Urgent: Space Cake Questions, Please Help!

Decorating By aizuodangao Updated 6 Nov 2006 , 10:49am by aizuodangao

aizuodangao Posted 6 Nov 2006 , 6:17am

Hi,

I am making a lunar jim (lunarjim.com) cake for my son very soon. I am yet to decide what shape cake to make. I have a few questions which i'd like to run by you, If you don't mind. The answers will help me decide which type of cake to make.

Now, my 3 ideas are crater cake (pyrex bowl or metal bowl), a eco dome cake (sorry pic is not clear), ring pan as crater OR crescent moon cake.

eco come cake/crater cake:
1) pyrex or metal bowl?
I am not too sure of these 2 purely becuase I have not bake a bowl like cake before and not sure if it will turn out. I have read here on ths forum that people have all sorts of problem baking using pyrex bowl and that they took long time to cook.

Is steam pudding bowl any good?
IS any round metal bowl (ie alumninium bowl made in china, which is widely available) bowl ok?
OR
does the pan need to be stainless steel?
How do I work out the oven temperature and how long to cook it for?
I don't have a cake strip. Do I need one and how can i make my own?
How do I make the spider like rings etc on top of the eco dome (please see attach pic)? Wished I had a sugarcraft gun ¼

2) ring pan crater cake
How easy is it to make and COVER a ring pan cake (using bought rolled fondant)?

3) crescent moon cake
Ok. I don't have a crescent moon cake pan but i do have a round cake pan. Instead of cutting the cake just a little smaller than half and shape it into a crescent shape (can't imagine the cake crumbs - too messy).

IS there anything I can use any home made a cake devider which I can insert into the cake pan and some how secure it before I pour cake mixture into it (so that it comes out perfect crescent shape)? *this idea of mine may not be that great......*

General cake covering questions:

How long before the party should I make the cake?
Once covered (with fondant), how many days can I keep it for (at room temperature)
Does fondant need to be completely DRY before I can write (writing pen) OR
paint colour onto it?
Does fondant need to be completely DRY before I can apply petal dust (surface of moon)?
How does one know how much fondant to colour? The few times I have made cakes, I always end up having too much left over and of course, I tend to use them for sculturing things and they go hard quickly and can¡¦t be used again (thinking about keeping till Christmas)

Oh dear, sorry this is so long. This is the 6th cake I have made for my son and since I only make one cake per year, I tend to forget how to do things and of course lack of practice¡K..

Thank you in advance for those who take time out to answer my questions.