making and decorating a 2 teir cake for the first time

vikki_louise

I think I've been watching too much "Ace of cakes" lately as I've decided to try and make a 2 tier cake for my Mums birthday, I have a few questions though.

As its only 2 tiers is it ok to just put one smaller cake ontop of the other one without putting doweling in to support it?

I want to cover it in (black!) icing, should I use fondant or royal icing? Im a bit confused. I was planning on getting some white one as well and just using food colouring to colour it to cut out some shapes (flowers and butterflies) to stick on, I read though that you should only use specialist colouring for that, does it matter as its just a few shapes im cutting out?

Thanks in advance for any advice :j

tinkerbell84

vikki_louise wrote: »

I think I've been watching too much "Ace of cakes" lately as I've decided to try and make a 2 tier cake for my Mums birthday, I have a few questions though.

As its only 2 tiers is it ok to just put one smaller cake ontop of the other one without putting doweling in to support it?

You should always use dowels in tiered cakes - better to be safe than sorry!

celyn90

I would go for the doweling if it is a sponge cake and you are using wedding cake pillars as they can sink.

You could always just put one cake on top of the other without pillars and that would be fine.

As far as the icing goes, colouring small bits is fine with liquid colouring - it just gets a bit squelchy if you add too much

tinkerbell84

celyn90 wrote: »

You could always just put one cake on top of the other without pillars and that would be fine.

Depends on the types of cakes used - put a dense fruit cake on a light fluffy sponge and they won't stay seperate for long!

vikki_louise

thanks for the advice. im planning on 2 sponge cakes, without pillars

mumhug

I would use royal icing you can even get that ready rolled .

sparklegirl_3

ive been making cakes for a long time, i wouldnt consider using black colouring, its a nightmare, opt for buying already made black fondant icing.
ive made 2 tier sponge cakes before and not used dowels although i did place the top cake onto a cake board
black fondant icing marks very easily too,it seems to have a different consistancy to the white

angbrads

Supercook or Dr Oetker do ready coloured packs of ready to roll icing and its in most supermarkets and it is so easy to use but you may need to buy a few packs depending on size of xakes but in the pack is red, yellow, green and black sugarpaste so no worries about colouring up paste, just take care as the balck does marrk easily but i can take a damp paintbrush and lightly brush over your black icing once you have it in place. I would Dowel 2 sponge cakes. Hth

Irishbliss

What does the ready rolled icing taste like? I too have gotten into baking but usually use ganache but want to make a birthday cake using icing.

Was told about home-made marshmallow fondant but seems like it would take a while to make the amount I would need.

Never tasted bought icing...heard others online say it was not very nice. Surely it can't be that bad?!

laurajayne

To be honest, I'd use both dowels and a cake board to support the two tier cakes. This will keep them fairly seperate (you would then be able to cut each individually).

Ready to roll icing is ok, tastes fine....however I wouldn't cover an entire cake in black icing, as it can taste quite bitter. I would always use ready coloured for all dark colours, as there are regulation regarding the use of food colourings, and to get black, you'd use a lot. It would change the stability of the icing and make it horribly soft.

To colour icing, don't use liquid food colouring - it makes the icing too wet. You should always use paste colours.

Best of Luck...and watch it....cake decorating is addictive