Here Is The Keyboard Cake I'm Working On (Not Finished Yet).
Decorating By fytar Updated 23 Jan 2006 , 8:44pm by SquirrellyCakes
Well, I am posting this because I have a couple of "how do I...?" questions.
1) How do most of you roll out your mmf - with cornstarch and powdered sugar? shortening? If you use cornstarch or sugar, how do you get rid of the powdery residue on your finished product? Usually I don't worry about that because I am working with lighter colors but on this black, I think it looks terrible. How do I get the powder off my mmf?
2) MMF must have been too soft because it tore even though it was not rolled out thin. I had to cover the ends with extra mmf and then one section directly in the top middle part of the cake. How do I know if I have the right texture or rolling consistency when I'm making the mmf?
3) How do you re-use the leftover pieces of mmf if they are covered in a lot of corn starch or powdered sugar? Just out of sheer determination, I balled up all the leftovers, added a couple drops of water, wrapped it in saran and microwaved for a few seconds. It worked for the most part but it was sticky and had to add more powdered sugar. Is this how most of you do it?
Anyway, back to question #1, I did try to wipe off as much of the powder residue with a dry dish towel but wasn't very successful. Can I rub on a lite coat of shortening to give it a little more sheen or do you think this will mess it up?
Here is what I have so far (sorry, it's covered in plastic wrap - I'll post the finished product on Monday - maybe):
The few times I have worked with MMF, I have used shortening on my rollout counter, rolling pin, and hands. I've never used sugar or cornstarch. Works for me!
OOPS! I forgot to tell you...your cake is WAY COOL!
your cake is AMAZING!!!!!!! wooowwwweeeee!!!
to your question, i use a lightly covered surface in crisco. i dont usually use powder sugar or corn starch...just for my fingers if i need to touch it. hope this helps you.
melody
Maybe it's because I have a wooden table and wooden rolling pin, but when I use shortening, it sticks every time. I have to have a pile of sugar under my mmf or it won't come up!
Thanks for the compliment! I think I'm done with this, because I don't want to spend any more time on it. My initial thought was to put the volume and power buttons on the top part of the keyboard but I think I'm done! Too much time in it already and I've got another cake to do tonight - that is AFTER I leave the party I'm taking the keyboard cake to.
Oh, don't know if ya'll noticed how big this thing is! That is regular sized plastic wrap behind the cake in the bottom picture. This is four 13X9X2 cakes (two on bottom, two on top)! It took up the entire end of my table...I definately need more room to work!
First if you need to use the cornstartch or powdered sugar, don't flip your fondant over, just lift and twist it a 1/4 turn. That should save you from getting the powder on the fondant. You may still get some. Now for storeage don't had the water that is why it was so sticky. Just wrap it up tightly and put in a zip lock baggie. If needed when you go to use it after storing you can microwave it then. Hope this helps
adven68, I used piping gel to add the pieces of fondant to the ends. It seemed to break down the mmf a bit and made it very sticky. Maybe my mmf wasn't very strong in the first place and that is why it did it.
kaecakes, I did the twist thing but most of the powdered sugar that was on it was from the rolling pin. It kept sticking...again, I think it may be the wooden rolling pin I have. Man I hate the thought of buying another one...
wow, are you feeding an army with this cake? thats alot of cake!!
it is just an awsome cake!!!!
i would buy a fondant mat, its plastic that rolls up and they sell them at all the craft shows. they dont cost that much, plus i use a coupon. it is kinda a pain in the butt as far as keeping it flat because it wants to roll up, but when your done, you can just flip it on top of your cake and peel it away from the mmf. i use it anytime i work with mmf, or reg fondant...just lightly cover in crisco.
i know they will love this cake at the party tonight!!
I think the cake is great. Would you want a shiny look? Brushing on piping gel would make it shiny but get rid of the powder marks.
That's what I was thinking....brushing it with a little piping gel or some black coloring diluted with a little alcohol or lemon extract might work too.
