Where are all you cakey folk? Shall we have another christmas cake thread?

[Olihan]

I liked stealing sharing ideas and tips last year, shall we do it again?

I have a few here

[RuthChan]

Those are fabulous!!
Oh, to be so creative!

I'm afraid I don't have any ideas to compare with those, but I enjoyed the photos!

[stealthsquiggle]

Ah Ha! In one fell swoop you have solved my "what shall I do for teachers this year" dilemma, Olihan - I have tree, reindeer and stars - now how did you get such a lovely night-sky blue?

Wasn't last year's MN standard the bauble mould though [stern look]? I see no baubles....

[stealthsquiggle]

[ahem] - you haven't solved my dilemma if you abandon your own thread, Olihan...

[midori1999]

I'm a complete cake decorating newbie, althoughbhave done a few birthday cakes for my own and a couple of friend's children.

Olihan, those cakes are amazing! I especially like the christmas trees/reindeer ones. Do you colour the icing yourself or buy ready coloured? Can you suggest somewhere good to order things please?

[taffetazatyousantaclaus]

this place is good, midori although I am not an expert like Olihan. The sugarpaste comes in every colour of the rainbow.

[Slubberdegullion]

oooh yes yes.

I've already done one (didn't photograph it though) for the Chruch Fair. Gold and silver starts it had upon it. Very tasteful it was

3 more to do, 1 for this sat (school fair).

I LOVE the purple one in your link Olihan, with the white trees and snow flakes.

making purple paste is a bitch tho...mine always goes grey.

[Slubberdegullion]

the is for me being a plonker by forgetting to photogarph is. I ALWAYS photograph my cakes for the album. i must have been distracted.

[stealthsquiggle]

slubber - that's why I want Olihan to come back and tell me how she got that lovely dark night-skt blue... I always end up with shades of sludgey grey when I am trying to get dark colours like that

[Slubberdegullion]

yes me too stealthy.

Now you might know this. I read somewhere recently that to colour your sugar paste you can put it in the kitchen aid with the K beater and the colouring and mix it in that way. Is this dinky-di? I fear for air bubbles.

[stealthsquiggle]

Yes to kitchenaid. No to K-beater - use the dough hook. I do it when my hands are being particularly useless. It does take longer than doing it by hand, but at least you can go off and do something else entirely while it gets on with it.

[Slubberdegullion]

That is a most excellent top tip. Have yet to use my dough hook.

I have several slabs of white regal ice so am loath to buy the coloured stuff. I waaaaant a deep luscious Christmas cake. I will have to see what colours my local decorating shop has to offer.

Is it you stealthy that recommended the profeshnial kitchen aid (with the up down basin and not the flip top lid and two bowls)

I got it for Christmas last year on the strength of your recommendation....and a most wonderful thing it has been too.

[Slubberdegullion]

deep PURPLE cake that should be

the cake underneath is already luscious

[stealthsquiggle]

'twas me. I am glad you got it and like it - I am exceedingly fond of mine - and seem to use the 2 bowls lots too.

[Slubberdegullion]

I don't know what the one bowl folk do when they have to mix up something and then in a separate bowl do their egg whites.

wash up I suppose.

I love just slipping a fresh one in [oo-er] for my whites.

[Slubberdegullion]

well I've bought some purple colouring...

where is that Olihan?

[Olihan]

I'm here , sorry.

Started this then got a bit distracted with cake orders/general RL and forgot about it .

I did the dark blue one first and everyone who saw it said exactly what all of you have said so I did the purple version too! It's so easy (once you've got the icing coloured) but so effective.

The colours are made from white paste using the Sugarflair paste colours. The blue took about half a pot of colouring to get it to that shade though.

Slubber, to get the purple to stay purple I add some navy to it as it seems to counteract the greyness.

Stealth, I can NOT get on with moulds. Every so often I think I'd like to do something a bit different but they never, ever come out properly for me. I tried all the tips on last year's thread but nope, still a dud at them.

Midori, I get a lot of my equipment from Windsor Cakecraft as it's (relatively) local to me so I can go in when I need to stock up. They're fairly competitively priced and have an absolutely massive range of cutters/colours/dusts/boards/icings and I've always found everything I need there. I've used the company taffeta linked to and they're good to, just a smaller range than Windsors. Design A Cake are good too, ime.

