Thanks for letting me know how it worked out. Wow you're brave taking a 2 tier on the bus & especially the tube I've only ever taken a single tier on a bus & that was bad enough.

Your cake is gorgeous & sounds so yummy. How do you get a such a lovely depth? Is it several layers?

Originally Posted by Caths_Cakes

the idea of fruit cake, and ganache together to me honestly sounds ghastly, i cant imagine how they would taste together. It is possible to create a sharp edge with just marzipan, i find if you cover in one sheet you got rounded corners, if you do the sides in a strip first, ( like the first link with just the pictures )
then attach a top piece the same size as your cake, you can get extreemly sharp corners

I used to marzipan all my cakes this way & you will get the sharp edges you want. Like bashini says it's the way to marzipan for a RI cake. Edgers also do a sharp edger to create the same effect http://www.edgers.co.uk/new_html/sharp_top_edger_new.html
It does work well with marzipan on fruit cakes & much less time consuming than the above method. However, I have never had much success using it with a sponge as it tends to squash my sponge down & make the sides of the sugarpaste bulge.

Can't say as I've ever been a fan of fruit cake either but I do quite like it now I make my own. Have you thought of doing a lighter fruit cake? I have a recipe for a really easy one & it tastes really nice & would probably go with ganache.

Sounds interesting. I can't believe you've never made carrot cake. I love my moms carrot cake *drool* Have you ever made beetroot cake? That's chocolate based & I usually cover it with white choc ganache.

What I like about this recipe is the apricots, they give it a nice sweetness. I don't like peel so I usually substitute that for a few more apricots & sultanas.

I discovered this when a client wanted a raisin & apricot cake for his wife (as it was her favourite flavour) for their anniversary. It marzipans as well as a rich fruit & would be good for a bottom tier too.


Light Fruit Cake

225g Butter or Marg
225g Caster Sugar
300g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
5 Eggs, beaten
2tsp Mixed Spice
175g Currants
175g Raisins
175g Sultanas
50g Dried Apricots cut into strips
115g Candied Peel
Rind of 1 Orange

1.) Double line a 7" or 8" round tin (depending on how deep you want it) & preheat oven to 180c/300F/gas 2.

2.)Cream butter & sugar.

3.)Beat in eggs, flour & mixed spice.

4.)Fold in mixed fruit, apricots & orange rind.

5.)Put in tin & make a slight dent in the centre.

6.)Bake for 2.5 to 3 hours, testing after 2.5 hours. Cover the top with foil if it starts to brown too quickly.

7.) Leave to cool completely in the tin. Paper can be left on for storage to help keep cake moist.

It can tend to form a slight crust so it's best to cook it low & slow depending on your oven.

Always happy to share

I know that feeling. I used to hate carrots as a child & someone tried to force feed me some when I was at camp

You don't actually taste the beetroot, which is good as I can't stand it, but it makes the cake really moist.

I'll have to ask my mom for the carrot cake recipe, she makes it so well I don't even bother lol I know it's a simple one & I love it as it doesn't contain nuts. I'm not allergic I just don't like them.

Aww thanks poohbear, i was really happy with it, and work were super impressed. a colleague now wants me to make her wedding cake yes it had three layers of cake, with filling between layers and iced in cream cheese, then fondant. i actually had made 4 layers of cake for each tier, but when i put them together it would have made for a very big cake so decided to leave one out!

allaboutcake ive tried cornelli piping on only small area but it seemed pretty easy, also as it's basically a squiggly line, you can't really mess up. so i would imagine doing cornelli all over the three tiers would not actually take as long as it would seem, although it does give an impressive finish - i would like to use it on a tiered cake if i get a chance as i quite like the look of it. try it it out on a square of baking paper and you'll see it won't take long to cover. sorry bout the sun and you being inside baking - that's something that worries me about doing cakes as a business, do you lose the passion when it becomes your "work"? i hope you got some sun time.

i'm with you lisa, i don't like fruit cake and have never made one myself, although i do love carrot cake.

Originally Posted by xSam12x

Hi everyone, i dont have a clue where i should be posting this but im wondering where everyone buys their cake supplies from in the UK? Ive been searching round for boxes, cupcake boxes and boards to bulk buy as i seem to get through so many of them! So far cake boxes direct seem to be the best ive come across.

sorry if this is in the wrong place
sam

I buy alot of stuff from sugarshack .co.uk if I know well in advance of the date I need the stuff for or I get from my local markets.

Im quite lucky cause by me there are two cake decorating supplies on the markets (cannock & rugeley).

