Baking - The Beginners Guide

[Mehnaz]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

I’m worried it’s too girlie for a 16 year old boy.

I had something else planned, but it didn’t work out. I ended up screwing up the icing and having to re-ice with some left over icing. sigh Then after that, I managed to accidentally wack my hand into the cake. shabbash Mehnaz

[somegroovychick]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

^ its not exactly a manly-man cake, however, boys like flowers too. plus, i’ll bet you he’s more interested in the taste than the looks, so its all good!

this is the very rustic princess cake i made for my niece’s 6th birthday-

i put a dollar store tiara on it as she’d requested one, and as soon as she cut the cake, she asked me to wash it off so she could wear it.

the hot pink sugar roses were the ready made ones from bulk barn.

[Mrs_Saieen]

@Mehnaz

o.k. I made a cake last night and decorated it today.

Here is what you need. Take note of the measuring utensils. They are important. There is a measuring jug for liquids (in the pan) and measuring cups for dry substances. There are also measuring spoons besides the black measuring cups.

You don’t need to buy anything fancy or expensive. You can find these in the dollar store as well, so you don’t have to break the bank. These are very important as they are the correct measuring tools.

One mistake I used to make was using a regular teaspoons and tablespoons and chai mugs as measuring tools. You can’t do that with baked goods.

Put all your ingredients together and mix it until it is smooth and free of lumps. If you are using an electric mixture, be sure to use it on the lowest speed available. Air can become trapped into the mixture if mixed on a higher setting, which is what can cause the cake to sink in the middle while baking.

Grease your pan with LOTS of shortening. This technique works for my cakes. You can ignore this if you use the wax strips cause that seems to work for many people as well.

If you grease your pan, cover it with lots of flour. Make sure to shake it around so it goes everywhere.

Put the batter into the pan. Leave enough room for the cake to rise. So don’t fill it more than ¾ inches.

For this particular cake, I used fresh strawberries for the filling. I would not need them until the day I decorate the cake (today), so I prepped them in advance so that they would dry and not be too juicy. Left in the fridge overnight.

I baked the cake at 300 degrees (I have a gas oven) for 1 hour and 20 minutes. I only opened the oven after the first hour was complete. It baked fairly flat, which is how it is supposed to be.

I take the cake out of the pan immediately and place it on a cooling rack. I let it cool like this (upside down) for 3 hours at room temperature.

I like to bake my cake in advance, never the day I decorate it. It makes it easier and less crumbly. So I covered this cake in a plastic bag, placed it back in the pan (just out of habit to put it back in the pan) and left it in the fridge overnight.

If I have to freeze it, I wrap the cake up in saran wrap, at least 3 times, tightly covered, then put into a plastic bag, then another plastic bag and into the freezer. The day before I have to decorate it, I leave it in the fridge overnight to defrost.

The next morning – Decorating the Cake

I have some of my tools here. I plan on using gold pear dust (never used before, have no clue at this point how it will turn out) as part of the decorations of the fondant. You will also see a serrated spatula. You can use any knife/spatula that is serrated, as long as the length is long enough to cut through the entire length of the cake.

I put all my ingredients together for the icing. I include my leftover cream cheese from the last cake I made on Valentine’s Day. I also use more milk, as opposed to water, for the icing as milk tends to make the icing more fluffy.

Mix, mix, mix. You will be able to tell when the icing is ready as the consistency will change. It will become smoother, fluffier and free of lumps.

Ok here is my cake. I have it on a cake board as it makes it easier to carry. I also use a cake turntable, which makes it very easy to ice the cake. Will say more on this later. The cake is already flat, so I tend to cheat at this point. Usually, you are supposed to slice the very top layer off so it is all even. What I do if the cake bakes flat is just flip it over so that the top is on the bottom and decorate it this way.

Here I’m slicing the centre of the cake in half with my serrated spatula. This is the first place the turntable comes in handy as I spin the cake while I saw through the centre.

There it is in half.

Now I insert my filling. I first put buttercream and then placed the strawberries I sliced the night before onto the buttercream. I made sure not to go all the way to the edges cause I don’t want the filling spilling out. I then piped a border around the edge so that it would hold the top and bottom pieces of the cake in place. In the past, I never piped this border when using strawberries and had issues with the strawberries falling out ….

Here I put the cake together and the piped buttercream border has come into use. No strawberries sticking out hurrah

Now I add colour, with a toothpick, into the remainder of my icing. You have to be careful how much colour you use. The more you use, the more it can change the flavour of the icing – in an unpleasant way.

Now I’m ready to ice the cake. I start by putting a lot of icing on top of the cake. This is where the turntable comes into handy again. I use the big spatula here again and basically sweep back and forth (not with the serrated side) while spinning the cake. I keep doing this and even do this on the edges until the entire cake is covered.

To get the smooth look, I had to keep cleaning my spatula as well as dipping it in hot water. I would also sprinkle hot water on the icing on the cake.

While you spin the cake, start at the opposite end of you. In other words, you are going to rotate the cake while pulling the icing inwards towards you while you spin the cake.

It’s hard to explain … I think the video link SGC provided in one of her posts illustrates the exact technique how to do this.

Making lilies out of chocolate fondant for the cake.

The final product:

I experimented with the pearl dust. The instructions said to just brush it on with decorating brush. I did that and it looks quite messy. Oh well, I will practice some more.

That is…just…amazing…:k:

how did you make the lilies?

[Mehnaz]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

They are fondant cut-outs (just like cookie cutters). You can see them on the white mat in the third picture above. For the centre, I have these edible sugar pearls that I stuck into the middle.

