Thanks for the welcome, Gingerkitten. Beginning to feel like home

Super... i can do that.. right? Right!?

I'm here if you need any advice, but yes, of course you can do that!!!!

Franny you are the best! I think i need to do alot more practice. Which means more cakes for friends!

Hey ladies! Picked up my new baby today and she is currently busy mixing away in my kitchen.

Tish, thanks soooo much. When I took her out of the box I just set it up and admired it for quite a long time. All the shiny silver and soooo pretty.

Hahaha i was going to text you tomorrow to see how she was! I'm glad that she lives up to expectations! What will you name her?

Hi all hope your having a good weekend! Whats left any way!!!
Toni just had a look at all your heart cakes they are beautiful all so perfect you must have great patience!!
Also fran your cake serving sizes you give seem MUCH more realistic then the one i go buy do you have a chart you can share or is it just your workings out???

Ciao for now

I use the wilton guide, and halve it, a standard Aussie serve is a coffee serve, which is 1 inch x 1 inch x the height of the cake.

go to www.wilton.com and go to the weddings section, I think it's under cake info or something

Jo, thanks for your lovely comments!!! very much appreciated.

Barbara.. you need to post a photo for us of you hugging your new best friend!!! (the silver one)!!

Fran: happy we have you to answer all our professional questions!!!

very nice to have our australian family growing here... welcome to all new arrivals!!

xxxx

Toni, will take one soon and probably use it as my avatar. I must say that even though it is 1200W it is not as noisy as I thought it would be. As Con the Fruiterer would say " SHE'S BEAUDIFUL!"

ladies i am being ignored on a thread on mine, what do you think i should do? I have a had a bit of a prob with my motorbike figures, i painted the gumpaste with the foodcolouring and it went streaky! it was americolour colourgel. the black looks really good but the red looks terrible! hellppp me!
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-5688103.html#5688103

Did you mix the americolour with alcohol? Perhaps try that, and do it again, other than that, I'm out of ideas, except perhaps changing it to silver or gold.

Gingerkitten79, do what franjmc suggested.

I had the same thing happen with footballs, You will need to give it two coats though to get the colour even.

Cheryl

Hi Everyone,

Its taken me nearly a WHOle DAy to read this entire Aussie thread, and I feel like I already know some of you. Anyway just wanted to introduce myself as another fellow Aussie cake maker, pretty new to CC. I'm actually pretty new to cake decorating, but would LOVe to pursue it in the future as a business. I feel a bit out of place tho, coz there seems to be alot of Melbournites and Sydneysiders, but not many from here in Brisbane?!

I have sooo many questions to ask, but for now, (the rest of the tonight), I think i will have to stick to browsing some CC pictures for inspiration on Birthday cakes. I have 3 of my childrens birthdays this week - 2 on Tuesday (no they are not twins, just happened to be born on the same day 3years apart), and another daughters on Friday (another 3 years later)....I know not very good family planning .hehe...oh yeah and another childs in another couple of weeks!!...Anyways, I've been a stay at home mum for a few years, and am starting part-time work this week at a corporate office in the city, but hellloooo, my days are TUES, Thurs and FRIDay!! ...hmmm now when can I bake, and figure out how to get their wanted birthday cakes to school??

Anyway Hello to everyone, and no doubt you will see me around often, as I tend to become addicted to my computer!!haha!

Does anyone have a good recipe for cakes that are to be sculpted or shaped. I made a boat last week but the white choc cake I used was too soft and the fondant was impossible to smooth, I did a cushion on friday, same problem. I used the debbie brown madiera cake recipe for the sofa I made today and its turned out perfect perfect.....but the cake isnt all that nice. I love novelty cakes and If I am going to make a cake that looks good I want it to be equally as nice to eat. Would apprieciate any help on this one guys.
cheers from Sharon

Welcome Dana, i hope you get plenty of ideas from the gallery, as for baking, squeeze it in when you can! Chat to Barbara about time management and broods of children, i think she has it down pat! Hopefully we can help out with any questions you have!
Tish x

Sharon, I find if you make the cake, then put in the fridge overnight before sculpting... it is easier... I agree with you though, I used the Lindy Smith recipe for madeira cake for my recent hearts... It was perfect for these little cakes but for my personal taste.. a bit dry. She says you should allow one week for baking and one week for decorating..... I think that recipe would be horrible after two weeks!!!! I also thought mudcake was too delicate... but that in the fridge becomes good for carving too.!!! Once I did the ball of wool cake, and the bottom half collapsed once I placed the top half on... cake was too fresh... too 'fragile'

Hello everybodeee !!! ( imagine grover from sesame street ) hahaha

Man, have I been champing at the bit to get back onto CC !! ( my ISP has been down for a few days,driving me insane - I've had to resort to cleaning ...listening to my children ..feeding,watering same children

It's been awful!!!

Dana, good to see another qlder on here

Barbara - you lucky duck !!! I want to see photos of your shiny,silver friend !!

Ginger, those colours tend to need at least 2 coats to cover streaking, I've found that anyway

Welcome back jules! I will give it another going over tomorrow and if that doesnt work... heavy duty house paint will be the trick! hope you had a good weekend x

Hey guys, im back again already!! Ive been searching the galleries and derrr didn't realise the time! I could of had one of the birthday cakes nearly finished baking by now, if i had gotten my butt off the computer for 10mins to put it in. Now its nearly 11pm, and im afraid i will have a to wait to bake and decorate them both tomorrow as well as a million other things LAte night u think??..(hmmm do you think it'll be ok to turn up on my first day of work with huge BAGs under my eyes?)

