Anyone in here decorate cakes?

[stargrazer]

THANKS ladies! I'm grocery store bound soon.


Scarlett, granted I'm just a beginner, but wouldn't your buttercream 'crust' if you add meringue powder or does that not work?

Great tip about making cakes the day before, I was wondering if that would be good (it would help me time-wise).

 

[cryssi]

I only use duncan hines too!

 

[Costumesaremylife]

There is a great chocolate cake recipe that I use on the side of the Hersheys cocoa can.

 

[scarlett873]

Scarlett, granted I'm just a beginner, but wouldn't your buttercream 'crust' if you add meringue powder or does that not work?

Well...you would think...I've tried adding meringue powder, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Maybe i'm not adding enough! I'll have to "play" with it more. Maybe this weekend!!

 

[peachgirl]

Well...you would think...I've tried adding meringue powder, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Maybe i'm not adding enough! I'll have to "play" with it more. Maybe this weekend!!

My guess is the reason it's not crusting is the ratio of fat to sugar in your recipe and the fact that you're not using any liquid. A standard buttercream recipe should crust, but most of them call for milk or water. Water will make it crust faster than milk, but all water tends to make the frosting crack easier.

I found a great buttercream recipe on the wilton forums. I've used it several times this past week and it's very good and crusts nicely. I made a couple of changes in it and I really like it. I use milk (2%) instead of water and don't use the butter flavoring. I detest the taste of butter flavoring, so I just increase the milk to replace it. Here's the link if anyone is interested:

http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=92577&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

 

[stargrazer]

I'm SUCH a noob.

I decided I didn't want the first cake I ever torted, filled and smooth iced to be the one I took to class; I decided to bake a practice cake yesterday.

Now, I've baked cakes before. GREAT cakes. Never had a problem with a cake except the occasional overdone one.

So what happens? IT FELL!


Why? Because I'm not used to baking 8" pans that are 3" deep, so I overfilled it. I didn't realize you should only go 1/2 full with this pan, and that puppy was 2/3 or more; whodathunk?

Now here's my question. Obviously overfill will cause problems, but I let my cake bake as directed (ok, actually about 7 minutes longer) and somehow the toothpick came out clean in the doneness test, but the center was custard-y. The sides of the cake were perfect (that's reassuring) and it actually looked great until it cooled

Is that ONLY because I overfilled or do you think my oven is slow also? I guess I won't know until I bake one the RIGHT way (probably later).

Wish me luck! I'm SO glad I got this mistake out of the way first thing out, if it were my class cake I would have been crushed.

Amazing how one can go from being so casual about baking and havng it turn out perfect to being a perfectionist (I thought) and having a disaster.

 

[scarlett873]

I'm not sure about the overfilling part, quite honestly...but have you checked the temperature in your oven? I discovered that my gas oven, which was fairly brand new, was off by about 25 degrees! I'd set it at 350 and couldn't figure out why my cakes weren't turning out right. I bought an oven thermometer and tested it. We have since made the switch and bought a gas convection oven and my cakes have never been better!!! Well, cupcakes anyway..lol..I haven't had to make any cakes since I got it. But my cupcakes don't shrivel up as bad as they used to and they stay soft and moist for days...I am soooooooooo happy with my new oven!

And I totally know what you mean about being casual about baking and then all of a sudden, when it matters, you suddenly can't bake anything right!

 

[scarlett873]

My guess is the reason it's not crusting is the ratio of fat to sugar in your recipe and the fact that you're not using any liquid. A standard buttercream recipe should crust, but most of them call for milk or water. Water will make it crust faster than milk, but all water tends to make the frosting crack easier.

I found a great buttercream recipe on the wilton forums. I've used it several times this past week and it's very good and crusts nicely. I made a couple of changes in it and I really like it. I use milk (2%) instead of water and don't use the butter flavoring. I detest the test of butter flavoring, so I just increase the milk to replace it. Here's the link if anyone is interested:

http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=92577&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

Thanks for the recipe! I'll have to try it!

