Lisa peps I cannot believe you only started caking a year ago Your cakes are great. Iam in awe. You have done topsy turvies and they scare the pants off me. I got asked to do one in Sept but I declined. If it were for someone special maybe I would attempt it.
Like you I have never had a lesson. Just got books from the library and charity shops. I discovered google and do lots of searches for tutorials. I have learnt a lot from you tube and from cake sites like this.
I would love to go to the NEC but is too far from me and too big for my pocket at the moment. One day (sighs)
I am always happy to offer advice on what I know as people have been so kind in helping me to learn.

If you do go for a class, be very clear about what the class will offer. I booked a sugarpaste course 2 months in advance. In that time i worked from books/youtube/cc and when the class came round I had already tried 95% of the lessons just from being online, personnally i now think it was a waste of £100....but we live and learn!!
For the NEC, i am considering going for the first time, does anyone know what parking is like? Also, if i do go I will be driving so am happy to lift share with fellow cc folk if others nearby are going?
sam x

Thanks Rosie Topsys have caused me the most stress! By teaching myself I've also taught my sister, I always rope her in to helping me do them lol

Huge amounts of parking but I think it's something like £8 for the day. When I went I parked at the train station because it was £5 per day and you might be able to get a weekend parking ticket. You have to walk about 10-15 mins if you do that though.

I might enter this year, thinking the Novice Winter Wonderland or the general wedding cake of two or more tiers. I was going to enter both but I don't know if they'd both fit in my car :S I only live half an hour away so it's easy for me.

thankyou lisapeps,jilly and all others, ill bare that in mind, i just finished a cake for my bro's gf today and although all my cakes are well recieved im the first to criticise because i know how i want it to look, i seem to spend hell of a lot of time adding things to cover up mistakes ive made lol so my cakes always seem to be forever changing, ive got to new pictures to upload shortly ad would highly appreciate your honest opinions/ suggestions of things i possibly could have changed or done differently/used differently, i read to put a bc crumb coat before applying icing nd took it that was all i would but the icing always appears bumpy, is it essential to put marzipan on aswell or is there another way, thanks again all, and ill definetly look into going to the nec, my ex gf's gran actually works there and she was forever getting free tickets to concerts so i think that will be my first point of call lol. Rich

Your cake is beautiful.

I always ask my customers whether to use marzipan under sugarpaste, as lot of people don't like marzipan on sponge cakes. If its a chocolate cake, I always use ganache. For other sponges, I use bc, but a thin layer of bc. I roll sugarpaste a bit thicker so that it gives a nice finish. HTH.

i tried making a ganache a few times but i can never achieve that kind of brightness in look, mine always seems dull and plain.
for some reason all the cakes i bake no matter what sort it always seems to come out right even when i think its going wrong. as for the bc im a git for never measuring it and always going with how it tasts and the texture , the warm water and spautla sounds like it could be an advantage for me, also when you say you use vodka to clean excess icing sugar, are you meaning the excess left on the sugar paste? ive seen an harley davidson cake on here that i want to attempt for my dads birthday at start of nov so im looking forward to doing that and ive also got my eldests to do at the end of this month so ive got a few more to do to get some practice in, i was practising flowers but because ive only got a plastic ball tool and ive never heard of flowerpaste until nowi stopped doing them until i can afford some new tools other wise i can never get the petals thin enough. one last thing, i wanted to make an icing bow to go on the heart cake but was a bit lost, as i was there with a strip of icing trying to tie it in to a bow lol, any suggestion? thanks again all, is really nice being a part of cc, the help is endless and always offered willingly and freely . Rich . ps the book cake was nice to do but annoyed me by sagging + i put the top book wrong way round on cake lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyiisTT-fdE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOTdwsbgDV8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+cover+a+cake+with+fondant&aq=f
http://savorysweetlife.com/2009/08/simply-glorious-chocolate-ganache-recipe-3-ways/
These should help you with bows and cake covering.
I dip a clean paint brush in vodka to clean up excess sugar off the pasteand to stick flowers and lettering on cakes and boards. It is also good to clear up paint smudges .Use a paper towel dampened with vodka and lightly dab on the sugarpaste. Too hard and it will leave a mark. It is best to let the paste dry before trying.
Also. why dont you make a cake like a tyre and stick a model motorbike on top similar to these..
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&pq=motorbike+cake+toppers&xhr=t&q=Motorbike+tyre+cake&cp=19&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1024&bih=543&wrapid=tljp1312923011397016&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi
Be warned true black is hard to make you would be better off buying it ready made. if you do it yourself start off with a dark colour like brown before adding black and do not use liquid colours you need the gel ones else your icing will be a gooey mess.
Happy caking.

