Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Spiral:
Don't use Crisco in your cakes or pan. My teacher told us to never use it .... use the no-name brands if you have them (equality, president's choice, etc.). From what she told us, the consistency of the no-name products is a lot better than Crisco, which actually tends to mess up cakes. Cover it with a lot of flour in the pan and then your cakes shouldn't stick ...
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
lol sorry ladies. I saw questions and got excited so asked my question as well. I apologize for not reading the title properly 
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I just bought a whole pack of fondant.
Abh kya karooN? its not going to go bad is it?
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
double
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
take a LITTLE BIT out. It's like Playdoh Sara .... you can mould it into any shape. Google fondant videos and see all the amazing things you can make .... although you really should have waited until you were able to make a cake and ice it. Oh well. :D Fondant is good for up to a year. Just keep it stored and ensure it is covered with plastic (once exposed) or else it can become dry.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
i had the coupons :hehe:
well i got a white one. the lady at the store explained to me to knead it out with a rolling pin (kinda like atta for roti with the bailan) and she said if i want a colored fondant I can use food coloring and I looked through here–Covering Large Cupcakes with Rolled Fondant - Wilton
So this is what I’m supposed to do?
-bake the cake as usual. Let it cool at room temperature for at least 3 hours then transfer it to the fridge.
-cover the cake lightly with icing.
-roll out the fondant til its smooth
-position it on the cake and shape it to fit and then decorate as desired… right?
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
^ Sounds good to me Sara - although you will have to do a crumb coat first to seal the crumbs and then chill for a while and do another coat of buttercream icing. Once chilled again and then you lay the rolled fondant out. I would strictly suggest to watch some videos on youtube - they're very helpful. Share the pics!
Mehnaz - thank you so much for sharing the cake photos - sorry didnt reply earlier but you did such a great job! Such a pro mashallah.
Few questions - have you guys ever practised with cake dummies? I am thinking of getting a 12"square one and a 8" hexagonal one rather than bake cakes all the time. This will be able to give me some practice.
SGC - Regarding the marshmallow fondant icing - when you lay it on the cake, its too stretchy and difficult to cut. why is that? I am now thinking of just buying readymade fondant or fondant sugar and making it easier for myself.
Thanks guys!
P.S - Mehnaz share the pics for the recent velvet cake you made.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Sara, that's right. Google videos on how to do it, there are a lot online.
Sunset, I will make the cake this evening, I have been busy and wasn't able to make it earlier.
I’m so envious of all of you, girls! I love to bake but everything I make turns out to be a disaster. So disappointed right now :teary2:
Just finished baking red velvet cupcakes and I seriously wanted to cry when I tasted them. Well, I didn’t have red food color and thought since it’s a food color, its only job is to turn the cupcakes red. It won’t add or change the flavor of the recipe. So, I couldn’t care less about it, went ahead and made the cupcakes. But what I WAS expecting them to be was velvety in texture. I swear, they are anything but. They are probably the worst and most unflavorful cupcakes I’ve ever eaten.
I made a couple of substitutes but other than that, I followed the recipe to the T. Substitute 1) Recipe called for room temperature butter. I used vegetable oil. Is this substitution responsible for the dry texture that my cakes have? They are not crumbly but they feel very dry when you eat them.
Substitute 2) Recipe required me to use cake flour. I used stupid nutriblend. I knew the texture won’t be light and fluffy but this crap has a disgusting aftertaste. The cakes are baked through but the flour still tastes raw. Ewww!
Here is the recipe that I used. It’s the same recipe that SGC posted in this thread a couple of pages back. Please tell me where I’m going wrong.
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Creamy Vanilla Icing Recipe at Epicurious.com
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
ok I made the rainbow cake instead of the red velvet cake as I did not have all the ingredients on hand for the red velvet cake.
All my utensils:
Colours. I used Wilton’s Buttercup Yello and a liquid Electric Blue colour by Spectrum. I was really disappointed with the Wilton colour cause it actually looked more brown than yellow. Next time, I will just stick to the Cake Craft yellow shade I purchased.
Shortening covered and flour dusted 8" pans ready for the cake batter.
Divide the cake into six bowls. Dividing them into equal amount was difficult. I was confused if this was even the correct step.
Coloured cake batter:
3 cake batters are placed into one pain and the remain 3 go into the other pan.
Voila!! Baked cakes are ready.
Buttercream icing prepared.
I had to torte both of the cakes as they rose in the centre. There was no way I could cheat and lay it flat on the otherside. I had to get rid of the bump. So you can get an idea of what the inside looks like as well.
Then I fill the cake …
and I realize … oh crikey, I didn’t pipe a border around the edges. OOOPS!!! So I just manully do it from the outside … nobody will notice, right???
Do you notice? I hope not. 
Then I decorate it …
Made another mistake at this point. I put the wrong tip on the icing bag, but I was too tired to change it. I meant to make large dots but ended up doing sea shells … again. Oh well.
Now I will find out tomorrow what the cake looks like when it is cut into slices.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Mmmm that looks awesome. I loved the colors you used.
Are the letters made from fondant or was it written with icing? Andhow do you attach the fondant pieces?
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I'm quite annoyed with myself for not doing the correct border. Oh well.
I used fondant cut outs for the circles and alphabet. I cannot for the life of me write clearly with any type of icing on a cake. My writing is really messy. So I just got some alphabet cut outs and use those instead.
Since it is a buttercream cake and sticky, the fondant easily attached itself to the cake. I didn't have to do anything to make it stick. However, if the base was fondant and I was putting fondant decorations on top of it, what I do is take a wet paper tower and gently wet the underside of what is being stuck and then apply it onto the fondant covered cake.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Your cake looks so good Mehnaz…:k:
I clicked on this thread right now hoping to see the pictures of the cake after being cut…
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Chips, I have my camera with me. I intend on taking pictures of it when it is cut cause I want to see what it looks like too.
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i want to be Saidah.
looks yum mehnaz!
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
ta da!!
birthday girl was very surprised, as was the entire staff. we went to milestones and i had them keep the cake in the fridge. the staff kept complimenting it ( 
) it made me feel … and then when the cake was cut, everybody in the restaurant went nuts.
we gave some to the staff as well and they were really impressed.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
wow…:k:
looks so good…drool
Its 12 am and now I want some cake…
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
ahh i love those colors. 
I made a simple carrot cake…I had alot of carrots left over and wanted to use them up before they went to waste. Plus, its my moms favorite and I wanted to practice the recipe
I was a lil nervous since I was baking from scratch but this was the recipe I used—
Carrot Cake Recipe With Picture - Joyofbaking.com Tested Recipe
I did do some minor variations such as:
-added about half a cup of raisins and no nuts.
-Used 3/4 cup of brown sugar splenda (not 1.5 cups as in the recipe)
forgot the salt :halo:
-1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract instead of 2 teaspoons (last time I made a cake I used the proper amount of vanilla extract and it came out tasting awful).
-added 1/4 cup of applesauce, and 1/4 cup of pineapple juice (for a moister cake).
Baked it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in a 9" round pan and it baked perfectly. I didn’t have to increase or check several times.
I also made a cream cheese frosting, using an 8 oz package of low-fat cream cheese, a tablespoon of applesauce, 1 cup of whipped cream and a little bit of regular sugar…and i did add about a spoonful of ready-made buttercream frosting
Although it was a little dry it came out pretty well. I have a little bit of batter leftover that I’m going to experiment with and make this weekend.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Sara and Mehnaz 
wow!!
double post