Sugarcraft chat

[wem]

I started a thread for cake people a while back but it got a bit lost in Chat so thought I'd try to tempt people into our lovely new baking topic.

Hopefully I'll see some of the posters from the chat thread, but for any new people popping in, introductions: I'm wem, I'm a recent cake obsessive and have been bothering mumsnetters about it a fair bit as I'm starting up cake decorating business. I don't have anywhere near the experience or knowledge of some of the posters in here, but I do have an excessive willingness to chat about cake :)

Let's try this again, eh?

Wem - I use the baby sponges, I have a couple of natural sponges and a couple of smooth sponges. I guess any will do as long as it is clean. You can buy special ones here but it looks exactly like my baby sponge! here!

why do I do it to myself ???? Had a wedding meeting tonight and have agreed to make a bride wearing this dress in fimo. Plus icing love heart sweets with raised lettering. In 11 weeks time....

Wem - I would either mottle using a sponge (any old crappy sponge will do) or possibly do a base colour and then use paintmate to mottle it up. It looks like it's had a base colour which has then been "stripped" if you see what i mean

dress looks interesting to model in fimo, Nigel

Are all the lovehearts the same? If so, I would be tempted to make a mould (maybe even a set of moulds from a packet of real love hearts)?

this stuff + packet of love hearts = job done

..or am I just delerious from asparagus making (I have made enough to prove that it works, but I am long way off being done)?

they're having the bridal couple's names on. they have to be about 2.5" in diameter. I thought I could easily make a mould but further thought is that getting the raised letters wont' be that easy.

I will probably just pipe it on in royal icing with a 0 nozzle and go over it a couple of times and wet brush the edges smooth

and have found a good looking modelling clay on lindy's cakes - it will be the first time i've done modelling not in sugar

You could make one, in fimo, and then use that to make a mould to make lots, maybe?

that's what i was planning - i'm just not sure how i'm going to make the indentations in the modelling material neatly and large enough for the sugarpaste to come out how I want. I've got some food grade modelling paste at my mum's so will give it a try over the weekend and share

Nigel - are they huge individual letters on each loveheart or tiny letters with the full name on each loveheart?

If it's individual letters, you could do as I did for the cubes on the christening cake - printed the large letters onto card then cut out with a craft knife to make templates to cut the letters out of modelling paste. Of course, I only had to do five - it depends how long their names are!

the lovehearts are only going to be about 2.5 inches in diameter so too small to cut out letters. I think piping is going to be the way to go - the simplest solution is usually the best

:) maybe huge wasn't the right word. The cubes for the christening cake were only 1.5 inches tall, but I'm not too hot on piping just yet, more comfortable with a craft knife!

Fair enough - piping is my comfort zone !

That dress looks amazing, so detailed! How big will your model be? I've been asked to make a bride and groom for a non-wedding and yet wedding-themed cake. A bit strange, but good to be practising that kind of thing before doing it for high pressure wedding cake :) I've got a general description of the bride and groom, hair colour, height etc. I don't know whether to ask for a photo of the couple - I don't want to give the impression that the models will actually look like them...

I think the models will be about 6 inches.tall. They're going to be cutesy "soft" models rather than proper ones with a mould. Will probably order the modelling clay today and start making them next week

Any pictures of the asparagus yet stealth ?

Nigel - just remembered I said I'd take that picture of my set up yesterday, sorry, it was a hectic day in the end. I'm definitely taking some pictures of cakes this weekend so will take one then.

I will try my tablecloth and clothes horse out as well - I've got a CD shaped birthday cake with models of 2 little girls on order for Saturday

No photos yet - will take some when I get home tomorrow as it is at an interesting stage - some painted and some not and bloody hundreds of spears still to do the painted ones are very effective though.

Hello cakecrafters, I wonder if I could ask you a question... up until now I've been using ready to roll icing from the supermarket for cake decorating, is fondant/sugarpaste the same stuff? What's the best/easiest thing to use? Thanks :)

Hi Fourthousand, yes it is the same stuff. Everyone has their own preferences but I use both Tesco and Sainsburys brand stuff and it is fine.

Fab thanks blueberry! If it turns out well I may be back with a pic :)

A simple question for anyone really, brush embriodery, is there a set pattern to follow? or can you just pipe random things, ( flowers mainly i mean ) i love the pink cake in the Lindy Smith book, i'm getting better, does the icing need to be soft peak or smooth as suggested in her book?

brush embroidery can be done on any outlined image. You pipe a fairly sturdy outline with royal icing, I would use a number 2 nozzle to ensure there is plenty of icing to use.
I would make the icing slightly softer than I would use to do a snail trail but still firm enough to hold its shape. I don't know what she means by "smooth" but if you translate it to be filling-a-run-out consistency it will be too liquid. Make sure your brush is damp and you have some kitchen roll or a damp cloth to hand to keep wiping it clean. There are more advanced techniques you can use but I would just stick to the basics until you get more proficient.
If anyone is interested one of my Nick Lodge books has a section on brush embroidery techniques for the intermediate level cake decorator

thanks Nigel, had a good go last night and quite pleased with my results, did think it was abit odd using the term " smooth" just used to soft peak and stiff. I've got a cake to make for a colleague and thats what i'm tempted to do as its so pretty and i also thinks it looks so much better with a darker coloured fondant. Also how would you go about making a fondant gift box again for a colleague?would it be better made with flower paste so its dries harder, or would normal sugerpaste be ok? She's bought a pair of earrings for her mun and i thought it would be nice to put them in a fondant box on top of the cake, i did a small one ages ago for my niece and hid her engagement ring in it, that was about 20 yrs ago tho and things change, just wondered what you thought?