cheers rosie, im gonna look into the bike thing, get some more ideas, i havent yet made my own icing, i will do as im sure it will become cheaper for me when im making more cakes, ive got the baking near sorted, i wanna sort my icing techniques out now, rather than carry on like i have been and trying to learn everything at once, i figured if i do things methodically as i would in my day job then ill have a better chance of reaching the results i want, thanks again. Rich, ill come back to these pages for when im ready to learn different things and get links, ive just jotted down the pages numbers

I think that that is the best approach to take. Master the basics first.
I wasn't referring to making your own icing but to colouring what you have to get it black.It usually comes out grey and the more black colour you had the softer it gets and can have a bitter taste. Sorry I didn.t explain myself well.
Rose.

cheers rosie, ive been thinking of trying my first tiered cake soon, ive got a friend whos getting married soon and im thinking of making an upside down tiered cake, so the smallest would be at the bottom, i have a friend who weilds for nascar who can make me very thin supports so i could have it upside down but also staggered to give it a very unstable look, i was wondering what you lot would think

Hi, if I'm not mistaken, upside down cakes are made for divorces isn't it?

Hi!

I just noticed Zuicidal_Zeth mention their ganache coming out dull- not sure fi you already do this or not, but I always add a knob of butter in when I melt my chocolate and this seems to make the ganache beautifully shiny, even after it sets up. I also don't refrigerate it as this usually gives it a dull appearance.

HTH!

I really wouldn't know where to sart on that one. I would say it was very adventurous for a beginner but then nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose. I think you should do as much research as you can first, The one thing I do know about stacking cakes is for them to be stable with even supports. I don't think they would need to me metal just foodgrade safe and sturdy and most important to have the right amount and all the same level. I think that would be the same principle for upside down cakes as well. Good luck on that one.

Hi, if anyone wants to try ganache, here are some great videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/InspiredByMichelle?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/2/qFtm8q4m4Bk

oooh i had to share with you guys, i just finalized my logo and business card design, excited about printing them now!!

i hired someone - a friend of a colleague who does freelance design on the side of her FT job. i had a very definite idea of what i wanted my logo to look like, i even scanned her a sketch!

now i need to work on my site...i signed up to squarepace for a trial and it looks good but i don't have enough (any!) web design skills to customise it enough, but it will do for now until i can afford something better.

I'm looking for someone to create one for me.....could you PM me with how much she charges etc.

Thanks a mil

thanks all for comments, also regarding sites and logos, the goverment will fund for web design etc, theres awebsite for it but ill have to get in touch with a friend, from whhat i know you use of the website free for 2 years and theyl host it free of charge, hope that helps

try as I might my standard buttercream always ends up slightly gritty. No one has ever complained other than my best critic (my hubby). I have made the swiss meringue butter cream and that is beautiful, but not sure its stable enough for torting stacking cakes, also has a shorter shelf life once made so not ideal for big cakes. Has anyone got a foolproof uk buttercream recipe as all the ones I find on here have crisco and meringue powder etc in them.

thanks in anticipation

i have a cookie cutter question - i'd like to make a wedding dress and groom's jacket set of cookies like this http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/519580/bride-and-groom-cookies and i can find plenty of wedding dress cuters, but have not found a jacket cutter - does anyone know where i can find one?

I just looked in the book and she used kitchengifts.com for her coookie cutters its us site don't know if they post to UK but they have all sorts of cutters on there inc a tuxuedo.

Someone mentioned a couple of pages back about classes.

I went to a great course yesterday run by 'April Delights' in Nottingham.

I learnt a lot about cupcake decorating and she does courses on other things too. Well worth the money.

  http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2125963

Take a look at what she taught us

Hi sorry I haven't been on in ages but I have a quickie question. People say they used BSG to get their public liability insurance, could someone send me a link to their address or something because no matter how I google it, nothing is coming up. Could anyone recommend a good company to cover for public liability that covers the product for food poisoning and all that stuff please? I'm going out of my mind trying to search!

Sam here is the link for BSG insurance http://www.bsguk.org/services.html#insurance