Whenver I work with MMF, I initially dust my surface with powdered sugar and grease my hands & rolling pin with shortening. I usually knead it by hand first, just to get it pliable...then start rolling. The sugar on the work surface eventually gets worked into the MMF and keeps it from being too sticky...the crisco is what I find that really keeps it from sticking to the table or rolling pin. As I work it, it is eventually lightly 'greased' all over and though it has a slight sheen to it from the crisco, it always dries matte and without any powdered sugar residue. If I get any sticky spots, I knead in just a little bit more sugar and then add a tiny bit more crisco to my work surface and rolling pin and hands. I hope this makes sense the way I'm explaining it... 
Your cake looks fabulous, though!! 
Very well done. I hope you have DH or some burly man load it and move it around for you, though...it must weigh a ton! lol 
wow, are you feeding an army with this cake? thats alot of cake!!!!
They said they wanted enough to serve about 100 people. It's friends so I only charged $50 to cover expenses. I won't ever do that again - ah, who am I kidding! I always do that!
i would buy a fondant mat, its plastic that rolls up and they sell them at all the craft shows. they dont cost that much, plus i use a coupon. it is kinda a pain in the butt as far as keeping it flat because it wants to roll up, but when your done, you can just flip it on top of your cake and peel it away from the mmf. i use it anytime i work with mmf, or reg fondant...just lightly cover in crisco.
Well, I think I have those. One is round and came with my Course III (or was it Course II, can't remember) kit. The other one is the Wilton "Fun with Fondant" rectangular mat. I looked over at those but thought they were too small for this size cake! Duhhhhh! You mean I could have just rubbed on some shortening and then after rolling out the fondant just turn that baby over on the cake?! OMG, I feel really stupid right now!
i know they will love this cake at the party tonight!!
They better! Just pray for me because I don't want to open my mouth and tell them how much time I have in this as opposed to how little they paid me! I'm really trying to keep my mouth shut! I definately am going to have to fast and pray!! 
I use cornstarch and a soft pastry brush to brush it off After i has dried a bit. I love this cake, I have a wedding the in summer that I need to make a keyboard. This is really good. Great Job. If I charged for ALL the time I put into each cake I wouldn't be able to sell them. I really put alot of effort into each cake from the order date to the day I deleiver it. I am constantly thinking about it. But it is my passion!!!!!!!
If I charged for ALL the time I put into each cake I wouldn't be able to sell them.
I know, I was just saying that to a coworker. She was telling me I needed to get "real" with my prices. That I wasn't charging enough. But that is kinda hard to determine here. You're right, I don't think anyone would buy anything if we included all the time we prepare and actually work on one. I wonder if there is really a market for this kind of stuff around here.
Thank you, everyone, for all the compliments. Tarina
Wow!! That's One Magnificent Cake!!!!!!!!!
And big too.
Hey faytar,
Applause, applause, applause !!!!
You go girl!...that cake is fantastic
My mouth is still hanging open...it looks so real 
Sending you a standing ovation.
I have a wooden table also and dust it well with cornstarch and lift after a couple rolls to make sure it is not sticking.
By the way, Barbie now has three new sisters...boy do they need the beautician bad 
got them at the Thrift store.
Hey faytar,
Applause, applause, applause !!!!
You go girl!...that cake is fantastic
My mouth is still hanging open...it looks so real
Sending you a standing ovation.
I have a wooden table also and dust it well with cornstarch and lift after a couple rolls to make sure it is not sticking.
By the way, Barbie now has three new sisters...boy do they need the beautician bad
got them at the Thrift store.
