₦airaland Forum

Here's another look

Cakers, show off your modeling skills by making this easy fondant finger and showing it off once done. Lets go!

Materials:

Fondant in flesh colour
Cmc/ tylose powder
Toothpick

Instructions:

add cmc to fondant (turns to gumpaste)

Roll gumpaste in log form, length of your pinky or whichever finger you want

Using your finger as a guide, shape the log, don't forget to indent for knuckles. Crease using toothpick.

Use your finger (up to where your fingernail begins) to slightly press down the tip, to show off your nail.

Create a fake fingernail in any colour. Glue to the finger using water I edible glue.

That's it. Now lets see yours

PS: You can use this in a Halloween cake or to wrap around anything.

Step by Step guide to making a flower pot cake

Hi guys! Happy Tuesday

I would like to share with you today the making of my flower pot cake. I can categorically say this is my first carved cake as I like to always jump in at the deep end. So let’s go!

To make a flower pot cake, you would need:

1. A good cake recipe ideal for carving, like the chocolate mud cake found here or the lemon Madeira cake here, whatever rocks your boat, as long as it is dense and not too soft, you are go!
2. Two round cake pans in 2 different sizes. Let’s assume you intend to make a 7 inch cake, you would need a 7 inch and a 6 inch round cake pan. My cake consists of two 7 inch and a 6 inch
3. Fondant coloured in terracotta: I believe I mixed orange and brown until I got the colour I wanted to achieve (The amount of fondant you would need depends on you but as a guide you would need about 1kg)
4. Cake board in 5 and 7 inches
5. Fondant flowers (sunflower, roses, hydrangea …. Whatever you want really or whatever the client wants)
6. Cake board for presentation, I probably used an 8 inch, I’m unsure as I did this last year. You would need to prep your cake board by covering with fondant or with pretty paper. My cake board was covered in fondant and decorated in woodgrain effect. (I will discuss how to do this in a later post)
7. Ganache or buttercream.

Here’s the fun bit:
1. Level the cakes and place on cake board
2. Layer them by stacking the 7 inch on the 6 inch cake (trust me this is just so you can see the shape of your flower pot) making sure you fill your cake using ganache or buttercream
3. Once cake is attached together, you would need to flip your cake so that the 6 inch is now on top. You are now ready to ‘carve’. TBH this particular cake is already half way there since you are using two different cake sizes. Taper the bottom of your cake (which is the 6 inch) until you have 5 inch. You need to trim the sides a little bit too (make sure you do not eat the cut outs as we are going to need it for our soil)
4. You then need to cover your cake in ganache (You can do this upside down for ease). Smooth the ganache so that you get rid of bumps. It sets hard almost quickly, however you can use a metal scraper and hot water to smoothen it out
5. You do not need to cover the top in ganache because we are going to cover it in fake soil
6. Cover the cake in fondant. Measure your cake circumference and height. Roll up your fondant according to the measurements you obtained. Lightly moisten your ganache whilst cake is still upside down, wrap your fondant around your cake. You create just one seam (make sure this is the back of your cake). Use a fondant smoother to smooth out the line
7. Let cake sit for a little while until fondant is dry and then flip cake so that the 5 inch bottom sits on the cake board.
8. To create the rim, you would need to roll out your fondant in the same circumference as your cake, but only about 1.5 inches to 2 inches high. Dab the top of your cake with little water and then wrap your fondant around, making sure you match seams at the back. Do not forget to create a little lip by slightly raising your fondant rim.
9. To create the soil, use a food processor to slightly crush the cut-outs. If you don’t have leftover cake, you can use Oreo cookies or digestive biscuits. Don’t forget to crush them till it looks like soil.
10. Finish off your creation using fondant flower of your choice.

Although I do not have the photos of all the steps taken, you can find several variations of the flower pot cake on the internet.

Note: A chocolate cake works best as it gives you the look of soil

What I learnt from making this cake:

1. When using ganache, always moisten cake with sugar syrup ( 100g sugar + 100ml water, boiled and cooled) this enables fondant to stick to it
2. Taper bottom of cake or use a 4,5,6 inch, 5,6,7 inch or 6,7,8 inch pan (all depends on how many people you want the cake to feed)
3. It takes a lot of colour and mixing to achieve the terracotta look. Your fondant will lose its elasticity and you would probably need to let it sit for one day to regain its shape
4. If you plan to make this for a client, factor the colouring process in, otherwise look for Americolor in terracotta.

