cake making and baking - ALL WELCOME

[sapphire1]

To get icing like that you use a piping bag and different nozzles. The chocolate ones were a 1M Wilton nozzle, which is the classic swirl effect nozzle. The lemon ones are a 2D Wilton nozzle, which a lot of people use to get a rose effect, although it makes a pretty swirl too.

 

[daneuse27]

So this is my VERY basic first attempt at working with fondant. I bought the fondant and buttercream icing from a store just to get a feal for what its supposed to feel/taste like before attempting making it on my own.

I wasn;t using a smoother, as I don't have one yet. Do you think a smoother would have helped me make the sides look a little less sloppy?

Sorry for the simplicity of this cake, its nothing compared to some of the others we've seen, but I guess I have to start somewhere. I hope to someday be as good as some of you are!

Planning to make a 2-tier cake with roses sometime this month. Photos of that attempt to come too.

 

[LoveMyBaby786]

Love all the cakes!! I prefer to make cupcakes than normal cakes, does anyone have any tips or sites they can show me on how to decorate cupcakes with those swirls and what sort of piping bag and nozzle would i need? Thanks!

 

[girlnboots]

I love this thread! I'm a cake decorator for Walmart, but I'm still fairly new. Yay for ideas and sharing tips and tricks!

 

[sapphire1]

Welcome newbies :wave:

That's a great first attempt Daneuse! A smoother would help with the sides, but so would making sure that the buttercream is smooth as can be before you put the fondant on. If the fondant starts to 'crease' on the sides, it's best to lift it and spread it a bit as once the creases are there, no amount of smoothing gets rid of them.

This old thread is a good guide to nozzles, although the photo links aren't on there any more. Just googling will give plenty of examples though. I use disposable piping bags, which I buy from ebay, but you can buy them in any supermarket too.

https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/cooking-baking/692315-guide-different-nozzles.html

 

[jenkins]

Hi newbies welcome

Sue_88 I had a look on amazon and that book looks fab might get it!

Peardrop - One that I have found absolutely invaluable is Lindy Smith - The contemporary cake decorating bible.

I don't tend to ready many books really, I tend to look on youtube a lot there are so many great tutorials on there.

Sapphire - couldn't agree more with all you've said!

Daneuse - Thats a great first attempt. I found fondant to be a lot trickier than it looked at first. Once you get a feel for it and get used to working with it it just gets easier and easier. Look forward to seeing more pics!

Here's my latest 3

 

[sue_88]

Lovely Jenkins!!

I did some work at the weekend on my carrot cake recipe & really happy with it now! Spice level just right & the fluidity is great for super quick piping into muffin tins!

 

[jenkins]

oh and this too

 

[jenkins]

Lovely Jenkins!!

I did some work at the weekend on my carrot cake recipe & really happy with it now! Spice level just right & the fluidity is great for super quick piping into muffin tins!

yummmm carrot cake sounds good!

xx

 

[girlnboots]

Are there any strict buttercream users in here? I don't use fondant or modeling chocolate at work, but here are some of my favorites I've done.

https://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s544/girlnboots13/20130323_113200_zps2a7343ee.jpg

https://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s544/girlnboots13/20130303_111532_zps7089b89a.jpg

 

[sapphire1]

Lovely cakes girls

 

[Elliebellie]

Loving the cakes ladies!

I don't have any pictures on my laptop but I will try to get some off my phone soon. I mainly do cupcakes but I am hoping to get more practice with larger cakes. I am getting married in 6 weeks and my dad and I are making the cake ourselves - 120 cupcakes - eeek!

I have started to think about selling my cakes. The ladies that have fb pages, how official did you do it? Did you get your food hygiene certificate and register for self assessment taxes? I would like to start a fb page and go by word of mouth before making it official but I don't want to get into trouble!

 

[jenkins]

Loving the cakes ladies!

I don't have any pictures on my laptop but I will try to get some off my phone soon. I mainly do cupcakes but I am hoping to get more practice with larger cakes. I am getting married in 6 weeks and my dad and I are making the cake ourselves - 120 cupcakes - eeek!

I have started to think about selling my cakes. The ladies that have fb pages, how official did you do it? Did you get your food hygiene certificate and register for self assessment taxes? I would like to start a fb page and go by word of mouth before making it official but I don't want to get into trouble!

