Anyone in here decorate cakes?

[stargrazer]

Thanks Stargrazer! Just finished up with my second class tonight and had our first hands-on experience. Let's just say you can tell I am a beginner by the looks of my cake after decorating! I'll be posting some pics on my blog later this week!

Well Dani, we all start somewhere

Does anyone have a good recipe for raspberry filling? I've found some online, but I'm looking for tried and true. Someone suggested I just use raspberry jam, sugar and cream cheese. Any thoughts on that?

Has anyone tried adding rolled buttercream to fondant?

I love the baseball cake!

I have not help other than cakecentral but I wanted to say

You have all inspired me!

Ready or not, Wilton here I come!

You GO Ms. Grumpy!! Make sure and come back to share some pics!

 

[stargrazer]

Well, as a bunch of ya'll know, I have been dying to try fondant but have been patiently wading my way thru Wilton Course I and II first. So many of you brave souls take it on (fabulously I might add) right off, but I wanted to wait.

THE WAIT IS OVER!!!

It's not perfect but I'll try not to be too hard on myself since it's the first one but I learned a TON of to do's (and don't do's ) but all in all it was a good experience.

So glad I have my cake buds to share with

 

[MosMom]

Congrats! It looks great! I love the fancy picture set up.

 

[stargrazer]

Congrats! It looks great! I love the fancy picture set up.

Thanks Mo, you inspire me

I try to set them up when I have time...anything to make them look better

But honestly, I am trying to build a portfolio, even from the get-go incase I decide to try to do it for money down the road.

 

[bengalbelle]

Well, as a bunch of ya'll know, I have been dying to try fondant but have been patiently wading my way thru Wilton Course I and II first. So many of you brave souls take it on (fabulously I might add) right off, but I wanted to wait.

THE WAIT IS OVER!!!

It's not perfect but I'll try not to be too hard on myself since it's the first one but I learned a TON of to do's (and don't do's ) but all in all it was a good experience.

So glad I have my cake buds to share with

It's fabulous!! Now head on down to Louisiana and you can help me with my cake. I can promise lots of humidity, a heat index of 105-115 degrees, and lots of good food

Questions: was it better/worse than you were expecting? How long did it take you to decorate it? Are the flower centers fondant or frosting? What about the balls around the edges?

I can only hope my first fondant cake comes out so nicely!

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

Has anyone used choco-pan or pettinice?

I'm getting stuff together to do the kids back to school cake and I want to try something other than MMF.

 

[bengalbelle]

So, MosMom unknowingly led me to a new cake and here it is:
http://cakecentral.com/cake-photo-64138.html
I can't get photobucket to come up now, so this is the link.

After spending $50 at Michael's today and still not having all of my supplies, I decided to price the cake at a local bakery. $175! I'm back to making it myself. Lord help me. LOL.

I think I'm going to try the marshmallow fondant to save money. If the party is Sunday, I need to make the fondant tonight or tomorrow night, right? Then Friday evening I'd be able to cut my pieces and place them on the cake Sunday morning?

If I go with pre-made fondant, can I wait until Friday to color it and cut right away or does it need to sit 24 hours after I add the color?

Stargrazer, MosMom has helped me in PM's, but I'd love to hear the tips and techniques they told you in class

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

So, MosMom unknowingly led me to a new cake and here it is:
http://cakecentral.com/cake-photo-64138.html
I can't get photobucket to come up now, so this is the link.

After spending $50 at Michael's today and still not having all of my supplies, I decided to price the cake at a local bakery. $175! I'm back to making it myself. Lord help me. LOL.

I think I'm going to try the marshmallow fondant to save money. If the party is Sunday, I need to make the fondant tonight or tomorrow night, right? Then Friday evening I'd be able to cut my pieces and place them on the cake Sunday morning?

If I go with pre-made fondant, can I wait until Friday to color it and cut right away or does it need to sit 24 hours after I add the color?

Stargrazer, MosMom has helped me in PM's, but I'd love to hear the tips and techniques they told you in class

If you're going to color it then yes, make it today or tomorrow and color it. Then give the color a day to settle. My past exprience with MMF the colors darken a bit after a day or so.

If you buy pre-made fondant what kind are you planning on buying? Wilton has pre-colored, tastes like crap but it's easy.

 

[bengalbelle]

If you're going to color it then yes, make it today or tomorrow and color it. Then give the color a day to settle. My past exprience with MMF the colors darken a bit after a day or so.

If you buy pre-made fondant what kind are you planning on buying? Wilton has pre-colored, tastes like crap but it's easy.

I can't find anything but Wilton around here. I'm going to frost the cake with buttercream and the fondant is just decoration and will be removed before cutting. If I make the MMF and it tastes OK, I may leave it on and they can decide whether to eat it or not.

