Ok, I have tons of newbie kinds of questions. If anyone could answer just one, it woud be appreciated.

1. The luster dust and vodka trick. How does one exactly do this? Mix them together, or put the vodka on the fondant first and then sprinkle it on? I've had some not good experience with luster dust, and always get envious when I see shiny gold cakes.

2. Everyone here seems to use MMF (as do I). I used traditional fondant for a bow no one was going to eat, and I found it much easier to deal with. Someone told me that everyone told me that people peel off the fondant anyway, so what are the pros of MMF? That it's easy to make? Is there EVER a time to use traditional fondant? (besides making bows)

3. at what point do you refridgerate cakes or freeze them? which is better? I heard you're not supposed to refridgerate cakes because condensation will form. Can you freeze cakes w/out icing? will they be dry? I've heard that you can freeze cakes after you decorate them, but I don't understand how without mushing the buttercream.


Ok, I'll start with those three. Thanks everyone!

Sorry Steph007 to much of a scaredy cat to have tried any of these, except for manufatured fondant. But here's a bump for you. Good Luck

Gloria I

I am new to MMF...Making my first batch this weekend so I am not help there. But I freeze my cakes almost the second they come out of the oven. It really does keep them very moist!! I only refridge a cake if it has a filling or if it is a warm day.

Luster dust.....use vodka A VERY TINY AMOUNT...like you think a little is a little...less then that. Otherwise it looks gritty when you use it. Hope this helps a little!

Hi,

As I am relatively new as well, I will answer these questions as best as I can.

#1) Don't know, never done it!! (big help aren't I?) But I want to.

#2) If I use store bought fondant, everybody peels it off and won't eat it. If I use the MMF, everybody eats it, and loves it. THAT to me is the biggest pro there is. What's the use of even using fondant if nobody is going to eat it?

#3) I have never had any problem of freezing cakes and then bringing them back out. Mind you, they are not decorated. That might change things. As for them becoming dry, I find that they become moister by being in the freezer. Don't know why that is, just is. As for freezing them with buttercream and decorated, how about if you put it in the freezer for around an hour without any saran wrap and tin foil, and as soon as the buttercream hardens then wrap it up. Don't know if that would work, but I think it would.

Hope this helps!!

-ok not that i've done this but i read that you mix the luster dust in the vodka and then brush on or spray on the fondant.

-i've never tasted wilton fondant but heard its nasty. i think people peel off fondant because they think its they yucky one but if they knew that it tastes good then the would eat it. i eat my cakes that have mmf and so did my family. some people never had mmf so they just think its the nasty stuff and peel it off.

-i dont know much about freezing cakes but i know people on here wrap it really well with saran wrap just after baking and then freeze. you can put your buttercream frosted cake in a cake carrier and put it into the fridge, that way nothing happens to it. it does take up alot of room but it keeps longer and you dont get it messed up. mmf cakes can be a disaster if put in the fridge because of the condensation, the mmf will get gooey. i usually refrigerate my bc cakes when its humid or hot so that the cake does not go bad or if the frosting or filling needs to be refrigerated.

hope this helped a little.

I love MMF! I think what I love most about it aside from the taste is it is so cheap to make! I will eat eat fondant on the cake...MMF or any other type of fondant...except Wilton. I think you will find that some people will eat fondant and some will not. I think the reason a lot of people don't eat it is because they have only tasted cakes with Wilton fondant. One of my favorite things to do with a cake covered in MMF is to keep the cake in my cake taker. After a few hours the moisture from the cake and the buttercream makes the MMF really soft and it kind of melts into the buttercream. It is SOOO good this way.

thanks everyone!

I'm just a newbie too, but I have been experimenting alot.

1. I haven't had much luck getting the awesome sparkle yet. Sorry.

2. I have used both Store bought and MMF. If you are in a bind and need to make something quick buy it, but if you have the time to make the MMF, it tastes so much better. I have been using almond extract in mine and people love it. I would suggest adding the Powdered sugar in gradully, until you get the texture that you like. If you leave it a little softer it's easier to cover cakes.

3. My MIL taught me her tricks on cakes. I always freeze them after I bake them. Not only is frosting them 100X easier, but they are so moist. People always ask how I get my cakes so moist? That's my trick. I have put a BC decorated cake in freezer before, without covering until the frosting got hard. Then I covered it. The flavor was good, but the frosting seemed to get really loose. Check out my Pictures. It's the cake with the green monster on it.

For the freezing of cakes:

For cakes that are already decorated, put them in a cake box and wrap the box with 2 ayers of Press and Seal Wrap and then with 2 layers of Saran Wrap. My cakes stayed moist and it didnt ruin the decorations.

Check out this website on how to use lustre dust
http://kitchengifts.com/lustredust.html

so is that luster dust the same as the glitter stuff from wilton? I'm confused.

to answer your questions..

1) you mix the lutre dust and the vodka together and then paint with that. it also depends on what you want to do..to paint detail you would mix them. to just brush the cake you would use it dry no liquid.

2.) i use commercial fondant all the time. pettin ice is my prefered brand. never used wilton fondant. no reason just that i like pettinice.

3) i dont refrigerate my cakes with fondant and i have only froze one cake in pan covered in saran. But only for a day.

1. Mix them together. People also like to use lemon extract instead of vodka. I think it's because it has more alcohol in it, which is why others use Everclear.

2. A lot of people do eat it. I prefer anything that is given to a person to taste good (aside from gumpaste decorations and such). Plus it's more economical, and you can get supplies at a local grocery store. I also make my own, as in the Cake Bible's recipe. I prefer that, but it's more work, and only a slight taste difference. Plus I think you can freeze it, which is nice.

