*****************LUCYSMAM***************

[bellavitalikesthesimnellife]

Can I ask you something?

Ask away bella, am all ears eyes

Sorry it's taken so long to answer, lo having a bad night & not long since gone to sleep

The cake I made... I put it in an upside down tupperware box so the cake board was actually sat on the lid then the box went over the cake.

When DH came home last night from his weekend away, I took the box off to show him the cake and the icing was not matt anymore and looked shiny.

So, my question is..

how do you store your cakes when iced? and do yours stay matt?

I think, but am not 100% sure, it has something to do with moisture getting to the icing. The same thing happened to my noah cake when we put it in a box out of the way.

Having said that, the footy pitch I made last Tues sat on the side under a tea towel for the best part of a week & other than the edges of the actual cake going a bit dry & needing slicing off before eating it, it was fine & stayed matt.

You've got me wondering now, will have an investigate & see what I can find out

The icing is ok to eat and the cake inside is lovely - did a madeira cake, but looking at it, I just felt a little let down after my efforts on Saturday.

I think what I might do, is make a simple cake out of my book and see what it is like then under a tea towel.

What I don't want to happen is make the cake for my dad's birthday (I will have to make cake on the Thursday, ice on a Friday) then my parents will turn up Saturday lunchtime and my efforts be spoilt by shinyness!

Moisture then sounds like it is the answer - I wonder if maybe the box was not dry properly when I put it over the cake?

Am just wondering if it was the fat content in the butter cream that seeped through to the icing?

Recipe said to put a layer of butter cream on the cake, refrigerate for an hour, then put another layer on top before icing.

That's how I've been doing them

I have two conflicting (kind of) answers from two forums I've been on

According to the Bsguk one that you linked me to, in a white cardboard cake box, away from damp or heat that may affect the sugarpaste i.e. melt it kind of thing, is the best way

& the post I put on cakecentral.com is here

Which has me wondering now if you were right about the box not being completely dry, since mine was ok under the tea towel but not in the box & yours went shiny in the box as well

FWIW, I think the cake would be fine made Thursday, iced Friday & given to your dad Saturday. IIRC, when I made Noah, I made the cake two days before & iced it the day before, following advice on MN. & it was fine for a good few days before the last few bits went in the box.

Maybe the moisture makes it kind of 'sweat' if you know what I mean?

oh, and, I would link to the Bsguk forum for you, but can't link from that tab tonight for some reason

Room temp seems to be a general guideline on most of the websites that came up when I googled how to store a fondant covered cake. So, I would go with the thin card box or tea towel so that the air could still circulate around the cake, rather than in a tupperware box, which might work kind of like a greenhouse (I think [ish]) if it got warm, & start to melt the icing.

Does that make sense? Hope so!

Another vote for allowing air to circulate on the bsg website (I am me on there too btw, iyswim?) Apparently, if the icing sweats it could encourage mould (sick, not envy in this case)

Oh you are good lucysmam

Just after my last post my old school friend rang (we have kept in touch for a long long time) and she was nattering away so have only just come back on here.

I never thought to go on the british sugar craft website and in fact, I did register but on DH's laptop and I don't have it bookmarked on here so it never occurred to me to ask on there "doh" emoticon

Yes, I do know what you mean about it sweating - so tea towel it is!

and I have just logged in to the BSGUK and I saw your post - yay!

I've been looking round since after getting out of the bath & a non airtight container seems to be the general rule, so that air still circulates round the cake.

I haven't kept in touch with anyone from school really, just the odd couple to say hello to kind of thing.

Hope it survives under the tea towel

Night - and thanks again

p.s. your cakes are just as fab if not better.

Have you decided if you're making another cake out of your book bella?

There is a racetrack and a computer game that I would like to have a go at. But for either one, I would need different colour pastes to what I have got. Need some blue, red, yellow for both cakes.

I think maybe next Tuesday I will take a trip into town and go and get the colours. Make one of the cakes on the Friday and then DH is at a meeting on the Saturday 10.00am till 1.00pm so I will be able to get stuck in then decorating it. Not that he would bother me if he was here, but he would probably keep coming and having a look

Btw - the icing on the fishing cake has hardened up quite a bit and gone back to matt

oh good! The tea towel didn't mark it did it? Just someone on the BSG website suggested it might leave a kind of waffley effect on the surface of the cake.

Never happened to me (yet) but I suppose it makes sense that it may do if left in contact for a while or if the cake has slightly 'sweaty' @ my choice of word but I can't think of anything else to describe what I mean

I know what you mean about popping back to have a look, I never get peace to do mine. I usually end up with kitchen full with OH, LO, MIL, Mil's dp, & whichever of either of our mates are around at the time.

