Goal: Killer Cake For Decorating Comp In 10 Days!
Decorating By keri-girl_xx Updated 10 Sep 2006 , 1:14pm by socake
Hey everyone!
I'm 15 and have never done cake decorating before, but reading articles on this website has got me really interested! My best friend and I are entering a cake decorating comp for our school fair, and we want to make something amazing, we want to win. One problem - the competition is in 10 days, and we both have zero experience.
But we are willing to learn!
We are both quite fun and girly and would like to make a cake with a sort of theme "It's a girls life, and we love it!"
We would be so grateful if you could take a few minutes to share your expertise with us!
We are looking for:
*Explanations and advice
- what is gum paste?
- what is fondant?
- is there anything else we should know about and/or use?
*Recipes
- gum paste
- fondant
- cake mixture
- anything else?
- step by step, easy instructions please!
*Ideas
- made a hot cake that we might be interested in? a link to photos, tips and instructions would be super!
*Tools
- what utensils will we need?
- decorations?
- what kinds of shops can we buy these in?
Plus any other information we will find useful!
Thanks so much everyone, your help is really appreciated!
Cake sisters for life!
Keri-Anne and Andrea
Hi Kerri,
first off, welcome to CC, hope you'll have fun here.
Would be a lot easier to help with a decorating idea, if you could go into the Gallery and choose a couple of pics, that you like. Also, which pans do you have available?
Loads of recipes in the recipe section, which flavour do you like and do you intend to use mixes or bake from scratch? You've given us too little to go on.
I think it is definitley easier to use a boxed cake mix. They are just simple to make. You can find pretty much all of your baking supplies at any Michael's store. You can even buy buttercream icing already pre-made just like in the grocery stores.
Hey Ursula,
Well Andrea and i have circular, square, rectangular and heart shaped pans between the two of us, and we are willing to buy whatever else we need - within a reasonable price range.
Flavour doesnt matter so much to us - its all good if it looks good!
Luv2giggls is right, i think its probably easier to use mixes, so we might do more of that than make everything from scratch.
However, I'm in australia so i dont know what "Michael's" is. Is it just like a grocery store? Also, what should i be looking for to buy?
I was really hoping to have a stilleto shoe as part of the design, can i make this out of fondant or molding chocolate and how?
Michael's is an arts and crafts store, they carry cake supplies as well. if you give me your email address I can email you something on making the shoe. Someone on here actually forwarded this to me, but I haven't tried it yet.
Thanks so much that would be fantastic!
My email is [email protected]
Ooh I'd like those shoe instructions! [email protected]
As for helping you girls - I would go for simple simple simple! Don't bite off more than you can chew at first or you will get very frustrated! You might want to look through a few Wilton yearbooks -you should be able to find them at craft stores - or you can look at www.wilton.com - some of the cakes here are AMAZING but also DIFFICULT for someone JUST beginning..... I think sometimes Wilton has some simpler ideas. For fondant - that's a little difficult to use and figure out at first but I would look at the recipe for MMF (marshmellow fondant) or try to see if you can buy some..... but you'll also need a rolling pin to roll it flat.... and some kind of mat or something to help you transfer it to the cake..... You may want to just try the faux fondant buttercream w/ butter & crisco and then maybe add some fondant cut-out shapes..... or you could try to do a Frozen buttercream transfer (FBCT) or try using some chocolate to make a chocolate transfer - you can find instructions for both in the Articles section of the site.
Oh you may want to look for a chocolate mold for the shoe too - I'm not sure how difficult the instructions will be for making it out of fondant or gumpaste but with a chocolate mold in the shape of a shoe all you would have to do is pour in melted chocolate!
Whatever you decide to do - good luck! It might be helpful if you post a pic. that you like and then we can tell you how to accomplish the look. Oh you can also go and try to find a Wilton book about decorating tips - shoot I can't remember the name - but it would tell you about how to put icing in a pastry bag and what tips to use to get certain looks.... good luck!
This is a fun and rewarding hobby but like anything it takes practice - and patience! Please don't get discouraged too easily - you can look for the "worst cake" post to see some of our cakes that didn't turn out so great so you know that everyone messes up & we all start from somewhere! Please post a picture of your final cake!
imartsy.......
check you email =)
goodnite! have a great evening =)
Perhaps if you are looking for something "girlie" how about a purse cake? They are easier to do than stiletto heels and can go from easy to really difficult and ornate. Purses come in all shapes and sizes, have a look in the Gallery search for Purse or suitcase.
I live in China, we get even less here than you do in Australia. Everything is possible however if you adjust the design
thanks so much luv2giggls for the shoe instructions! they are great!
and thanks heaps imartsy you are so helpful! wow im so excited now i cant wait to get started!
Keep posting your advice everyone, i can really use it!
I will definately put up a pic of the final product =)
Thanks Ursula sorry i only just read ur post then! A purse cake sounds awesome - ill check out the gallery like you said!
Thanks so much you're all so helpful! keep the ideas coming people =)
No problem, when you find something you like, then you can ask specific questions. Makes it easier and faster to give you directions on how to realise your project. There is just too much info around and it's difficult to judge from afar, what you really need. I've been decorating for years and I'm still learning new stuff daily
Hey well ive been checking out the gallery... all the cakes are amazing! There are a couple I particularly like - check them out below - what do you guys think? Im really liking the second one, it looks a bit simpler, but the lipstick is a candle. I was hoping to make an edible lipstick on mine, any ideas?
Well I think the second one is better as a "first" project. Why don't you pm Nati and ask her how she made the cake? Looks like 2 circular cakes, cropped flat on one side and stacked together upright. The brush and compact are molded, but you can easily mold everything yourself out of either marzipan, fondant or gumpaste. The design on the outside of the purse is imprinted, but you can substitute that with imprints made with a ruler( at least, that's how I did mine) Make sure you use gelcolours, the liquid ones thin the buttercream or fondant too much.
Ok awesome, i think ill stick with that one then. Thanks so much for your advice! If anyone has any extra ideas please post!
Hello fellow ozzies!
Gum paste = modeling paste
Fondant = like the white covering on wedding cakes (I recommed buying ready made Bakels brand available at www.bakerysugarcraft.com.au (Wetheral Park Sydney - they deliver everywhere!))
Where in Australia are you? I'm in Sydney I can recomend a few places to go for supplies around my area if your interested or I could point you in the direction of another ozzie CC'er in melbourne, newcastle, WA etc...
Happy to help with any other questions! good luck with it!!!
Sandra
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