PS: Do not forget your support system; it is VERY IMPORTANT otherwise your cake will fall!

Thanks

Hi everyone! Hope you've had a great weekend? Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who have clicked on the links above.

In the hope to serve you better, I would be glad if you can kindly drop your comments or perhaps subscribe to my newsletter so you can get updates on new posts.

I am aware there is a lack of a one stop cake decorating blog as such would like to reiterate that Readybaked is all about your caking needs. It is directed to the needs of the beginner cake decorator whilst also journeying through the art of perfecting my decorating skills.

I will be posting tried and trusted cake recipes as well as reviewing some recipes so as to reduce "wastage" for most of the beginners out there.

My aim is to help beginners become professional cake decorators who produce exceptional designs with eyes for detail.

I know we learn everyday and as such if there is anything I have failed to mention or tackle, please post your comments.

Enjoy your week
God bless

Hi,
I believe generator should be able to power your mixer. Please do not quote me but a friend of mine tends to cream her butter and other stuff using gen. Hope this helps

PS she uses Morphy Richards cake mixer

purplelips:
Wow! Seriously?! Sounds nice...lol Wondering what kind of interview that would be though. Btw, I did reply your PM. Very sure I did.

Thanks for getting back to me. Apologies if I didn't see your message. The interview is to know more about you and how you got into cakes. Do you mind letting me know how best to contact you? You can reach me by email at baked1808@gmail.com.
Thanks

The link below shows some of the cakes I've made over a couple of years. I have learnt from my mistakes and in recent times, I am able to produce cakes that makes you stop and take a look again.

http://readybaked.weebly.com/cakes.html

In the next post, I will discuss how I made my first carved cake ... The flower pot cake

You can add your comments or ask me anything and I will respond when I can.

Cheers

Hi Everyone!

I would like to invite all budding cake decorators to get a chance to discuss their motivation and journey in the world of cake decorating.

I am sure we can learn a thing or two from general discussion.

I am of the believe that when we share we get a lot.

My hope is that we can gradually create a community where we all grow and develop together through the power of the WWW.

About me:

I am a budding cake artist (if I can call myself that). I started baking over 20 years ago (making cakes with little royal icing experience but intermediate buttercream experience). More recently, I started learning how to decorate using fondant and my particular interest is in cake sculpting. I have never been to a school so bear with me if you think my ways are not particularly right.

Cake making is a hobby, decorating a beautiful cake is my passion and making it as a cake sculpture is my dream. One day very soon I believe I will get there.

I journal my cake experience on readybaked.weebly.com. The journal gets updated only when I make a cake. So if you want to be interviewed by me, why not drop a line.

Thanks

But surely you have to consider the kids when adding alcohol to cakes. Is there no alternative to preserving cakes?
You can preserve a normal (sponge) cake by wrapping it un greaseproof paper and clingfilm and keep on your counter top.

Hi Purplelips,

Nice cakes you've got there. Is it possible to interview you on your caking journey? Tried PMing you some days ago but not got a response yet.

Kindly respond to this and I will get back to you ASAP.

Thanks

silvaedge:
d cake is just d round one,dat image is d work of d photographer not cake.its lovely

Lol. First thing I noticed was the figure wasn't sculpted and you seem to b the only one to notice its a photo. Lol

I am a budding cake decorator who is learning by watching loads of videos on YouTube. I would like to showcase other budding decorators and professionals too should you be interested. I have recently started journaling about my cake decorating which you can find here

http://readybaked.weebly.com/.

Please feel free to contact me anytime.

@chimagoziem
your rosette cake, wow! I love the pop of colours very beautiful.

Here are a few selection of my friends cakes. You can place your orders for a Red Velvet, Chocolate and/or sponge cake this Valentine. Call: 0802-222-7477 if you are in Lagos.

She prides herself in delicious tasting cakes and beautiful designs.

Hi all,
Happy New Month! Sorry crashing your party, just wanted to put up a picmix of a friends cake collection (these are just sample of her work) and to say this Valentine, you can place your orders for a Red Velvet, Chocolate and/or sponge cake this Valentine. Call: 0802-222-7477 if you are in Lagos.
She prides herself in delicious tasting cakes and beautiful designs.

I will try and showcase more of her cakes as time permits.

