where and what to buy for cake decorating.

[Twit]

I have just started to decorate my own cakes, I was given a cake decorating book for my birthday after constantly complaining about the quality of birthday cakes in the supermarket.
My question is this; where [online] would you recommend I buy my bits and pieces, and what should I buy?
I have had a look around and am feeling overwhelmed by the choice. What colour paste should I go for? I am also a bit confused about edible sparkle/glitter powder. Some websites say it it inedible, some say it is non toxic and you could eat it.

COV did a beeeyutiful christmas cake last year.

I did a rash of snowflakey cakes last year too.

I'm hoping the swags class comes up trumps. I like a bit of a swag me. I had some fun doing the royal iced piped and then flooded figures last week (I did ghosts, cats, bats and spiders and not the teddy bear that our teacher wanted us to do). I have an idea about doing the 3 kings, but will probably cop out and do holly.

mmmm cake I cannot comment on the quality of downstairs in the house, having not seen it for some days. Wondering if I can access cake by not opening the door or by some sort of slingshot contraption which avoids chickens.

Hmmmmmm - snowflake cutters, sound gorgeous!

Am very jealous of all the amazing cakes some of you have made.
I've just started making them, only for kids so far (they're all on my profile). Haven't got any fancy cutters or anything but might invest in some equipment. A smoother sounds good.

I bought an oval tin to make ds1's cake which cost me £17 so all the cakes since then have been oval.

Olihan do you already have your plunger cutters or can I propose a swap for something ?

I might revert to the year before when I just did little figures for the tops of cakes - angels, FC, rudolph, snowmen - DS (then 5) sat next to me and copied stage by stage as I made a snowman and his was fab - it went on his great-grandfather's cake.

The 3 kings would look fab but you'd need approximately a gazillion bags to do them.

Do you do sneaky practising between classes?

Stealth, I've just bought some otherwise I would. Bramble, might though - catch her now while she's weakened by a bug and easily persuaded .

Debi, I am loving the ingenuity of making oval shaped cakes - they are great!

my problem actually is the cake itself, I'm not the best baker. Or it might be my oven. They always end up overcooked on the outside and raw in the middle.

Olihan, I felt bad as I had made a whole new batch of RI (as instructed) and then didn't use them on the teddybears. I had lots of fun fiddling about making the halloween figures the next morning (in the silence of my kitchen with no annoying talking woman).

Bramble - do you want cake? I could just leave it on the doorstep if you feel unwilling to show yourself in dressing gown.

Debi, get some of these. You wet them and wrap them around the outside of the tin. They cool the outside of the cake down so it doesn't cook more quickly than the centre. What recipe do you use and what temp do you bake at?

oooh I want need butterfly plunger cutters, for sure.

Can I introduce a whole new lot of temptation - moulds - I did cupcakes with princesses, pirates and crowns for DD's birthday. I now need about a dozen more DC who would like the same in order for the moulds to justify their existence.

Oddly I seem to have sucess with the baking, I'm just nervous about the decorting.

[taps wood just to make sure]

lol @ stealthy's justifications.

I dare not look at the moulds. I have no strength to resist.

I have a butterfly plunger but I ain't swapping it .

I can't get to grips with moulds, though the final effect is lovely. I think I use too much paste or something but they never work properly.

Poor Twit, she's going to bankrupt herself when she starts looking at all these things we;re talking about and can't resist trying them .

the more I look at the websites the more I want need as well.

if you tell me what the winning lottery numbers are I'll be fine.

Twit, hand the debit/credit card to your DP and step away from the computer - once you are hooked it's a very, very slippery slope!

Would you swap your butterfly cutter for the secret of getting perfect results from moulds ?

Oh, go on, you can have it anyway - you freeze them for 15-20 mins (or overnight when you forget about them ) and they come out perfect and crisp and beautiful and then you just have to paint them.

Do you think all my DC's teachers/carers would make polite noises about like cupcakes with beautifully coloured baubles on top?

Twit, if I had known how expensive this hobby of mine was going to be I would have done french classes, or pottery.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

I looked at the bauble moulds.

dagnamit

lol
[ponders a second mortgage]

You know you want to, Slubber - just think of all the new lustre colours we you could 'justify' for decorating them.

LOL Slubber, DH keeps asking when I'm actually going to start making money from my 'business', I tell him I have to spend to accumulate whilst perusing another cake website for more desirable essential equipment.

Stealth, will try freezing them but it's more getting the excess paste off the back so the back is flat that I have trouble with. The main part of the paste peels out of the mould and goes all misshapen.

no no no no

I have just learnt how to pipe and flood figures, I'll make me own bloody baubles.

Oh, and I think the teachers would love bauble-y cakes. May borrow that idea and improve my mould skills, then I'll also be up to date and not all out dated and last year with my christmas cakes. I think Twit ad Slubber should get some too. We'll start a MN Christmas cake craze.

ah yes, spend to accumulate...that old chestnut