Large Cake Layers Trick
A few weeks back I had the top layer of a 12" square cake break in half on me as I was placing it over the bottom layer. I used it anyway and it came out fine (Baseball diamond cake), but it freaked me out a little bit as I knew I had a 16" square cake coming up (still working on it today), and I was afraid it would happen again. It's ALWAYS tricky to get large layers stacked and even on the edges and I was trying to figure out how I could do it without breakage.
EPIPHANY!!
After baking the cakes I chilled them both overnight and then leveled them. I put what would be the bottom layer back in the refrigerator and the top layer in the freezer!! Today when I went to decorate, I dammed and filled the bottom layer, easily lifted and positioned the frozen layer and then laid it on top. VOILA!! I let the cake come to room temp while I made more frosting and then crumb coated it. Perfection!
Just had to share!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by June Kowalczyk on
-
Great Eileen
But what about if your cakes are covered in fondant?????
You know my cake club leader ALWAYS refridgerates her fondant cake, and never has had a problem. The only fridge she says you can't use is a beer fridge. For some reason, there is too much condensation in them and it will make your fondant soft. She regularly crumb coats, ices, and covers her cakes in fondant & pops them into the fridge to "set". I have a meeting this Monday, and I am going to pick her brains and find out exactly how she does it. :o)
-
Permalink Reply by Patricia Soto on
-
Wow I am glad you posted this.. I am going to be doing a 16 inch next week. I was thinking of the rainbow cakes. They scare me alot becuase they are only 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. I will try your way and hope for the best. Again thank you.
-
Permalink Reply by Eileen S on
-
June - this is before you even add frosting or fondant. I'm talking about stacking the two layers together to make one tier (does that make sense?) I froze the "naked" cake layer so I could stack it on top of the bottom cake layer to make one tier.
On another note, though, I do refrigerate my fondant-covered cakes because I usually use a cream-based filling. I have found that home-made marshmallow fondant does not sweat as badly as store-bought fondant unless it is immensely hot and humid in your kitchen. I have central air, so when it's hot I try and maintain my house at 72° and I rarely have issues.
June Kowalczyk said:Great Eileen
But what about if your cakes are covered in fondant?????
You know my cake club leader ALWAYS refridgerates her fondant cake, and never has had a problem. The only fridge she says you can't use is a beer fridge. For some reason, there is too much condensation in them and it will make your fondant soft. She regularly crumb coats, ices, and covers her cakes in fondant & pops them into the fridge to "set". I have a meeting this Monday, and I am going to pick her brains and find out exactly how she does it. :o)
-
-
With such a thin layer you'll still need to be gentle with it, but the freezing should work. Good luck!!
Patricia Soto said:Wow I am glad you posted this.. I am going to be doing a 16 inch next week. I was thinking of the rainbow cakes. They scare me alot becuase they are only 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. I will try your way and hope for the best. Again thank you.
-
-
AhNow I understand Eileen. Yes stacking to make one large tier. I get it. I haven't had too many occasions to do that. But it makes perfect sense to freeze first, then stack. That would totally elimanate a disasterous break. Then once it reached room temp....away you go. Something to file away for future reference. You never know when you will need this info. I wish when I 1st came on this site, and read info like this, that I had printed it out and created a "cake file" of sorts. Some tips/info I learned/read, I don't remember where on the site it was without a lengthy search. Think I will start with yours. Call it my Cake Knowledge Book!!!!
Eileen S said:June - this is before you even add frosting or fondant. I'm talking about stacking the two layers together to make one tier (does that make sense?) I froze the "naked" cake layer so I could stack it on top of the bottom cake layer to make one tier.
On another note, though, I do refrigerate my fondant-covered cakes because I usually use a cream-based filling. I have found that home-made marshmallow fondant does not sweat as badly as store-bought fondant unless it is immensely hot and humid in your kitchen. I have central air, so when it's hot I try and maintain my house at 72° and I rarely have issues.
June Kowalczyk said:Great Eileen
But what about if your cakes are covered in fondant?????
You know my cake club leader ALWAYS refridgerates her fondant cake, and never has had a problem. The only fridge she says you can't use is a beer fridge. For some reason, there is too much condensation in them and it will make your fondant soft. She regularly crumb coats, ices, and covers her cakes in fondant & pops them into the fridge to "set". I have a meeting this Monday, and I am going to pick her brains and find out exactly how she does it. :o)
-
Permalink Reply by Katy Nott on
-
June - great minds think alike! I was trying to find a tip the other day that I remembered seeing on the site and couldn't find it for the life of me. So I thought I really should start to compile some sort of dossier. I'm very computer literate, so it would take no effort at all to create a folder on my desk top and index it. Must get around to that.........................
-
-
Yes Katy
Those are the magical words....getting around to it
-
Permalink Reply by suziq auzzi on
-
Thoughts on refridgerating sugarpaste [aka rolled fondant aka plastic icing aka fondant icing, depending on your country] ..
When I [in AU] started decorating over thirty years ago, no-one refridgerated sugarpasted cake. A lot of us still don't.
Today:
1. there are numerous brands of icing available that are made from numerous variations of sugarpaste. The old homemade recipes are still used, but there are a multitude of tweaks to those, as well as full variations.
2. domestic refridgeration has improved and changed significantly from previous decades, with frost-free, low condensation and low humidity becoming common features
3. there are new and improved ingredients as food dyes, flavours etc available to the cake decorator
4. new techniques and new ideas are constantly becoming available to decorators....
Choosing whether or not to refridgerate your sugarpasted cakes involves so many variables: the recipe you use and it's the ingredients, or the type of sugarpaste: your refridgerator and what it is capable of..: and even the environment in your kitchen ..
I'm afraid that no-one can tell you that it's okay for you to refridgerate, you have to decide for your self ...
Experiment is the only way to know your own circumstances ...
She regularly crumb coats, ices, and covers her cakes in fondant & pops them into the fridge to "set".
Sugarpaste "sets" in any environment once it has been applied. Making it cold does nothing .. putting it in a moist environment makes it soggy as it is hygroscopic ... heating it does nothing [unless you nuke it in the microwave, and then you are melting it] ... the surface of the cake covering dries due to air contact ... Blowing on the surface with a fan [or such] may speed it along slightly, but then you run the risk of crazing or outright cracking ...
.
Popular Cake Searches
© 2024 Created by Theresa Happe.
Powered by
