Tuesday 24 May 2011

Choosing your Type

There are many different flavours of cake you can choose from when making a cake.
You could make a cheese cake, a butter cake, a mud cake and many, many more.
You can also make a cake look good on the inside by simply adding food colouring to the whole mix or even separating the cake mix into different bowls, putting a different colour in each and then putting them all together in a random or colour order in the pan. You could also just add a few chocolate chips or you can be creative and use whatever you think could work.

When choosing what type of cake you are going to make you should consider the ages of who will be eating the cake. We all know little kids can be fussy and might not be too keen on a cheesecake so going for a normal cake mix is the better way to go, or you could make an ice-cream cake, because after all, kids sure love their ice-cream!

Now I think you have the idea towards flavour and type of cakes there are. I would just like to mention something that catches my eye when decorating a cake. I absolutely love gum paste. Gum paste is a paste that you can shape into anything you can put your mind to and it is edible, and is a lot like icing. You just shape and let it dry so it is ready to be put on your cake! You can make your own gum paste and I have provided a recipe below, or you can look around at one of your local grocery stores for pre-made gum paste.

A nice gum paste recipe:
Ingredients:
·         4 cups Confectioners' Sugar, sifted (reserve 1 cup for later)
·         1 Tablespoon Gum Tragacanth (or Gum Tex)
·         1 Tablespoon Liquid Glucose
·         1 Packet Knox Gelatin
·         4 Tablespoons Warm Water (or 3 Tbs warm water + 1 Tbs lemon juice)
Steps (how to make gum paste):
  1. Pour the water (or water and lemon juice) in a large bowl and add gelatin slowly. Stir until gelatin is dissolved in the water.
  2. Stir in glucose slowly. You may need to microwave 20-30 seconds or heat on the stove with a double-boiler to get glucose to melt.
  3. Add 3 cups of confectioners' sugar (also known as powdered suger) and gum tragacanth.
  4. Mix well. I use a mixer with dough hook.
  5. You'll end up with a soft, sticky dough. Store dough in a well-sealed plastic bag at room temperature overnight (if possible) for it to set.
  6. Knead in the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar and it will become soft and pliable - no longer sticky. Add more powdered sugar if it continues to feel sticky.
Gum Paste Tips:
Store your gum paste recipe mixture in a large ziplock bag while working with smaller pieces of it (or keep in bowl and cover gum paste surface with a wet towel.) This will help keep it from forming a crust. If you DO get a crust, don't worry, knead in a little confectioners' sugar.
Animal Gum Paste



Flower Gum Paste
Teddybear Gum Paste

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