AI know, I'm so proud of her I could burst! :-D

AAww Maisie those are all lovely.

And I'm with you on the lost hour. At least that's what I'll be telling me mum later and if she doubts me I can just say maisie73 says it's true!

AThanks sugarluva. :-) Tell her you read it "online"! Make it sound more official than one of your buds from a mad forum!

Thanks Nanny, I love the colours of your cake too!! It's lush!

Maisie - your daughter seems so sweet! Bless her!

AShe is natt, she's the light of our lives. She nearly died at birth and then again at 6 weeks old (heart failure and renal failure). She's battled so hard just to stay alive so anything she achieves is beyond miraculous. We're so proud of her. And she's the boss of this house, spoilt rotten she is! :-)

Hope all you mums are enjoying doing nothing today!!   Currently waiting for my "Christmas dinner" (my favourite) being made by my daughter and son.  DD has got everything organised and has left DS googling how to make Yorkshire puddings lol.  (I have some frozen ones if it doesn't work).

Nanny - a really pretty cake - I like the flowers and the colours - a good choice.  Glad you sorted the other problem.  Bashini - I think I understand what you are saying - a sort of more solid barrier to hold the buttercream in???  I haven't every made or used ganache - it scares me a bit.  I do love the sharp edges that you get with it though.  Was never sure if you could use ganache with other fillings though in case there was a conflict of flavour.  What fillings go with it in your opinion?  We are not big chocolate eaters so think that's why I have avoided it - plus I have never made a nice chocolate cake - so I might start looking up mud cakes now Maisie! ;)

Maisie - your cupcakes are so cute - can see why you are having a proud mum moment.

And to all you other lovely ladies - hope you enjoy the rest of your day!

Kathy

Maisie - She sounds incredibly strong! I see why you are so proud of her!

Kathy -  the best choice of ganache when flavour conflict might be an issue is white choc ganache cos it's basically vanilla flavoured.

A:-) thanks natt. Kathy- rest? What rest?! I'm cooking dinner for 12, including homemade yorkshires, I 've got a pile of ironing as high as my tallboy and mudcake take 2 to make when they've all gone home!

AYorkshires- 140gm plain flour, beat in 4 eggs til smooth, add 200mls milk and continue beating until completely lump free. Season with salt and pepper. Makes 12. Tip: put oil in bun tin into hot oven 210fan before you start, remove from oven and pour mix in while smoking hot. Leave un disturbed for 20 mins, serve immediately. My grans recipe- delish! They freeze lovely btw.

Haha Maisie - thanks but too late!  He googled it - time will tell.....I don't weigh anything when I do them so I couldn't tell him otherwise I might as well done it myself.  Blimey - you do have a busy day.  Put your feet up later - that's an order. 

Natt - thanks for the tip on the ganache.  I might try that when I next have a cake - nothing on the horizon for a while.....

Kathy

ANever mind, there's always next year Kathy! My gran never measured anything until I asked her to so I could use her recipes. My 19 yr old son just surfaced, gave me a kiss, a "happy mothers day" and a card! My life is now complete! :-)

AEvening all, well I had a fab day, went to see my daughter who lives in Penarth who treated me to coffee and cake on the pier, am now home with a take away and finally catching up on the weeks Mastered, bliss!!! Hope you all had brilliant day?

ASo quick question, is anyone saying if you wanted to use buttercream you can use a white choc ganache and use to dam it as its thicker and then the buttercream wont bulge out?

AGlad you had a lovely day nanny, I bet it was beautiful in Penarth today wasn't it? My mother was in Porthcawl earlier, she said it was gorgeous. I'm a bit confused about ganache as well. Can/would you use ganache between the layers of a chocolate cake? How would you do it without it all running down the sides? And, how do you crumb coat with it? I'm assuming you'd leave it to thicken a bit first? And! Do you just use ganache or can you put jam between the layers with it? I've made ganache once but just for practise, didn't actually do anything with it! I'm in the middle of mudcake take 2 but when it's cooked I don't quite know what to do with it! I could use buttercream and jam I s'pose but I'd like to use ganache if I can get to grips with it.

AMaisie, you know my cake I made last week with the bike on the top, that was choc cake with ganache between the 3 layers, then covered with choc buttercream, ganache is very very easy to make, I used large pot of double cream and 2 200grms of dark choc, I heat the cream till nearly boiling then add the choc and stir till melted, over a Bain Marie, as its cools it thickens and if you put it in fridge overnight it hardens , I've even made truffles with the leftovers, for crumbcoating its amazing, or you can get a really big spoon and sit down for half hr on your own.

AI know Mary Berry uses apricot in her layers with ganache if thats any help Maisie.

AHi everyone, sounds like you all had a great day. We went out to dinner and just got back.

