Cake decorators- your wisdom please!

[NeverGotMyPuppy]

I am making a train cake for a child's birthday in mid september. Its fairly elaborate.
I'm OK with sugarpaste figurines as long as I have time to practice. But I could do with some advice please!

1. It's a circus train so will have animals. I was going to use my loaf tin but it seems so big. Any better suggestions?

1. How far in advance can I start making decoration and how should I store them?

1. I want to do a 'gravity-defying' part - it will be one figurine in the air. I've never done this before - any advice?

1. Any suggestions on how I can make sugarpaste stronger?

1. I love the look of painted sugarpaste but it looks v difficult- is it?!

1. Any other tips very very gratefully received.

I can answer a couple

1. Make them as far in advance as you like. Store them in a cardboard box with a loose lid...not airtight, and they’ll be fine.

1. Use gum paste to make the figures stronger. Mix it with the sugarpaste...it hardens on its own, but the mixture will just be stronger, not completely hard.

1. You can mix powder colours with vodka to paint...the vodka evaporates off. You can also buy dipping solution to mix with the colours. It is quite difficult to do though, and to get a good finish.

1. use mini loaf tins? Or a large loaf tin but cut wide slices so 1 large loaf makes 4 small carriages

2. i usually do all my sugarpaste a week in advance and store in Tupperware

3. i use modelling paste and use gels to colour it rather than using coloured sugarpaste. It sets hard but you have to work quite fast as it dries quickly! (Or buy a block of vegetable fat and rub that on your hands to keep the paste soft whilst you model)

Good luck!

4. you can buy gum traganth which is a powder to mix with sugarpaste. I've yet to get the perfect ratio though, always seems to be too brittle hence prefer modelling paste

Gosh thank you all so much!

So modelling paste seems the way to go. Is it a lot more expensive?

@magicstar1 what ratio do you recommend?

I'm going to start practising tomorrow.

Final question - im worried I'm using terms incorrectly. Is sugarpaste the same stuff as what say ready rolled out icing is?

No, ready rolled is different. You want something that hardens, like flower paste. You are unlikely to find it in supermarkets so somewhere like Hobbycraft will sell it.

https://www.sugarshack.co.uk/the-shack/modelling-chocolate-vs-fondant-vs-gumpaste-tips

Good luck!

Brilliant, thank you! I should stick to softer stuff for windows etc, right?

Each to their own on that one. I have used normal fondant, as well as modelling paste for flat items like letters stuck on the side of a cake.

Sainsbury's sells modelling paste (also known as flower paste or gum paste), think Tesco do too if you have a large enough one. Comes in small packets of about 200g.

Sugarpaste is fondant, it's a soft paste - the stuff you cover cakes with.

Yep, sugarpaste is ready rolled, or fondant. Gum paste / modelling paste is the one that sets hard. Anything you want set firm will have more gumpaste, so just add more in for these parts. The bigger ones like the train won’t need to set hard, so don’t add much.

Just be careful when using gumpaste. It sets very quickly so rub some vegetable fat on your board. The stuff you’re not actively working on...keep it in a sandwich bag so it doesn’t dry out on you.

Good luck

Bugger me you can buy a lot of cake related stuff!

I've gone for a 16 gauge wire... fingers crossed...