Help with my cake please??

starsandmoon79

Hi all

I've been lurking on these forums for a while but just registered looking for some help with a birthday cake. I posted on the home made cakes thread and got a reciepe from a poster there but it seems quite quiet these days and I need help quickly - my cake is in the oven! So if anyone could help I'd be very grateful.

I've made the easy vanilla cake from the bbc website and plan to decorate it with fondant then fondant cut outs. But I don't quite know timings etc!

I was planning to leave the cake to cool for a few hours (3?) then put on a thin buttercream layer then immediately after put on the rolled fondant - was planning on rolling it out before putting the buttercream on so the buttercream doesn't go hard while I roll it out (might take a while - never done it before!) - Does this sound right?!

And then do I need to leave the cake to set/dry for a while (hours/overnight?) or can I then start to decorate with my cut out fondant shapes?

Any help much appreciated!

loopyanna

All sounds about right to me. The cake needs to be fully cool before you start with the buttercream else it will slide right off. 3 hours should be more than enough but it will depend on the size of the cake. You can make your buttercream now if you like - just give it a good stir before you use it and don't put it back in the fridge whilst you wait. As for your icing, again sounds fine to me! I've always used Jam to stick mine on to a cake but I bet buttercream will be yummy!

Best of luck!

starsandmoon79

Thanks for your reply glad to hear it makes sense to you! Once it's covered with fondant does it need time to dry or can I continue to decorate straight after the fondant? I've read conflicting things!!

Thanks

booter

You've probably already done it by now but just in case! If I'm using cut out shapes/letters, I attach immediately (they can dry out otherwise and them break when attaching). If I'm making 3d figures, I try to put them on the cake the next day when the icing has firmed up a little - as they're a bit heavier, they may sink a little into the icing on the cake. However, if your icing on the cake is quite thick, then I'd say go for it! Good luck!

starsandmoon79

Thanks booter I'm actually just about to go and attach the shapes now. Not venturing into 3d fondant yet!