Sunday, January 23, 2011

My 3rd fondant cake


This is my 3rd attempt at a fondant cake and a practice for my engagement party cake which will be a 2 tier choc mud and carrot cake.

I was very happy with the result though things did go wrong. The ganache wasn't as smooth as it should be meaning the fondant didn't have a smooth surface so no sharp edges.

When i rolled out the main colour i didn't have enough fondant and had to start again and it was a real effort to reach the circumference of 38cm with my wooden rolling pin!

But the errors i made on my previous cakes i corrected this time round. The explosion rip in the middle should have pink segments on the inside but my fondant didn't stick too well. However, thanks to the planet cake forum i have a great tip to try next time - baking paper and more sugar syrup!

I'm still nervous to do the 2 tier and still need to practice the mud recipe to it doesn't sink in the middle. Next time i'll be using home-made baking stips!

But i will have to be organised as my parents will be visiting and i do not want to spend hours in the kitchen sweating away when they are here. i'll just have to do it when they are asleep! This cake afterall did take me 9hours.....

But practice makes perfect! Dave and i now have a whole 8inch chocolate mud cake with chocolate ganache to eat....

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Little bow cupcakes


This was my second attempt at fondant this xmas - my first attempted with cupcake decorating!
I had difficulty getting the icing to fit the cake right and my bows were TERRIBLE to begin with, that's why the photograph as a pink bow as i ran out of white icing. But overall they looked quite cute in the end and were yummy to eat!
This weekend i made decorators buttercream which still tastes good but the fact that it has shortening in puts me off. Next weekend is practice for my engagement cake so an exploding hearts cake. I just hope there is no humidity!!!!!

Learning in humidity is not the best way!


Over the xmas break i had 2 attempts at Planet Cakes cakes - here is a picture of the gift box cake - i thought i knew what i was doing and was very disheartened. But was slightly reassured when other cake makers said that humidity was a killer for cake decorating. My ganache was so soft and oozed out the bottom and my bow was floppy! Still - can only improve!