My Journey as a Cake Decorator (Part 1: My 1st Real Cake Decor)

I've recently ventured into cake decorating. Back in my A-level days, I was very active in my art class. Can’t wait to start a new project.. can’t wait to go in the class and continue doing a project... and especially I can’t wait to see the end results of my projects. Since then I haven’t been doing anything to stimulate my artistic side of my brain, so I figured, rather than just baking cakes why not decorating it too? Never really dwell into the matter. I mean you need to be creative to do this. It need to look beautiful, refreshing and creative (one of a kind). I love baking + I love creating things...... so I said to myself.... DO IT! And that’s where it all started.

I begin with doing some research coz you know .... you need to know what you are getting yourself into. Internet is the best way to look for ideas, inspiration, read other cake decorators blog, and watch YouTube for techniques in cake decorating.... good stuff! I went to bookstores and got myself some really good books such as ‘The Whimsical Bakehouse’. Love it! The next thing I did, I got myself a sketch book. It’s important for me to write any kind of progress, the results and sketching out ideas for my projects. It helps me to record the errors I’ve done, the recipes I use and the designs I made.

Next.................. SHOPPING! My usual bake shop is the one near my house. But they were lacking in the cake decorating department. I couldn’t seem to find the equipments or decorating tools I need. So went back to the Internet and started looking for shops that specialises and sells this stuff and WA-LA! There’s a shop that sells Wilton’s product and it’s not that far. Bought the necessary items for beginners, was very tempted to buy other stuff but kept telling myself “DON’T GO CRAZY!”

1^st Project: Fondant cake.

FONDANT! FONDANT! FONDANT! Not an easy thing to make. It took me 3 tries to finally get it right!! GOD! I plan to do a very very very easy design using circles and swirls. I use the recipe from ‘The Whimsical Bakehouse’ - The Pinwheel cake. I followed the instructions in assembling the cake from levelling it, crumbing and frosting. Everything looked good.

Now after I made the fondant, I created my 1^st error as a beginner - After frosting I put the cake in the fridge so it will harden. When I took it out, I straight away placed the roll-fondant on the cake without waiting for it to set back at room temperature. BIG BIG MISTAKE! Once I completed the decoration, the fondant started to separate from the side of the cake and it became sticky. AARRGHHHHHHHH! I tried to stick it back by pressing it lightly but it got worse. So I left it as it is. After leaving it overnight on the table, I realise the next day the fondant has harden. Search in the internet and what I found out was the same as my assumption – Need to let the cake set back at room temperature before placing the fondant. So there! 1^st lesson!

you can see that the fondant is slightly wet! Arrgh! Despite the error, the cake was delicious!