Sugarcraft tips

[Tinkerisdead]

Okay its stupid o clock and im googling various cake decorating techniques whilst feeding baby. Anyway then i thought i'd ask the quiche on here..

A. I need to emboss a brick pattern on a cake, now i can either emboss it then put it on the cake but then using a smoother is likely to obliterate the imprint. Or emboss on the cake which may expose the cake underneath. What would you do?

B. i dont have a cake turn table. Ive got by using upturned tins/plates/anything. I usually ice my whole board, then my cake without board or cake underneath and drop it on to the iced cake using a pallet knife etc. what do you do? Because my way often leaves finger marks somewhere.

Ive made about five cakes and get by from researching techniques as i go but i need to get the basics better.

aarrggghh - Just typed you along reply and the stupid site ate it!

For the embossing - I would use an embossing mat once the cake is iced. I won't press right through the icing unless the icing is very thin. If you don't have/want the expense on a matt then a ruler edge will give you straight horizontal lines and a toothpick to make the vertical lines.

I ice my boards and cakes in one piece of fondant unless it is a wedding cake then I ice the boards separately a week or so before so they dry before placing the cake on top.

Blueberry I ice my board, then let it dry. Ice my cake and use a pallet knife/fish slice/ flexible mat to slide underneath and 'drop' onto my cake board. Is that the best way? And when the cake is big its nigh on impossible!

I'm gonna do a trial run of the brickwork then. Im making a castle cake for a friend. My first cake for someone else and im nervous!

I haven't done embossing so can't help with that, but can tell you what I do with the icing (disclaimer - I've only done three cakes so far but I've researched and watched a lot of youtube tutorials ).

I've done it two different ways and the more recent (from a Jane Asher youtube vid I think) was the better result. With that I put my cake on the board, then added the marzipan and fondant (was a fruit cake), cutting the excess off at the base of the cake leaving some board still showing.

I then did a rectange of fondant and draped that around the board that was showing (hard to describe). I then hid the join with ribbon, held in place with edible glue and pretty ivory head pins.

Yes i think im gonna try that way as i'd have less wastage too. Thank you.

If you're icing the board, are you putting the cake on a smaller board first? It's easier to transfer the cake onto covered board then. That's what I was taught in class.

Do you have a veining tool? They are really good for marking brickwork. If not a cocktail stick works well too!

Once i used a cake card under the cake but thats worse okay tell me. You have your covered cake board and now you have an iced cake on a small board on your turntable. How do you get it safely off the turntable on to the board? A pallet knife slips more on a board than bare cake.

Oh and ive ordered an embossing mat today. I saw someone else say they sometimes double ice a cake for a smoother finish. I may do that and emboss the cake once iced.

If you've iced your board in advance and let it dry then you can out the cake onto it and ice it on the board. I usually do my boards several days in advance then put them in the airing cupboard to dry really well. As long as you don't really dig the knife into the board as you trim off them excess then it's fine.

Alternatively you can ice it separately, let it dry overnight then put a piece of greaseproof lightly on the top, lay another drum on top and flip it carefully upside down then peel off the original board so you can see the bottom of the cake. Lay your iced board carefully on top and flip it back the right way round.

The other method that I use, which uses less icing, is to put the cake on an un-iced drum and cover cake and board all in one go, using one of these to make a really neat line where the cake meets the board. Unless I'm doing a really expensive cake or one where the board is a different colour to the cake then that's what I do. It's much quicker and less faff than either of the other two ways.

Thankyou thats all so obvious now.

you know me so well, DrsW

I need one of those corner edgers, I think - I have done icing board and cake in one go in the past, but then have strategically placed decorations to hide the mistakes. I have also done boards in advance (like the quilted one) and let them dry, then put strips of greaseproof paper around (leaving small square in the middle) before putting the cake on it. Decorate cake, and then ease the paper out revealing the (hopefully) undamaged board.

On the embossing - I still think you should ice the cake to get a nice smooth finish, and then emboss a thin layer and put it on in strips. I wish I had done that with my basket TBH but that was partly because I was using bastard belgian chocolate sugarpaste which set like concrete as soon as it hit the cold cake

After using pretty much every technique this is my preferred one!!! I tend to ice the board a few days in advance then let it dry thoroughly. Once you're ready to ice the cake place a large piece of baking parchment over the iced board and then place your buttercreamed cake on top. Cover the cake with the icing and trim the edges as you normally would and leave over night. The next day when I'm finishing the cake off I trim round the bottom of the cake with a small craft knife. As long as the iced board is really dry and you don't press too hard the knife will not mark the icing. I just tell everyone before they take the cake away that theres a piece of parchment underneath the cake. Its a bit faffy but it definitely gets the neatest finish.