Anyway, just wondering if any of you have a REally nice MOIST White Choc Mud recipe, you don't mind sharing?? I have tried sooo many, and still haven't come up with the ULTimate one? BTW, does anyone know the diff between 'bakels rtr icing' and the 'cakeart icing'?? I can only find the cakeart one here in Brisbane, and it doesn't taste very nice...altho in saying that, i don't really like the taste of plastic icing very much. Does Bakels taste better???

Dana, I use the Cake Art fondant, prefer it to Bakels even tho' I don't really like the taste much of either ! ( give me marzipan anyday )
Oh, & I've just taken a cake out of the oven now,'cos I was toooo slack to cook it earlier !! haha

Thanks Jules, glad to know you have used both, i've been wondering whether there was a major taste difference.

I've just noticed that you have 5 children as well!! (Oh thats right, were you the one I read in previous posts that has 4boys and 1 girl???). LUCKY you!! My two oldest are boys (10 & 8yrs) and then I have 3 girls (soon to be 7,4 & 1yrs), and I must say that the girls are WAY more HIgh Maintenance!! hehe!!...more talking, always argumentative and Always has to have the last say!! (well my 7yr old at least!!)

Tish - The second coat applied as Fran said should do the trick. Since it is the motorbike and not going to be eaten, could you touch it up with red chalk dust? Ladies, help me out here, can it be done?

Dana - If you want time management tips, the person you want to connect with is cherylweddingplanner. Cheryl has 9 children and she manages to study, bake, run a household and do everything else that a supermum does. All I can suggest is bake when the kiddies are in bed and give up on your sleep time!

My new shiny silver friend has been working overtime since getting here. Already made 2 cakes and the 3rd is currently in the oven. Looks like it will be a looooonnnngggg night. Going to catch up on the dreaded ironing while cake is in the oven.

When I post a pic of my silver friend, I would like some suggestions on names, Okay?

Hey Danatnt

About the icing , cakeart is horrible , I have been using the RTR by Bakels now for 15 years and was actually asked to sample and use the Cake Art icing when they were producing it more commercially and given what I wanted for free , it is so awful to work with compared to Bakels , and I ended up giving it all back , it tastes funky lol and takes longer to knead and is not as smooth and more temperamental to weather conditions , though in saying that , its what you are used to and purely personal taste , and I know they changed it after the testing but I have not been bothered to give it a try again ,

just one perons opinion and I use 8 boxes of Bakels a week so I have learnt how to handle it well

cheers SUzy

I'm with you Suzy. That new one oh last year is terrible as well. If the caek is for family I make my own or should I say waht I learnt at tech, its the best as far as I am concerned.

It has taken me all day to catch up but here now and off to bed.

Barbara, I think it is actually harder looking after 1 kid compared to 9.

At least in my house hold (provided someone is home) if the toddler wants a drink there is generally another set of hands to help out.
All the kids help with cooking and do the dishes after dinner. They make there own beds and keep there own rooms clean.

Once you learn how to walk in my household ............... your buggered!
They get to put away their own toys.
I dont pull them out, I'm not putting them away.

And if you dont put them away I think its rubbish, so into the bin it goes.
they soon learnt. (I didnt really throw them in the bin....... well i did, but then I went and got them out and hid them in the garage for a few weeks so they would learn there lesson)

One of the funniest things I remember was my three girls in the bath together, this was when they were 5, 3 & 1.
Get them out and in their pj's. Tell the 5 and 3 year olds to get dirty clothes and put in laundry.
Walk up the hallway and the 3 year old comes first with her clothes then the 1 year old crawling behind her with her clothes on her back!! DD 5 was bringing up the rear telling the 1 yr old to 'move it'

But now I have a 2 1/2 DS who is such a neat freak that he ends up in tears if his toy trucks are dirty! We have a toy car wash going permanently.

danatnt,

The women's weekly white choc mudcake out of the celebration cakes cookbook is good if you don't have the recipe pm me with your email address and I will scan it and email it (since it has different quantities for all different sized pans it will be easier to scan it than type it out) my DH is a chef and generally a bit of a snob when it comes to things like women's weekly stuff etc but he keeps going back to this recipe because everyone loves it.

Cheryl - WHAT! dear girl are you doing out of bed at 3.18AM???
Your post made me laugh so much - THIS was my HOUSEHOLD you were talking about!! My kids now are 25,20 & 18 and all self-sufficient. I went through the "Sand-man takes kids toys left on the floor routine" - had my linen press chockers until I devised a scheme whereby good cleaning behaviour could EARN them a toy back!!

Hi Pam,

OK, I want advice from all the mum's out there. I am the one who always tidies my children's bedroom (they share)... when I ask Annabella (age 7) to help, she rolls her eyes and huffs & puffs... it's just easier for me to do it. I know that is wrong though. I also remember always making my bed... but can't remember at what age we started this. My mum isn't here to ask, and there is no way my dad would know this type of info.... So at what age can I ask them to do it. I already ask Annabella to do it, but just on weekends so far because before school is madness time for everyone.I want good methods for the room tidying. If I ask for help with setting table etc, they are still at age where this is enjoyed. They are also good at putting bowls in the sink... throwing wrappers in bin... Italian kids are pampered completely...everything is done for them and I seriously have no intention of doing this...

So I want all sorts of ideas and advice... from star charts to major threats!! Open to all suggestions!

thanks toniprev re the sculpting dilema, I might try again with a mudcake thats been in the fridge overnight, partialty freeze it and then coat it all over with a layer of ganache then back in the fridge to firm up before fondant. how we live and learn. I checked out your hearts, they were beautiful.