Me: I am a budding cake decorator who is learning by watching loads of videos on YouTube. I would like to showcase other budding decorators and professionals too should you be interested. I have recently started journaling about my cake decorating which you can find here http://readybaked.weebly.com/.

Please feel free to contact me anytime.

Have a wonderful day/week ahead

That is very decent looking and ok price too.

Happy new year all and happy new month too. Finally got round to posting the recipe for the healthy cake option I talked about.
So here we go

Peaches and Blueberry greek yoghurt cake (http://juliasalbum.com)

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
2 peaches, sliced into wedges
6 oz blueberries
1 teaspoon granulated sugar


Preheat oven 180
mix all dry ingredients together and sift.
In a separate bowl, mix butter, sugar, and add two eggs, for roughly 3 minutes, then add the greek yoghurt.
Mix for about 1 minute then add the flour mixture. Mix on low speed and transfer into cake pan.
Top with the peaches (in a fan fashion) and blueberries. Sprinkle with the teaspoon of sugar and bake for about 1 hour or until toothpick comes clean.

Hope it turns out well for you as it did for me.

Hi chigal4real,
I'm unsure how to respond to your question as I do not live in Nigeria. However, to keep your cake fresh, I would probably wrap it up as soon as its cool to touch. Also you can add glycerine to your cake mix to keep it from drying out.

From memory I think it is a teaspoon of glycerine, please do not quote me but I will check and get back to you on it.

Cheers

@nifdem, forgive me, there is butter only not as much as what most recipes call for and the butter is added (softened) after you have creamed the sugar and eggs

Sorry for the mix up, the recipe does call for 75g of butter

@mrsoj, glad they liked it.
@nifdem, please remember there is no butter in this recipe, instead of the normal paddle attachment of your mixer, you will need go use the balloon whisk.

If you don't have a mixer, it will take a long time but you will need to use ab egg beater or whisk and cream until it looks pale/white, I'm unsure how long this will take in terms of timing. I hope all turns out well for you.

MrsOJ will send you a peach and Greek yoghurt cake recipe, it is quite healthy, however doesn't keep long. We tend eat it with homemade peach frozen yoghurt.

@nifdem,
If I was to choose btw the Kenwood recipe and the one I tried yday, I will pick the Kenwood as the cake turned out really great even after day two.

http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/cooking-with-kenwood/recipes/kitchen-machines-recipes/cakes-pastries-and-biscuits/strawberries-and-cream-sponge#

Just follow the instruction.

Let us know how it turns out
Thanks in advance

Awww, the cake looks exactly how it should. What did people say?

Thanks for sharing.

Ive had mine for over a week now and it still looks good. I'm not a big chocolate cake fan so don't eat it at all. But tbh its fantastic and not sweet at all, like you say, you can taste the coffee.

If you like buttercream, you can try her recipe too

That's fine. Cake is a science and if the measurements are inaccurate you run the risk of turning it into something else.

I take it you've finished the cake, can we see the photo then please?

Thanks

@mrsOJ, no worries. Will post some healthy ones here too.

Would like yo see a photo when you are done.

Quick review of the vanilla/victoria cake I made yesterday
The cake was really soft last night after coming out of the oven
Leaving it to the elements (its winter so quite cold) it turned out a little bit dried out.

So how do we prevent this?

I have read to keep your cake moist,
As soon as its out of the pan, place a slice bread on top, by the morning your bread becomes hard and your cake stays moist
I haven't tried this method

However, to keep my cake moist for longer, I tend to wrap it up in greaseproof or baking paper as soon as its out of the pan and I freeze straight away.

All my cakes have stayed fresh and moist.

Also for the sponge cake, depending on the recipe, you can add about 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup or 60ml to 1cup/250ml of milk.

Hope it helps

Here is the finished cake. Hope yours turns out well.

V a good evening

No worries babes
Just a quick one, with a fluffy/soft sponge cake the main work is in beating the eggs.

For me, my main sponge recipe and what I always keep in mind is: Equal weight measurement of butter, sugar, eggs and flour.

I tend to use self raising flour as opposed to plain flour because you end up adding baking powder to your plain flour mix.

Self raising flour can be made using
1 cup/110g or 150g plain flour (the gram measurement depends on what you use in calculating)
2 teaspoon of baking powder

Add both ingredients together and sift so as to incorporate.

