Cakes By Susanne

The Wedding Cake - Featured Attraction!
By Samantha Mitchell

As you shop around for wedding cake ideas, keep in mind that this special cake will take center stage (along with the bride and groom) at the wedding reception. Remember, the wedding cake is more than a beautiful treat to offer guests.

Your wedding cake, whether it be a lovely sheet cake or a five tiered extravagance, will be the first sight that catches the guests’ attention as they enter the room. It will have its own table, decorated to set the stage for this special confection and the most traditional of all wedding reception traditions, the cake cutting ceremony.

Just think, the first ceremony that the couple takes part in as now married husband and wife, is centered around the wedding cake! That special moment when the bride and groom slice that first piece of their wedding cake and then feed each other the first bite is often the most photographed moment at the reception.

Wedding Cake Choices

Your mother’s wedding cake was probably a traditional white, stacked or tiered confection covered with buttercream and icing flowers. My, how times have changed! Have you noticed the rich variety of wedding cakes?

If you are a cake decorator like me, you get to experience this variety in wedding cakes first hand, but if you are choosing a cake for your own wedding, you have some narrowing down to do. You can have your cake and eat it to - but you can have only one wedding cake!

Your cake can be created to compliment the wedding’s colors, the bridesmaid’s dresses, the bridal gown, or if the wedding has a theme (such as beach, Cinderella, Western, vintage, snowflake, etc.), the wedding cake may be designed to compliment that.

While considering all of this, keep in mind that the wedding cake, also called the bride’s cake, presents a powerful symbol of the bride’s style and personal taste, just as the groom’s cake is designed with his interests in mind. However, a growing tradition is for bride and groom’s common interests to be reflected in the wedding cake.

Choosing a Wedding Cake Designer

Choosing the professional who will bake, assemble and decorate your wedding cake is as important as choosing the wedding cake design. If a wedding planner is employed, this person will take care of this detail.

If you’re taking care of this, keep in mind that wedding cakes are often ordered at least six months in advance. In selecting a wedding cake designer, don’t be afraid to ask to see a portfolio.

You want a designer who will be able to create a cake that is right for you, who is able to help you plan the wedding cake of your dreams. And let’s not forget about taste. Ask for a sample of the flavor with the filling and icing you want. Allow time to shop around.

Baking your own Wedding Cake

Increasingly more couples are making their own wedding cakes! Baking your own wedding cake can be a fun and cost-cutting alternative, but don’t go it alone. A good, step-by-step video guide to cake decorating and tier cake assembly will be very helpful, as will some good cake making how-to’s.

Here’s a cake tip to get you started: Use fresh ingredients, and choose natural over artificial. For example the freshest of eggs and real butter (instead of margarine) does make a difference!

And if you are looking for a hard-to-find ingredient, such as clear vanilla flavoring, or a special colorant, you can purchase these online from cake decorating suppliers such as Wilton.

Don’t be shy about enlisting family and friends. Invite them over for refreshments and video lessons! Do some trial runs and have fun!

Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2
The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books
Sign up for for fantastic cake decorating tips, tricks and secrets of the pros at the site with all the Cake Decorating Answers

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3 Common Cake Decorating Mistakes - And Their Easy Solutions
By Samantha Mitchell

How To Manage Crumbs When Cake Decorating

Have you ever been decorating a cake and everything was going smoothly, then all of a sudden you notice crumbs in your beautiful icing mixture? When this happens you can ruin the whole effect of your cake. There is a way to combat the dreaded crumb problem when decorating your cake; the method is called a ‘crumb coat.’ A crumb coat is a thinner mixture of the exact same icing that you use on your cake. You can thin the mixture down with whatever liquid you have used to make your icing, for example water or milk. The icing has to be thinned down just enough to cover the surface of the cake with a thin layer.

Once you have applied a crumb coat to the surface of your cake you will then need to let it set awhile. Place your cake in the refrigerator and let it set overnight, or for at least an hour or two. Don’t be overly concerned if crumbs get into your crumb coat, as the crumbs will become “glued” into the surface of the cake. Once set the surface will be ready to decorate. By following these instructions you will win the war on crumbs!

Beating Bulging Cakes

Often people who decorate cakes are faced with the problem of their fillings bulging out of the sides of their cake. Luckily there is a remedy for this little cake decorating disaster. Below are some helpful tips to stop the dreaded cake bulge.

• By baking your cake in advance, for example the day before, you will firm the cake up, and give it time to settle down. Freshly baked cakes tend to be unstable and won’t hold fillings as well as settled cakes.

• Another procedure that can be used to stop fillings from overflowing or bulging is to use piped icing to create a dam. This will act as a barrier and keep your fillings from bulging out the sides of the cake.

• After you have created your icing dam, you can then cover the whole cake with a crumb coating; a thinned down version of the icing that you intend to use to decorate your cake with.

