Brand New At Baking..looking For People To Donate Knowledge
Decorating By Beamer708 Updated 16 Mar 2007 , 10:08am by JanH
I am new at baking and would LOVE to make my daughters 7th birthday cake. I am pretty crafty and I have a mixer..so I think I am half way there.
I am looking for a vetern baker to donate their knowledge to me. I do not want to make an ultra fancy cake. What I want is to make a 3 tier basic cake wrapped in pink fondant, decorated with purple fondant shapes on the outside with maybe some wire bending things sticking out the top holding crystals.
So here are my questions:
1. Can I use just the regular cake box batter mixes at the supermarket? If not, can someone recommend a recipe? Also I think I need to frost before I fondant..any ideas or is betty crocker icing ok?
2. I assume that I need some support to hold up three tiers. Are just wooden dowels alright or do I need a flat cardboard piece between the layers?
3. I assume I should fondant each layer before I assemble them. Any techniques for this (as this will be my very first time with fondant)?
4. How do I get the cut out pieces of fondant to stick to the fondant cake?
5. Extremly important!! - Can I be working on this cake for a few days? Do I refridgerate this cake doing this process or just let it sit on the counter?
If you have suggestions for bakewear or how to do this I would welcome it. I do not pretend to know what I am doing, but I am hopeful someone can guide me the right way. Any and all help will be appreciated! Good deeds never go unrewarded!
Thanks,
Lisa
Welcome to CC. I'm not a veteran by any means, but have learned a few things by being a CC addict, lol!
1. You can use regular box mixes at the supermarket, but I like to add either a box of pudding and an extra egg to the box mix or use the cake extender with the box mix:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1977-Cake-Mix-extender.html
Also if you are wanting a white cake, this one is awesome, just a doctored cake mix:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2322-White-Almond-Sour-Cream-Cake.html
and their are variations for chocolate, yellow, etc.
-You do need to frost before you apply the fondant, but I dont recommend using the store bought frosting, it is just too goopy to give you the correct look underneat the fondant...I use a half butter/half crisco buttercream recipe, but if you look under the recipe sections there are tons of buttercream recipes.
2. I like to be safe rather than sorry, so I always use either covered cardboard or foamcore in between my layers as well as the dowels.
3. Yes, I would put the fondant on each individual cake before stacking them, it will make it much easier on you. Make sure you have fondant smoother, and set the cake up on the pan you baked it on that way the fondant can hang without gathering at the bottom and then just start pulling out the edges and smoothing. Here is a great video to help with that:
http://www.atecousa.net/learn/satin_ice_1.shtml
4. You can either wet the fondant slightly to adhere it, or paint it with piping gel or a watered down corn syrup.
5. Depending upon the type of fondant being used, I hear most people don't recommend putting a fondant covered cake in the fridge, although I do and have never had issues (maybe because of my climate or altitude) but for most they say it can cause the fondant to get sticky, etc.
I hope that helps some!
First, welcome to CC you will find that everyone here is so helpful. now for your question.
1.I use box cakes all the time but I also like to use the extender recipe with it.( the one on here) I also put a generous layer of BC ( the crusting BC recipe on here is awesome ) under my fondant.
2. I find that if I do all the cakes on separate cake boards, decorate, and then dowel them and then stack them its easier for me.
3. there is a great article here on CC that shows how to fondant a cake, here is a great link for another one. it will show you how to do it step by step.
http://www.pastrywhiz.com/wedding/wedding19.htm
4. get your pieces ready that you want to out on your cake, then just use a bush and dip it in water and brush it on the back of the pieces and place them on the cake where you want them.
5. I usually bake 1 day frost and fondant and decorate the next. I wouldn't recommend putting fondant in the fridge, it gets condensation on it when you take it out, and I have had problems with it. as far as leaving it out, it just depends on what kind of cake, fillings and frosting, if it has cream or anything like that you might want to keep it in the fridge. if you don't have that much time to work on it a day i suggest bake 1 day, frost 1 day, fondant on the night before. hope all this makes sense the good thing is someone is always on CC so if you start the cake and find your stuck on something you can always get help by posting a question in you time of need.
In closing: for the baking, make sure you grease and flour the pan good (pan grease recipe equal parts crisco, oil, flour works great) try using a flour nail, helps cook evenly, to retain freshness if you make the cakes before hand try wrapping them well in plastic wrap. hope all this helped. Oh ya we would all like to see pics of the cake once you are done. Happy baking 
I am not expert, but I have learned a lot here so I will try to help
1. Yes, you can use box mixes. The white almond sour cream recipe is great because it makes it dense and changes the texture from the normal recipe on the box. You do have to frost before applying your fondant to the cake, I have never tried the betty crocker icing, so I don't know if that would work.
2. You need a cardboard round for each tier of cake. Make sure to cover the board with foil or freezer paper. If you don't the board will soak up the grease and will get wet. When you seperate the tiers to serve it might warp and your cake will fall, I know this from personal experience. You need the wooden dowels or hidden pillars/plates to hold the weight of the cake.
3.It is much easier to do each tier seperately. There is an article on the home page that shows how to work with fondant.
4. Stick them on with a little bit of water.
5.Some brands of fondant can be put in the fridge. If you do store it in the fridge, when you take it out to decorate let it come to room temperature before you apply anything . Don't touch it, while it is warming up it might look wet, if you touch it there will be a finger print on the cake. You can always cover it up with one of the decorations if it does happen.
For the bakeware, if you don't have any pans and you would like to invest in some I highly suggest Magic Line pans. They work great, and last for practically forever. I have some that my mom gave me and they are in great condition. You can start out with the Wilton pans. Those are good starters. At least for me they were, and they are always on sale somewhere.
I hope I was of some help to you, and don't forget to post a picture of the cake! When I first started decorating I didn't take pictures of any of my cakes, I regret it so much now. Always take pictures even if it is a practice cake.
Hey, Beamer! Welcome to CC!
Listen, there are lots of great tutorials in the Articles section on the homepage. If you go down to the bottom of that column, you will see a link to more articles.
In there, you will find a tutorial on tiered/stacked cake construction. That will give you some diagrams on how to assemble this type of cake.
Theresa 
Hi and Welcome
You've received great info!
If you want to see the separate steps, here's a super thread:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-592731.html
(just disregard the whimsical parts)
And a list of acronyms:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-2926-.html
HTH
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