement party next week and using roll out icing for the first time. I'm not going to do anything fancy but getting some good times off this thread

 

[sapphire1]

:wave: Jenny82

A tip for you - I read today that Tesco's ready to roll icing is awful. It apparently used to be very good, but they changed the ingredients and it's crap now. Avoid it!

 

[FlowerFairy]

Wow Jenkins I love that cake!!!! "liked" your page from Real me and my page LOL xx

 

[midori1999]

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate them.

Jenkins, I didn't realise we of mention our Facebook pages here, I'll look yours up now. Mine is Mrs Thompson's Cake Emporium if anyone wants look.

 

[daneuse27]

Hello Bnb baking ladies!

I'm new to this thread and have only read through the first few pages so far. Midori, Jenkins and sue_88, your cakes are amazing!

I absolutely love cooking and baking. Although I've baked lots of cakes before, I've never worked with fondant or sugarpaste, or smoothers before. I am VERY interested in learning how and have already bought some supplies. Ill be taking a mini course soon to learn techniques. If I become good at it, Id love to start a little mini business one day, although this idea is far off because Ill be just doing it for fun for a few years most likely!

My daughter's Christening is 1 month away and Im desperate to bake an amazing cake for it. I already bought pink fondant, buttercream and a book on cake decorating. The problem is.. Im so lost. I dont know where to start as there is so much information out there. I guess I have a few main questions:

1. What would be the must-have tools for someone just starting out? I know smoother was mentioned, anything else?
2. How long can buttercream be stored in the fridge? I bought some already and the lady told me it could stay for a couple months! Is that true?
3. What would be your tips for someone just starting out and making their first cake?

Thanks ladies I hope to become apart of this thread and one day be uploading photos of my cakes too! X

 

[Peardrop]

Hi - I've also read through and all the cakes are amazing. I can bake but am a complete beginner with decorating in any medium. I am artistic and enjoy crafts so really want to have a go. Can anyone recommend a good all round book for decorating (or a number of books if there isn't an all round one) that is a step by step suitable for a novice. I've looked on Amazon but everything seems aimed at those who want inspiration or something particular eg animals in fondant.

I'm interested in buttercream/cupcakes and fondant. My Dad is retiring/65th birthday in 2 months and the immediate family are going away for a weekend so thought I would try and do a retirement cake and some cupcakes for that.

Thanks xx

 

[sapphire1]

Hi to the newbies :wave:

Answering your questions - 1. What would be the must-have tools for someone just starting out? I know smoother was mentioned, anything else? You'll need a palette knife for smoothing the buttercream onto the cake, and I find a scraper really useful for getting a flat finish. The smoother your buttercream, the smoother your fondant will look. The scraper is just a thin piece of plastic, but I find it really useful. I also use it for flat topping cupcakes with buttercream. You'll also need a rolling pin for rolling fondant. I just use a wooden one and it works great, but if you use a wooden one you need to make sure it doesn't have imperfections as these will show on the fondant. I suppose other tools depend on what you're wanting to do. I have a set of Wilton cake tools for modelling fondant, and various cutters. I also have a tonne of sugarflair paste colours and lustre dust/blossom tint.

2. How long can buttercream be stored in the fridge? I bought some already and the lady told me it could stay for a couple months! Is that true? This, I don't know. I always make buttercream from scratch and use it asap. Are you in the US? I know a lot of US recipes have shortening (crisco) in the buttercream so I guess that would affect how long it can be kept for. It's not something we usually use in the UK.

3. What would be your tips for someone just starting out and making their first cake? My tip would be to do a practice run if you've never iced a cake before. It is easy, but takes a bit of practice to get a nice smooth finish. My first iced cake was my daughter's birthday cake, and I iced one cake before that. The mistakes I made on it helped me to learn for when I did the real thing.


Peardrop, I can't recommend a book as I've never found one that covered everything I wanted. I learned everything I know from the internet. There are thousands of free tutorials and video tutorials on youtube so you can see techniques in practice. If you're on facebook, check out cake pages on there for inspiration and ideas. I do scour my local library for cake books too, am too tight to buy them

Good luck, looking forward to pics!

 

[sapphire1]

I meant to put my charity cupcakes on here the other day, but forgot. They were to help raise money for my local hospital maternity unit. I was happy to hear that all 24 of mine went within the first half hour of the bake sale The chicks and lemons are examples of the kind of things I use my Wilton modelling tools for.

 

[sue_88]

I recommend the book:

The Home Guide To Cake Decorating - Jane Price.

It's fab

 

[daneuse27]

Thanks ladies!

sapphire88: How do you get icing on cupcakes to look like that? Silly question I know, but I see it all the time and can never figure it out. Is it sqeezed out of some sort of tube?

And no, Im not in the US, but in Canada. Hard to tell with Canada because sometimes things are done the British way and other times the American. I intend to make my own buttercream too, but I just bought it the first time to get an idea of the taste and consistency. Im going to say the lady was wrong, leaving it in fridge for a long time is a bad idea. Ill be making a practice cake and two birthday cakes before my daughter's Christening so there will be tons of practice. And yes, pics to follow!