Where are you?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tanya on March 11, 2010 at 7:56am

Hi Rachel, how did you get on?

Rachel Graham said:

Hi all,

Sorry I've not been around too much for the past few weeks, work hectic and I have my driving test today!! I'm nervous as anything so I'm just trying to keep busy! Got an hour until my instructor picks me up for the pre-test drive around!

Fingers crossed! How are you all?

Rachel x

Permalink Reply by Rachel Graham on March 11, 2010 at 8:42am

woo hooo, I passed! Thought I didn't going round though! 6 minor faults! I'm so glad to have passed before my 30th Birthday!!

Tanya said:

Hi Rachel, how did you get on?

Rachel Graham said:

Hi all,

Sorry I've not been around too much for the past few weeks, work hectic and I have my driving test today!! I'm nervous as anything so I'm just trying to keep busy! Got an hour until my instructor picks me up for the pre-test drive around!

Fingers crossed! How are you all?

Rachel x

Permalink Reply by Tanya on March 11, 2010 at 8:53am

Rachel!!!! fantastic and well done, I think my driving test was one of the most nerve wracking moments of my life!!! I cried when I was told I had passed I was such a heap!

Rachel Graham said:

woo hooo, I passed! Thought I didn't going round though! 6 minor faults! I'm so glad to have passed before my 30th Birthday!!

Tanya said:

Hi Rachel, how did you get on?

Rachel Graham said:

Hi all,

Sorry I've not been around too much for the past few weeks, work hectic and I have my driving test today!! I'm nervous as anything so I'm just trying to keep busy! Got an hour until my instructor picks me up for the pre-test drive around!

Fingers crossed! How are you all?

Rachel x

Permalink Reply by Rachel Graham on March 11, 2010 at 9:10am

lol, its such a relief! After doing the first maneovre, the examiner said that I could breathe if I wanted! I didn't realise I was holding my breathe the whole way round! It was good that I had such a light hearted examiner, he made small talk and jokes like if I turned blue he'll give me a nudge! I was so unbelieveably nervous! I now have freedom!

Permalink Reply by Ann Simerson Williams on March 11, 2010 at 9:44am

Hi Lilly,
I believe gum paste and flower paste to be interchangeable. The flower paste that I've used here (Pillar Products Instant) contains CMC, gum arabic and xanthan gum. I used a few different gum pastes in the states, and they contained either gum arabic or gum tragacanth. I didn't notice a big difference between them, or between them and the flower paste I've used here. That said, I must admit that my flower skills are limited and I have only used the paste to make roses, carnations and filler flowers. It is not my strength. (There is a story here about a really challenging teacher and a student (me) who just stopped going to class because I was going crazy... but that's another thread!)

Gum paste is expensive in the states too; although I do think the price is a bit higher here, even taking the exchange rates into account. An American friend of mine has been taking a sugar flowers course down by New Market and has been making her own paste from the Nicholas Lodge recipe. She thinks it's great and it freezes well, so she doesn't waste it. And of course, it's much, much cheaper and it's made of ingredients that are readily available in both countries.

I do like to model and use sugarpaste with CMC/Tylo added. I have also modeled with marzipan with CMC added. When I've made bigger things, or things that had to be a bit sturdier, I've used a bit more CMC in the paste. In the states Wilton fondant is very inexpensive, and I know a lot of people use it for modeling, keeping the better tasting and more expensive, stuff for covering cakes (Wilton truly tastes horrible.) Others mix sugarpaste and flower paste 50/50 for their models. I have tried to model with marshmallow fondant with CMC, but wasn't very successful... it just stayed too soft no matter what I did.

