AMorning! SMBC does anyone have a recipe they wouldn't mind sharing?

Also do you crack eggs for the whites or buy the pasteurised egg white in the cartons?

AKathy it is such a. Beautiful sound! My hubby would sit and listen when I played "the aquarium" by Saint-Sean's! One of my most adored pieces to play! ❤️

A

I put one in the uk bakers clan. I would recommend doing it in 1/2 batch unless you have a 7ltr bowl.

AMorning :-)

I do 50g sugar and 100g butter to each large egg white. I usually do a 6/7 egg batch and freeze any leftover, and often don't use all the butter, but it's handy to just have the easy ratio to remember :-) You can do diddy batches, but I don't find one egg is un oeuf... :-D

I crack eggs. I read somewhere that the cartoon ones don't whip quite as well (never used them though so that might be rubbish), and cost wise it works out about the same as normal eggs. I try not to have too many one purpose items in the kitchen so a whole egg is better from that point of view.

I'm knackered. I realised at ten to midnight yesterday that I hadn't done the brownies youngest had asked for for his bd today. Obviously while I was up doing them I decided it would be a good idea to start tidying, cue 2am finish once we'd wrapped pressies. He and eldest then bounce into our room at 7 this morning, flinging open the curtains. I couldn't get my bearings at all, panicked because the only reason the kids would be barrelling in at that time is some sort of catastrophe, surely, then spent the next hour with that horrible clammy, heart-beating-too-much feeling. Lovely.

Oh well, best get on with his cake!

AOh Lizzy - you will be on a high though I think - tomorrow will probably be the day when it catches up with you.

Kelsey - I really want to make SMBC so please, please let me know how it all goes. I was given a cupcake with that on it (in chocolate - which is my very least favourite flavour too) and it was divine. Sian - I'm going to check it out - haven't been on there for simply ages! By the way - LOVE Olaf! Brilliant.

Am thinking of getting back into sugar flowers - seriously it's been donkeys years - and I saw an Alan Dunn class on Craftsy for tropical flowers for £12.50. I love cheap but do you think it's too cheap? I want also to make a ranunculus - not sure if I should just YT them all......I think I just need to spend some money on cake stuff....that's what this is about really!

Suzanne - did you go to the car carving demo?

Have a nice day everyone!

Kathy

Morning all!

 

Kathy - yes I did go.  It was good...  but I still wouldn't do one for a customer!

 

So, Monday I did my first ever pilates class.  By Monday evening, it was my LEGS that were killing me! I expected my stomach to be sore, but not my legs!  I have no idea what that was about.  But it really was VERY sore so I took some paracetamol before bed and it took the edge off.

 

Yesterday afternoon I went to my first Zumba class.  In my mind I was Ola Jordan.  In reality I was Ann Widdicome!  LOL!  It was good, though.  I've booked into both classes again next week!  My tummy and waist are feeling it a bit this morning.  And yesterday afternoon my shoulders were really starting to knot up and I was getting a pounding headache (I suffer badly with tension headaches) so a couple of ibuprofen thankfully sorted that out.

 

Today I need to prep for this weekend's cake.  Just a fairly simple one.  I'm giving the gym a rest today.

 

I hope everyone has a good day. 

Morning All!

 

Eeek you've been chatty again LOL! Where to start?!

 

Jo love your shark cake, what a fab idea, it looks great.

 

Tiddy your fireman looks great too - I love his little buttons!!

 

Siany your Olafs look so cute - I don't know what you are worrying about they both look fab. He definitely looks better on his body though LOL :)

 

Loving the tiara Princess Kuushi ;) Glad you had a lovely birthday! In terms of work, I can only echo what's already been said, you need to work out finances and see if you can run on your OH's pay for a good few months while you get up and running. I think mobile beauty would be a fab idea to do in line with cakes though, if you are fully qualified (and lets face it you are a walking advert for how good you are!) and its something you always wanted to do, then go for it if you can!

 

 Aw Suzanne you are making me feel so bad for not getting enough exercise! I really need to get going with something, I constantly talk myself out of stuff though, I have an iffy neck and back, plus dodgy knees so I need to figure out what I can do that wont aggravate them! Well done for going though :D

 

Hi everyone else, sorry if I've missed you out!

 

I'm trying cost up a birthday order at the moment and its driving me nuts - its for about 80 people (thinking 5",7",9") with loads of details (mountains, motorbikes, truck driving, & clay pidgeon shooting to name a few!!!) and the cost I'm coming out with seems astronomical, its basically coming out like a smallish wedding cake! I kind of wish I didn't do birthdays sometimes, its so much work and people just don't want to pay the cost for them as its 'just' a birthday cake. Never mind that they quite often have way more details than wedding cakes - grrr!

 

Also got a last minute order for a handbag cake this week - Louis Vuitton style! Still need to figure out how on earth to get the pattern looking half decent, as typically they want the black bag with coloured logos....!

Oh and on SMBC, I tried it with a recipe you guys (Lizzy or Catsmum I think) put on here a while ago, and I used Two Chicks egg whites and it worked fine. I cant compare fluffiness as I haven't done it with normal egg whites, but it still worked perfectly and was really nice! I'm a chicken though (ha ha ha, see what I did there?! I'll get my coat......) and would always rather use pasturised eggs where possible, just in case!

AI will let you know how it goes Kathy!

Lizzy I don't have a thermometer though will that be a problem? I don't mind cracking eggs at all but thought carton may be quicker but I'll leave that now.

Is there a recipe that doesn't require heating?

