Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I didn’t know how to bake … but I learned. It just takes time. Anybody can learn … heck if I could do it, that says a lot. 
If it makes you feel any better, I fear making rice dishes, which is more practical and sensible than 3 tiered birthday cakes.
SGC - a very interesting idea for a cake - first time i have seen this!
BUT the question that i have is - how do you get the different colour in the cake? Can you tell me please? Do you make one batch of normal cake batter and then add colour?
NOT sure!!!
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Oh just noticed that SGC posted a link - sorry! Dopey SE!
definitely post pictures of that!
such a drama queen 
baking is SO much easier than cooking- like Bree on Desp. Housewives said in the latest episode: the secret to baking is precision (or something like that). basically, if you follow the instructions exactly, there is NO way you can fail at baking! unlike cooking where it seems all good food has been modified by someone’s mom or grandmother, and then there’s the whole “unkay haath main maza hai” business.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
If you live in North America, I would advise you to sign up on the Michael's website for their weekly coupons/flyers. I have never purchased a single tool at full price. Last summer, they were handing out 50% off coupons. In fact, I did all my decorating courses at 50% off.
Also, if you live in the GTA, you should consider becoming a member of the Baker's Warehouse. You can purchase a lot of professional products at wholesale prices. All you need for free membership is a business license. You can have any business (i.e. trucking) and as long as you have a valid license, you will get free membership. Otherwise, I think it's $35 for the year.
You don't want to pay more than you have to for things you can get at a discounted rate.
that rainbow cake looks so good!!! and I love the reasons given on htat website 
Really? I find baking to be alot harder because of the precision and exactness of it. I find cooking so much easier because I can make so mnay substitutions and almost all my dishes come out at least okay. Yeah…I know…dheet sigh
I made a cake last night (caved and bought an electric mixer and followed the exact directions) and it actually came out pretty well. I’m still not good at handling the icing but this is alot better than the last two monstrosities i made
I made this in a 9" pan. only thing, I filled the pan 3/4ths of the way instead of fully because I thought I read on here to never fill the pan all the way in order to get a flat cake. Anyways it baked perfectly, but I just have a little bit of batter leftover so I was thinking about mixing it with another cake batter that I have (redvelvet). I will definitely post the results. Oh, also, I greased the bottom of the pan a little bit (and the sides) with canola oil, so the cake came out very easily. I took it out of the oven and put it on a plate in the freezer for a couple of hours…then trasnferred it to the fridge, decorated it, and then put it back in the fridge. I used a combo of vanilla frosting + cool whip.
I know its nowhere near as pretty as teh cakes posted here…but its a start!
Right now I have a few more boxes (one white/vanilla and one strawberry) and want to experiment a bit with them next time…any ideas?
Welldone Sara - it looks great! Was this homemade or from a readymade mixture box? Looks delicious - i really want some!
How about baking 2 cakes and layering strawberry and vanilla by cutting each in halves and covering it with icing?
If thats not a good idea - wait for SGC as she is full of amazing creative ideas...mashallah!
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Thank u! i used the Duncan Hines mix.
I like your idea..u mean bake each, cut them in halves (so have 4 sections?) and layer each (so like pink-white-pink-white)? Sounds awesome, but it really may be too too much for just the two of us. 
have any of u used fresh fruits or nuts inside your cake batter?
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Mehnaz.. thanks so much .. i kept asking for step by step recipe and you did it.. woohoo. thanks again. I'll definitely try it .. but i didn't see the measurments of the things you used.
And a question for all the cake pros mehnaz, SGC and sunset... if I want to learn how to make cakes like you guys do.. did you guys take a course or some kind of classes for this??
Last thing, mehnaz since you did the basic of making a nice cake, it'll be nice if you can also show a step by step cake decorating. I think the look is so important. The fondant thing
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I will do it for you Spiral the next time I make a cake (should be end of next month). I don't share my recipes .... so I can't give you any measurements. They are not my recipes. I took classes at Michael's and the instructor gave us her own recipes ... and made it clear to us that these were for us to succeed should we decide to go into business ... and not for us to share with others. :p sowwy ... but I can definitely guide you where I can.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Ok sure the recipe is fine.. I am sure I can find it somewhere.... i'll ask few things though if you don't mind... buttercream vs. icing.. same thing??? I noticed you said buttercream when filling the cake and icing when decorating..