I have another one that I like that does crust well, but I stopped using it when I found this other recipe because it tastes soooooooo much better. Maybe I'll go back to the other one and try playing around with it some more! If anyone would like it, here you go! I love the recipe because it's sooooo easy. You literally throw everything into the mixer and let it go for 10 minutes on its own. No fuss, no muss! But I would like to try playing around with the flavors a bit...i'm not a butter flavor person either...

 

[stargrazer]

I'm not sure about the overfilling part, quite honestly...but have you checked the temperature in your oven? I discovered that my gas oven, which was fairly brand new, was off by about 25 degrees! I'd set it at 350 and couldn't figure out why my cakes weren't turning out right. I bought an oven thermometer and tested it.

GRRRR...

OK, so I made another cake. Filled the pan correctly, didn't overbeat, didn't add any extra ingredients etc etc. The stupid thing is more done than yesterday, and it didn't fall...but it's still custardy in the middle!


Alright...so I'm going to go get an internal oven thermometer. I always suspected it was off...now I'll find out for SURE.

Does everyone using electric ovens have this problem or does my oven just suck??

 

[Brier Rose]

GRRRR...

OK, so I made another cake. Filled the pan correctly, didn't overbeat, didn't add any extra ingredients etc etc. The stupid thing is more done than yesterday, and it didn't fall...but it's still custardy in the middle!


Alright...so I'm going to go get an internal oven thermometer. I always suspected it was off...now I'll find out for SURE.

Does everyone using electric ovens have this problem or does my oven just suck??

Hmmmm...are you reducing your oven temp by 25 degrees, and baking longer?
When you bake a very large or very thick cake you should always lower your oven temperature.

For instance if your recipe normally says bake at 350, you bake at 325 and adjust your baking time longer.

It sounds like your cake is baking too fast. Getting done around the edges, but not in the middle.

***edited to add** I have an electric convection oven, which I love, and only have that problem if I forget to adjust the temp.

I have always preferred electric for baking,and gas for cook top.

 

[cryssi]

what about a heating core? on cakecentral, a lot of people use upside down metal flower nails in their cakes as a heating core.

 

[stargrazer]

I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only person to encounter this problem!


Thanks for the support here. Of all the things I thought would be difficult about learning to decorate cakes with my past cooking experience, the 'cake' part wasn't one of them!

I guess if it's a slow oven that's o.k., maybe I just need to leave it in longer. Imagine that, lol.

Since it didn't fall I decorated it anyway. Without further ado...my first cake. Thanks disbuds!

Sooo...new lessons learned:

Leveling the cake was easier than I thought it would be.

Frosting it smooth is, as I guessed it would be, hard. But I'm hoping practice will help that.

Cookie cutters make great outlines.

I know to line a simple outline using thinner icing BEFORE I fill it with stars, so why I didn't is beyond me. (note to self: do it right, duh).

I got hand cramps...I sure hope I build some hand strength. Hubby would probably like that, too

So, other than noob pressure control, not keeping the cake rotating/hand position and it being inedible...not completely terrible!



It's a cake with stars...what else would you expect from me?

 

[scarlett873]

Nice job for your first! I don't even think I took a picture of my first cake...lol

I have to say that I was skeptical about a gas convection oven at first, but it works like a charm! It doesn't bake the product any faster, but it does automatically reduce the temperature by 25 degrees and the oven heats up quickly!

And the hand strength will get better in time. You should have seen me after I decorated my first stand-up bear cake. OMG...I used a star tip and I truly thought that my arm was going to fall off...but the bear was cute! I still have trouble with doing lots and lots of stars or dots, but it's gotten better.

I actually came across a cake that I want to try this weekend. I haven't really done any cakes in awhile as I've been obsessed with cupcakes. But while I was doing some research for a co-worker (she needs a cake for her DD's graduation party..problem is that she lives 3 hours away and I just can't do it for her) Anyway...the party is luau themed and I found this really pretty cake on the cake central site that I want to try! IF it comes out the way I hope it does, i'll post a picture...

stargrazer...if you haven't been over there yet, RUN. Cake Central is truly an awesome site. Oodles of pictures for inspiration and recipes and forums for help!