3. You can easily freeze an undecorated cake without any problems. It works great! I'm very pick about taste but I can assure you that if you wrap it up well it will be just as good. I would not freeze a decorated cake. I know you can freeze IMBC without trouble either, so I would freeze them separate and then assemble.

Love this .... I found out the hard way too that the "glitter" at Michael's is NOT luster dust!! I'll bump this ... I like this chain.. learning as well!! I'm new to decorating and CC too!

I think it must be an American thing with people not eating the fondant. Here in Australia I think most people eat it as long as its not too thick. I personally think that its the best part!!!! I have never used MMF but I am starting to get intrigued. I am just worried that it will break my mixer!

Hello, I'm a REAL newbie...sort of.... I've made basic, buttercream decortated cakes for years but now I guess I'm branching out....new to fondant and feel really dumb because I don't know what the MMF fondant is you all are mentioning. I'm sure it's somewhere on here but haven't time to look so I thought I'd just ask.

HI,
I also found out that the "glitter" at Michael's is NOT luster dust!!
Where can I find the Luster Dust anyway? Learning as well

i always freeze my cakes and they always come out so moist. one customer had one of my frozen cakes that someone else had ordered and she said that it was the best cake that she ever had. when she ordered her cake she said that she didn't want it frozen because it makes the cake dry so i didn't freeze it. well the day after i delivered her cake she said that the cake was dry. she asked me what i did different and i told her nothing except i didn't freeze it.

what i do is i take my cake out of the oven and let it cool for about 15 minutes. then i layer some plastic wrap on top of heavy duty foil so that when i flip my cake onto it i cover the cake with the plastic wrap so that its air tight. and then i cover it with the foil and stick it in my freezer. then when i defrost i just take the cake out of the freezer and set it on my counter without unwrapping it. i've never had a problem with a soggy or dry cake.

Can answer your question about Lustre Dusts.. I have become addicted to the stuff cant make a cake now without getting in on somewhere!

You can brush in on dry to get a shimmer effect or mix it with a few drops of alcohol and use it like you would paint. If you want a metallic finish (like the rings on my LV Handbag in my photos) you use the alcohol and paint it on.

Lustre Dust comes in so many different colours so you can change the colour or enhance the colour of your fondant. Just be ware though a little goes along way and if you use too much you can easily get colour where you dont want it on a cake.

I think even people use it on BC but I havent tried that yet.

WELCOME TO CC

the MMF that everyone speaks of is Marshmallow Fondant. I have to say it does taste better than traditional, but I just found traditional fondant so much easier to work with personally.

Hi- I'm a newbie as well. I am making my first carved cake with fondant, its a Lightning McQueen car. I would like the car to look shiny like a real car. I am using Satin Ice red fondant. Would luster dust be right for this effect? Also- is it edible?? I feel like I may have read conflicting information pertaining to that.

Thanks!!!

Hi!!! I'm pretty new at cake decorating as well, but eveything you've asked about, I've done it!!!

1. With the lustre dust, I would just dip my brush in the alcohol (I used tequila and then dip it in the lustre dust and starting painting. Have to be careful not to use too much, as someone already said, it could come out grainy. (use silver on the LV purse in my pictures)

2. I've used Rolled Fondant and MMF; I like both of them and whenever I've used them, nobody peeled off the fondant.

3. As far as freezing cakes; I ALWAYS freeze my cakes!! I let my cake cool for about 30 minutes, wrap it WELL in Saran Wrap and put it in the freezer; the cake always comes out moist.

As far as a decorated cake, I have done that as well and it came out great!! I just put it in a cake box and taped it up well!!! The people who ate it didn't know the difference and they said it tasted great!!! (the cake I froze is in my photos; ivory colored cake with orange flowers and ribbons)

Hope this helps!!!!

With the painting luster dust, does it have to be vodka (or other alcoholic beverage) or can it be an extract?

1. To get a pearl or highlighted look, use dry. To get the satin/metal look mix them together. I have tried every alchohol/extract combination (even smirnoff raspberry, tasty). The closest to getting the lusterous sheen seen on many cakes, (i find), is to use everclear with a tad bit of lemon extract. On the ratio......hmm....Id estimate my mixture is about a teaspoon of everclear with 5 pinches of dust (using tweezers), and about two drops of lemon extract.

2. I have only seen people peel off the wilton fondant. On MMF, I never got to use it in it original state. Tasted 10x better than wiltons, but then I became obssessed with trying to make chocolate fondant for a cake that I was baking at the time. In that process, I accidentally discovered how to make MMF work something like gumpaste (in the likeness that the fondant will "snap" like broken gumpaste when dried). Thus now when I make cakes, There is nothing left behind. (Well you cant really "peel" off my fondant, your kinda stuck with it) The entire thing is either eaten or saved. Even the bow, before no one ever ate the bow before!

I think i just started something......hmm

3. After reading that cakes can be frozen ahead of time, I started freezing my cakes. It made it easier when baking multiple cakes at a time; and so much better when frosting them. I just tightly wrap them in saran wrap, then foil, and stack them until needed letting them thaw completely while still wrapped before frosting.

How long does a cake take to defrost???

I dont really know. Never timed it. Maybe no more than an hour, but then that depends on the size and thickness of the cake.

Okay, another question. If I have a cake due on Friday, and I bake it tonight, do I need to freeze it or just wrap it and leave it at room temperature to decorate it on Thursday?

I've gotten in the habit of freezing all my cakes if time allows. It makes them so much easier to decorate, no crumbs!!
HTH

Hello, I'm new I come from Denmark, and here we use a lot of whipped cream-based fillings, so the cake needs to be refridgerated no matter what, or it will go bad quickly. I have covered with both MMF, fondant and marzipan and I have never had a wet cake - the fondant gets a bit dry instead, but never wet. Maybe my fridge is just weird (and lucky for me )