Stephanie, thanks so much! I feel that I did a good job on this. The cake ended up sitting on against a wall and everybody kept saying, "So, where's the cake?"...I'd point them to it and they would say stuff like "I didn't know that was cake"...one of the birthday boys said, "You know, when I saw it, I was like 'Awwww, someone made a cardboard cutout of a keyboard...but wow, I can't believe that is cake!!". Overall I had great reviews, but there were a few people that I specifically went to for "honest" oppinions and they said that the cake was a little dry! What do you say to that?! I used the sour cream pound cake recipe on here and to be honest with you, I have a bag of the scraps from where I carved the cake and it is not dry. I like my cake silky and moist, not grainy. So, either they don't really know anything about cake and aren't really "cake fans" or they were thinking this was supposed to be the consistency of the usual birthday cake. I don't know, I cried and got over it.
I had to go home after the party and make a fondant cake that was due at 9AM the next morning. They loved every aspect of the cake, but I was on the verge of tears when I delivered it because it was raining and the fondant was sticky and my bow (first one I've ever made) looked like crap and started falling apart because the royal icing wasn't hardened (after three days!) - all in all, I felt it was a horrible cake but I kept my mouth shut and was willing to not charge anything for it and they ended up giving me my money PLUS $5 tip! So, I got over it. Let's just say that when you have a big pink feather boa, you can cover up a multitude of sins!
Steph, on to the barbies, you need to tell them to wear a net or something when they sleep so you won't have to keep taking them to the beauty shop 
!
I will post the final pics of the keyboard and the 1st Bday cake in just a few minutes.
Thanks to all of you who encouraged me and gave such nice compliments.
Oh, btw, I got home from work Friday and took the saran wrap off the cake so that I could get the powdery residue off and get it delivered and there wasn't any powder spots to remove! Wooohoooo! Guess it kinda soaked up the humidity or something.
well I certainly understand why everyone was asking "where's the cake"! I never would have spotted it myself! It is truly a Magnificent Piece of work! I'm speechless! (and THAT never happens!)
fytar -
FYI - I purchased the clear plastic tablecovers that you can purchase by the yard at Walmart or fabric stores. I use this to cover my wood dining table to roll out fondant and flip onto cakes. I have purchased 2 yards worth and have cut to various sizes...and the whole thing cost only about $5!! When I'm not using it, I roll it up on a wooden dowel like wrapping paper and when I unroll, I'll tape it to the table with masking tape (the kind that doesn't stick too much).
HTH in the future when you do another fabulous but gigantic cake!!
Tanya
First of all WOW!!!!!!!
And I used a pastry brush also, It worked great.
Can I ask how on earth you did this. Just for future referance you know.
I don't know if I can give much instruction but I'll try...
I used Americolor Super Black in my MMF. It worked beautifully! I will be switching all my colors from Wilton to Americolor as I can. You can't beat it! And, by the way, I had made the black MMF days ahead of time but when I started to roll it out I realized I didn't have enough so I had to make more. I didn't have to wait for the black to darken up - I would say there was only like 30 minutes between the time I made and colored the MMF and then put it on the cake - something I don't think I could've done if I was using Wilton's gel paste.
I put the cakes together and iced between the layers. I then carved the area out where the keys go. I iced the cake fairly thin and then rolled out my MMF (while the icing was crusting) and then covered the cake and smoothed with the easy glide smoother making sure that the key area had defined edges. Measure the key area to determine how many 1-inch keys you'll need.
I then kneaded and rolled out the white candy clay and cut strips 1-inch wide using a ruler as a straight edge. Then I put 1/2 inch black keys on it. That is pretty much it. I think.
If you have anymore questions, I'll see if I can answer them. This really was more trial and error rather than an exact method!
Just wanted to say, Wow and double Wow and triple Wow, that is one fab cake kiddo. Sounds like your marshmallow fondant needed more powdered sugar in it to begin with. I use the slightlest most sparing, tiniest dab of Crisco on my counter top, you cannot even see it, just dab my two fingers in a bit of Crisco and put about maybe 1/8 tsp. of Crisco over a 2 ft. squared surface and it doesn't stick.
But to get rid of the powdered sugar residue, just take the tiniest amount of Crisco on your hands and then gently rub over your fondant covered cake, the powdered sugar will disappear.
Hugs Squirrelly
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