Hi All! This week we are here with some great advice from our online school members! One of the amazing things about being apart of our cake community is you have the benefit of learning from experts and novices alike! Here are a few great tips from members of the SugarEd community:
Isomalt also works great as a glue! Throw on your gloves to protect your fingers from the heat and glue your heavy fondant, gumpaste, or isomalt pieces to your fondant cakes with just a dip into liquid isomalt! It’s clear, dries almost instantly, and melts into the surface of your pieces for optimum strength! It also works great for gluing ribbon onto your boards!”
– Sidney Galpern of Simi Cakes
“For fine royal icing piping, without fear of clogs, cut a small square of clean nylon stocking and stretch over the end of a coupler before placing on the tip. Place on tip and tighten coupler ring. Works like a charm and keeps you from having to squeeze a large amount of royal icing through a clean nylon knee-high to strain it before using.”
– Claudia Butler
“I love the look of veined wafer paper petals/leaves. My tip to achieving this is to dip your leaf or petal into vodka and lay on the veiner chosen. Let dry completely before removing and you will have a beautiful veined petal. I prefer to use veg shortening mixed with colour dusts to colour the petals.”
– Nancy Travis
“Crystal Colors has some really good pearl dusts that are FDA approved. For silver paint, you can mix a touch of black gel color in with their Super Pearl & vodka- works super well! Mixtures of yellow and brown/ivory would give a good gold as well.”
– Renee Conner of Renee Conner Cake Design
“Caulk” the seams between your tiered layers with a bit of buttercream to get a seamless, finished look. Just pipe a small line of buttercream onto the space between tiers and wipe off excess with your finger. It fills the line between tiers and gives you a seamless look! Works best on a chilled cake!
– Shannon Bond of Shannon Bond Cake Design
“To prevent luster dust paint from flaking or transferring when touched, mix it with confectioner’s glaze rather than alcohol. The glaze will seal the dust, making the painted item easier to handle with no dust mess.”
– Diane McCann of Cake Diane CustomCake Studio
“You can put pieces of fondant in the freezer to keep them soft until time to place on cake. I found this hugely helpful when I did my lace covered cake. I was able to make the lace a week in advance (it took a whole week to make over 150 pieces). I stored them in a flat tupperware container with waxed paper between the layers. When it was time to decorate, I took them out a layer at a time. Perfectly soft like I had just made them!”
– Peggy Lee of Peggy Does Cake
“Rather than wasting unwanted colored buttercream left over from previous cakes, you can combine them to create chocolate frosting! When you have approximately three cups of an all shortening American type buttercream, simply combine, add ½ cup softened sweet butter, and mix in mixer. Add 9 Tablespoons sifted unsweetened cocoa powder, (or) 3 oz. melted bittersweet chocolate (or more, if a stronger chocolate flavor is wanted) and mix to a smooth consistency. From scraps to chocolate buttercream!”
– Kathleen Lange of Confectionery Chalet
“My top tip is for placing pearls and dragees on cakes. I used to do it the traditional way of piping a dot or two of icing where I wanted my pearl and then struggling to attach it before the icing dried out. Unfortunately, it was either dried out, or too much so the icing mushed out around the pearl, or it raised it off the cake more in one spot than in another… and I never liked the look of it!
So – I changed how I did it. Now, I take my piping gel container, spread a thin layer of piping gel on the lid and shake out a few dozen pearls or dragees onto the piping gel. Then I use my hooked nose tweezers and place them quickly and easily where I want them. The gel is clear and so you can’t see it; No need to color it, bag it, or pipe it; No more picking up the bag and then swapping out for the tweezers; The pearl/dragee stays sticky and immediately adheres to my surface whether it’s buttercream or fondant; Best of all – it gives a clean, finished look to the cake!”
– Jody Runyan
“You can make batter ahead and freeze it. Thaw it on the counter or in the microwave (at 50% power) when you are ready to bake. Extra tip: cooler batter domes so for cakes thaw completely but for cupcakes thaw it just to the point it stirs smooth.”
– Cristy Russell
“Want full 2-inch high cakes from your 2-inch cake pans? Grease your pan, then line the sides with strips of parchment paper that extend above the top of the cake pan. (The grease acts as glue for the parchment. Do not use pan grease or Baker’s Joy, as the flour prevents the parchment from sticking to the pan.) If your cakes still don’t reach the top, try adding more batter next time.”
– Diane McCann of Cake Diane Custom Cake Studio
“”If you want royal icing to dry shiny – it needs a moving air source while it’s drying. Try putting the cookies in front of a fan or dehydrator for the first 15 minutes of drying time.”
– Georganne Bell of LilaLoa Blog
“Did you know you can color cake balls AFTER they’re baked? Here’s how: crumble the cake crumbs in the food processor. Add a bit of buttercream and combine. You should have dense crumbs that will stick together, sufficient for making cake pops or cake balls. Using a toothpick, add a bit of gel food color to the crumbs, and pulse in the food processor. Repeat / adjust the color until you’ve achieved the intensity you’re aiming for. Roll into balls and proceed with your project!”
– Angie Ivey of Sweet E’s Cakeshop
“Using a small piping tip? Cut out a 2″ square from a new nylon and put it over your piping bag before screwing the tip on. It will keep your tips from clogging with any crusty bits of frosting.”
– Georganne Bell of LilaLoa Blog
“To make an easy pound cake perfect for carving, combine one box of Betty Crocker pound cake mix and one box of Duncan Hines cake mix in the flavor of your choice. Prepare both per directions on the boxes and combine. To create a chocolate pound cake, use one box of DH dark fudge with one box BC pound cake.”
– Wayne Steinkopf of Swank Cake Design
“When using a paper template as a guide for cutting out fondant or gumpaste, reverse the image and attach the template to the gumpaste with a little shortening. This will prevent the template from shifting while you cut around it. The image is reversed so the shortening is on the back of the cut-out and won’t interfere with the coloring on the front.”
– Diane McCann of Cake Diane Custom Cake Studio
“Plastic molds are perfect for achieving a beautiful shine on your chocolates, but scrubbing them with soap can take away that nice smooth surface! Make sure to only soak your plastic chocolate molds in warm water, only using a damp paper towel to wipe them out if needed.”
– Sidney Galpern of Simi Cakes
“When making chocolate cake, use hot water for the liquid to activate the cocoa and enhance the flavor.”
– Barb Evans of Wedding Cake Connection
“Spray paper templates with non-stick oil to keep them from sticking to the dough or fondant when hand cutting. As a bonus… you can now flip it over to see the opposite design.”
– Georganne Bell of LilaLoa Blog
“Need extra flower formers? Use your existing flower former as a mold for heavy duty foil. You can make as many extra formers as you need out of foil. If your gumpaste pieces are heavy, just double or triple the foil.”
– Diane McCann of Cake Diane Custom Cake Studio
I hope you find these tips helpful! Happy Baking!
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Green is the sole author of the Business of Baking blog. A qualified pastry chef, Michelle owned a custom cake company for over ten years before deciding to sell it so she could become a full time mentor in the baking industry. She works as a consultant to a number of baking businesses and as a writer for the food/business industry. She has been featured or written for a number of publications and websites including Family Circle, candyaddict.com,cake! magazine, Sweet magazine, allrecipes.com.au, The Baking Sheet, Cookie Connection and Cakes Decore. Additionally, Michelle teaches live 