Do you have and models in the works?
Ann




Lilly Manning said:

Hi Ann, there's something you might be able to help me out with! From what I've been able to work out, American Gumpaste is the equivalent of our Flowerpaste and I wondered if you knew how they compare? I often see quite large figures made from Gumpaste and think they'd be really expensive to make from Flowerpaste so I wondered if Gumpaste might be a bit different and (hopefully!) cheaper... :o)

Ann Simerson Williams said:

Thanks for the welcome Tanya.
Let's see, aside from Americans using a lot of cake mixes I think the biggest difference between US and UK cakes is the use of buttercream. Although sugarpaste has really taken off in the states over the last several years, the majority of cakes are still covered in buttercream. Almost everyone in the states who starts decorating starts with BC, whether on a course, or using prefilled tubes and plastic tips that you can buy at any grocery. In a US grocery the basic buy and take it cake is covered in BC with a piped border and some BC roses.

Another notable difference is size. Cakes in the US just tend to be bigger. They don't need to be, they just are. The average layer cake is 4 inches high (usually made from two 2 inch layers. They may or may not be torted). It's not uncommon to have wedding cake tiers that are close to 5 inches high each.

In the US fruit cake is not popular. If you see fruit cake it is usually because there is a close European connection in the family. UK fruit cakes are different (and MUCH better) than the average US fruit cake.

I never used sugarpaste before I lived here and I love it. I should probably spend more time on BC piping skills, as I am still rusty, but I'm hoping to take a royal icing course sometime in the next year. Really, I doubt that I'll have call to use it, but every new skill offers something to the overall product.

Permalink Reply by Lilly Wilders on March 12, 2010 at 7:47am

Thanks Ann, I'm self taught so what I know is quite patchy, was hoping I'd missed something! I've got a couple of books by Nicholas Lodge so will have to see if I have his recipe. I've also heard you can make a kind of flowerpaste using gum tragacanth, royal icing and white vegetable fat so will have to look into that too.

I use sugarpaste strengthened with CMC too and I think I've used 50/50 sugarpaste and flowerpaste once too (for my fairy I think) and from what I remember they weren't that different to work with. I've tried pastillage once too and found it quite hard to work with - it dries sooo fast and I'm just not quick enough yet!

I've got lots of modelling coming up. Next month is my niece's 30th and she loves fairies so I'm going to attempt some that are much more dainty than anything I've done before. That's why I was asking about gumpaste, I don't think strengthened sugarpaste is going to be quite up to the job. Also next month is my sister's 50th and I need to do a dragon for her (maybe on a castle, I haven't decided yet). Then in May my brother is getting married and wants a three tier cake with a cascade of roses around it - that's the one I'm most worried about. I've only done rose buds before and they took ages to do so am quite scared about how long it'll take to do that many roses. That's on top of the usual kids birthdays, easter, anniversaries and everything else so am going to have a busy few months!

Permalink Reply by ann pallett on March 15, 2010 at 3:18pm

Hi Lilly I have the same problem as you with regarding roses. I have a 4 tier wedding cake to do in September. They want the second and the forth tier covered in roses (equal in size). a nightmare!!!!! I'm thinking of getting them from Jane Asher, it's going to work out alot cheaper for my customer then me making them. Have a look on her site, it will save you a big headache

Lilly Manning said:

Thanks Ann, I'm self taught so what I know is quite patchy, was hoping I'd missed something! I've got a couple of books by Nicholas Lodge so will have to see if I have his recipe. I've also heard you can make a kind of flowerpaste using gum tragacanth, royal icing and white vegetable fat so will have to look into that too.

I use sugarpaste strengthened with CMC too and I think I've used 50/50 sugarpaste and flowerpaste once too (for my fairy I think) and from what I remember they weren't that different to work with. I've tried pastillage once too and found it quite hard to work with - it dries sooo fast and I'm just not quick enough yet!

