Put a Stop to Usual Cake Decorating Blunders
Whats the importance of a cake? It gives smiles to many children as they watch you make one. Special occasions become even more memorable when there is a cake around. So just imagine how sad it will be if it wasnt perfect. To avoid any baking tragedy, do away with big-time errors as early as now.
1. How can I freeze my cake so it wont dry out easily?
In baking, it is essential to plan ahead of time to do away with doing last-minute touches, so sometimes you even have to say no to your own childs request. But then, would you really do that? It will be useful if you are informed at least twelve hours before you need to deliver them.
A key step in preplanning is to learn the strategy of properly freezing the cake. This means you bake the cake days or weeks before you add the filling or the icing. Baking your cakes early will save you a lot of time and trouble in the days and hours before an important event.
Yet you have to keep in mind that freezing cakes may render them tasteless and dry. Hence, it is vital that you store and wrap the cake without the icing.
You can use a plastic wrap to cover the cake in two to three layers. The aluminum foil, on the other hand, comes in handy in order to keep the moisture out of the wrapped cake. Mind you, they can certainly last even longer than fruitcakes.
The cake must be removed from the refrigerator at least a day before you put the icing and decorate it so it can defrost completely.
Thaw the cake to room temperature. A problem may occur while defrosting.
The problem with freezing cakes already iced is that the icing will pick up condensation from the air and sweat during the defrosting time.
In the end, the design and decoration will look messy and sloppy, which, of course, no one likes at all.
To prevent such problems, start baking in advance.
2. Can I prevent filling from sliding into the outer edges of the cake?
In this cake decorating world, there is a big battle being fought every day in kitchens around the world. Its known as the Battle of the Bulge, and almost all cake professionals are getting desperate to seek help.
There is the usual question as to how you can prevent filling from bulging into the edges of the cake and then into the icing.
Baking one day earlier can help avoid bulging. Firm and settled cakes will support heavy, gooey fillings better than weak and unstable cakes.
You can also prevent the flow by some tested processes.
a.) Make an icing dam at the outer edge of the layers so it can hold the filling. The dam will act as a barrier and will stop the filling from escaping to the outer edge of the cake.
b.) You can also wrap the whole assembled cake with crumb coats.
c.) Then you keep the cake for two to three hours in a refrigerator so it will become firmer.
The icing dams and the crumb coats will make the whole cake sealed and can therefore support the filling.
3. Im having difficulty with crumbs. What can I do?
Do not underestimate the power of the little crumbs. The crumb will come with a million of his closest buddies to conquer your beautiful white and smooth icing.
It might be enough to drive a baker crazy! Fortunately, there are answers we can take.
Have you ever heard of crumb coat? It is actually a very fine layer of glaze or icing that you can place in the assembled cake to make these crumbs stick better into the surface of the cake.
To create a crumb coat, you take a few of the icing and you thin it with any liquid thats part of the recipe until it turns viscous. Daub the thinned icing over the entire cake, covering it completely.
Once everything dries up, the crumb then becomes glued to the top layer of the cake. To make everything quick, you can put the cake in a freezer. Though it will add additional time to the baking process, the benefit you get out of this is great.
With all these tips, definitely youll never go wrong with any cake decorating style.