 

[rie'smom]

I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only person to encounter this problem!


Thanks for the support here. Of all the things I thought would be difficult about learning to decorate cakes with my past cooking experience, the 'cake' part wasn't one of them!

I guess if it's a slow oven that's o.k., maybe I just need to leave it in longer. Imagine that, lol.

Since it didn't fall I decorated it anyway. Without further ado...my first cake. Thanks disbuds!

Sooo...new lessons learned:

Leveling the cake was easier than I thought it would be.

Frosting it smooth is, as I guessed it would be, hard. But I'm hoping practice will help that.

Cookie cutters make great outlines.

I know to line a simple outline using thinner icing BEFORE I fill it with stars, so why I didn't is beyond me. (note to self: do it right, duh).

I got hand cramps...I sure hope I build some hand strength. Hubby would probably like that, too

So, other than noob pressure control, not keeping the cake rotating/hand position and it being inedible...not completely terrible!



It's a cake with stars...what else would you expect from me?

Great work!!!! I hope my first will look that good.

 

[MosMom]

I am making my own birthday cake and decided to play around with fondant. I made chocolate marshmallow fondant. It was pretty easy and turned out great. I'm going to let it refrigerate overnight and decorate tomorrow. I'll take a picture and let you know how the finished product turns out. I'm excited!

 

[lovetoscrap]

When you buy new pans always take note of the instructions that say how many CUPS of cake mix to put in--I measure to make sure I get it accurate, and what temperature to use. I keep them all in a file with my cake decorating stuff.

Also, as you begin to collect more "stuff" rolling tool boxes are great for storage. And much cheaper than the Wilton ones. I do have a Wilton Tool Box I got with a 40% off coupon since it holds the tips and colors so well so I use it for "travel". But most of my other stuff is in a nice sized plastic rolling tool box I found at KMart a few years ago. It was originally going to be a scrapbooking tote but I grew out of it so it was retrained!


Also, unless you instructor actually tells you to make a cake, or your family really wants to eat it, you can also purchase a styrofoam block that is "cake shaped" to decorate instead of making a new cake each week. Some in my class did. I made the cakes, but then sent them to DH's work--they were offering to help pay for the 2nd Course!

 

[stargrazer]

Rie'smom, I'm sure yours will be great!

Mosmom, can't wait to see it.

Scarlett, thanks for the compliment.

lovestoscrap, great story and tips. I am going to buy a cake dummy or else get fatter. ARGH!

I finally checked my oven with an internal thermometer...guess what? Sucker is off by 25 DEGREES!

I made adjustements and came out with a perfectly good cake (and some cupcakes, too) so all is well again.

I also did a pretty smooth buttercream icing and let DD decorate it for her birthday, but DUH, I dropped my cake torter thing on top of it and ruined it before I got pics. If it had been a cake for someone else I probably would have about died. Being a noob it took me 20 minutes to smooth that sucker.

I am using the class buttercream recipie (wilton) but it doesn't crust that well...

Anyway, anyone have any more cake pics to post?

 

[RunDanceSkate]

I just took the level 1 course, and one thing I would like to mention is that the icing sugar amount in the class icing is wrong. 2 of us were having trouble getting the icing perfect and we are both the type of people that have to do everything exactly right, to the letter following the directions perfectly but neither of us had a scale. So one week our instructor made a batch of icing by using the number of cups it said (4 cups) and realized how far out that approximate is. So she weighed it out, then measured it. It should be just under 3 and 1/3rd cups not 4.

C

 

[MosMom]

First shot at fondant. Choco mmf. Turned out really well. My 9 year old daughter helped me do the piping. Not bad for my own birthday cake.

 

[Honu]

Very nice. Happy B-day!