I've got lots of modelling coming up. Next month is my niece's 30th and she loves fairies so I'm going to attempt some that are much more dainty than anything I've done before. That's why I was asking about gumpaste, I don't think strengthened sugarpaste is going to be quite up to the job. Also next month is my sister's 50th and I need to do a dragon for her (maybe on a castle, I haven't decided yet). Then in May my brother is getting married and wants a three tier cake with a cascade of roses around it - that's the one I'm most worried about. I've only done rose buds before and they took ages to do so am quite scared about how long it'll take to do that many roses. That's on top of the usual kids birthdays, easter, anniversaries and everything else so am going to have a busy few months!

Permalink Reply by Lilly Wilders on March 15, 2010 at 3:41pm

Thanks Ann, I had a look but there isn't the right colour - they want deep red to match the bridesmaid dresses. Fun!!!!!

Permalink Reply by Ann Simerson Williams on March 16, 2010 at 5:08am

hey Lilly,
"american" Ann here... For the roses, you might want to check into Carol Haycox's (from FMM) short DVD called "Rose and Carnation spray". She uses a five petal cutter and her instruction is really easy follow and very helpful. The DVD is only about 20 minutes long and is sold on FMMsugarcraft.com for only 2.81gbp. Look under their miscellaneous products, page two to find it.

Lilly Manning said:

Thanks Ann, I had a look but there isn't the right colour - they want deep red to match the bridesmaid dresses. Fun!!!!!

Permalink Reply by Tracy Hampson on March 17, 2010 at 2:34pm

Hi everyone, I'm Tracy and I live near Warrington in Cheshire. I have been decorating for just over a year now and still working hard at it. I found a course at a local college 1 night a week in January last year, should have started the year before but it was cancelled. I have now taken the beginner and intermediate course in 'cake decorating for fun'. I'm also starting another course in April, mainly focusing in sugar flowers and again 1 night a week.

I've made a lot of cakes in the past year as you will see from my photo's, mainly for family, friends and work colleagues. Word has got around about my cakes at work now and have made a lot for people and more in the pipeline. What I would like to focus more on is royal icing, piping and pastillage. I haven't been lucky finding suitable courses in these yet though, it has to be at night or weekends as I work full time.

I have my first wedding cake at the end of April, which is a 3 tier topsy turvy cake so I will probably be asking for advice when the time comes around. I plan to have a trial run first though and have been doing a lot of research.

Anyway I need to go and make a fire engine cake now! Look forward to chatting to fellow cake makers again soon.

Permalink Reply by ann pallett on March 21, 2010 at 4:43pm

Hi Lilly it's me again. re roses
I've put a pic of deep red roses on my page, there was only 8 or 9 roses to make but boy it was a nightmare. I used sugarpaste as close to the colour as I could get, then made the rose buds, let them dry then painted them deep red, added 2 petals, waited for them to dry then painted them, added 3 more petals, let them dry then painted them. and so on. It took just over a week!!!!!!! I don't think I'll be doing that colour again
Good luck Lilly, let me know how you get on.


Ann Simerson Williams said:

hey Lilly,
"american" Ann here... For the roses, you might want to check into Carol Haycox's (from FMM) short DVD called "Rose and Carnation spray". She uses a five petal cutter and her instruction is really easy follow and very helpful. The DVD is only about 20 minutes long and is sold on FMMsugarcraft.com for only 2.81gbp. Look under their miscellaneous products, page two to find it.

Lilly Manning said:

Thanks Ann, I had a look but there isn't the right colour - they want deep red to match the bridesmaid dresses. Fun!!!!!

Permalink Reply by Angela on May 5, 2010 at 7:43am

Hi all,

Thought I'd join this group and say hello! I'm from Wales originally but emigrated to Canada with my hubbie last October. Started cake decorating in 2007 and am hoping to do it professionally over here once we get set up in our own place. My main passions are modelling and making sugar flowers (big fan of Alan Dunn!).

Anyway, for those of you who are looking for a good UK site to join, check out the British Sugarcraft Guild. You don't have to be a paid member to use their extensive forum and there's a wealth of great information on there. I still go on there most days to keep up with the UK cake news.

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