Basket Weave And Practice 3 Questions
Decorating By Iloveweddings Updated 26 Sep 2006 , 8:46am by Iloveweddings
Hi,
I bought some cake dummies to practice on. Do I need to use buttercream frosting for practice as it could get expensive?
I want to try basket weave but am wondering if anyone knows a trick on how to keep it straight?
I am trying very hard to make smooth buttercream. All I get are air holes! What can I do?
All your help is appreciated.
Are you taking classes or doing it on your own??? What is the consistancy of your frosting?? I love basket weave and will try to help as much as I can. I haven't practiced on dummies. So I don't know much about that. But you need alittle more icing for basket weave. If you can scrap it off and reuse it only for practice it would be ok. Do you have your dummies coated with plastic wrap or something. I read on here you should cover them so not to stain the dummies. I can't remember what was said about the dummies. Let me knnow what you need and I will try to help.
Basket weave is my favorite design to do! I have never plastic wrapped my dummies and haven't had any problems, so it may be just a personal preference thing. I only use light colored icings so the staining hasn't been an issue.
I use only buttercream. I find that the longer I beat the icing (using the paddle in my KA, not the whip), the smoother the icing is. I've had people suggest that a long beating time "whips in air", but I find the opposite to be true....it seems to blend everything better for a smoother icing. I actually set my kitchen timer for 7 minutes and go watch TV, check email, etc., while the KA is running.
Straight basketweaves: I hold a ruler very close to the cake and position the decorating bag/tip next to it, using it as a guide to run the weave.
Have fun and let us know how it goes! 
Thank you for your advice. I will try the ruler. Oh, the airholes, driving me crazy!! I am doing this on my own, no classes. However, I did buy a video that helped sooooo much.
Hi. The last frosting recipe I used was horrible. It crusted way too fast. Since I am not a pro it takes me longer and it crusted before I was done. Anyway, yes all was room temp. I did beat it on high for sometime.
What kind of frosting recipe did you use?? And do you know what consistency is was stiff, medium, or thin. The frosting should be a medium consistency. If it is to stiff your could have problems with air holes. What videos did you get?? Are they the wilton ones?? They are pretty good for help I went to the library and got mine to help me with a few things. Are you using the wilton course books to teach yourself. They can be alot of help also.
On the basketweave, I recently had a very good cake decorator show me her tip on this. She simply held her long spatula close to the cake, ran another knife lightly up the side of it so as to make a straight vertical line in the cake. She did this all the way around the cake so that all she had to do was follow her lines. Also, she gave herself a small dab of icing as spacers on each row that she wasn't supposed to pipe on so she wouldn't accidentally pipe on the wrong row. Of course, these spacers were covered up when she did the vertical weave line. I hope this makes sense! Because I saw her do it, I know what I am meaning...but describing it in words without pictures is another story! LOL!
Hey, Iloveweddings... I feel your pain with the airholes!! I was cursed with them! Search for the thread I wrote called "I share because I care" and you will find out how to fix those little airholes! I haven't had a problem with them since!!! Good luck with that.
As for the icing. Buy a can of generic shortening, generic powdered sugar, and make this into your practice icing. Don't use any expensive flavorings because no one is going to eat this glop anyway (and it will prevent you from licking your fingers the whole time! haha) the only ingredient that will still be kind of expensive is meringue pwdr... but you don't use that much really. And you CAN reuse the frosting after you finish a design, but if you let the dummy sit out and get hard, you can't. That's a no-go! Let me know if I can help in any way, as the basket weave is my favorite pattern! Take care and good luck w/all of it!
On the , I recently had a very good cake decorator show me her tip on this. She simply held her long spatula close to the cake, ran another knife lightly up the side of it so as to make a straight vertical line in the cake. She did this all the way around the cake so that all she had to do was follow her lines. Also, she gave herself a small dab of icing as spacers on each row that she wasn't supposed to pipe on so she wouldn't accidentally pipe on the wrong row. Of course, these spacers were covered up when she did the vertical weave line. I hope this makes sense! Because I saw her do it, I know what I am meaning...but describing it in words without pictures is another story! LOL!
This is exactly how I do mine. My verticle lines are spaced 1" apart.
Thanks for all of your replies. the cake video I bought is called, "Bake your own wedding cake...it's ez to save big money" off of Ebay, I believe. It helped me a lot. Things books did not show. I learn best by seeing.
I did read "I share because I care". I bought the roller and plan to try it out tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. I did lift a big weight off my shoulders today by giving myself permission to not have perfectly smooth frosting. It had really been bothering me.
The frosting recipe I used actually came off this site. I believe it was Crusting ButterCream (Faux Fondant) II. I read people rave about it so I decided to try it. I had better results from other recipes. I am going to try one new recipe tomorrow. If that fails, I will go back to one or two I had better luck with.
i too had trouble with air bubbles and mixing more or less never seemed to make much difference....well, i went over to a food wholesaler and bought cake and icing shortening ..wala....that fixed my prob ...no bubbles now BUT smoothing seems to be my big issue now...always has been ...any tips appreciated ...i already tried the paper towel thing no luck ...bench scraper ..no luck ..warm water spray.. warm spatula ack .....just about at my wits end and thinking about giving up on bc and going to all fondant ...someone helpppppppp hummmm...maybe im trying to hard ...i just want a perfectly smooth look
Jodyvdavis... go check out my thread called "I share because I care". It may help you find a way to make smooth icing surfaces!!
I hope that method works for you Iloveweddings!! And good for you for taking a little bit of pressure off of yourself. You can have a gorgeous cake without a mirror finish!
Hi everyone. I made a cake today. I used a cake recipe from this site and it tastes great. the frosting left a lot to be desired. That is my last trial frosting. I am going back to one that tasted good. I smoothed it out pretty well using viva towels and the roller mentioned by Melvira. Tomorrow I will just practice on a dummy. Maybe I'll take a pic and post it here.
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