Cake Crumbs Showing Through Fondant - Freeze It First?
Baking By BeeAnn Updated 7 Nov 2016 , 7:43pm by bakemeenchanted
I did a trial run of my first attempt at icing a cake that I had to cut and shape myself. The cake was quite crumbly to work with when putting ganache onto it (before the fondant) and resulted in the cake looking really lumpy under the icing. (sorry the picture is the wrong way up!)
I had the cakes in the fridge for a few hours before icing them but am wondering if freezing it might help.
[postimage id="5512" thumb="900"]
I am now thinking that I might make all the cakes a week or so before hand and freeze them (without ganache).
Would the following work or can anyone give me any better suggestions / tips:
- Bake the cakes a week before the party, wrap in clingfilm and freeze
- Take them out of the freezer on Friday morning and put them in the fridge, still wrapped for a couple of hours
- Cut them whilst still partially frozen (would they still be partially frozen?) and put ganache on them
- Put back into the fridge until the evening and then cover with fondant
- Finish decorating on Saturday
- Party is Sunday afternoon - will the cake still taste ok by then?
Will freezing the cakes make them less crumbly to work with - or at least so they don't break and the crumbs show through?? Or do I need to look into adjusting the recipe slightly to make it a bit less crumbly.
The recipe I am using is this one:
http://www.womansown.co.uk/food/mary-berrys-very-best-chocolate-fudge-cake-9269/
Finally - does anyone have any other tips to make the cake look better. For the roof I am thinking that the fondant needs to be wrapped round the bottom of the cake board slightly, but not sure how best to do that - just lift it up and fold the fondant under? Would making the fondant a bit thicker help - it seemed to help on the sides of the house. Or make the ganache layer underneath thicker?
Hi! Definitely chill your cake in some way before carving it. It really helps with the crumbs and the cake holds it shape much better for any sharp corners.
I don't think you need to freeze it for a week, unless you're baking early to save time. In that case, your schedule sounds fine. 2 hours in the fridge should be ok. But if you'd prefer to bake closer to the event, freezing or even refrigerating overnight should work just fine. I refrigerate all my cakes overnight, makes torting a lot easier.
How thick is your layer of ganache? Is it just a crumb coat or do you have a proper layer of frosting on there? Even if your cake doesn't crumble, if your frosting isn't smooth, your fondant is going to be bumpy. So you wanna carve a cold cake, get a crumb coat on to trap any crumbs, and then apply a layer of ganache and get it really really smooth. As smooth as you can.
Once that's done, set it in the freezer for 15 minutes so that the ganache is really firm, then take it out and apply a very thin layer of ganache over it all and scrape it down with a scraper or a spatula. That should fill in any small holes and level out bumps. You can microwave your ganache for 15 seconds or so to make it thinner, that way it'll spread on easier. Since the cake will be cold, the thin layer of ganache will set up really fast. Work on small areas at a time and finish one before moving on to the next. Re-freeze in between if needed. And definitely chill it before applying the fondant. 15 minutes in the freezer works for me.
For the edges of the roof, I would just put a narrow strip of fondant around the edge instead of trying to fold it under. Just as wide as the edge of the roof. I think it'll be harder to keep it even if you fold it over.
In general, the thinner your fondant is, the more bumps and lumps show through. So yeah, thicker fondant should help. And you really have to work it with a smoother. Did you use a smoother on the roof? Or was the cake too soft?
Hope this all helps!
I think your technique is off. Fondant actually shows any imperfection in the frosting underneath. So as said above, level, torte, fill, stack, CRUMB COAT and chill your cake in the fridge. I like to use a bench scraper when frosting the outside of a cake. The crumb coat binds crumbs and icing so when you apply the final coat of frosting/ganache, the crumbs won't mix with it.
Regarding the edge...I use a pizza cutter to trim off any excess fondant and smooth it again with a fondant smoother (btw...did you use one?). You'll actaully not see the cake board at all unless you take a picture from a very low angle like you did.