• Once you have done a crumb coating of the cake you will find that refrigerating the cake overnight, or for at least 2-3 hours will help the icing to firm up. This will reduce the likelihood of bulging also.

• Once the cake has had time to firm up in the fridge, the dams that you put in place and the crumb coat will stop the cake from bulging.

Follow these steps and you’ll be well on your way to having beautiful bulge-free cakes!

Freezing Cakes To Save Time

Finding the free time to prepare a specialty cake can be a frustrating task. Thankfully, the practice of freezing cakes has become an invaluable tool for the novice and professional alike. Just think, you can have a cake baked and ready for decoration weeks before the special occasion.

Some cake makers shy away from freezing cakes due to the fear that their creation might dry out. If the proper method is not utilized, that fear will be justified. The key lies in how you wrap the cake. It’s also important to postpone the decorating process until the cake has fully defrosted. Icing tends to “sweat” and become gooey when a cake is left out to defrost. Air and moisture will eventually ruin a cake. To keep the air out, wrap three layers of sturdy cling wrap around the cake. Then just prior to freezing, wrap one layer of aluminum foil over the cling wrap. This storage method helps keep the moisture and flavor from escaping.

Allow the cake to slowly defrost at room temperature for 1-2 days before the event. Do not decorate the cake until it has completely thawed. By following this method cake decorating should be easier and quicker, especially if you are put on the spot to make and decorate a cake at the last minute.

Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2
The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books
For more fantastic cake decorating tips, tricks and secrets
of the pros, visit the Cake Answers site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Samantha_Mitchell

By Samantha Mitchell

In the world of cake decorating, there is probably no more misunderstood and misused term than “Sugarcraft.”

Is sugarcraft just another word for icing?

Is it a type of cake decoration?

If you troll through the countless threads appearing on cake decorating forums, sugarcraft questions appear frequently.

Quite simply, sugarcraft is an intricate form of cake decorating that utilizes three-dimensional modeling. The art of sugarcraft stands in sharp contrast to more basic styles of decoration.

A basic design often employs a series of icing dots that form an overall pattern, whereas the sugarcraft style takes the extra step of modeling figures onto the cake. Several professional cake decorators compare sugarcraft to the art of sculpting.

Sugarcraft uses a type of icing dough known as rolled fondant. In relation to cake decorating and sugarcraft, fondant is a type of icing that can be used both for covering cakes and for making icing decorations. It is manipulated much in the same way as play-dough.

Sugarcraft decorators will roll fondant into sheets and drape over cakes or cut and shape to make icing decorations such as ribbons, flowers, and bows. Any decent sugarcraft manual worth its weight in icing will suggest preparing fondant in advance and storing it within an airtight container in the refrigerator.

When preparing a rolled fondant for sugarcraft decorating, it is best to avoid using any liquid food coloring. Liquid food coloring can turn fondant into a runny mess, so it is best to use coloring paste.

The learning curve for the sugarcraft decorating style can be steep and frustrating. Unlike the popular “decorate-by-number” style that is built around an easy-to-follow pattern, sugarcraft takes visual guidance and months of practice.

For those serious about learning the art of sugarcraft, established decorators often suggest investing in a step-by-step cake decorating video/DVD or signing up for a class specializing in the sugarcraft method.

Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2
The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books

To discover the wonderful world of cake decorating, sign up for your free cake decorating video tips at Cake Decorating Made Easy

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Samantha_Mitchell

Choosing a Theme for Your Cake

You don’t have to be an expert cake decorator in order to make great looking birthday cakes. Here are some decorating ideas to help you to make your cakes extra special that do not require professional cake decorating skills.

If the cake is for an adult, what are the likes, hobbies or interests of the birthday person? For example, if the person likes to fish, make a fishing theme cake by covering the top of the cake with aqua blue colored frosting. Pull the frosting upward to form peaks to look like waves in the water.  Then add a toy boat with fishing gear.  If the person likes to golf, make a golf theme cake by frosting the cake with green frosting to look like a putting green. Make a flag pole with a lollipop stick and cut a flag out of construction paper.
 
If you are making a cake for a child, have it match the theme of the party or the child’s favorite character, interest or even sport.  I’ve done many pool party theme cakes by using the same aqua colored frosting technique described above, then add some chewy life savers to represent floating tubes and pipe little people laying on the tubes with flesh colored frosting.  This requires a little more skill….hope you’re up to the challenge! 

Cake toppers are available in many different varieties, to make your job much easier.  If you can’t find a cake topper to match your theme, try the miniature section of any hobby or craft store.  I’ve found items such as miniature fishing rod and net, a miniature golf bag and golf clubs, a miniature guitar, even magazines and flip flops for a beach theme cake.  The possibilities are endless!

You get the idea; just try to make the cake special for the birthday person by choosing a theme according to their hobbies or interests. I hope I’ve sparked your interest for unique cake decorating ideas that will make the next cake that you make extra special.

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