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?

Was your brush wet? I found I had to keep wetting my brush quite a lot to keep the icing moving.

Also, pipe each section and brush it immediately, don't let it dry out.

Wem, your a star, didnt even know i had to wet the brush! duh, what am i like? thats fab advice, gonna have a go right this minute.

Also, i put my daughters cake on my profile, or its on mumsnet.com, its ok i guess, apart from the writing.

Hi Wem or midori, well just had a go at brush embriodery, got a feeling i may have the wrong size nozzle, i watched a tutorial and she had a much bigger nozzle than i have, ( size 3 i think ) so i guess thats the next thing to buy!

Hi All, been busy up to my eyes in cake! I have a bit of a break now for 10 days or so.

Nannycook - I use a size 1.5/2 for brush embroidery, if you pipe it out slowly you can get a slightly thicker line. If you divide your image into segments then do them in an anti clockwise direction. The wetter your brush the further it will spread.

Hi blueberry, what's been keeping you busy? I've just finished my sister's 40th, I set myself up for sooo much work, but I'm happy with it. Got a busy week next week too, but at least I'm getting paid for those :)

Hi Wem, it was a wedding cake the I took as my very first booking last September, then a few Jubilee cakes and my DD2's birthday cake.

How did the 40th cake go, any pictures?

thank you blueberry, i'll give that a try soon, is it best to keep the lines straight, or wavy or doesn't it matter?

blueberry, i cannot believe the person showed your cake as her own, what a cheek, you must have been so upset about that?

Blueberry, how lovely to do your first booking. I guess you can look back and see how far you've come since you took it :). Any pics? I've just put my sister's up on my profile.

I'll put mine up a bit later. I put a little ad in the local 'Market Place' magazine, delivered to all houses in our town and the neighbouring one on Wednesday and I have 2 enquiries today

Nanny - I was furious but have calmed down now - luckily for her as I bumped into her in town today!

blueberry, well she's got off lightly thats all i can say, i think i would have decked her. So blueberry, have you had cards printed promoting your cakes? then delivered them to local people etc etc?

Nanny, I started out making cakes for my DD's birthdays, christenings etc, then got asked to make a couple for family and friends. A friend them commissioned a wedding cake and a local charity a Mad Hatter's cake (on my profile), as more and more people ask DH persuaded me to give it a go as a business. I built a website, designed a couple of cards and finally a friend helped put a magazine ad together. It has taken since last August when the website went live to get to the point where I am getting reasonably regular orders.

Pics of new cakes on my profile too :)

blueberry, thats amazing, you must be very proud of yourself? obviously you've put alot of effort into this so you deserve the rewards! where do i find your profile? i,m very new to this and havn't got a clue where to look.

If you click on my name there will be a bit on the page saying blueberryboybait's photos. Click on that and you will see my pictures.

blueberry, they are just amazing, am so jealous! with abit of practise i may just get to the same standard,ha ha, not! so tell me, how do you get to show your photos? is it easy to do?

At the top of the page on the blue toolbar is a bit that says Mymumsnet, click on it and you will get a bit that say my photos, click and it will take you to a login page and to a bit where you can upload your photos. Very simple.

Lovely cake Wem. I bet she was pleased!

I have just popped in really. I've got four cakes this weekend, plus 40 cupcakes and I wish I hadn't agreed to so many as I am going to actually be dead by Sunday....

I stupidly also agreed to go out with a friend tomorrow night, so I will be baking cupcakes hungover Sunday morning....

blueberry, sounds easy enough, shall give that a go soon.

Thanks midori, it went down pretty well :) Four cakes and forty cupcakes in one weekend?! Madness!

Wem - have just peeked at your pics - the cake is amazing!

Midori - That is alot of cake! I an just wondering if I should take on 2 wedding cakes for one weekend next year?

wem, i absolutely love your cake with the brush embriodery, so elegant, i really need to know how to do this so it looks like yours!

well, I can recommend doing that cake as practice - I wasn't too hot when I started but there was so much of it I was practically an expert by the time I'd finished! I'd really love to try the technique again, but haven't found the right cake for it yet.

How are you this morning midori? Baking through the hangover?

And thanks Blueberry, just had a look at your new ones, that heart wedding cake is gorgeous - are those sugar roses on top or wired ones? Either way, just beautiful :)