I am a very amateur pastry chef. As in, it's what I want to do when I graduate but I don't know like anything about it. Sometime this week I am making the practice cake for my sisters birthday that's in a couple weeks. I'm super excited because I don't get to do this a lot. Any advice, because I've only made two other big cakes, and they were less then perfect. Any tricks of the trade?

What did you have in mind for your sister's cake? If you give us some idea where you want to go with it, we can help you more specifically.

Deanna

Okay, it's going to be a single, square cake. I want to cover it in royal blue fondant and make it look like a gift box and put white fondant strips for the ribbon, with a bow on top.

Thanks, that gives me something to go on. Have you done fondant before? Jumping right in with a square cake in fondant is a little gutsy if it's your first go-round, but you can do it. Smooth the corners first, then the sides. Make the bow ahead of time to give it plenty of time to dry, and you might want to make either an extra complete bow, or at least extra bow loops just in case. There is an excellent tutorial on here about making a loopy bow.

Did that help any? If you have specific questions, feel free to ask them!

Deanna

Ya i saw the example on how to make the bow, it's what made me want to do it. And I've used sugar paste before, but not totally successfully. I thought a square would be easier than a circle cake. (I don't have too many pans, so it's either square, circle, or rectangle)

That sounds so good, just make sure, like TooMuchCake said, to smooth the whole cake and the corners. The smoother the frosting on your cake is, the smoother the fondant will look. Let us know how you go!

Thank you both so much. I know it's just a practice, but I'm so excited and nervous. I don't have the best stress management when a cake goes wrong. My cakes usually entail many (and I mean MANY) trips to the store, and crying, lots of crying. Hopefully this time will be different! And, I'll deffinetly be on later this week telling you how it went!

[hands on hips, using my "mom" voice]

You will NOT cry over this cake. This will be a great experience, even if it's not the same as the one in your head. Your sister will be delighted and this will be a cake for your portfolio, trust me.

You have a good advantage that you're making a bow for the top of the cake. If you have a wrinkle you can't smooth out, make a streamer for the bow and have it trail down over the wrinkle. Consider a few flowers, too, just in case if you want.

We're here to help and to try to head off the tears.

Deanna

Thanks. The cake I cried over most was my sister's cake last year on her birthday. I think this cake will be better. (I'm hoping) In my head it seems so simple, although I know it won't be. Do you think a square will be really hard? Would rectangle be easier? (even though they're basically the same shape)

IMO, it doesn't get any easier than a round. Squares and rectangles are the same thing, just longer on one side. It depends on whether you want the cake to look like a gift box (square) or a hat box (round).

Deanna

I want a gift box. Because it's my "gift" to her.

Then you should definitely do the square. Let me know if I can help when the time gets closer.

Deanna

Here a great video Aine2 put out showing how she covers her squares.