I'm interested in going beyond just spreading icing on
my cakes. I'd like to learn about decorating them.
I've spent about an hour looking at choices on Amazon,
and I went ahead and ordered TWO-HOUR PARTY CAKES by
Carol Deacon, but I would like to know if you have
any experience with them and if you can recommend any.

I am also interested in some basic pointers on the
various decoration materials. I get the impression
that there are at least a couple major mediums, stan-
dard icing and fondants. Does that sound right? So
the ones that talk about "sugar" decoration are tar-
geting icing, right? And fondant is usually rolled
out and put on. Is that correct? I could be totally
wrong here. Any enlightenment would be appreciated.
Thank you, Michael

On 27 Dec 2004 17:00:08 -0800, "Michael" > wrote:

>I'm interested in going beyond just spreading icing on
>my cakes. I'd like to learn about decorating them.

When I was decorating cakes, I used Wilton books and supplies.

Carol
--
"Years ago my mother used to say to me... She'd say,
'In this world Elwood, you must be oh-so smart or oh-so pleasant.'
Well, for years I was smart.... I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."

*James Stewart* in the 1950 movie, _Harvey_

"Michael" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> I'm interested in going beyond just spreading icing on
> my cakes. I'd like to learn about decorating them.
> I've spent about an hour looking at choices on Amazon,
> and I went ahead and ordered TWO-HOUR PARTY CAKES by
> Carol Deacon, but I would like to know if you have
> any experience with them and if you can recommend any.
>
> I am also interested in some basic pointers on the
> various decoration materials. I get the impression
> that there are at least a couple major mediums, stan-
> dard icing and fondants. Does that sound right? So
> the ones that talk about "sugar" decoration are tar-
> geting icing, right? And fondant is usually rolled
> out and put on. Is that correct? I could be totally
> wrong here. Any enlightenment would be appreciated.
> Thank you, Michael
>

Colette Peters has a few books that have buttercream and fondant cakes. Her
latest book is all about fondant covered cakes. There are a lot of English
decorators that have published books that cover fondant cakes and gumpaste
flowers. If you liked the Carol Deacon books, you'll probably also like
books by Debbie Brown. If you are wanting to go beyond covering a cake in
fondant and learn gumpaste flower making, there are several authors that I
like. Look for books by Alan Dunn, Nicholas Lodge, Lindy Smith, Tombi Peck
and Toba Garrett. I could go on.. there are so many

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by decoration materials, do you mean
tools? If so, to cover a cake in fondant you'll need 2 fondant smoothers,
something to roll the fondant out on, a rolling pin, and a sharp knife or
scissors. Anything beyond covering a cake will need specialty tools such as
cutters, ball tools and petal pads for gumpaste flowers and a couple
modeling tools if you want to do some hand modeling. Also, people have used
regular chocolate molds to mold fondant or gumpaste pieces to put on the
cake.

Most of the icings/sugar decorations used on fondant cakes are royal icing,
rolled fondant and gumpaste. Buttercream is rarely used on fondant cakes but
it can be used. Yes, rolled fondant is rolled out and smoothed over the
cake. Many people don't like the taste or texture of fondant but over the
past few years people have tweaked their own recipes and a couple of
companies have come out with better RTU(Ready To Use) Fondants. ChocoPan is
one of them, their product tastes great and is easier to use than the
traditional rolled fondant. I prefer to make my own.


I think Wilton's latest yearbook has a lot more on fondant covered cakes
than usual, I'm not 100% sure since I haven't bought a Wilton yearbook for a
couple of years. I do know that Wilton has come out with a new line of
colored fondant and they have a new, larger size of their regular RTU
Fondant.

If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer them if I can. You
can email me at d dot neighoff at verizon dot net
Good luck on your new cake adventure.

-d

Thank you for your comments, Carol and d. I don't think I've seen
the Wilton books. A yearbook? So a different one comes out every
year. At Borders today I bought The Essential Cake Decorating
Guide, published by Thunder Bay Press in San Diego. If I like
the Deacon book that I ordered from Amazon, I'll look into Debbie
Brown's books.

I'm just starting to understand the many materials like buttercream,
fondant, sugarpaste, and marzipano. And then there's modelling
paste, modelling chocolate, flower paste, royal icing, glace icing,
ganache, and pastillage! Arghh! Haha. I've got a lot to learn.

One of the disappointing things I'm beginning to discern is that
decoration oftentimes amounts to a trade-off on taste. Sad.

Michael

Thank you for your comments, Carol and d. I don't think I've seen
the Wilton books. A yearbook? So a different one comes out every
year. At Borders today I bought The Essential Cake Decorating
Guide, published by Thunder Bay Press in San Diego. If I like
the Deacon book that I ordered from Amazon, I'll look into Debbie
Brown's books.

I'm just starting to understand the many materials like buttercream,
fondant, sugarpaste, and marzipano. And then there's modelling
paste, modelling chocolate, flower paste, royal icing, glace icing,
ganache, and pastillage! Arghh! Haha. I've got a lot to learn.

One of the disappointing things I'm beginning to discern is that
decoration oftentimes amounts to a trade-off on taste. Sad.

Michael