Hi, would love to see pics! Ooh how exciting doing your own wedding


cupcakes, and it's not far off you must be so excited

Yeah if you want to sell your cakes then you should make it official really otherwise you can get a hefty fine from environmental health, just like takeaways and cafes etc you must be seen to be selling safe food.

The first step is to register with your local council and they should let you know their own procedure and requirements from there.

For me I registered with the council online then an environmental health officer got in touch to arrange to come and inspect my kitchen.

The basics were -

General cleanliness (she looked quite thoroughly even Walls and ceiling)

Everything must be in a good state of repair eg sealant on tiles must have no gaps and worktops no cracks etc

I had to fill in a 'safer food better business' folder (I requested it from the food standards agency)

You must have traceability for all ingredients so that if the situation ever arose you could say where/when you bought a particular ingredient used in a particular cake.

You need to know how to arrange your fridge eg eggs on bottom shelf

She asked me a few general questions about where I stored and cooled cakes and the sorts of ingredients used.

Must have hot and cold water and good sink drainage

All cake stuff should be kept separate from normal food and open packets must be put in sealed bags.

You should not do any domestic stuff, like washing, in the kitchen while
making cakes, also no pets or kids in kitchen while making cakes.

You must be able to give info of any allergens in anything you make.

That's the general gist but I've heard that different councils can be more or less strict on particular things.

You should also get some insurance just in case anything goes wrong eg
someone sues you, and to cover you're equipment. I'm looking into this at the min as I have only just got my certificate from environmental health so am wanting to launch properly at the end of this month. Then the next step is registered with hmrc which I am still yet to do as I'm not completely official yet.

It doesn't cost anything to register and with my council it is not compulsory to have any official training or certificates in food safety.

Hope that helps

Emma x

 

[jenny82]

Can I ask a question on getting started with fondant icing? I have only used buttercream and other soft icings but I want to try the more decorative stuff!

Where do I start? Do I buy it pre-made or make it myself? What about dying it?

Thank you

 

[jenkins]

Can I ask a question on getting started with fondant icing? I have only used buttercream and other soft icings but I want to try the more decorative stuff!

Where do I start? Do I buy it pre-made or make it myself? What about dying it?

Thank you

Hiya

Are you in the uk? You can ready ready to roll fondants from supermarkets to get started, asda and tesco's own are good value and good for getting used to it, they're about £2 for a kilogram.

When you open it take out what you need and cover the rest because it can dry out quick quickly. I lightly grease my hands and surface with trex then knead the fondant for a bit until it's soft and pliable.

Then dust surface with icing sugar to roll out. You can also put a little icing sugar on the rolling pin to help stop it sticking. With regards to covering a cake with it your best bet is to watch some YouTube vids.

For colouring I use sugarflair paste colours which are brill, you can get loads of others, just don't use liquid colouring as they change the texture of the fondant and aren't that good anyway really. I think some supermarkets now do professional colourings which are more of a paste or gel so should work ok. I use a tooth pick dipped in the coloured then into the fondant and knead, adding colour slowly as you can't tell the colour until it's kneaded.

If you wanted to make models or decorations that you want to hold their shape and dry faster and harder you can get a powder called gum traganth that you add to the fondant and knead in.

Hope that helps, just shout if I can help any more

 

[jenny82]

Brilliant thanks! I did see the fondant in the supermarkets but i wasn't sure how good they were. I'll def give them a whirl I have some really good colouring gel so I can practise away for a while.

Trex is just like a fat thing isn't it?

 

[jenkins]

Yeah it's vegetable fat. I only started using it relatively recently and I love it because it means you don't use as much icing sugar which can dry the fondant out

Emma x

 

[sapphire1]

I often buy ready coloured fondant, but I read a good tip recently. Colour a small ball of fondant, then knead that into a larger white piece to mix the colour evenly.

This is my first two tier, first sugar roses and first handpainting. It was for my SIL, and is based on her tattoos.

 

[jenkins]

I often buy ready coloured fondant, but I read a good tip recently. Colour a small ball of fondant, then knead that into a larger white piece to mix the colour evenly.

This is my first two tier, first sugar roses and first handpainting. It was for my SIL, and is based on her tattoos.

Oh that's brilliant I love it!!!

I particularly like how you've done the banner thing at the top is it fondant?

Xx

 

[sapphire1]

Thanks The banner is flower paste with edible icing sheet on top. I dried it over a couple of halved empty kitchen roll tubes to get the wavy effect.