Hi UK Bakers!! Just wanted to pop in and say hi, I started reading the thread, its lovely to read about uk experiences! I am a childminder at the moment with 2 small boys of my own. my last kid has moved on and I am now at a crossroads, I want to make the leap to cake decorating, but feel TERRIFIED!! I have been decorating for about 2 years or so, mainly for friends and in the last few months have done some cakes to order. I am already registered with EH and tax, and would love to do the cake course at the local college but its 350 quid.....eeek! Have any of you guys done courses, and if so which ones, and were they any good?
Lovely to read how you are all getting on, hope you dont mind me jumping in, its just lovely to read about some other people in a simmilar position to me!
Hi jojo76 I did 2 years at college in Glasgow and it was about the same price each year as your course. First thing you should check out is if the course is eligible for ILA funding (Individual Learning Account) then find out if you are eligible, if you are then that would give you £250 towards the cost.
Second get a detailed schedule of work from the college, you are best asking to speak to the person who runs the course to get this, the admissions office will probably have a really high level description along the lines of "learn how to decorate cakes"! the lecturer will go over exactly what it involves, I spent 12 weeks each year working on royal icing and in some ways it was a total waste of time, I haven't ever used the skills I learnt from that part of the coures so make sure it covers the topics you want to learn.
On the plus side everyone on the course will be interested in cake decorating and it is nice to spend time chatting to people who share your interests, I learnt lots from others on the couse as well as the tutor.
Someone once told me that most college courses are very out of date and that was true of the couse I did, there was a lot of old fashioned formal flower arrangemens, pastiage, piping shell borders etc. but in the end they are all skills which you can use at home on projects more suited to your own tastes.
I have also done quite a lot of one day classes with local cake decorators and they are always really informative, if there is anyone who teaches in your area you should check out what they offer.
Sara
lindsey077 Newbie
Joined: Mar 26, 2006
Posts: 4
Location: Wiltshire, England
Posted:
Wed May 20, 2009 4:52 am
Hi everyone! I'm from Salisbury, Wiltshire & it's lovely to find other cake enthusiasts from the UK!
I've been decorating for a couple of years now and am wondering if I might be ready soon to start a business (home based). I've got 4 wedding cake orders coming up in the next year for friends at the cost of ingredients to boot my portfolio a bit and then I think I'll register. Just so worried I'm not good enough!
I've got a question actually, what do you do for fillings - I want to offer more than buttercream but I'm worried about the filling going off. Can you make ganache with UHT cream? What about cream cheese frosting, does anyone do that?
bashini Forum Fanatic
Joined: Sep 19, 2006
Posts: 2309
Location: Surrey, uk
Birthday: Mar 31
Posted:
Wed May 20, 2009 5:41 am
HI there, welcome to the thread! You have to use cream for ganache. And just mix that with your normal buttercream. THat is what I use all the time. I have read that in another forum that you can make chocolate mousse from UHT milk. But I don't know the recipe. If you mcake cream cheese frosting, you need to store the cake in the fridge, which I don't like doing!
lindsey077 Newbie
Joined: Mar 26, 2006
Posts: 4
Location: Wiltshire, England
Posted:
Wed May 20, 2009 6:14 am
Quote:
HI there, welcome to the thread! You have to use cream for ganache. And just mix that with your normal buttercream. THat is what I use all the time. I have read that in another forum that you can make chocolate mousse from UHT milk. But I don't know the recipe. If you mcake cream cheese frosting, you need to store the cake in the fridge, which I don't like doing!
Thanks! Do you make your ganache with normal cream then? I'm worried it will go off as cakes once iced can't be kept in the fridge. I'm totally paranoid that it'll go sour and make the whole cake taste horrible. Is it OK because it's heated?
I think I'll skip on the cream cheese then, which is a shame as it's lovely.
bashini Forum Fanatic
Joined: Sep 19, 2006
Posts: 2309
Location: Surrey, uk
Birthday: Mar 31
Posted:
Wed May 20, 2009 6:22 am
I make my ganache with double cream. Because of the sugar qauntity in the chocolate, it acts as a preservative. I use ganache and bc mix all the time in my choc cakes. And I have used just ganache as a coating under sugarpaste/fondant. Its absolutely fine. Australian decorators use ganache all the time.
And also, orange goes really well with the chocolate. So you might want to try mixing a little bit of orange marmalade with choc bc I have't tried that yet though!
