Cake decorating help please x

fizzel81

For ds 3rd birthday (he is panda mad) i am aiming to make him a panda birthday cake (not sure if i am allowed to put where im getting the ideas from website)

ive found a shop localish that does a pan (pan can also make a few other animal cakes with small adaptions so outlay is £14 but im hopefull i can use it for a good few birthday cakes, they dont have this pan for hire)

planning a simple sponge for the cake part, but my problem is just how to decorate it

ive got 2 options myself (though im sure you os's can come up with better ones)

ready to roll icing in white, and then buy shape etc black ready to roll but how would i get this black?

or so i pipe icing on in black and white? how do i make the icing so i can pipe it and again how do i get the black icing?

ive never attempted anything like this before, it LOOKs easy from the site ive found a few pics on but this is me and cake decorating has never really been done before by me

sorry im rabbleing ds birthday 2nd august so i need to get my bottom in gear if im going to get him made a nice panda cake

nozzy6

I've only done a few cakes but I might be able to help - you could get the ready to roll fondant icing in white and just get some black food colouring to mix with it and cut to the right shapes, you might be able to make templates from the cake tin? Or to make the icing to pipe I think it is just icing sugar with a bit of warm water, and again just add food colouring til you get the colour you're after. hope thats a bit of help!

LittleBill

Hi Fizzel' ...

Sounds a great cake idea ...

You can get black food colouring .... Supercook do one ... there should be some in your local supermarket ...

Ready roll icing can be coloured ... you 'simply' knead in the colour ... not sure how even a colour you will get as you will require quite a deep black ...

The other alternative is to cover the main body of the cake in ready roll and pipe on the black features ... the black colouring will work mixed in with icing sugar ... I use T&L Royal Icing ... its a lot more workable ... do not be tempted to make the mixture too loose though as the black area's may be inclined to 'slide' if too wet ... its harder work on the hands piping 'stiff' icing ... but it gives a better effect ...

Are you doing a Kung Fu Panda ... ? ...

If so any little details can be added by colouring and kneading left over bits of the ready roll ... to give a different texture ... noses ... eyes ... etc ...


Hope this helps a little .... and hope you do well ....

Do post a piccy of the finished cakey!

LB ... :^)

PS ... Give your self a good space of time to do it in ... It could take you the best part of a couple of hours and you don't want to feel rushed ...

Pink.

Hi fizzle,

Sounds like a great idea. You can buy black food colouring in tesco. I like this site for tips and ideas on decorating cakes. If you click on the pictures there are often instructions on how they were made. I liked the idea of this one where they used buttercream icing sprinkled with dessicated coconut to give it a furry effect.

Pink

fizzel81

Thank you for the ideas

no kung fo panda im just trying to do a panda face (easier then a whole body panda plus we dont need a huge cake)

Pink thats the site i got the ideas from, wasnt sure if i could post the link this morning, there is also another on the web with a panda face done in ready to roll style icing, was thinking of having a practice run but that would be a waste of a cake ?

the one sprinkled with the coconut does look a little easier.

if all go's well i will put a picture up (will just need to work out how nearer the time)

if this one go's well i may well get a buzz to start doing there cakes myself

Pink.

Hi Fizzel,

It's fine to post links as long as we have no personal interest in the website and are not posting for personal gain (ie advertising).

Pink

JailhouseBabe

Rather than spend £14 on a cake tin, that panda face cake looks like it would be 'do-able' with just a round tin. Make 2 sponges, cut the ears and the mound for the nose out of the other and attach together with butter icing. Once it's all decorated, you'd never notice.

Gingernutmeg

If you can find a local cake decorating shop (or an online one), it'll be so much better if you can get some black paste colouring rather than the liquids that you get from the supermarkets. Black is a difficult colour to get right, and the liquids generally aren't strong enough - you'll end up with a grey colour rather than a panda black! Also, it's hard to colour ready-roll with liquid colouring, you'll have to put so much in to get a decent colour that it'll make the ready-roll too sloppy to work with. The pastes are super-concentrated and much easier to work with, so although the initial outlay will be a bit more (you're looking at about £2 for a pot) it really will give you a better effect, whatever type of icing you end up using. They also last 'forever' and you can often get additive free colours, if that's something that worries you

Dee140157

I have to agree that the shape doesn't really require the outlay for a tin. 2 large round cakes, one for cutting up and one small one for the nose. Based on the pictue posted by pinkwinged is it possible to get a bag of liquorice to cut up and use for the black parts of the panda rather than try black icing? I was thinking a few liquorice wheels unrolled might do the trick?

debbiemc_2

Hi, I'd recommend making two round cakes as recommended by the others, and cutting ears out of the spare cake. Supercook do a pack of ready coloured, ready to roll icing that comes in a pack of four with red, green, black and yellow. This icing is really good. Tesco's own brand of white fondant icing is good to work with and I'd recommend covering the entire cake with white and using the black for the detail.

Any you want to pipe - you can get black food colouring and if you mix this with icing sugar without any water you will get a deep black colour of icing. Don't make it runny. When I'm only doing a small amount of piping I put the icing in a food bag and snip the corner off - easy and disposable!

Failing that, you could make a rectangular cake, cover entirely with white, and put the panda face onto the cake, rather than a panda-shaped cake.

Another tip - as the decorating takes a while, I'd suggest you make the cake in advance and freeze it until the big day. You can ice it whilst its still frozen and it will keep nice and fresh until the party!

Good luck

narabanekeater

You can buy black and every other colour icing ready to roll from cake shops and even ebay!