Whats in a cake? Well, we can always remember the smiles of those little children aahing and oohing as you put icing on the layers of a chocolate cake. Special occasions become even more memorable when there is a cake around. So it is important if its not created perfectly. So before you get into any cake problem, you must put a stop to possible big blunders in cake making.
1. Whats the best way to prevent frozen cakes from drying?
A good cake decorator employs advanced planning for all his cake projects. Yet there are still times when preplanning is not possible, like when your kid is demanding it the next day. The least time you may know it might be twelve hours, so at least you still have sufficient time to prepare everything.
To preplan your cake, you need to learn how to freeze cakes properly so you can just simply decorate them when the actual event comes.
But freezing may cause the cake to become dry and tasteless. Thus, it is vital that you store and wrap the cake without the icing.
Wrap the cake with two to three layers of plastic wrap and then one layer of aluminum foil to keep both air and moisture out. Properly wrapped and frozen, your cake will stay fresh for up to two months, even longer for heavier cakes such as pound or fruitcakes.
Take your cake from the freezer a day or two before you are planning to ice and decorate to permit it to completely melt.
Before you put the icing, defrost the cake to room temperature. A problem may occur while defrosting.
When the cake has icing, it will sweat during defrosting so its not advisable to place icing before freezing the cake.
In the end, the pattern and decoration will look messy and sloppy, which, of course, no one likes at all.
Thus, show the world that you are smart to the ways of cakes and make it a habit to bake your cakes in advance!
2. How do I stop filling from overflowing into the outer edges of the cake?
A lot of cake decorators are faced with a big problem when it comes to bulging, and so they are calling for help.
How do I prevent filling from overflowing into the sides of the cake?
Baking the cake before you actually start to put in the filling is a effective way to prevent that bulging problem. You can bake the cake at least a day before so that it will be more settled to hold heavy filling.You can also stop the flow by some tested procedures.
a.) Pipe (with a No.10 round tip or similar large size) an icing dam around the outer edge of each layer to contain the filling. The dam will serve as a barrier and will prevent the filling from escaping to the outer edge of the cake.
b.) You can also wrap the whole assembled cake with crumb coats.
c.) To make the crumb coats and the cake to become firm, place your cake in the freezer for at least two to three hours.
The icing dams and the crumb coats will make the whole cake sealed and can therefore support the filling.
3. I have a hard time with crumbs in my icing. What can I do?
Crumbs shouldnt be neglected. Even if they're so small, they can still annoy you by hurting the overall cake design.
Yes, it can really drive anyone over the edge. Luckily, there are answers we can take.
Have you ever heard of crumb coat? It is a layer of glaze or icing that is thin and that you can place in the assembled cake so the crumbs will stick in the surface of the cake.
To make a crumb coat, you mix icing with any liquid that is part of the recipe until they become thin. Then you cover the entire cake with this mixture.
If the cake dries up, the crumb sticks to the cakes top layer. To make everything quick, you can place the cake in a freezer. Though it will add extra time to the baking process, the benefit you get out of this is great.
Since youve been armed with these face-saving tips and techniques, youll be ready to take on any cake anytime, anywhere!