You can use lemon curd in your lemon cake. Or you can mix lemon curd with your bc too. I have made my own curd with different fruits. Really Yummy!
lindsey077 Newbie
Joined: Mar 26, 2006
Posts: 4
Location: Wiltshire, England
Posted:
Wed May 20, 2009 6:49 am
Ah, that's really good to know - I much prefer ganache to choc buttercream. I've tried lemon curd before & it's lovely - I might give passionfruit a go soon though. I'm just trying to get a really good, large selection of cakes and fillings to offer that I've tried & tested before I take the plunge! I was thinking of maybe trying ganache made with terrys chocolate orange - I wonder if that would work. Also a chocolate ganache with peppermint essence added and some after eights chopped through it.
Thank you for your help on this - it's put my mind at rest!
Rosiepan Junior Member
Joined: Nov 27, 2007
Posts: 86
Location: Kent. Uk
Posted:
Wed May 20, 2009 7:14 am
I thought this thread had come to a standstill as I wasn't getting any reminders of new posts. Sabz. I think you did a great job of the bow cake. Very impressive. Zomac I was just reading your future plans. I hope things work out for you. I do wonder how you are going to balance all that study for teacher training along with everthing else. I only work part time as a TA but I know how much work goes into teaching and I think it is a rewarding career so I hope you are able to balance that with your cake making.
Bashini thanks for hints and advice on fillings. Most people I bake for only ask for jam and buttercream and as almost all of my cakes are done for free or at cost I am loathe to try other fillings because of costs as most of the people I know are as skint as I am.
I did have a go at indebys buttercream for some cupcakes but I needed to change the measures over to British. (I still use imperial wieghts. I'm old school) Then half it as I didn't need so much. It tasted fantastic if a bit too soft. I needed to add a bit more Icing sugar.
I would love to have a go at mmf and probably will one day.
Can I ask. Is meringue powder dried egg powder/ albumen?As I have some that I could use to practise crusting buttercream on. There is not a call for buteercream iced cakes here but I would like to try a small one out of curiosity.
Rosiepan Junior Member
Joined: Nov 27, 2007
Posts: 86
Location: Kent. Uk
Posted:
Wed May 20, 2009 7:45 am
buttercream of course.
bashini Forum Fanatic
Joined: Sep 19, 2006
Posts: 2309
Location: Surrey, uk
Birthday: Mar 31
Posted:
Wed May 20, 2009 9:46 am
I forgot to mention that you can use Italian Merangue Buttercream instead of buttercream. And I have used Wilton's half butter and half trex buttercream and that was lovely too. I've tried Sugarshack's buttercream abd that is also delicious.
I don't make my sugarpaste, because it is hard work. I have made MMF and its too sweet for my taste. But I really like Michele Fosters sugar paste.
Sabz Regular Member
Joined: Mar 11, 2009
Posts: 132
Location: Leicester, UK
Birthday: Nov 23
Posted:
Thu May 21, 2009 1:22 am
Rosiepan, thanks. I thought this thread had come to standstill too, coz didn't get any notifications. Wonder why. Zomac, glad you discovered this thread! And a hi to jojo too
I'm starting to prepare for a cake stall I've booked for June 14th. I made a few trial cakepops, but they all came off the stick when we were eating them even though I had dipped the sticks in chocolate first before inserting into cake. Hope that doesn't happen when I make them again. Wanted to try red velvet cake for it but recipe calls for buttermilk. I've never come across it, do we know it as something else? And on Bakerella website, she says to use chocolate bark. Reckon it would be ok to use normal baking chocolate?
I'm nervous, but hope that day goes well!
bashini Forum Fanatic
Joined: Sep 19, 2006
Posts: 2309
Location: Surrey, uk
Birthday: Mar 31
Posted:
Thu May 21, 2009 2:10 am
Sabz, you can get buttermilk in Sainsbury's. They have it where the cream is.
HannahLass Regular Member
Joined: Jul 03, 2008
Posts: 110
Location: UK
Posted:
Thu May 21, 2009 2:54 am
sabz i've seen it in asda too. over by the cream as well. Havent looked for it in tesco's but they might have it too. X
Relznik Frequent Member
Joined: Jan 10, 2006
Posts: 307
Location: London, UK
Posted:
Thu May 21, 2009 2:57 am
My local Tesco occasionally have buttermilk in.
It tastes just like sour cream to me, so I reckon you could substitute one for the other?!
Sabz Regular Member
Joined: Mar 11, 2009
Posts: 132
Location: Leicester, UK
Birthday: Nov 23
Posted:
Thu May 21, 2009 4:13 am
Thanks guys. I'm on my way to Asda now, so will have a look.
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buttercream of course.
