Home-made cakes thread 2

Golden_Anemone

Yep, when I made the ice cream cone cupcakes they weren't cooked through either. Wonder if it's the cone or just that they're taller than normal cupcakes?

becs

I just sit the cones directly in the tin and cook as a normal cupcake at the usual temperature and they come out fine. I usually only fill to the top of the narrow bit as they rise to the top anyway so only a very small amount of mixture.

VfM4meplse

I was looking at the bakeware and cooking products at John Lewis the other day - even at 25% off they are extortionate!

But it did help me to make my mind up that I'm going to go for a Magimix 4200 (when the price is right ) - 950w power. I bought a 600w mini-processing kit from Lidl about a year ago for just £20 and it is has been great, and now it's my benchmark.
Drool....

littlebit

Ok so afer some much needed encouragement from nat82 thank you for that , i have been looking at you-tube vids, forum posts etc etc and have a few questions, more will probably follow but well for now i have these..

1. Cake boards? some people are saying some are really flimsy and no good, also that the foam core board it better to use if not quite a bit more expensive, what is best to use between tiers and anyone have recommendations on the brand. 1/4 inch foam core seems thick under each tier but the ribbon im using is 1" so is doable.

2. Dowels? the lady's i have watched put 4 in each layer that's fine not a problem but another one i watched after doing the 4 per layer thing the lady put a central dowel through all 3 of her stacked cakes even through the boards well if foam core board is so tough as some people say, to use the central dowel would be impossible do you think?
Also another lady says to cut them like 1-2mm above the cake layer that way all the next tiers weight it resting solely on the dowels. is that a good or bad thing as most say cut it flush.

3. Ribbon? im having 3 ribbons different sizes layered ontop of each other wrapped around the bottom of each cake, it says to put them on when the cake is assembled, I'm thinking of doing that at the venue, as it is about 15 miles away down some winding country lanes, do any of you know of anything i can use to layer the ribbons and fix them together to make it one piece that's food safe i have heard of glue but not sure if that would work or mark the ribbon.

4. I don't have a fan assisted oven how much difference will that make?

5. Chocolate butter cream or chocolate gnash ? no idea if the spelling is correct:D

6. Are the cake tins on eBay any good?

A good tip i did read was to put some little felt or rubber feet under the cake board when your decorating your cake so you can get your fingers underneath to pick it up I'm one of them people would probably slip when sliding it off of the counter.

littlebit

Cupcake set on groupon not sure if its any good to anyone http://www.groupon.co.uk/lp/QD2/index.php?dealid=6442269&nlp=&CID=UK_CRM_1_0_0_154&a=13

nat82

littlebit - I didn't want to read and run after encouraging you! I'm just off to bed after nightshift but I use cake boards for the tiers and a cake drum for the bottom tier. I don't use a central dowel. The 3 tier I just did had 5 in the bottom and 4 in the middle. I put my dowels in then mark them, take them all out and cut to the the same size as the tallest one so that there is a level surface. You can use pritt stick as it's non toxic. Ganache is lovely as is butter cream. Have a look on this site http://www.designer-cakes.com/ as he has free tutorials on ganaching a cake and a delicious chocolate buttercream recipe! I did one of his courses which included ganaching a cake and although time consuming, is lovely. I bought Invicta tins which were about £40 for 4 different sizes. I got them from the Cake Stuff webite. I also buy alot of stuff from cakes, cookies and crafts shop website. Fab service! Not sure about the fan assisted oven!

Definitely have a look at the Good Food link I posted about constructing a wedding cake. It's pretty fool-proof! And keep asking lots of questions as there is always somebody on here that can help!

xx

nat82

Birthday cake for BiL - lovingly decorated after my 12 hour nightshift (and been up for 25 hours!!!)

Keeping_Motivated

Nat that cake is fab! Is there any chance you could give directions how to make it?

s23xy_c

Im wanting to make cupcakes and biscuits for my works jubilee celebration on monday, whats the soonest i can make things?

Golden_Anemone

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I was looking at the bakeware and cooking products at John Lewis the other day - even at 25% off they are extortionate!

But it did help me to make my mind up that I'm going to go for a Magimix 4200 (when the price is right ) - 950w power. I bought a 600w mini-processing kit from Lidl about a year ago for just £20 and it is has been great, and now it's my benchmark.
Drool....

Drool indeed! Magimix machines are built to last. I still have my mum's 30 yr old Magimix Grand Cuisine and it works fine. Impossible to get spares like replacement blades any more though so I can grate, slice, julienne and chip with it but not make a big batch of pastry anymore. :-(