Ive also been getting the thinner cake boards from asda as they are only about 64p each for a 10" round or square which come in handy for last minute small cakes

Originally Posted by xSam12x

Hi everyone, i dont have a clue where i should be posting this but im wondering where everyone buys their cake supplies from in the UK? Ive been searching round for boxes, cupcake boxes and boards to bulk buy as i seem to get through so many of them! So far cake boxes direct seem to be the best ive come across.

sorry if this is in the wrong place
sam

Hi Sam you're not too far from me, I live just north of Walsall. I get my boards from a warehouse in Walsall called Greetings House. Unfortunately they don't sell the boxes. I usually use Ryepac or Design A Cake depending on what else I'm ordering.

I agree with Davwattie the stall in Cannock market is good & I find her quite cheap compared to most of the shops around here. Haven't been for a while but I think it's open Tuesday, Friday & Saturday.

Originally Posted by xSam12x

Thanks Davwattie, I live in stafford so ill deff have a look at the markets. What days are they on?

Cannock is on Tues, Fri & Sat and Rugeley is on Tues, Thurs, Fri & Sat.

I tend to go to Rugeley market more because you can walk in and pick your own colour pastes, boards, fondants etc, you know have a nose without having to ask for everything like at cannock

Im only in Hednesford so not that far from either market which is handy

Originally Posted by Davwattie

I tend to go to Rugeley market more because you can walk in and pick your own colour pastes, boards, fondants etc, you know have a nose without having to ask for everything like at cannock

Im only in Hednesford so not that far from either market which is handy

Yep that tends to bug me at Cannock, especially when she's got someone there who wants to have a chat & doesn't care about the queue building up behind them

I know this sounds dumb but is the market at Rugeley in the town centre? I think I've only ever been to Rugeley twice. It's one of those places I always seem to pass through.

I used to use DIY Icing in Bilston a lot but then someone else took it over & she upset me so I don't go there now. She is cheap on boards & boxes though & at one time if you had more than 15 you got 10% discount. Not sure if they still do that.

Originally Posted by sillyoldpoohbear

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davwattie

I tend to go to Rugeley market more because you can walk in and pick your own colour pastes, boards, fondants etc, you know have a nose without having to ask for everything like at cannock

Im only in Hednesford so not that far from either market which is handy

Yep that tends to bug me at Cannock, especially when she's got someone there who wants to have a chat & doesn't care about the queue building up behind them

I know this sounds dumb but is the market at Rugeley in the town centre? I think I've only ever been to Rugeley twice. It's one of those places I always seem to pass through.

I used to use DIY Icing in Bilston a lot but then someone else took it over & she upset me so I don't go there now. She is cheap on boards & boxes though & at one time if you had more than 15 you got 10% discount. Not sure if they still do that.

I'll deff give rugely a look then, ive never been to the market before. Ive used to small cake shop in walsall before which is quite good when i need something urgent and i work at hobbycraft so get the boards and boxes but its quite expensive lol

Originally Posted by heaven_khan

I must've been half asleep cause I write flora instead of Lurpak, so here I'm up and awake again, and I use Lurpak (not flora....)

I've seen the packs of McDougalls without SR written on it so I assume that that's the plain one???

I know, the price of Lurpak has even gone up in Asda by 10p, so I am gonna try to find it cheaper elsewhere now. Butter is sooo expensive

What I am wondering now is... would it be possible to add any flavored jam into the batter and just bake it, might try that actually, or is it already tried....

I always buy my unsalted butter from Sainsburys because they do their own basic range and its only 98p a pack

Originally Posted by heaven_khan

hi

a quick question, which butter do all of you use, either for baking and making frostings/fillings (I use flora unsalted mostly) and also which brand flour do you go for, I am using Bero.

and also the recipe on the bsg forum the HD sponge one, it calls for sponge flour from McDougalls but is it the self raising one or just plain

I have to make 100 cupcakes next week, different flavors, I have made lemon and chocolate before but if any of you has any other nice flavored ones please post your recipes, for example pineapple, or strawberry flavored, would be great.

Hi heaven, I use Lurpack and buy it from Costco as they are cheaper than supermarkets. I use the same for my bc too. The sponge flour is used for the HD recipe is a superfine flour and you can find it with other flours. Its a blue colour packet.

Originally Posted by heaven_khan

hi

a quick question, which butter do all of you use, either for baking and making frostings/fillings (I use flora unsalted mostly) and also which brand flour do you go for, I am using Bero.

and also the recipe on the bsg forum the HD sponge one, it calls for sponge flour from McDougalls but is it the self raising one or just plain

I have to make 100 cupcakes next week, different flavors, I have made lemon and chocolate before but if any of you has any other nice flavored ones please post your recipes, for example pineapple, or strawberry flavored, would be great.

I use unsalted butter for bc & soft spread for baking. I use Sainsburys Basic flour as my baker tutor told me that it's the same as the expensive ones it's just not been sieved so much.

I saw an Eric Lanlard show on monday & he did lemon meringue cupcakes. He put a layer of cake batter, then lemon curd, then finished put more batter on top. Perhaps you could try something like that. You can find this & others he did here http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-chefs/eric-lanlard-recipes