Questions for Cake Decorators - When to Decorate?

Updated on August 23, 2011
J.B. asks from Boston, MA
5 answers

Fellow bakers I need some advice! We are celebrating birthdays for my two younger boys this Saturday. Naturally, I'm also in the final weeks of training for a race and am tutoring 3 nights this week after my day job, so I don't have a heck of a lot of time to decorate. Tonight I baked the cakes and made my buttercream frosting and those will chill until ready for use.

One cake will be a Tony Hawk theme - it'll be pretty easy because all I really have to do is carve a skate park, drape with fondant, work the Tony Hawk logo into the side and put some Tech Decks on it.

The other one will have two Bruins players on it. I plan on hand painting their portraits (from some on-line pics) with food coloring onto fondant. If I recall correctly, the best thinning medium for this is alcohol, right (like Vodka)? My dilemma is that this will take a long time to do and I don't want to leave it until Friday night, when I have a million other party things to do. I was thinking that maybe I could make a thick sheet of fondant and use that as my canvas to paint the guys tomorrow night and Thursday night, but how would I keep the fondant from drying out (without smearing the "paint")? And would there be an easy way to transfer that "canvas" onto the top of the frosted cake?

I have already ruled out a frozen buttercream transfer (too much detail and it kills my hands - much easier for me to paint) and edible images - if I wanted that, I would just buy a bakery cake. So is there anyway to do the painting separate from the cake or should I just frost and fondant it tomorrow night and start the portraits as soon as I can after that? I just don't want the cake to taste too stale on Saturday.

Sorry for all of the detail and thanks!

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So What Happened?

Thanks everyone great suggestions! I think I'm going to do the portraits separately and then lay them on the completed cake. You're right, there's really no easy way or reason to paint on the large fondant piece when I can just do individual pieces and attach them later. Thanks so much!

More Answers

J.X.

answers from Los Angeles on

I did my fondant cake 4 days in advance with store bought frosting underneath (i used store bought because I figures the hydrogenated fat would keep better than real butter). Painting fondant in advance poses some serious problems since you have to contour it onto the cake and smooth it out. You can however make fondant and keep it air tight unrefrigerated for a month. Your weakest link is the buttercream. My fondant remained playable for 4 days (and would have gone longer). Figure out how long you can have unrefrigerated butter cream and thats your answer. The frosting will keep the cake from getting stale as well as keep fondant soft. But as for us, we are in a heat wave, so all bets may be off if thats the case. None the less, I got away with 4 days and you probably can too. A ribbon to finish the base hides a multitude of imperfections.

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J.D.

answers from Dallas on

How about making pastillage tiles to paint on. Then you can paint and attach them whenever.

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R.J.

answers from Seattle on

Yup. Vodka. Goldschlagger can be fun, too, if you want some sparkle, but I prefer pixie dust and vodka for detail work because it doesn't get bumpy the way goldschlagger does.

Ha! You ruled out my first thought (rice paper transfer) :P

Second thought would be more of an applique technique + freezing

Cut out the silhouettes of the players from rolled fondant. Keep them individually in the freezer in ziplock boxes when you aren't working on them. Then, drape your cake with a single sheet of fondant, butter cream or wet the backs of your painted players, attach. Then use some Dragée or piped frosting to outline so the edges don't look stupid (for lack of a better term).

Gum paste, or modeling chocolate might work as well. But I've never done detail work on either. So I'm not sure.

I'd be REALLY worried about using your base fondant to paint ahead of time. But then, I've yet to lay fondant without it stretching. I would think it would warp the paintings. Possibly if you had cardboard under each face for the transport, then slid them out as you laid it down... but I'd still be worried. Plus, it will be a stone female dog to keep in the freezer or fridge wrapped up.

Some cupcake hockey pucks (or hostess ding dongs) might be pretty cool, too.

J.H.

answers from San Antonio on

If I were you, I would frost and fondant tomorrow night, keep it in the freezer and then start the portraits as soon as possible. If you can only do half of them tomorrow and then finish on Friday it'll be ok. The last showpiece cake I made I took three days to do it. (Four if you count the day I baked the cake.)

And yes, vodka is the best medium.

M.L.

answers from Houston on

I would go over to bakerella and ask her! Some pro is bound to give good advice.

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