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?

Hi, so pleased to have come across this thread - can I join?? I have been making cakes for a few years now, but have so much to learn still. Would love to do it as more of a business but realistically this isn't going to happen, plus I hate the pricing side and usually undercharge - I am never going to make a fortune!!

Hiya friend, i'll second that, your right, you may never make your fortune from making cakes, however i did make 4 in one in July, in i may add the flipping hottest week of the year, charging £35 for each for 8inch all with a fair amount of work, well it was for me as i work full time also, i also found some of them hard work but enjoyable nevertheless. Welcome to the thread by the way!!

I've got loads going on over the next 2 weeks -

1. Grease cadillac cake with modelled Sandy and Danny sitting in it + 15 chocolate cupcakes.
2. Music cake with electric guitar
3. 3 tier Marvel superhero cake
4. 21st birthday cake with tier of cut-out applique and tier with silver leaf all over it, pink and black stiletto on the top and 24 coordinating cupcakes

Ohdear, you are going to be busy arent you?

Wow that was a busy weekend - 3 cakes (w x 3 tier and 1 x 2 tier + 24 ornate cupcakes + sugar stiletto cake topper

Knacked but £100 better off and everyone was very pleased. Photos to follow later :)

And some advice. Do not work with children, animals or silver leaf....

Please can I join? I made my first fondant covered cake for DD1's birthday this week. Photos are on my profile. I'm feeling ridiculously pleased with myself.

Ben and Holly, thats very good TickledOnion.

Wow Tickled, for a first effort that's really, really impressive. New hobby for you I predict :D Cue considerable amount of impulse purchasing of cutters and other completely non essential items online !

Thanks nannycook and OhDear. It took bloody ages but I really enjoyed it.

I just wanted to say hello as I have been lurking on this thread for a while. I've added photos to my profile (and namechanged as the cakes identify me pretty well). As you can see my cake decorating efforts sometimes lack finesse. I don't get enough practice and generally only go to town on my children's birthday cakes. I do regularly make muffins, biscuits and cupcakes too. It's only recently that I've been buying proper decorating equipment and cake decorating magazines. So far I've resisted the impulse buying but my Christmas wish list is lengthening by the week!

I love the Ben and Holly cake, and the various pictures of tiered cakes that people have posted (I have never attempted a tiered cake).

Kitey, they really are very good, welcome to the thread firstly, there are so many talented people on here who will help, advise, encourage etc, i'm glad i joined, its helped me quite abit, Well done anyway!

Thank you! I wish i had known about adding gum tragacanth to pendant before the flower cake cos my butterflies kept breaking and now I know why.

Fondant not pendant stupid phone

Kitey - you might find that CMC or Tylose is slightly better as it acts much faster than gun trag which takes 12-24 hours to work.

Been busy is here but things slowing down a bit before the Christmas rush, 2 christening cakes in the next 2 weeks and I am now being asked to bake reasonably regularly for a local farm cafe. Which reminds me I must invoice them!

Good tip thanks

I went to a sugarcraft exhibition today and watched Eddie Spence MBE demming for 2 hours. It was A-MAZ-ING. He's been one of my heroes for ever and it was just incredible to watch him work. He's still astonishingly quick and precise well into his 80s. He was really entertaining and very generous with his tips ! He also patiently signed everyone's books including mine which I had taken specially from home.

I've (hopefully) booked to go on his 3 day advanced royal icing masterclass in june at squire's kitchen, keeping my fingers crossed that I get a space

Hello

Please can anyone help a beginner?

I would like to make my dd first birthday cake but im not very good at baking or cooking. So i can get my MIL to bake the cake and i can decorate it. So far so good

I would like a fairy castle cake. I have a castle to go on the top of a round cake, a board, ready to roll lilic iceing and a place to write on.

Im having problems with the fairies. I have found a fairy mould but i dont know what to use to make them
Do i use ready to roll iceing, Sugar doung or something else?
How do i colour the fairies?

Any help or advice or tips will be greatly recieved

Thanks
Air

You need to go to your local sugarcraft place (possibly where you got the fairy moulds) and buy modelling paste like this. It comes in smaller packs. Rollout icing is not suitable for detailed mould work.
You put plenty of cornflour in your mould and then manipulate the paste into it with your fingers then peel back to remove the model.

You will need paste colours to colour your fairies

Thank you.

I have ordered white modelling paste but im unsure about the colouring.

Is it different coloured paste that i will need? I wanted to have a white fairy then paint the dress and wings purple.

Im ordering off the internet and trying to keep it simple. Round cake, roll out mazipan and purple iceing, put fairies on the side of cake and the fake castle on the top, dust with purple edebal gliter.

Do you think it will work?

Oh dear, where did go to see Eddie Spence? i went to the NEC on the 11th nov to the Cake Decorating Exhibition, the cakes there were amazing i must be honest.

whoooooooooooooooooooooop they have space !!

Ironically, you know I do a bit of casual work at a small hotel ? There was a sugarcraft exhibition here at the hotel this weekend and Eddie was at it. I almost had apoplexy when one of the other DMs said "yeah, there's a famous old bloke who's done royal wedding cakes coming" !!

How exciting OhDear ( - not sure what to call you now you've lost your Nigel!), learning from the great man himself . And how great to see him at the hotel. I keep wondering about doing courses, but not sure which type to go for. I'd like to go on an intensive week long type thing, but I don't think I have the time or money. Picking individual skills to learn is difficult when I don't know what is going to be useful. So I'm stuck in a sort of all or nothing situation. And then I start looking at full on baking/patisserie courses, and then give up as I clearly still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!

I must sort Nigel out again - I changed for the Red Dwarf name change !

Wem, you could try looking around for your nearest branch of the British Sugarcraft Guild and start going to meetings. They have demos and classes, clubs work on exhibition work together and it's a good way to network with other sugarcrafters, teachers and suppliers. it's quite cheap.

You could also look at your local sugarcraft stores etc to see places doing short courses - there's a lady near me that does 1 day courses focusing on 1 thing (eg. large wedding roses, daffodils) for about £40 that are run at the weekend. Lots of places offer this now. Would give you a taster of doing classes and expand your skills