Can I decorate a carrot cake with sugarpaste?

[caffinequeen]

I want to make DH a Gruffalo cake that someone had linked to on a thread a while back (I only have DD's - this is my cake decorating respite from fairies, princesses and all things pink!). DH is not a huge fan of madeira cake though, he would rather have an undecorated cake than a fancy looking plain cake - a bit selfish if you ask me . Can I get the best of both worlds and make a carrot cake but decorate it in sugarpaste? would it be too moist for that?

Yes you can, you will need to give it a base coat of buttercream first, allow the buttercream to set and crust over then cover with sugarpaste.

Brilliant thank you. Gruffalo carrot cake it is!

Yes you can. Blueberry - do you always let buttercream set first? I didn't know that....

Yes, I do. If you let it set and crust over then it doesn't go as squishy under the fondant.

Don't you have problems with the fondant not sticking to the buttercream if you do that blueberry? I try to make sure I don't have to leave the cake at that stage for too long as I've had problems with the fondant not gripping to the sides and slipping down and either getting thin or breaking at the edge of the cake. I only do a very thin crumb coat of buttercream so it isn't generally squishy under the fondant.

Sorry, to give my answer to the original question - covering carrot cake with fondant is just fine. I'll think I'll be doing the same for DH's birthday as it's his favourite too :)

The only problem is cutting it, you'll have to cut large pieces as carrot cake is crumbly thats why most cakes are sponges. Can I recommend a good rich chocolate cake?

blueberry - thank you