~*Learning*To*Bake*&*Decorate*~Lesson 2 -Icing with fondant added!

I think June/July will be my busiest time, seems thats when everyone birthdays are.

Im not doing any in August at all because of the wedding, dont want to be faffing around inbetween trying to sort everything out

Think im going to attempt an arsenal cake of some sort for OH's birthday in July

 

Actually while im here one of you girls may know ...

I need an alternative to marzipan for someone with a nut allergy wtf can you use instead .. aside from jsut frosting and jam

 

I shall be popping in here from time to time. Have decided to start making lots of yummy cakes!

My first mission is a 5 cake which sounds a bit ambitious but have got until may to perfect it and in the meantime i can eat all my failures...yummm

 

Quick and possibly stupid Q - can you leave cake 'batter?' out for a while? I have a recipe for a three tier cake, but only 2 cake tins, and the recipe is impossible to divide by 3 in order to re-calculate enough for 2, so would it be possible for me to make the mix, then bake 2 tins and when they're removable bake the third or would it go manky?

 

I have 2 8" ones. Is it 8"? The ones that are some random cm measurement. I guess I could just make the 2 and then make cupcakes or something? Can I do that? Use the cake mix for buns?

 

I gave in & bought a 3rd tin, lol. Making it on Tuesday. Do I need to know anything? Haven't done a cake since I weas a kid. I've read you girls talking about not opening the oven as it'll sink?

 

im back im back im back!!!
had such a busy 2 weeks there with the balloons, so didnt get any baking done, then got all the balloons posted, set aside an afternoon for baking, made 2 cakes and a huge batch f cupcakes, opened the oven to put them in, and found it stone cold! bloody element was gone, so had to wait for the man to come & fix it!
anyway, its fixed, and last night i made my first proper cake! was a bit ambitious i think.. its my wee brothers 18th so i made him a birthday cake.. only had red, black & white icing, so was a bit limited in what i could do, but i did my best!
some pics (excuse crap quality, took them on OHs phone!)
https://media6.dropshots.com/photos/542847/20100329/003045.jpg
https://media7.dropshots.com/photos/542847/20100329/003130.jpg
https://media8.dropshots.com/photos/542847/20100329/003119.jpg
https://media7.dropshots.com/photos/542847/20100329/r90_003139.jpg

we ate them today, and the cake was FAB! (and the dog who kindly muched ALL of the cupcakes while we were out.. also agreed! - s0 much so he even ate the papers :-S )

now.. here are all my questions lol

my buttercream.. its not quite right.. i follow the recipe, and it comes out the same every time... its SO dry, when i start to add the sugar to the butter it just turns into overscrambled egg, and so i always end up adding much more milk than i think im meant to>? then its kind of .....gritty? not gritty... cant get the right word.. its just not as smooth and buttery as im expecting i think.. what am i doing wrong?

the fondant.. i found it was going very dry very quickly.. although it was crappy tescos stuff, is that why? it cracked in a few places when i was trying to put it onto the cake, there wasnt much flexibility in it, is that normal?

colours.. again, it was crappy precoloured stuff, but how do you stop it from going all white with the icing sugar when you are rolling etc?
also.. i want to order some proper colours, are pastes the best? and any brands u think are better?

think thats it for now!
whats our next lesson going to be? im excited!!

 

ps.. haha look at the mess of my kitchen.. the WHOLE thing was that messy!
my OH walked in and went 'OH.... MY..... GOD...'

 

Attempting my first cake tomorrow...for my brother so no pink or flowers.
I got some tins 9 inch and about 3 inch deep....guess i will need plenty of eggs! lol
Any tips for getting smooth icing?
Any tips in just about everything... lol xx

 

Kat, My buttercream goes like that at first, and I just keep mixing it...maybe add a drop of milk to get it started off and then it all turns mushy and resembles buttercream...just keep mixing!

Hun, floow the instructions on the first page, its pretty much laid out there..

icing, ive asked the same questions but its just pot luck....practise, practise, practise..good luck x

 

Noone has wrote on here in a few months!! Can we fire it back up I could do with the guidance! xx

 

what about the other thread? is there anyway to link the two? I cant keep ontop of both.. lol and only just found out about this! haha

 

they are lnked, this was a branch from the other, thats how i found it lol! but i think its old as noone as posted in a few months, they both at different stages have links to the other xx

 

oh I'll keep posting where everyone else is then. lol
more chance of getting my silly questions answered. haha