Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Thanks! I'm going to try the Rainbow Cake link you provided later on this month ... and then I'll try this recipe afterwards too.
I picked up another pan from Michael's today. I love their Performance Pans. I'm going to go to the Baker's Warehouse on the weekend to pick up some more supplies as well. Baking and decorating is an addiction.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Mehnaz, I am going to go have some, to figure out what exactly is up with it.
somegroovychick: lol, at use chocolate buttercream. I thought you'd have to add the color and flavour yourself. I guess not. Any suggestions for a good chocolate buttercream, that tastes more like chocolate and less like sugar?
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
^ What is the recipe you are using for your basic buttercream?
This is what I use for an 8 x 3 " cake:
4 cups of icing sugar
1 cup of shortening (all veg - not crisco, use a no-name brand)
2 tablespoons of warm water
6 teaspoons of warm water
salt
Then just mix it.
This measurement will make a thin consistency buttercream, which will make it easier to ice a cake. If I want to make it a bit thicker, I use 4 teaspoons instead of 6 teaspoons.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Curious lady, i use this recipe and it tasted fine. It does crust a little bit though but not as much. Also if you dont like the crusting BC then use a recipe that uses eggwhites. Martha stewart has a good recipe for that too.
These recipe are for the bigger cakes, not sure how they will translate into cupcakes, SGC. I need to buy that book ASAP, even my 1 year old loved flipping its pages and looking at the pics 
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
GUYS GUYS!!! Good news....thanks to SGC's much convincing! I made the MM fondant and it is perfect! It was messy and i was about to give up but thennnn...it happened! White ball was formed! Hahahah...im so happy! Thanks SGC for having faith in me and Ira for providing that link - very useful. Now im gonna have to bake 2 small cakes and try and make something in order to practice for my son's bday cake! Will post pics....im so full of EXCITEMENT! I even woke my son up becuase of the sheer happiness! sigh thanks guys!
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
^ Good job ..... now let your son go back to sleep. :p
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
^ He did eventually....hehe! Although i want to know if you can make figures out mm fondant? If so, can you prepare them in advance and will they crack? Or can you just cover the cake with this fondant only and nothing further?
Once you have covered the cake, the fondant wont crack will? Whats the best way to store it?
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Yes, you can make figures in advance. Do you remember that Diego cake I made with the animal figures? I made those one week in advance and just covered them in saran wrap then put them in the fridge. I've covered my cakes with fondant and left them in the fridge overnight as well. Soooo, it is possible but I think it depends on the type of fondant.
However, since you made your own fondant ... I am not too sure. SGC would probably know.
just add cocoa powder to your buttercream to make it chocolate buttercream. this is the recipe i’ve used in the past and if i want it more chocolatey, i just reduce the sugar and increase the coca powder until it tastes like i want it to.
Chocolate Buttercream Icing
i don’t believe the recipe will change, you’ll simply adjust the baking time to match cupcakes instead of a larger cake.
this is an excellent chart to calculate baking pan conversions and baking times - Party Cake Baking Time and Batter Amounts - 2 in. Deep Pans
YAY!! i knew you could do it!!! good job, girlfriend!! 
yup, you can prepare figures in advance and store in an airtight container. you can paint the figures, tint the fondant, flavor it, whatever you want!
the fondant will not crack, however, i would not advise placing the fondant on the cake in advance. you cannot put fondant-covered cake in the fridge. moisture will form on it and it will ruin the look of the fondant. cover the cake with fondant the day it is being served and once its done, place it in a cool place in your house, but not the fridge.
this is a great fondant Q&A site- Decorating with Fondant, How To Decorate Cakes with Fondant Icing, Decorating Cakes with Fondant Questions and Answers
incidentally, this lady Peg W is the one who gave me her MMF recipe first and was very helpful over email with my 1001 questions about it!
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I just remembered, the recipe that i used for the cupcakes, had whole eggs in it, SGC, not just yolks. It also used sour cream and no milk so I think the recipe might be a tiny bit different because of these changes.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
oooh…i’d love to see that.
so far alot of people are 'hating" on that rainbow cake cz of all the fake ingredients 
if u can do a “natural” version…that’d be awesome. :k:
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
lol, how would I make a natural version? I need to add food colour to it for the rainbow affect ....
Some gel colours I recently purchased, Coral, Fuscia Pink, Indigo, Violet, Maroon, Aqua Blue, Golden Yellow .... can't wait to test these out. Key is to use a little bit of colour as it is strong and can affect the flavour.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
Lol..i meant the batter and icing
Oh my those colors sound so pretttyyyyy
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
How do i store shortening after a opening a pack?? Of course one pack has a lot. So I don't know how to store the rest.
Also If I make buttercream lets say few hours ahead of putting it on the cake, can i put it in the fridge or do we always put buttercream as soon as we make it??
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
just in the fridge, in an airtight container.
and yes, you can store buttercream in an air tight container in the fridge too. bring it to room temperature and rewhip before using it.
yeah, she has some weird ingredients, so i would just use either box mixes for white cakes, baked as recommended on the box mixed with food coloring, or i’m make white cake from scratch and do the same. i don’t know about using pop in my cake…
Oh I see what you mean. Find a recipe that works for you and just incorporate the colour and batter division from the rainbow recipe … that’s what I plan on doing.
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I found this arts and crafts store not too far from my home that offers cake decorating classes. $40 for four lessons (1 course). I'm thinking of starting it next month. Some of the bakeware (wiltons' brand) seemed very expensive!
For those of you who took decorating classes, how well did you know how to bake before ever taking classes?
Re: Baking - The Beginners Guide
I am going to try Mehnaz's cake too once I see how she does it.. with pictures .. hopefully :)