Apricot Glaze
1/2 cup apricot jam and 1 tbsp. water
Heat the apricot jam in a pan with the water, then rub through a sieve to remove any lumps. Return tot the pan and heat until boiling before brushing carefully over the cake.
Coloring Black Icing
Here is some good advice when working with black icing colors.
I always add Hersey's Cocoa powder to any icing before going black. You can not get a ture shade of black from a white icing. This may answer that question of black icing colors being ashy or charcoal.
Try working with paste color. Example, Wilton and CK (Country Kitchen) are two companies that make excellent products for coloring icing.
Click Here for the Wilton Icing Colors
These colors will not change the consistence of your icing. They are also designed to be more concentrated. When working with rolled fondant, liquid food color will make the fondant very sticky and hard to work with. When working with royal icing liquid food color will thin the icing and your designs will not keep their shape.
I have found working with intense buttercream icing colors like black or vibrant colors like reds, blues, greens, etc. they do stain people's mouths. Rolled fondant tends to not stain when they eat it. This may be for two reasons. First, most people don't eat rolled fondant. They simply peel it off and there is white buttercream under the fondant. The second reason is fondant holds the color in the icing. It may be the gelatin in the fondant that causes this. You can eat a slice or two of cake covered in the black fondant and not end up with a colored mouth.
Quick Easy CHEAP Cake Release
1 cup shortening
3/4 cup oil
1 cup flour
Mix well, store in an airtight container. When you go to use it simply use a pastry brush and brush it into your pan like you would if you were greesing it and then flouring. Then add your cake mix and bake. No need to flour your pan the flour is in the mix.
Does NOT need to be refridgerated.
Caramelizing Nuts
Recipe
6 Tbs Superfine Sugar
6 Tbs Water
Nuts (you can roast slightly in the oven if you would like additional taste)
In a heavy pan dissolve sugar and water over low heat. Continue to heat until mixture starts to change color (this is when it becomes carmelized). Toss in the nuts, making sure they are all covered. Remove from heat and using a slotted spoon spread nuts on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper to dry. ENJOY!
Creating Chocolate Leaves for your Cake...
It is best to use real leaves that have a shiny surface on them. Clean and dry your leaves first.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler (sometimes you can use a microwave - but be very careful not to burn the chocolate).
Place a piece of wax paper down and your leaf on the paper - then using a spoon carefully coat the leaf with the chocolate. Let cool completely and gently peel off the leaf.
Creating a Chocolate Sunflower
(can be done with royal icing too - click here for Royal Icing Recipe)
1. Photocopy the template to the desired size. Tape the template on a sheet pan or flat surface. cover the template with parchment paper.
2. Melt 1/2 cup of ark chocolate and 2 cups of white chocolate.
3. Divide the white chocolate among 5 bowls (bowls 1 and 2 should have slightly more chocolate than bowls 3, 4 and 5). Tint the two fuller bowls yellow and orange and, using the color chart below tint the remaning three red-orange, autumn, green and burnt sienna. Pour the dark chocolate and the colored chocolates into 6 separate pastry cones or you can use baggies and nip a hole in one corner.
How To Choose the Right Icing
Proper consistency is the key to making decorating icing that will shape the petals of a flower, show the details of a border or cover the surface of a cake. It's important that you use the recommended icing and consistency for any technique. As a general rule, flowers require a stiff icing consistency, borders a medium-stiff consistency and writing or leaves a slightly thinned consistency.
Icing that can peak to an inch or more is stiff, less than that is medium consistency. Icing that flows easily from a tip is a thin consistency. Every Wilton icing recipe is tested for taste and other important qualities. This chart will tell you each recipe's qualities, so you can determine what is the right one for your cake.
Here is how to make a Clown Fish Cake:
Supplies:
First and Ten Wilton Football pan
2 qty tip #18, each on a decorator bag
1 tip #3 on a decorator bag
1 boxed cake mix, plus ingredients for cake mix
2 cups orange med. buttercream
2 cups white med. buttercream
1 cup black piping gel or thin buttercream
13" x 15" cake board covered with foil
Bake football cake following the baking instructions with the pan.
Once the cake has cooled place it on the covered cake board this will now become the fish's body. Use a little icing on the board to keep the cake for moving.
Outline on the cake board in black the top, bottom fin and the tail. Outline in black one large stripe in the middle of the body, a smaller stripe towards the back of the body and one on the tail.
Smooth the white icing in the spot for the eye. Outline the eye in black and add a black dot for the pulp.
Using tip #18 pipe stars in white to fill in the stripes.
Using tip #18 pipe orange stars to fill in the rest of the body. Pipe a line with tip #18 in orange for the fins and tail.
If needed go back over some parts of the outline in black again.