Also you said you'll explain what a turntable does. what exactly is it?
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
You can rotate the cake on the turntable. Like when I sawwed through the centre of the cake, the cake was spinning on the turntable. Again, the spinning turntable came in handy when I iced the cake.
It really comes in handy when I decorate, like when I do borders around the bottom and the top of the cake. I can spin the cake.
Buttercream and icing … yeah, it’s the same thing. 
sweet!!! thanks for that tip, mehnaz!! 
good job on the cake, Sara! see, easy peasy if you follow the instructions! its not that you can’t make substitutions in baking, its just that you should know a lot more about baking before you attempt them. it just gives you more confidence knowing ahead of time what the end product will be.
Ochef Home Page is a great resource for all sorts of baking-related questions, like subbing one pan size for another and how to change baking time if you do that, what to sub for what ingredient, etc. etc.
for the vanilla box, i’d suggest making filled cupcakes. basically, you bake the cupcakes as directed on the pan, and then you take a piping bag with a thin tip, fill it with the jello pudding of your choice (chocolate or vanilla or whatever), and then squeeze a little bit into our cupcake. you’ll see the cake expand slightly and slightly puff up. thats when you stop squeezing the piping bag and pull it out. then when you ice over it, it hides the tiny hole the piping tip makes and voila! filled cupcakes!
also, excellent job on filling the pan 3/4 of the way through- thats how its done! and throw out the remaining batter, miss. don’t go mixing it into other mixes- you don’t know what it’ll taste like! if i have left over batter, i always make cupcakes from it right after the cake i’m baking is done.
thanks SE! what a lovely thing to say!
i have, and i think mehnaz in her step by step tutorial used fresh strawberries. you can really use any fruit you want- fresh or tinned in a cake. just make sure to pipe some icing along the edges of the cake so when you layer it one on top of the other, the fruit doesn’t ooze out of the edges. this also makes smoothing the sides easier.
i haven’t done any classes- i’ve just self-taught from trial and error and the interweb and all sorts of helpful tutorials. and the first time i made fondant from scratch for the robot cake was with the aide of a lovely friend who does it all the time. it really helps to do it with someone more practiced. i keep meaning to take the Wilton classes but haven’t found a close-enough location to do it.
no offense but i find that really odd. sharing only means you are spreading your knowledge and experience around and if it helps someone else, then why not? its not like those recipes aren’t in Wilton’s cookbooks and on their website, so if its readily available elsewhere, then why not be allowed to distribute it after taking a class? am i missing something here?
its called buttercream icing, so you can call it either buttercream or icing, but its the same thing
a turntable is a rotating plate, essentially. when you place your cake on that, its easier to ice because you dont have to keep rotating the cake in place on your counter, you just rotate the plate easily and you can ice all around.
this is what mine looks like-
http://shopwith.whoisbaby.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/cakedecorating-6.jpg
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
SGC, they aren’t Wiltons’ recipes. Our teacher deviated a lot from the Wilton course Guideline, and she gave us her own personally created recipes that she uses in her cake business. If they were Wilton’s, I would have shared.
I guess the reason she asks her students not to share them is cause 1. they are her own personal recipes; and 2. she wants us to make $$ off of these cakes and sell them instead of just handing out the recipe to others. She knows they sell well so she doesn’t want it just being spread around … if you know what i mean.
Ok these courses are so expensive.. I was looking at ICE in NY.. 28,000 
That’s way too much.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Whaaaat? I did Course 1 for $20 at Michael's.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I have no clue how that works... do you have a link to see their courses and stuff. I looked at ICE and French Culinary.. that's even more expensive .. and this I am talking about just the baking, pastry course
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I think you are looking at a really professional program at an actual school.
I did it at Michaels the Arts & Crafts store. They offer decorating courses.
Check out this link and call them to find out which location offers the courses:
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Oh cool but thing is.. i don't even know basic baking .. lol.. I wish Micheal's offered baking courses too.