Barbara, butter cream dam is not firm enough, like Kathy mentioned, ganache is much firmer. The other you can do is , take a little amount of butter cream and add some icing sugar to make it stiff. BUT I haven't done this. This is what I've read and seen some doing. I like doing the dam with ganache. As per flavours, I use dark choc for chocolate and other flavour with chocolate and coffee and white choc for vanilla, lemon and carrot. But I do give the option to the customer to choose.

And here is my corporate cake. I got the permission to post it on my FB too.[IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3213390/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

This was hours and hours of work. Made for a launch of a new route from Gatwick to Beijing on Air China. The buildings are Beijing's forbidden city and the Big Ben.

Hope you like it.:D

AOMG, thats amazing!!!!!!, you must be pleased? Is that all hand painted?

AThanks Barbara. I am really pleased with how it turned out. :) The wordings are printed on edible paper and the buildings are all made out of paste. :)

AWhen I used ganache for the first time e a couple of weeks ago I ganached between each layer as well. I also used apricot jam with the dark chocolate ganache and it tasted great, it was nice to have the sweetness to break up the chocolate. It made a big difference to my bulges, using ganache, and for the first time I got a much smoother cake than when I use all buttercream. I made the ganache the day before, left it to cool and for firm, and then just warmed it slightly to spread it the day after it was just the same as spreading buttercream but much easier to get smooth. Hope that helps if I can do it anyone can!

AOh and I've not tried white chocolate ganache but I'm looking forward to at some point. I imagine that would taste great with different flavours of buttercream or different jams.

AThanks sugarluva, so I can still use my buttercream as I have a few ppl who apparently love the taste, so if I make a stiff white choc ganache and use that as a dam then do you think that will sort my bulges out?

Its fantastic Bashini.

AWow Bashini, that was worth the wait! Did you say it's 18x18? I bet it was even more impressive in real life! Thanks everyone for ganache advice, if I want to use it tomorrow do I have to make it tonight? Nanny you've got an American fan! When you're world famous with your own fly on the wall reality show, remember who first alerted you! :-D

Bashini that is super!  It's fab.  An amazing piece. 

I will have to pluck up courage and get the ganache thing under my belt - sadly the only thing under my belt today is a massive roast dinner and lots of leftover cake - nothing is going to sort my bulges out - except a lot of elastic underwear!

Maisie is right Nanny - you have a fan from across the pond.  News will travel and when Oprah rings....you will remember your cakey friends won't you?

Kathy

AMaisie I don't think you HAVE to make ganache the day before, I think you can just wait until it cools and thickens and then use it straight away but I'm not 100% sure.

Bashini - sorry i completely bypassed the pic of your cake I didn't see it before! That looks fantastic I bet it looks amazing in real life. I don't think I could ever attempt a cake that big!

AOk, thanks sugarluva.:-)

AThanks Barbara, Maisie, Kathy & Sugarluva.:)

Sugarluva, this is the first time I ever made a cake this big!!! :D

I made a lemon cake last week and I used white choc. I always make the ganache night before as it sets hard and it's easy to put it on the microwave the next day :)for 5-10 seconds and get the desired consistency.

Just chiming in my tuppence worth, as I have become a convert to ganache for crumb-coating. 

As Sugarluva says, you don't have to wait overnight - just until the ganache is a thick enough consistency to spread but not so thick as to be difficult to smooth.  Around room temperature Nutella consistency works well for me.

I use 2 parts plain choc to 1 part double cream, or 3 parts white choc to 1 part double cream and it works well.

What I normally do is one coat with it reasonably thick, refrigerate the cake, then microwave the ganache for a few seconds to make it softer, do the second coat, refrigerate cake, and then use really very warm ganache to fill in any tiny flaws.  It gives a lovely smooth finish that holds up really well under fondant.

I just did some dark choc ganache on vanilla and strwaberry cakes, and the flavour was excellent - but if you are looking for something that doesn't stand out flavour-wise, then I agree with the previous poster that white chocolate ganache is great for that.

I buy the Tesco value chocolate and it works well, and find that the ganache is cheaper to make than buttercream, and keeps for longer too.

AWhat you all on about an American fan? Who me?

Sugarluva and Maisie I make ganache the day before I use it as it takes forever to thicken, its lovely and thick after that and if its gone to stiff then I zap it in the Micro for a SEC or to to spread on the cake.

AThanks Sugarluva, bashini,lizzieaylett and nanny. (I feel like I'm at the oscars, I'm gona cry soon!) I've just made my ganache buuuuuut, I used milk chocolate! 2 parts to 1 part cream, is that ok? It's completely delicious! I'm gutted to know I could've used tesco value tho, I bought expensive stuff! Never mind, I know now for next time. Stupid question- do I store it in the fridge overnight or will it be ok out? When I made it last time I put it in the fridge and it was solid next morning, 5-10 seconds in the microwave wouldn't even have made it close to rock hard! Yes nanny you've got a fan, I found out on another thread! That's a clue, I'm not saying any more! Don't tell her Kathy! :-D