Wilton's Icing Color Chart
When mixing color always mix a small amount of color to experiment. Start with base color and then add very small amounts of secondary color. Be sure to mix enough color for the cakes to be decorated as it is difficult to match an exact color.
ANTIQUE GOLD Add just an extremely small touch of Leaf Green to Golden Yellow
AQUA Sky Blue and Leaf Green
AVOCADO Use Moss Green color
BLACK Our paste color or Royal Blue, Christmas Red, Orange and Lemon
CHARTREUSE 9 parts Lemon Yellow, 1 part Leaf Green
CORAL Creamy peach and a touch of pink or orange and a touch of pink.
FLESH Add just an extremely small touch of Copper to white icing. Ivory can also be used. Light pink with a small amount of brown.
GRAY Add just a touch of Black to white icing.
HUNTER GREEN Kelly Green and a touch of Black
JADE Leaf green, Royal Blue and a touch of Black
LAVENDER Pink and Violet
MARIGOLD Lemon Yellow and Orange
MAROON Burgundy and Red Red
MAUVE Touch of Burgundy with very little Black.
MISTY GREEN Leaf Green, Royal Blue and a touch of Black
MOSS GREEN Our paste color or Violet and Lemon Yellow
MULBERRY Mix Rose with a touch of Royal Blue.
NAVY BLUE Royal Blue and Black
PERIWINKLE Royal Blue and Violet
PLUM Use violet with a touch of Christmas red.
RASPBERRY Pink and Red Red
RUST Orange, Red Red and Brown
SILVER We do not advise attempting to simulate silver color in icing. Instead, add silver leaves or other silver accessories to the cake.
TEAL Use teal paste color or Lemon Yellow and Sky Blue
TURQUOISE Sky Blue and Lemon Yellow
WARM GOLD Use Golden Yellow with just a touch of brown
Cake Decorating - Cut-Up Cake Tips
Before You Decorate
If Possible, bake the cake the day before you plant to cut and decorate it. A freshly baked cake can be difficult to work with. If you have to make the cake the same day as you are going to decorate it, place the cooled cake in the freezer for 30 to 45 minutes so it won't be too tender to work with. Freezing the cake before cutting allows you to get the cleanest edges and least amount of crumbs.
Cut the cakes using a long serrated knife in a sawing motion.
Slice the rounded top off of your cake so that it is flat. If you cake is relatively flat, invert the cake and frost the flatter base of the cake.
Brush off all loose crumbs with a soft pastry brush or gently with your hand before you begin to frost.
Making Frosting Clowns
Using stiff royal icing and tip open star or shell tip - hold bag at a 90° angle and pipe swirl motion body for each clown. Then insert small derby clown heads and let dry. Pipe arms and legs into the position you want them in and add palm of hand. Top with lollipop stick cut to size and pipe on fingers and thumb with writing tip.
Making Star & Swirl Flowers
Use medium consistency frosting for both flowers and thin consistency for the centers.
Star Flower
Using a drop flower tip hold the bag straight up with the end of the drop flower tip just touching the surface of your cake or parchment paper (if you are going to make a lot and let them dry to use now or at a later date).
Squeeze, letting the icing build up to make the flower. Stop squeezing, then lift tip away straight up.
Swirl Flower
Use the same method as described above only when squeezing to make the flower your wrist is twisting as you make it giving the petals a natural looking curve. You will turn your hand/wrist as you squeeze then stop squeezing and turning and lift the tip up away from the flower.
Deciding on the Flavor of Your Next Cake?
DECORATED BIRTHDAY CAKES and POPULAR CHARACTERS
These cakes are well suited to the traditional favorites...simple white, super-moist chocolate, buttery yellow, yummy marble, delicious carrot cake and chocolate mayonnaise cake. If you are making a cut-up cake, Pound cake is denser and works best.
WEDDING and SHOWER CAKES
There are a multitude of choices. In addition to white, chocolate, yellow, marble and carrot cake, consider almond, lemon, black forest, orange-chocolate, mocha or spice cake paired with delicious fillings like vanilla or chocolate pastry
cream.
SPECIAL CREATIONS
Choose to make your statement not with a decorating theme, but with ultimate taste sensations, such as:
Death By Chocolate
Chocolate lovers...this one's for you! Make four layers of moist and decadent chocolate cake, covered in chocolate frosting, adorned with chocolate fudge brownie pieces and topped with chocolate curls.
Banana Split Ice Cream Cake
You'll go bananas for this cool treat! Layers of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream topped with bananas, whipped cream, peanuts and cherries, accompanied by pineapple and strawberry sauces to serve on the side.
Colossal Chocolate Mousse Cake
Creamy chocolate mousse sandwiched between four layers of moist chocolate cake, iced with chocolate frosting and topped with chocolate mousse rosettes.
