MY JOURNEY AS A CAKE DECORATOR (part 10: things I've learn so far)

This post is dedicated to all Malaysian amateur cake decorators.

My friend Ida Mariam rang me up earlier today. She got super excited with my chickens and goats blog post. So we started talking and talking. What we talked about was how challenging it was to decorate a cake in this humidity i.e. Malaysia. She asked me how many trial and errors I had to go through in order for me to get my cakes right. I told her I'm still in that learning process. I was frustrated not being able to find any blogs from Malaysian or Asian cake decorators mention anything about their problems with the humidity. I mean they did, just not in detail. I had to learn the hard way. I don't go for any cake decorating courses , therefore i rely on the internet to get infos. I would like to share with all the cake enthusiasts out there on how to get your cake right in this type of climate. I mean this is how I did with mine, but if any of you have a better way to do it, do share!

1. After crumb coating the cake, i find that to put in the fridge is a no-no. This is because after taking it out, you need to leave it at room temperature and that takes at least 1 whole day. What happened to me was that I decorated my cake right after I took it out from the fridge and it start to sweat BIG TIME! So do NOT put the cake in the fridge. Leave it in an air-conditioning room. No sweat and it will go crust hard.
2. Because I'm leaving in this kind of humidity, cakes tend to dry up easily. This technique is super awesome! After baking the cakes you leave it to cool on the wire rack. Once that's done wrap in cling film (twice) and leave in the freezer overnight. When i did my 14" cake, I couldn't throw it in the freezer ( i have a small fridge). Another technique is to wrap the cake in cling film while its still warm. It will trap the moisture. There is this one tip i read from some forum. Spray light sugar water on the cake. I tried it before. Didn't turned out so good. The cakes become 'sticky'. 'Bleurgh'!
3. There are so many tips to keep your fondant pliable. Some say use icing sugar to knead it back to a pliable state. And others suggest to use cornstarch or Crisco (vegetable shortening). I tried all of 'em and I can confidently say that cornstarch and Crisco is the way to go. I mean you've got your fondant the right consistency and if you add more icing sugar it'll get even harder. So I don't quite understand why some people suggest using icing sugar at the 1st place.
4. I personally love using both Rolled Fondant and MMF (Marshmallow Fondant). But for figurines i prefer using Rolled Fondant.
5. I love using buttercream. But there are few things i learn while using this icing. If you use the same piping bag for more than i dunno 20 min. put it down! If you work too long on a design using the same piping bag, the heat from your hand + the humidity will literally melt the buttercream in the bag. And don't fill up your bag too full! Some suggest before working with your piping, drown your hands in icy cold water. Ok then!
6. When i made those cute chocolate bees for my friend's birthday cupcakes, let me tell ya! It wasn't easy!!!! Our weather temperature makes it really hard to work with melted chocolates. I had to work really fast. I haven't found any good tips. All i know you should melt chocolates using microwave rather than broiling it. There are forums that says it depends on the type of chocolate you use. I dunno.... I just haven't figure it out yet.

And there you go! This is what i learn so far. I might not be right with the techniques but hey! It works for me!