Thank you both for your replies. It does help. I only make cakes a couple of times a year and have only been doing it for about three years so very much still learning!
A crumb coat is when you put a very very thin layer of whatever frosting you're using (ganache, buttercream, whatever) on the cake so that all the little loose crumbs get locked in. They'll stick to that layer of frosting. Then let that harden for a little while, even overnight, before putting on your final thick layer of frosting.
I'm going to walk you through my routine briefly.
1. Bake the cakes, cool to room temperature, wrap up well and chill in fridge overnight. This will make the cakes sturdier for torting and carving, and reduce crumbs.
2. Torte the chilled cake, and fill.
3. Apply a crumb coat. Put on a thin layer of frosting, and scrape it with a bench scraper like julia1812 said, till it looks like one of those naked cakes. It doesn't matter if your cake looks ugly or misshapen. Just make sure to cover all of it.
4. Leave the cake to settle on the counter overnight. This is a very very important step. This is what prevents air bubbles. The cake is going to settle and squeeze out any air bubbles trapped between the layers under it's own weight. You have to do this at room temperature. If you put your cake in the fridge or freezer before it settles, the frosting hardens and holds the cake in place. So the cake can't sink at all to push the air out. Then when you take it out and it cones up to room temperature, the trapped air will expand and the bubbles you mentioned will form. If your cake is already settled when you chill it, there's no air left to form bubbles later.
5. Next day, apply the final layer of frosting. Now the thing is, if your frosting is too thick, it'll be hard to get it even, and it will pull up chunks of the cake as you try to smooth it. You want it to be the consistency of smooth peanut butter. Microwave your ganache if it's too thick. Now, apply a very thick layer of frosting all around your cake. More than you'll need. Just slop it on there. Then Scrape away the excess with your scraper till you get a reasonably smooth surface. Take your time with this. I used to take up to an hour to get my frosting smooth back in the beginning.
To get it perfectly smooth, you can give it a quick freeze and then apply a very thin, nutella- consistency layer of ganache to fill in any holes. Remember, the smoother your frosting, the better your fondant will look.
Freezing your cake at this point is ok because you already let all the air escape, so there's no air left to leak out and form bubbles.
6. With ganache cakes, I again leave them on the counter overnight after the final coating to let the ganache harden. You might instead be able to just freeze it for half an hour or so right away to get it hard enough to cover, but I don't know about that. Hopefully someone with more ganache experience will chime in.
7. Time to cover with fondant. It is much easier to cover a chilled cake with fondant than a room temperature one. Your frosting will hold it's edges, and you'll be able to smooth the fondant without squishing the Icing out the bottom. So 15 to 20 minutes in the freezer again, or an hour or so in the fridge.
Again, all your air is gone, so no bubbles, and 15 minutes just gets the outside of the cake cold. The cake is still room temperature in the middle, so it's not cold enough to cause major condensation issues.
8. Cover your cake with fondant, and give it a good smoothing. If you've trapped any air under the fondant when you were laying it on, just pop the bubble with a pin, press the air out with your fingers, and smooth. Trim off the excess with a very sharp knife, and decorate. Done!
Once your cake warms up, the ganache underneath is going to get soft again, but that doesn't matter unless you poke your finger in it.
There are a lot of free video tutorials out there about every step of this process, and you should try watching them. It's much easier to learn from a visual guide than just reading.
Let me know if anything needs further clarification!
Hi. Just wanted to say thank you very much for your help regarding this. I did another trial of the roof today, following most of your steps and also using a choc mud cake rather than a sponge cake. It isn't perfect but is much better and I feel much happier about it all now![postimage id="5596" thumb="900"]
That is a huge improvement from your first attempt, congrats! You can still take a little extra care in trimming the bottom fondant that would also vastly help the overall look.
Oh well done! That looks really good! I'm sure your final attempt is gonna be even better! Just take a little more care with the cutting, or cover it up with more fondant or a ribbon, and that roof is gonna look great!
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