AAwh thanks Mel!

I know Suzanne, I just wince every time I send a quote out like that, as most cake muggles haven't got a clue and I can almost hear the shock when they read it from here LOL! :) 

 

No problem Kuushi! Good luck with it - love the sound of the chocolate drizzle!! 

 

You lot really aren't any help with the whole loosing weight thing - was it Lizzy who said about using cocoa butter to make pancakes?! Thats just evil genius - I'd never have thought of that, and now I cant stop thinking about trying it out "just to see" ROFL!! :)

 

Kathy, I've got a few Craftsy classes and I actually find them really good - loads of detail and you can ask questions if there's anything you aren't sure about. If that's on sale I would go for it! That being said, I learned ranunculus from a downloaded tutorial and watching YT, then making my own way up with a combination of the 2! They arent too difficult - its all about getting the petals nice and thin and smooth as far as I can tell! Edited to add - I would go with a polybud centre for them though - they get really heavy with all those petals and my first one with a FP centre eventually came loose from the wire....!

AI don't bother with a thermometer tbh kelsey, I just do them till they're fairly hot (testing with my finger).

Everything I've read suggests a) it's the yolk that's the issue, and b) the risk is incredibly small anyway, even with a whole egg. Plus, there's loads of things where you eat uncooked eggs (mayo, mousses, cake batter for example) which no one bats an eyelid at. I appreciate some people do worry about it though, it's just not something that worries me, so it's just personal preference really.

ADo you have a steel finger lizzy? Finger testing boiling sugar? Are you crazy?! Haha

A

I have that class and it looks good, If you don't already have the supplies it's going to mount up cost wise it's about £50 to get everything i think, I have the list of supplies if you'd like me to send it to you?

It does have to be heated to dissolve the sugar, it's more forgiving that imbc though

It doesn't get 'that' hot, you can test it but rubbing it between your fingers to check it's dissolved. (Apologies if I am saying the same as steely finger lol)

2 choc cakes down and one 10 inch square in the oven. Hope it doesn't go belly up as it's a lot of ingredients :/

A

Lol, you're thinking of Italian BC. I'm not quite mad enough to stick my finger in sugar syrup :-D You heat the eggs and sugar in a bain marie for Swiss, so as Siany said, it doesn't get that hot :-)

AHi Sian - thanks! Please PM me the list - it appears that I'll have to wait until I get home to buy the class as my company uses an old version of Explorer. I have wires in various sizes, tape, cutters and lots of stamens (although some of them look like they come from the Ark!), loads of cutters and flower paste - so I'm hoping that I won't need too much more - but, as I said, I just need an excuse to start spending - better than buying clothes at the moment since I put on tons of weight in Cornwall - it'll just depress me if I start buying in the next size up!:-D

Kathy

Hi all. I've delivered my victoria sponge and chocolate fudge mini cakes today. Keep forgetting to take photos of the darn little things. I'll try to remember next time. They're a pain to make but ever so lovely to look at. 

 

I went to TKMaxx today to check out their pans. I needed a 7" square pan and guess what they had? 7.5"!!! grrr who needs 7.5??? I was so annoyed I bought a coat instead :D

 

I really need to get my ass in gear and start decorating the fruit cakes that my mum and I made. Mainly so I get the hang of covering with marzipan and then sugarpaste. 

 

Hope you're enjoying this lovely sunny day x

AOoh Jean - marzipan....now you're talking my language! I love a bit of marzipan!! Have you done it before? You say you need to get used to it - so if there's anything I can help you with (which I'm sure there isn't - but you never know!) let me know!

Kathy

ACan I ask your opinion on something, customer asked for a quote for a 8imch vanilla sponge with jam and buttercream, decorated in a girls Lego theme. She sent a pic but it's shocking so I won't share. I sent the quote and she keeps coming up with excuses as to why she can't say say yes to the order yet. I don't think I've quoted too high, in fact I've given her a discount as I know her. What would you charge for this cake, bearing in mind there's a lot of Lego pieces on it. Ta

A[@]Crazy-Gray[/@] can I pick your knowledge please. How did you go about getting your ganache recipe tested. Looked online but I can't see any info about how to do it. Thanks.

AI have been practising drawing the colonel for my KFC cake today. I think he came out Ok so I might try and save him for use on the actual cake. Only thing is I wasn't really prepared and didn't add any CMC to the sugar paste or anything as I thought I'd be throwing him away. Do you think he will last until end September without going too hard? I have put him on some clingfilm over the real KFC bucket I had, if I cover him in cling film again will he last without drying out too much. I just don't want him to crack when I move him to the real cake but suppose I might have to risk it and if he does make him again... Though they never turn out as well to second time.

What do you think of him? He's not perfect but I like the hand drawn look to him I think.

[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3284066/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

AThat is awesome sugarluva. I don't know 100% if it will be ok but can't see why it wouldn't. But one of the other guys might know more.

Colonel Sanders is absolutely amazing!!!!  

Wow Sugaluva - that's brilliant! 

Kathy

ADoes anyone know the size of this?

[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3284084/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

AI genuinely thought that was an edible image nic, it's brilliant well done!

AThat's awesome sugar!

I think you might actually want him to dry out properly, that way you won't have any slightly damp bits that are weak points to the rest of the dry paste. I might be wrong, but it makes sense to me :-)

ANic leave him in the airing cupboard. There's no moisture in there so no chance of drying out and going back soft.

That's what I would do. Even if he goes too hard I doubt anyone would mind as long as he's on the cake!