...to hate the plethora of cakes with sheet fondant icing and fancy artwork

[CaptainTripps]

I mean these kinds of cakes are lovely to look at but I really would rather have a lovely, plain old Victoria sponge without all that disgusting sheet fondant.

Birthday parties especially. I remember from childhood delicious, crooked and slightly out of shape sponge cakes with some candles plonked in the middle.

Now it's all overly sweetened, chemically tasting and bland and uniform.

I've seen those amazing themed creations on Facebook too. Barely any cakes and all icing/decoration.

Bring back the old fashioned cake!

I'm not a fan of the hard, rolled icing either. I love butter cream!

I make my own marzipan to go on my Christmas and it tastes a lot different to shop bought.

Christmas cake that should be

Precisely, IHaveSeenMyHat, The fancy fondant isn't for eating, its for making the other parents go. "Oh did you make that".

I can't do many non academic things, but I can make pretty artistic cakes.

I always made Victoria sponge recipe but with cocoa replacing some of the flour. Then iced with melted Cadbury's milk choc and smarties for birthday cakes.

Always happily scoffed.

(I like my cake to taste of butter, eggs, sugar and flour)

Thing is if you are doing a special occasion cake a wonky cake with a bit of buttercream isnt a showstopper. If the fondant is rolled quite thin then it doesnt taste too bad. Trouble is that you need considerable cake decorating skill to roll it thin and smoothly cover a cake so people roll it quite thick.

I think different cakes are suitable for different occassions nothing wrong with a plain Victoria cake just wouldnt expect it as a wedding cake

yanbu
if the cake underneath is booooring tasteless kitchen sponge.
I made an amazing carrot cake for under the, requested by dc, garish blue and green snake.
trick is to roll the icing really thin over a layer of thick butter cream icing.
looks great, tastes great.

I like lemon glace icing made with lemon juice. You can't do those fancy cakes with it though. And I don't like chocolate fudge cake icing so sickly, a really nice ganache made with chocolate and cream would be much nicer. And a really nice old fashioned xmas fruit cake with homemade marzipan and thick royal icing that looks like snow with those little plastic xmas trees. Yum.

Agree mousmous, you really need a luxurious cake, crumb coated with buttercream and then a very thin layer of fondant icing to carry it off.

YANBU the fondant stuff is revolting. But I'm not a fan of buttercream either. Or cupcakes. Yukity yuk to all of it.

And a really nice old fashioned xmas fruit cake with homemade marzipan and thick royal icing that looks like snow with those little plastic xmas trees.

Oh yes, that My granny used to make the best ones of those, and the trees had proper tiny bristles like a real fir tree

Do you still get that thick hard royal icing about these days? Even wedding cakes seem to be fondant don't they.

YANBU - icing is gross. Jam, too.

Bialy, I still royal ice my christmas cake every year. Have done a few royal iced wedding cakes too.

My aunt loves icing and she's a cunt.

There may be a connection...

Yes you still get Royal icing - they sell it in any supermarket really - but you have to check you're not buying the work of the devil fondant stuff by accident. I always Royal ice my Christmas cake.

the other stuff of which you all speak is SUGAR PASTE and it is DISGUSTING - it is basically barely edible modelling clay for people with no baking skills whatsoever to use in order to make something "impressive"

And a really nice old fashioned xmas fruit cake with homemade marzipan and thick royal icing that looks like snow with those little plastic xmas trees

oh yes that's perfection - and with a small plastic 3-legged reindeer....

Oh in that case NigellasGuest everyone who's ever eaten one of my celebration cakes must have been lying when they told me how delicious they were.

Sugarpaste has it's place in the construction of certain novelty cakes, it may not be the only solution, but then not everyone has the time, money or facilities to make their own. It's by no means the only medium I use for cake decorating, but it is certainly the most popular with children - and some adults.

I have found my people.

I hate fondant, royal, glace or indeed buttercream icing. I loathe marzipan.

I also hate Christmas cake, or indeed any fruit cake befouled by nuts or mixed peel.

The kind of cake I like is ... Victoria sponge made with fresh cream, jam and fresh strawberries OR sticky spicy ginger cake OR soft custardy chocolate cake OR unbefouled fruit cake.

Luckily I know how to make all of those.

When the DC need a birthday cake I make an eating cake and buttercream it in a strong colour, then apply a theme - eg last year I did fondant model ants crawling on a green cake (brushed to look like grass) and a printed icing transfer thing.

Yanbu. Especially if it is blue.

I agree about the revolting fondant icing. But what I really like is the use of the word 'befouled' in the post above

Victoria sandwich with buttercream.

Hate fondant. Sickly. Hate TOO MUCH buttercream on 'cup' cakes. Vulgar and trashy.

YANBU. I love baking, but hate fondant icing. I pretty much refuse to use it, but DD is only 3 so I can get away with it. She had piped buttercream for a zebra cake last year like this one, so fondant isn't the only choice.

I love marzipan and icing, but not the fondant stuff, it has to be royal icing. The real stuff with icing sugar, egg white, lemon juice and glycerine.

I like this thread. I like you people.

Style over substance, pah, all that fondant twiddly shite. I am all about proper, big fuck off cakes, with oozing insides and cracked tops. Nut cakes, citrus cakes, cakes that taste of something.

I do like marzipan, mind. I like it baked in the cake more than on the top. I also like the word plethora.

I also like marzipan. My idea cake contains a plethora of marzipan...