Decorating

Another one of my interets is cake decorating. I have always had a big fear of this but recently decided to over come my fears and try my hand at it! My first attempt (below) was fairly simple to create apart from the roses which took an age and many many packs of fondant!

After this i decided to move onto better and more exciting things and after having watched a cake decorating show decided to attempt candy strips... I know right?! I had been reading up on cake decorating and realised that i would need a sturdier cake. I found this amazing recipe for a madeira.

Madeira Cake

1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
Grated zest of lemon
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and grease and flour either two small round cake tins or a small loaf tin. Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time with a bit of flour. Fold in the rest of the flour and pour into the tin. Bake for 1 hour.
To create my candy stripe cake I first had to sandwhich my two cakes together. I used a bit of jam and buttercream.

Buttercream
125g butter
500g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together and add a little milk if the mixture is too dry.

I then covered the whole cake in jam as this is how they suggested in the book. Since then however i have been watching ace of cakes and they seem to use buttercream to cover the cake?! Does it matter?? Rolling out the fondant was the most interesting part of the exercise. To avoid having to scrape your fondant off the counter with a palette knife and ending up with bits rather than a whole sheet of fondant... i would suggest making sure the surface is well covered in icing sugar and that you regularly lift and rotate the fondant as you roll!!! Also when lifting to cover the cake, roll the fondant onto the rolling pin and then gently unroll over the jammed cake. (another tip: try to use a straight rolling pin as opposed to one with shaped ends... it makes your life a lot easier!). Next phase was the royal icing:

Royal Icing

1 egg white
200g sifted icing sugar
2ml lemon juice

Place egg white in a clean bowl and lightly beat to break up the white. Slowly add half the icing sugar, add the lemon juice, continue adding the remaining icing sugar until the mixture holds small peaks. To colour, use a little food colouring on the end of a toothpick.

I split my royal icing into three and mixed 3 different shades of pink. I then 3 pipping bags and filled each with one of the colours. I then spent many, many, many hours alternately pipping the different colours onto the cake.

I know its definately not perfect but i think it was ok for a first attempt. I then topped the cake with some roses i had made and it was ready to go!
The cake was not only lovely looking but also very tasty! During this 'phase' (as some liked to call it) I bought a lot of cake decorating books. I think the two i got the most use out of however were: The complete book of cake decorating edited by bridget jones (new burlington books) and the complete book of cake decorating with sugarpaste by sylvia coward (new holland). If you are interested in cake decorating i would recommend these books, i would also recommend 'the essential guide to cake decorating' by murdoch books!

Almond sponge cake

200g butter
180g sugar (was 200g but i find that too sweet)
4 eggs
200g self-raising flour
50g ground almond
1 teaspoon almond extract/essence
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and butter and flour two small round cake tins. Cream the butter, almond essence and the sugar together till light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time with a little flour. Fold in the rest of the flour, ground almond and baking powder. Split the mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25-30mins. The cake should be golden brown and springy to the touch. Turn out and leave to cool. To sandwich together whip some cream with a little sugar. Spread one of the cakes with strawberry jam and top with the cream. Carefully place the other cake on top and sprinkle with some icing sugar. Enjoy!!!!!

This is the only recipe that I use for sponge cakes!! The cake comes out light and fluffy and sooo moist! Best of all it is easily adjusted to make any flavour cake: coffee, vanilla, orange, lemon and my favourite CHOCOLATE... among many others! Carving a birthday cake is another one of the things ive been able to do with this recipe however a more solid cake such as madeira may have been easier to work with!