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?

Wow!!!

How come the photos are so big?

not sure what you mean.. I like the fact they are big so that you can see the detail..

Neverknowingly, your cakes are very good, i like the footie shirt, i did one on tues, one i've never done before, was quite pleased with it, pic is on my profile, i've got a little girl sitting in between some daises next week, i've the girl, took ages though.

briliant nanny! I love making figures, tis like being paid to play with playdugh

So do i, but i get alittle stressed when the fondant dries quickly, i made the skirt to go around her body and it kept breaking, then i made thin strands of yellow hair, and one of those broke, arrrrgh! painting the eyes on and tiny dots of black, brushing her cheeks , then i made a thin belt and fixed a bow at the back, oh and did i mention she had to be sitting down too, so i rammed a strand of spagetti through her middle, ha ha.

did you use flowerpaste or just sugarpaste? flowerpaste mixed 50/50 with sugarpaste dries more slowly and cracks and breaks less.

She sounds beautiful.. we need pictures!!!

Never - I think Viking means how did you get them so big, as MNHQ automatically resizes all photos to make them small when you first upload them. Viking - there's an option when you upload photos to resize them to the size you want :)

Those cakes are great Never, the Peppa/George cake is perfect, the details are wonderful (big Peppa fans in this house).

My next project is a dragon cake for my nephew's 6th birthday. A pretty open brief so should be lots of fun :)

Ahhhh, ok, for future reference, all cake photos should be big so I can see the detail!

Oh a dragon cake, that will be great fun.

I'm starting to think about DD's cake for her 3rd birthday at the beginning of November. Something autumnal, with fairies maybe. There are lots of woodland cakes on google to get inspiration from.

Are you on pinterest Viking? When google returns so many hits that it would take ages to find the good ones I have a look on pinterest as generally someone somewhere will have done the work for you and pinned the interesting ones :)

Yes I am on pinterest, I have lots of cakes pinned! Are you? If so could you PM me so I can follow you (hmm, re-reading that I sound very creepy!!!)

I've sent you a pm Viking. I think I've linked to it before but probably shouldn't out myself too often on here :)

We have some cakes pinned in common!

I spotted that! I was going t link to them but thought I'd jut recommend Pinterest and let you have a look for yourself :)

Ha ha, i wouldnt call her beautiful, more like cheeky looking as she has a sideward glance, I've started using the modelling paste which works really well, have you tried that before?

NKU, she's on there, although she doesn't look that good, better in the flesh.

I tried a specific thread for this as it's not sugarcrafty, but not getting any interest - anyone have a good gateau recipe? I've been asked to make one for the people at the soft play I supply cakes for. Never made a gateau before and not entirely sure what he means, he just said 'something with fresh cream, like a gateau or something'. I'm guessing something with fresh fruit and whipped cream? Like this?

Hi Wem, think your on the right track with that cake, always thought gateau was mainly 3 layers, genoise sponge maybe, and usually fresh cream.

No idea for a gateaux recipe (what's a gateau, it just means cake in French ?)

I have finally added a photo of the scorpion cake I made for DS. It's a bit basic, but he liked it (and it was a rainbow cake, didn't get any photos of inside though).

I know Viking - that's mostly why I'm confused! I could only think of Black Forest Gateau, which is chocolate cake and cherries and cream, but don't think that's what they want, as they'd have ask for it specifically. I can't see your profile, maybe you need to make in public?

Thanks Nannycook, I'll look up a genoise sponge recipe. I think as long as it's got fresh cream and fruit they'll be happy, but would like to do it right :)

It should be visible now!

Viking, i saw your pic, its really good.

I use a whisked/fat free sponge for gateux like that. it gives a really lovely and light and airy sponge. My recipe is:

3 eggs
3oz caster sugar
3oz plain flour.

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until really thick and fluffy, leaving a good trail when you lift the whisk out, then fold in the flour carefully. Pour into a greased (with oil) and lined tin and then bake at 180C for about 30 mins.

That recipe is for an 8 inch tin, but it's not a huge sponge, so you might want to increase the quantities/make 2 and do four layers.

Hope this helps.

Thanks midori, that's a great help. Will be doing it Saturday evening so will let you all know how it goes.

Great cake Viking - I love the menacing scorpion next to the delicate strawberries and leaves :)

Hello everyone, just finished my dragon cake and uploaded a pic :)