[Sunset_Eyes]

Wow - great job Mehnaz! That looks amazing - you really a pro mashallah.

SGC - wow again! That looks superb! Another pro..

Here is a cake i made for our friend who just had a baby girl. The writing looks wobbly as there were ppl around and put extra pressure on me to do this or that - tut!

Its a lemon cake with lemon buttercream coat and fondant (shop bought) I tried twice to make the fondant but couldnt get it right so gave up and used the shop bought! Feel bit disappointed! The flowers are made from fondant to - exactly the same way how Mehnaz made them! And i put some gold glitter on the flowers which cant be seen clearly!

[Sunset_Eyes]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

Oh and its my only 2nd attempt at decorating the cakes to this extent so the piped border around the cake is not as neat as it should be.

The cake board was made at home too as i couldnt find the suitable size one at such short notice.

[PunjabiRose]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

@ Mehnaz, SGC, & Sunset_Eyes : You guys are seriously artists MashAllah se. Sooooooooooooo talented … the cakes all look beautiful.

This is me: →

lol.

Your step by step Mehnaz is SO helpful and all of your 3’s cake decorations are inspiring - I wish I had a reason to bake and decorate a cake now!

Do you guys think its strange if I made a cake for my SIL’s Mayoun??? She is having it at her house in a little over a month.

(^ I am now trying to think of reasons to bake and decorate a cake )

[somegroovychick]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

^ do a mayyoun cake! make three white cakes and tint them different intensities of yellow. slice them in half and then layer them on top of each other, with white buttercream layers between each. it would be so adorable when you cut into the cake and see such a pretty effect!
you can cover the outside in white buttercream or fondant and use yellow flowers or do an all-over yellow pattern piped on like a mehendi pattern.
such potential! do it! do it!

[PunjabiRose]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

Such good ideas SGC!! Thanks!!

U know what??? I think I will make this cake She is having a red and yellow themed mayoun… so I think I will combine your idea of tinting the cakes with yellow with Mehnaz’s strawberry filling idea!! I think it will come out luvely that way…

And I think I will actually cover the outside with yellow buttercram or fondant and do an all-over red mehndi design on it!!!

Ahhh… I am excited. But I need practice. For this I have decided I will bake my fiance a cake! His birthday is coming up in a little over 2 weeks!!

I have a question guys: is it easy to tint the fondant??? What is the best way to do this?? Is it as easy as just adding food coloring to it???

[SeaBee]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

I'm such a sucker for cakes with icing. As much as I would love to take a cake decorating class (solely for creative reasons), I'm avoiding it as a favour to my own body. So for now, I'll just enjoy (and drool) while looking at you guy's wonderfully creative work. Good job!

[Sunset_Eyes]

Punjabi Rose - its very easy to colour fondant icing but you need to be careful on how much you use as the more you use, the taste might change. Also, colour plenty for the cake as once you have your desired colour, and you fall short of the fondant, you will not be able to achieve the same shade. So its better to be on the safe side.

You need good icing colours - i have got wilton colours - got them from Amazon. They are pricey but good gel colours. I have also bought some from cake suppliers over ebay so check that too. All you need to do is use a tooth pick to apply colour to the fondant and knead with your hands just as you would knead atta. If you need the colour to be more intense, apply little more with the toothpick For more info, check out youtube.

Have fun baking - its so much fun decorating - do post pics of how it turns out - cant wait to see it!

[Ira]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

Great work Mehnaz, Sunset and SGC! Sunset you are doing a fine job as a beginner.

[Mehnaz]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

PunjabiRose, where do you live? If you can find colours by Cake Kraft, I find those to be the best out of them all. Wilton are very mediocre. With Cake Kraft, the colours and strong and they have a huge variety of different and popular colours.

To add colour to fondant, what I do is roll out the fondant and then apply some colour here and there with a tooth pick. Then just pretend it is atta and knead it over and over again until the colour goes every where.

If you can do a mendhi design, that is absolutely fantastic. I can't do it ... i've tried it, and I just can't do it. If you can apply mendhi in real life on ppls hands, this will be super easy for you.

[PunjabiRose]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

I live in the US ... I have never heard of Cake Kraft Mehnaz?? Can I order online?

[Mehnaz]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

Here is their official website:

Cake Craft Superior paste food coloring, best food color available

You can order some colours online.

If you do order, Chinese Red is an amazing colour. :k:

[somegroovychick]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

Do you guys not have Bulk Barn in the US? they sell tints and colours too. I use Wilton and they're pretty good!

PR, remember that colours tend to get slightly darker if the icing or the buttercream sits so go easy. you could do white fondant for your cake and do the mehendi pattern in yellow.

[somegroovychick]

either of these would be fantastic surprise for a birthday esp if the outside icing was all white- imagine cutting into one of these!

here is the recipe for this Rainbow Cake:
Omnomicon: how to make a rainbow cake!

this one is just white cake tinted different colours and layered with white icing.

[Niksik]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

Gosh I feel like such aloser after looking at all of the above pics I have failed.

[Mehnaz]

@somegroovychick

either of these would be fantastic surprise for a birthday esp if the outside icing was all white- imagine cutting into one of these!

here is the recipe for this Rainbow Cake:
Omnomicon: how to make a rainbow cake!

this one is just white cake tinted different colours and layered with white icing.

I am sooooooo making this for my best friend in April. She will LOVE this. :rotato:

[Niksik]

Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide

And I am so going to die :hinna: because i can’t bake for the life of me.