Myself and my oh are going to have a day out in York again on Friday (MIL having the lo for us) so am going to have a peaceful (no toddler shouting "shapes, bucket, icing . . . .eat!!! ) wander round the cake shop & treat myself to some bits and pieces. Not sure what yet though, apart from some flowerpaste to make goal posts out of. & maybe a few colours as I'm making an Easter Egg on Saturday rather than buying eggs for everyone

Totally off subject, but, do you know anywhere good for toys around York? We were thinking about getting the lo a toy cooker since she's obsessed with putting everything she can in mine atm! Am dreading the day I put the grill on without checking for bricks she's put in there to 'cook'

Tea towel was not a "waffly" one , was just a plain cotton one that actually is more for show than anything. Someone bought me it and I put it in the tea towel draw, but it does not dry the pots properly so rarely use it for that.

There is the Early Learning Centre which I am sure is up the street before the one you would turn up to go to Lakeland (they sort of run along side each other).

Fenwicks do childrens toys, but some are quite expensive (if you go through M&S Homeware Store and come out at the back Fenwicks is to your left).

I am sure we did have a Toy Master - if it is still there it would be behind M&S - there is a market that runs up the side street just before M&S and if you walk straight up past the market and through the other side I am sure it used to be there. here you go. You might want to give them a ring to make sure they are still there.

Have a lovely day day out - get OH to treat you to a nice lunch! Oscars is nice for lunch

Where is Oscars? We were thinking about finding somewhere nice for lunch but would probably just end up in a pub tbh

I didn't think of Fenwicks, not been in there for years, probably since we were kids & my dad used to take us shopping in York

Will give ToyMaster a ring in the morning & see if they are still there as well, cheers bella

stupid me - I gave you the link for Toymaster

here

Is it easy to find? Think we might just pop in there to break up the shopping

Sounds fab from the reviews on there!

Yes it is easy to find. If you head for the square where Browns is - and stand in the square, there are two streets one either side of it. You don't want to take the one that goes past the side of browns but the opposite one - think it is Goodramgate? Walk a little way down and Oscars is down a side street and it is next to a bar (which I think looks like a church) called The Biltmore.

fab, we'll head there for lunch then.

I'm still deciding what to get from the cakey shop, oh keeps looking at me like because I've spent ages looking through my books to decide what to make next & still no closer to deciding

Did you go to York?

Yup, we had a fab day! We didn't realise until yesterday that we've not actually been anywhere outside of Doncaster just as a couple. Plenty here, but none elsewhere

Called into Oscars but it was heaving so just had a quick drink & will definately be booking a table next time before we go! Took ages to find it though, we walked past quite a few times before we realised where it was

If you're still thinking about a turntable for your cakes, Lakeland have the PME turntable for £12.71, I got one yesterday while we were there. Could have spent hours in there but it's not really my oh's kinda thing iygwim?

I got a beautiful new handbag & my oh got me a really nice bracelet to match some earrings he bought me ages ago.

Was a bit though . . . . cakey shop was closed. But we're taking the lo for a day out again soon so will go then

My oh got a PS2 as well , if he hadn't been to the gym today he'd not have turned the bloody thing off!!!

Oh no, I did not realise that the cakey shop would be closed - what a shame , think I am going to go in on Tuesday, the boys need new socks, underwear and a few other bits and pieces (which I can get myself without taking them). DH did go in today (he is Treasurer for a charity that he volunteers for) and had some cheques to bank, although I know he wanted to have a look round for a new laptop too! but I was just so busy that I did not have time to go with him. We have guests tomorrow and have being busy preparing...

Handbag and bracelet - you did well!

I have not actually been in the Oscars where it is now (moved a little while ago and it was always popular then), although The Biltmore next door to the new Oscars is nice too. DH and I hardly ever get out as a couple and when we do go out it is for tea with the boys! It is DH's birthday though on the 20th of this month, so may be I will arrange a sitter for next Saturday .

DH could do with going back to the gym (he used to go three times a week before work), but he has a hernia which has come back in the middle of his stomach and if he is not careful he could make it worse. He really needs it repairing but is putting it off - has been in and out of hospital over the years and has had two major ops so he tends to just soldier on!

And I certainly could do to go back to the gym - I used to spin 5 days a week (and do a gym session before this), it certainly burnt the calories. But, I had a friend, who decided she wanted to join the gym as well, but actually what she wanted to do was a bit of this and a bit of that whilst mostly chatting and then doing coffee and she wanted us to go together, it worked for a bit but I could never do my own thing. I used to like going straight from the school run etc but she had different ideas.