Or
1cup plain flour
1 and a Half teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mix well and sift

Both recipes make a cup of self raising flour.

The main recipe I tend to use if I want to make a quick cake is
175g flour, sugar, butter and 3 eggs (if you want you can weigh you eggs, it should fall to about 175g depending on the size). 1-2 tablespoon of milk.
Mix as per normal, bake in 140-160 degrees for 35-50mins if batter was poured in just a pan.

Fir the previous recipe, I am just trying it out and my 3 eggs weighed 171g. This is fine as long as it is not well under or over.

I also tried the Kenwood strawberry and cream sponge cake,
http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/cooking-with-kenwood/recipes/kitchen-machines-recipes/cakes-pastries-and-biscuits/strawberries-and-cream-sponge#

The recipe was quite good, only you need to mix your sugar and egg until pale, like you are making meringue.

Cakes almost done will post a photo soon

Btw:
A chocolate cake is a variation of a sponge cake, only that recipes are tweaked to fit their deacription.

I believe most times when we say sponge in Nigeria, we tend to imply victoria sponge.

Hi nifdem, here is a link to a sponge cake recipe, its in grams and hopefully this will turn out nice.

I haven't tried it out yet but if you let me, I can make it tonight and give you a review tomorrow.

http://red-brolly.com/2014/07/how-to-make-a-perfect-sponge/

Please I'm just a regular person so no to 'ma' if you don't mind.

Thanks

@MrsOJ
Here is a link to one of my favourite cakes, though I just confess I don't like chocolate cake, however this recipe is really lovely and the cake very moist. Instead of expresso coffee just use normal coffee.

http://addapinch.com/cooking/the-best-chocolate-cake-recipe-ever/

She has several other recipes but I haven't tried them yet.
I have added a screenshot of the recipe.

Also,where it says a cup of boiling water, please make sure it is a cup of boiling water.

You can make the cake using just a bowl and a laddle instead of a mixer because I have always used a bowl without any problem.

Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), cocoa powder and coffee

In another bowl, mix your vanilla, eggs, milk and vegetable oil.

Ps: Ive read somewhere that if using powdered milk, mix 2 tablespoon of milk with a cup of water (I haven't tried this, but I do have another information on how to use powdered milk, only, I'd have to search for it).

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well, at this stage the mix will be somewhat hard in consistency, add your boiling water and mix, this will make your mixture thin, don't worry, nothing is wrong with your mix.

Bake using an 8 inch or 9 inch pan, btw 50-60mins, oven temperature 140-160.
I hardly use 180, if you want a moist cake, bake on low heat for a little longer.

Ps: Turn oven to 140 before you start mixing.
If using two pans like the woman suggested, then baking time would be about 30-45mins

Nifdem, urs will come in grams, just wanted to drop something in the meantime

@nifdem sorry will send to u in grams

Hi Nifdem and MrsOJ,
I will convert measurements and send to you asap.

Have a good evening
X

@ raayah,
Cakes are made depending on the type requested and the type of recipe the cake calls for.

I suppose like you, most Nigerians prefer the harder/dense cakes (your Nigerian one) to very soft/melt in your mouth cakes (those you referred to as been made overseas), tbh, I am unsure why this preference because there are loads of good cakes out there to try.

For me, when a cake is too hard, you would need to drink loads which takes away from the taste of your cake.
One exception though is the mud cake which is mostly associated with wedding cakes in Australia. This cake is so rich, moist and "chocolatey" that you only need a little bite otherwise, you are writing letter to heart attack.

@purplelips, that's a shame. Hopefully you get one soon.

Yes I made the cake after watching several videos of how to make a 3D minion cake. Thanks a lot.

Enjoy the rest of your day x

Hi all,
Nice work purplelips. How are you getting on now? Hope your fondant works are getting more and more easier by the minute.

I am a cake lover/baker who just ventured into the art of cake decorating and is journaling my cake journeys on http://ceescraftdesign.weebly.com/. I would like to feature other budding cake decorators who would like to participate in research about how they started, why they started and what they hope to get out of the art of cake decorating.
Attached is a recent photo of the latest cake I made (unfortunately I only make cakes mostly for people at home or when friends who know about my cake making ask as such it might be few and far in between)

Thanks and bless you.

Apologies if this is a cross posting or has offended anyone. That isn't what I was trying to put out.