LOVE the tip about the dough hook, I detest kneading colours in. Would it work as well in a Kenwood? DH wouldn't fork out for a KitchenAid , and it only has one bowl, so yes, I spend half my life washing up as I switch bowls.

Slubber, have you gone back to Sheila this year? I'm considering doing the Sugar Flowers course, for something to do.

[Slubberdegullion]

Olihan I think you need to read my thread here re adventures into purple cake making .

I was planning on doing flowers this September but then got snowed under with the build/decorating etc. I'd love to do it. I miss Sheila.

Where is Windsors btw and where did you get your tiny star cutter and the fabulous leaping reindeer from? I'm totally plagiarising your cakes next year, hope you don't mind.

[Olihan]

Oh, and my toppest Top Tip is to step AWAY from the edible glitter. 3 weeks from making the Ho Ho Ho cake and my entire kitchen is still glittering redly, an effect that is beautifully complemented by the Snowflake lustre dust particles from several of the other cakes.

[Olihan]

Windsor's is in Warrington, off J9 of the M62 - nearish Gulliver's World if you know where that is. If you want a chauffeur then shout and I'll extend the overdraft .

The tiny star is from this set from PME. The reindeer is PME too here, I bought the double set but have only used the small one.

I miss Sheila too - how's your RI skills these days? Mine are still shocking.

[Slubberdegullion]

I've wimped out with the RI after that giant catastrophe with all the dog outlines I did for dd1's birthday. I know I should get a grip as I've had to do 3 cakes recently with words on and the little letter cutters send me into a frenzy of rage as each letter takes 5 or 6 goes to come out right.

It's all the fart arsing about with the powdered egg white and then making the stupid little bags that puts me off

[lazy]

midori I use Almond Art as an online supplier. They're pretty good too, you'll end up spending a fortune if you venture into sugar craft land though.

[Olihan]

Right, I can solve your letter issue, I promise. Took me blinking ages to get to grips with them but now I have about 7 different styles and can get them all out first time (except when I tap a little too enthusiastically and flick the darn things onto the floor!)

Ideally you need a pasta machine as it makes the whole rolling out process a doddle but if youdon't have a gadget fiend DH're more patient than me you can do it by hand.

You need to use sugarpaste with GT/Tylo/CMC or Mexican paste

With the pasta machine, roll it out to number 4 depth, with a rolling pin, roll it so that you can see a thick black line through it.

Now cut it into inch wide strips and walk away. Make a cup of tea, hang up the washing, go on MN, anything for 10 minutes.

Then go back, the top will be nice and crusty and unsticky. Dust the cutter with the cornflour bag from Sheila then press onto the icing, rub back and forth on the board to separate it from the strip and rub on the back of your hand to clean off the tufty edges. Now give it a good, sharp whack against the edge of the worktop. It's a sort of wrist flick action you want.

If the first one sticks, leave it for another 5 minutes and try again. If they still don't come out properly then you probably need to roll it more thinly.

Honestly, you will be adding lettering to anything that stays still before you know it .

[Slubberdegullion]

Olihan that is brilliant. i haven't tried it yet but you sound so sure that I'm fully convinced your method sounds fool-proof.

I don't have a pasta maker but maybe now I need one

[midori1999]

I'm quite excoted about this thread.

Olihan, thanks for the links to the stars/reindeers etc. I had managed to work out what you had used and ordered them, just waiting for all my things to come. I am going to shamelessly copy your blue/white/reindeer/tree/stars cake if that's not too cheeky? Although no doubt it will look nothing like yours...

Slubber, it's costng me a fortune already and I've only just started. I have managed to find a sugarcraft supplier about an hour away, so am going there are the weekend. I'll have to colour my own fondant as the company I used for the other things (online) wanted to charge me £20 delivery for it!

I have a fruitcake all ready to marzipan. How long in advance of icing it do I need ot marzipan it please and how long before I need it to be ready can I ice it? Do I need to worry about the icing cracking or anything if i do it too early?

I am also making a chocolate cake for my friend's Birthday at the weekend. I am just going to fill/cover it with ganache and then white chocolate cigarellos and a ribbon round it. I've never used the cigarellos before, so hopefully it'll work out OK.... are they quite easy?

[midori1999]

Oh, and I needed a pasta maker anyway, so now I really need one. Plus some letter cutters... plus a lovely Artisan mixer.... plus some more cake tins... more food colours...