making my first "proper" birthday cake - please come and talk to me about icing!

[curryeater]

OK first off apologies for being stupid.

Secondly: is this

this

fondant icing?

Or in other words, can I use it for:

kneading with food colouring to make a pale colour and then rolling out to cover the cake;

kneading with different food colourings, rolling out, and then cutting shapes to represent a character (flat art on top);

kneading with food colouring and sculpting small characters to sit on top, in more of a 3D plasticine stylie

?

If not, what is the stuff that I need to do those things?

How much would you need to cover a large rectangular cake - about 30cm by 20cm?

Thank you!

PS

Forgot to ask the other question:

What is the stuff you put in an icing bag to do writing?

Thank you!

You'll need about 1.5kg of fondant to do that size of cake. Yes, that link is fondant :)

As a beginner, you should always buy more than you need. You could also do with a very smooth rolling pin (not wood) and a smoothing tool. Look for tutorials on youtube.

Writing is easiest to do with buttercream, but practice a lot first. If you take too long trying to write with the icing, it'll melt a bit.

Oh, and don't try to colour fondant with standard supermarket food colouring unless you want really pastel colours. You'll need decent gel food colouring. Wilton do a good one.

Thanks Toby.
I quite want a very pastel base colour. If I need stronger colours for the stuff on top, would it be better to use something like this?

this

I was thinking I would buy tons and tons and be prepared to throw some away, is that what you meant by "buy more than you need"?

What is the smoothing tool for - for the flat surface on the cake? What does it look like?

If I write with butter cream, it has to be kept in the fridge, right? (wrong?) If I don't, can I avoid having to keep it in the fridge? Maybe you have to do the writing just before the party?

Sorry to plague with questions. Thank you for your help.

Yes, pre-coloured fondant is probably better for bright colours. It'll be cheaper and easier than buying gel colours for each colour and doing it yourself. They don't taste very nice, though!

Normal food colouring will be fine if it's pale you're after. Just don't use too much, or you'll ruin the consistency of the fondant.

I said to get more than you need because you don't want to have to roll it super-thin if it's your first go.

Buttercream will be fine at room temperature for a while. I probably wouldn't do it more than 24hrs in advance, but if you're wanting to do it the day before it'll be perfectly alright.

This is an icing smoother. They're very useful.

This is also great, if you're thinking of doing it more often.

Good luck!