sheet cakes and piping work

being australian i never really new much about sheet cakes but since being on cc i have noticed that a lot of you cc's do them.

i dont want to upset anyone by saying this but do you ever get sick of making them. they seem a little boring to me

also piping work seems really popular, personally i have never piped icing and don't feel the need to ever start, it just does not appeal to me at all.

are these types of cakes just what people prefer to have or dont they know that there are so many other ways to cut, carve and decorate a cake.

sorry but i have wanting to ask these questions for a while but was'nt sure if i would up set people by asking.

thanks

kylie

Sheet cakes are pretty popular here. Mainly because they feed a lot of people. The grocery store bakeries sell them, probably because they are easy. Throw icing and a little piping on them, they're good to go. That may account for a lot of the popularity - people are so used to seeing them, they think that's what cakes are supposed to look like. They are cheaper as well.

Piping can be fun and the Wilton classes teach that, which is the main training we have available to us. There is a lot that can be done with piping and it can be beautiful.

There has been a post lately about how boring we think they are and what some people are doing to educate their customers on more elaborate cakes. A lot of people just don't know something better is available. A lot just don't want to pay for it.

Those are my thoughts about it. No, I don't think you'll offend anyone.

I agree with Tiffysma. People go by what they see in a grocery store to set their own prices/looks and when you get a 'cake decorator' with a wonderful cake, people think it's overpriced. Those that are willing to pay for a different cake, appreciate it. But, yes, sheet cakes are easy and feed a lot.

Good Morning,

No one is going to be upset by your questions. I did go in and look at your pictures to see what you enjoy doing. WOW! Very nice.

I don't do sheet cakes but I'm do cake decorating for a hobby not as a business. I think as a business there is a big call for cakes that serve many people at a lower price, hence, sheet cake by the 1000's.

Lots of decorators do very wonderful, inventive work. Look at the Mac and many of the others. There are some artists from the UK that do some really different things, too.

It may be partly cultural, too. Cakes here in Mexico tend to be small round, or sheet cakes. There are a few artists here but it's hard to see their work, because they don't have a forum the is wildly popular as is CC.

And partly it may be us hobbiest that like to show our work and are not so well trained that we dare carve, and add "bits" to our cakes.

Post more photos, your work is wonderful. And, you'll give us more ideas.

Hi Matisse,
This is a good topic so that we could get to know differences in cake decorating in different countries. I learnt my decorating techniques in the UK and it is similar to what you do in Austrailia and I have learnt that it is Australia that revived or innovated the sugarpaste and string work is introduced by Australian decorators.

I live in Sweden and only a handful of us are doing this type of decoration. The average Swede is conservative in choosing the cakes for special occasions and they are quite different from the Australian or UK style.

As for Mexican top cake decorators I have seen a site where Lourdes Reyes has pictures of the gelefloral art - cakes decorated with gelatine flowers and if you want to see them:

www.gelartfloral.com

www.amnh.org/.../chocolate/sculptures2.php You will see some Mexican chocolate decorations

digthatcrazyfarout.com/taxcoguadalupeday/ just cultural

Now I am begging for a South African cake decorator to give us some links.

Enjoy your hobby or work. Niki

I agree with everyone too...I'm in Canada, and alot of people just don't know what is available in terms of cakes. I'm usually given free reign and they get something they probably were not expecting. Fondant is not as popular yet, especially the taste and we don't have alot of options, at least where I am, of what we can buy.

My mother took Wilton as did I and I also instruct at a craft store (michael's), so piping is pretty much the norm, although I myself don't do much of it. It is a good introduction to cake decorating that is not intimidating to most people...could we call it a gateway method, that leads to wonderful things?

I think another thing that is a big factor in the difference between American and UK/Australian cakes is the actual cake itself. You don't hear of many American bakers who use fruit cake so our time spent on a cake is usually very short compared to our friends 'across the pond'! The aussie I have personal experience with is always joking about dry cardboard cakes that we use but I'd never dream of presenting someone with a fruitcake, and yes, I've had hers and it's not much more appealing to me than any other I've tasted. (No offense!!) So the shelf life of her cake allows her to work along on it in bits and pieces for a month or more while I have to put mine together in a day or two. Still doesn't exactly explain the American penchant for CHEAP cakes though, does it? I chalk it up mostly to just not knowing there is anything else available. Those big supermarkets really push those boring sheetcakes.

This is such a great forum! I love the ability to read about what people in other countries are actually doing....
So this makes me curious if it is still common with Australians to use a fruit cake type or if that is outdated?

Good point sillychick, never thought about it that way...that "our" cakes have a shorter window period to decorate than fruitcakes.

thanks everyone for your positive replies

i am self taught when it comes to my cakes it started when i had my first child 8 years ago, now i have four children and lots of nieces and nephews so i am kept pretty busy during the year.

just recently i have offered to make cakes outside of my family and close friends, due to a high demand in my little town for interesting and fun cakes as our local bakery only offers, i guess a sheet cake with happy birthday written on it.

i know my children are known at school and kindy to always have great birthday cakes and now i would like to offer to others the excitement that i see in other childrens eyes when i take a cake to school for one of my kids.

kylie

hi sillychick

fruit cakes are still popular here but not as much as they used to be. more and more people are wanting the mud cakes, but that puts the price of a cake up. most of my cakes are a moist vanilla cake or a home made banana cake with a basic filling or no filling.

all the cakes i have done are made and decorated in one day, sometimes i may make the cake and freeze but all decorating is done in the one day

kylie

Thanks for clearing up that misconception for me!

Sounds like we started caking about the same time. I also started decorating after my daughter was born 8 years ago. It's so true, I've heard from a couple of the other moms at my dd school and the kids go home raving about the cakes that we take to share with her class. I even had one mom say that her son was upset that she wasn't in his class this year because of it! That alone makes all the late nights and messy kitchen to clean up afterward worth it.

I'm also embarrassed to say that I don't know what a mud cake is, care to fill me in? I'm also curious if you have health code restrictions about home baking like we do in the US?

hi sillychick

mud cakes are really rich moist and dense, you can have white mud, chocolate, caramel, any thing you want to add really, there are lots of added variations around now. search mud cake and you should get some recipes on cc.

as for health codes restrictions here, not really sure if they exist, they probably do but i dont know about them yet. its something i will look in to shortly.

and your right about the kids, i just love when my son says to me You make good cakes dont you mum and when they go to a party they always come home and tell me about the cake the other kids have and if it was a good one or not. lol

if i dont post anymore for a while it only because its about 11.30pm here in aus and i am off to bed as my kids are awake at the crack of dawn in our house. lol

kylie