Old Fashioned Carrot Cake
A super moist carrot cake with golden and dark raisins, slathered in rich, cream cheese frosting and coated in crushed nuts.
Traditional Strawberry Shortcake
Bite into a taste of summer! Fresh, ripe strawberries, sweetened whipped cream and soft, home-made shortcake, all piled high and ready to dig into.
Lemon Chiffon Cake
Just the right mixture of tart and sweet, this cake is fresh and light! Lemon filling is sandwiched between multiple layers of
angel food cake and covered with whipped cream frosting. Spirals of lemon zest provide the finishing touch, or add candied lemon for a more dramatic effect.
Coconut Cream Cake
Light and luscious! Coconut pastry cream sandwiched between four layers of white cake, delicately frosted and covered in sweetened, flaked coconut, made
irresistible with a garnish of chocolate covered coconut fingers and a drizzle of chocolate sauce on the side.
Create Your Own Edible Sugar Decorations
Using any candy makers mold you can create your own edible sugar decorations for cakes, cookies or cupcakes.
Recipe
2 cups Granulated sugar
4 tsp Water
1/4 tsp Meringue powder
Food coloring (optional)
Mix by hand, kneading for about 1 minute until sugar is moistened and packs like wet sand. Keep mixture covered with a damp cloth. Add 1/4 tsp meringue powder for strength.
To tint, substitute part liquid food color for water in recipe. Tinted sugar makes the pretties molded decorations.
To make sugar molds, pack the sugar mixture into mold as firmly as possible. To make multicolored mold, start with features and press the desired tinted sugars into mold. When making more than 4 sugar decorations from the same mold, dust mold with cornstarch to prevent sticking. Scrape off excess sugar mixture with a spatula, so top is even with edge of mold. Unmold sugar at once by placing cardboard over mold. Turn mold and cardboard upside down and lift mold off releasing sugar shape. Let dry 5 hours or in 200 degree oven for 5-10 min.
If using a large sugar mold you can decorate with royal icing using your favorite decorator tips.
Cakes for Weddings
What's In...
What's Out!
Copyrighted by Mary Ann Ross, October 2004
When I got married 42 years ago, it was traditional to have a round white frosted cake with a bride and groom figurine on top. Because it was customary, no one deviated, perhaps never even thought about being daring and doing something different. As it was for my mother's wedding and as it was for both my daughters weddings, the round white cake was topped with bride and groom figures.
But not so today.
Here is what's happening in the world of wedding cakes today.
While round cakes are still favored, many couples are selecting square, heart-shaped or octagon shapes.
Cake tiers are now 'stacked' on top of one another with fillings between them -- no longer are the Grecian shaped tiers used to separate the layers. This goes back to the Pioneering days in the United States when neighbors each brought a round cake and when they arrived, their cake was stacked on top of those already there. Stacks could reach up to 9 cakes without falling over and they were not frosted, just plain cakes.
White and chocolate cake were the favorites flavors with a pudding type filling but now couples want a cake to be remembered, such as lemon cake with fresh fruit in jelly fillings or chocolate cake with cappuccino custard filling. Some couples have even chosen fruitcake for December weddings.
Fondant is the most popular because it drapes over the cake and is completely smooth and beautiful looking, like satin. Both professional and home cake decorators like working with fondant because it is like playing with kid's clay but it is edible.
Traditionally years ago, cakes were frosted and decorated completely in white frosting with white roses. Now couples are chosing bright colors to match their wedding colors.
Instead of the traditional bride and groom figures on top of the cake, you'll find fresh edible flowers, fruit (such as clusters of grapes), real ribbons and, bows (although they are easily created from fondant and do not change color or texture like real ribbon does -- if using real ribbon, the strips should be backed in cardstock or similar material so that the ribbon does not touch the frosting), fondant-created character decorations.
Sugar Paste Icing
Although time consuming to make... it is an item you can make and store in your refrigerator for several months and use it as needed!
1 lb powdered sugar
5 oz. Water
1/2 tsp of your favorite extract flavoring
Put the powdered sugar, water and extract into a heavy pan and heat on low, stirring continuously, until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil until your candy thermometer reaches 240ºF. Pour the hot syrup onto a cold wet working surface or marble board and let it cool slightly. Lift the edges of the syrup with a metal spatula and fold towards the center. Continue working around the syrup until the syrup forms a dense mass. Now it should be cool enough to work by hand. Knead like you would bread dough until you have a smooth white paste. Wrap and let cool completely before storing in the fridge. To use... Break off a piece in the size you need and place it in a bowl over a pan of hot water and heat gently until the mixture is the consistency of a thick cream. You may need to add some water or more flavoring.
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