I have a client who wants me to steam her cake because "that's what Buddy does on tv." I've never done it and would hate to ruin a finished cake. Do you have any tips or am I concerned for nothing? I'm going to try it just on a piece of fondant later, but am a little apprehensive about doing a new finishing touch on a cake that will take hours to make. I'd love any advice or tricks you've learned.

Thanks so much!

Stacy

I recently purchased a Little Joy Mangano portable steamer - very small, perfect for cakes. I've only steamed once - but I just basically ran it over the fondant pieces and it totally got rid of all the PS / cornstarch residue and gave it a bit of a shine. I was hoping it would shine even more than it did, but I was afraid of going over that area too many times for fear of compromising the fondant and possibly changing the shape of the decoration. Mine was a BC cake with fondant accents - I do not know about doing this effect on a fondant convered cake.

I liked what it did enough to do it regularly from here on out. JMO.

You might want to read this other thread...

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-634313-.html&sid=8dbe8086a80e47000d3d5109ff22b17b

Steaming will give the surface a satin to semi-gloss finish, depending on what you're steaming and how much steam you apply. I only steam things if I want them to be shiny or need to set dome dusting I've done on flowers. But that's usually only for very specific circumstances, like I'm replicating something that's shiny in real life, like a shoe.

But for the most part I avoid it for the same reason I avoid gloss paint when I can use flat paint in my house. Gloss shows every flaw in the surface because all the different angled surfaces in cracks, dents and bumps will reflect light and catch your eye, drawing your focus to the flaws. Flat paint, on the other hand, will hide any flaws and give the appearance of a soft, smooth, more perfect surface.

In addition, I think a flat, matte finish looks more elegant, particularly on a wedding cake. Shiny, wet look...not so much.

Yes I steam almost all of my fondant cakes and I love it! It brings on a nice shine and makes the color a bit deeper IMO.
Just let a nice gentle burst of steam out all around the cake. I personally allow a little steam to settle, wait a few seconds and then do it again.
Take a look at my beer barrel cake, which was steamed and it really brought the woodgrain out.

Hmm... I wonder if doing it with a steam iron would work, has anyone tried that?

A steam iron would work if it had a"burst of steam" function. But I would not use one I'd been actually using to iron clothes.

I don't own a steamer but I can still get this affect and I use just a damped thin fan like paint brush, dip it into the water shake excess and go over the faondant. You can see what affect I get by looking at any of my 3D cakes, the gloves & donkey really stand out.