I'm scared the fondant won't turn out right, but it's going to cost me an additional $20-$30 for the premade fondant and gumpaste. If I don't make the bow, can I get away with just fondant (no gumpaste) for everything else?
Switching cakes at the last minute has me a little flustered.

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

I can't find anything but Wilton around here. I'm going to frost the cake with buttercream and the fondant is just decoration and will be removed before cutting. If I make the MMF and it tastes OK, I may leave it on and they can decide whether to eat it or not.

I'm scared the fondant won't turn out right, but it's going to cost me an additional $20-$30 for the premade fondant and gumpaste. If I don't make the bow, can I get away with just fondant (no gumpaste) for everything else?
Switching cakes at the last minute has me a little flustered.

The MMF tastes great and it's really easy, I mean REALLY easy. Everytime I make it the kids and DH end up eating chunks of it.

This was my first try with MMF - http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=86249

You can still make the ribbon with MMF, just add a little gum tex to the MMF instead of buying a whole thing of gumpaste.

 

[bengalbelle]

The MMF tastes great and it's really easy, I mean REALLY easy. Everytime I make it the kids and DH end up eating chunks of it.

This was my first try with MMF - http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=86249

You can still make the ribbon with MMF, just add a little gum tex to the MMF instead of buying a whole thing of gumpaste.

Wow, that is really beautiful! The roses are spectacular!

Can you buy gum tex in the same area as the fondant and gum paste?

 

[MosMom]

If you make fondant, it should sit for a day. When you pull it out, you can color it and use it immediately. If the fondant is hard to work with. You can warm it up in the microwave for about 20 seconds until it is softer.

Put all pieces immediately on your cake with exception to the bows and anything that needs to harden. But the stripes and flowers can go on right away. All you need is a touch of water to make fondant stick to fondant. The stripes going onto the buttercream will of course stick to the buttercream.

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

Wow, that is really beautiful! The roses are spectacular!

Can you buy gum tex in the same area as the fondant and gum paste?

Thanks

They usually have it with the meringue powder, similiar looking container. It should be about $8 a can.

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=sc0399

 

[bengalbelle]

Thanks

They usually have it with the meringue powder, similiar looking container. It should be about $8 a can.

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=sc0399

Gosh, that's almost as much as the gum paste. I almost hate to buy all of this because I'm only making cakes for my kids, so 1-2 times a year. I'm buying all new coloring because mine is probably 2-3 years old (some unopened).

So far this cake is up to about $45 and that's just the pan, cake boards, fondant tools, cutters and luster dust. I still need the fondant, gum paste/tex, filling, cake mixes, and frosting supplies.

Hopefully I won't need to use everything I bought and can return some of it. I guess it's still better than $175.

ETA: has anyone tried the MMF with marshmallow fluff instead of melting marshmallows?
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2148-2-Easy-Marshmallow-Fondant.html

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

Gosh, that's almost as much as the gum paste. I almost hate to buy all of this because I'm only making cakes for my kids, so 1-2 times a year. I'm buying all new coloring because mine is probably 2-3 years old (some unopened).

The gum tex will last you longer that buying gum paste. You add like a teaspoon per so many ounces (6 or 8 - I can't remember) and mix it in. I have one small packet that has last me several cakes now.

ETA: Here's a thread on it over at CC - http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-456723-gum.html+tex

 

[MosMom]

If you are feeling like you are spending a fortune and you don't want to add the gum paste. You can add powdered denture cream and it will stiffen it. You just can't eat it but you probably wouldn't eat the bow anyway. Just make sure you take it off before you DD digs in.

If you don't want to do that. You could get away with just using fondant. You really could. Make sure it REALLY dries and then put it on. You would be fine for the amount you need.

 

[Ms.Grumpy]

THE WAIT IS OVER!!!

Beautiful!

 

[bengalbelle]

I don't care that much for the bow anyway, so I'll probably just leave it off. I think the cake is cute enough without it.

Thanks for everything! I'm heading to the store to buy the fondant supplies. I'm going to try both the regular MMF recipe and the marshmallow fluff recipe. I'll report back.

 

[rie'smom]

Well, as a bunch of ya'll know, I have been dying to try fondant but have been patiently wading my way thru Wilton Course I and II first. So many of you brave souls take it on (fabulously I might add) right off, but I wanted to wait.

THE WAIT IS OVER!!!

It's not perfect but I'll try not to be too hard on myself since it's the first one but I learned a TON of to do's (and don't do's ) but all in all it was a good experience.

So glad I have my cake buds to share with

Beautiful!!!!!!!

 

[ahutton]

That is SO cute!!

I took the Wilton 1 class and was blown away at how much the supplies cost. But I learned to make cute, decent cakes and for the $150 in supplies I spent (I used Michael's and JoAnn's coupons for the big stuff) I've made a half dozen cakes and saved myself at least that much over ordering them from a store or bakery and they (for the most part) tasted better.