Cake Decorating Community - Cakes We Bake

Hi My Cake Friends,

 

This weekend I made my grand-niece's baptism cake (I am not a professional baker) but I can bake well.  I made a 3 tiered cake covered in fondant and it was ivory.  My niece wanted it shiny so I used ivory pearl dust.  I brushed the brush in the dust and then smooched it around on a mat to evenly distribute but it still looked kind of streaky on the cake.  Any ideas what I did wrong or what a better procedure would be for next time?  As always, I appreciate any ideas I get.

 

Susan

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Thanks Tiffany

This is good to know. Always like learning something new.

I agree, learning, i think is a fun life-long process. And thanks to you guys, i wont buy that brush. i hadnt yet simply because i hate spending money.most of my tools are not cake or fondant tools at all, since those 'spcialty' tools can often be more expensive then a similar item in another department. I didnt even buy the basic wilton fondant tool set until a year into making these cakes! haha. it is amazing how you can 'mcgyver' anything to work for you in the kitchen.case in point, i use a small teabag strainer to add texture to fondant animals and other items as opposed to buying an expensive impression mat. a careful walk through walmart has allowed me to buy so many innovative relpacement tools like this. :)

Funny you you mention this topic. When i finished my excercise class yesterday, I was close to Walmart, so I mosied over there to look around. I got 3 cake decorating items for $20.  The one I know is about $22 @ Micheal's!!!  Sales lady said they are expanding the section. So hopefully Micheal's will have competition in that area. The day before, I was at the hardware store for my hubby, and I like to look around at the tools & stuff & see what I kind find. I saw this cool metal brush, have absolutely no idea what it was for, but it gave me a great idea that it could be used for texture on buttercream. It was $5.  Going to ck another store & see if I can get it cheaper. If not, think it might just be worth the $5...that ain't so expensive.

yes! the closest micheals we have around me is about an hour away, so i really have to improvise unless i buy online.so home depot and walmart have a lot for me. i like your idea for the brush for texture. imagine that streaked across gently and up a bit to look like a nice realistic birch wood! or somethin glike that. may have to get myself one and try it out! haha. our walmart doesn't have much of a cake decorater aisle at all, and they keep diminishing it.guess nobody else uses it! oh well. there is always the vastness of the internet for my needs ;)

You have one advantage over me. All the good cake sites are American. They either don't ship to Canada, or the price is prohibitive. But I do have 3 suppliers about 45 min away. So if I need a bunch of stuff,I can drive in & load up.

Oh forgot to mention, because my son attended university in NY state, I use to able to ship stuff to him. AHhhh the good old days!!

Thank you for all your help, that is why I love this site so much.  Such nice, friendly and helpful people.

June Kowalczyk said:

I should have mentioned Susan, when the "pump" brush didn't work, I used a large blush brush. I have only done flowers, never a whole cake. Haven't been brave enough. There is a member I am friends with, Sandra I. Vazquez Lossiseroni. She does a ton of her cakes in lustre dust, & I bet she would be more than willing to help you out with her knowledge. Check out her page.

That's what were here for. We can all learn from each other. :o)

Hi Tiffany,

 

Yes, you are more help than you know.  You are also probably right on the mark with the fondant being wet.  I put luster dust on right after I covered the cake, I didn't know that it had to dry to get a even finish.  So that is what I will try next along with the "sprinkling" of luster from the brush.  Thanks again.

Tiffany Whitson York said:

i use luster dusts on whole cakes as well as details often. I have a long soft paint brush that i use so i can really get into tight spots and so it doesnt make such a mess like the bigger makeup brushes. Than i dip it in the dust, tap off just a bit back in the jar so not too much, then shake it over the area on the cake, or flick my finger on the side of the brush to drop the dust onto the cake.either way it is showering it with a fine mist of shine.

the problem you may have had was the fondant having moisture. as you may know dusts cling to moisture and clump up like that. so if you are brushing it on a cake and there is even the tiniest bit of moisture on the surface it will gather and streak there. so dusting it on is always easier then ensureing that it is completely dry on every spot of the surface.

hope this helps, and good luck

Reading yours and Tiffany's responses makes me realize how much I take for granted. I live in New York and we have so many cake decorating stores it isn't funny.  Yes it can be pricey and this cake that I made cost me a pretty penny because I didn't have alot of the molds like the bead maker, the quilter, and the list goes on and on, but the way I look at it, now I am prepared for the next time.  I am not exactly the inventive type, only when someone points me in a direction (lol), I may have to visit my home depo!

June Kowalczyk said:

Oh forgot to mention, because my son attended university in NY state, I use to able to ship stuff to him. AHhhh the good old days!!

I get a lot of my actualy cake supplies from a website called Jesters Cake Supply. they are based out of Florida but it never takes too long to get the stuff and it is so much cheaper than many of the other sites and stores i have seen. so for me, when i was first starting out and had to buy pretty much everything, i went here and paid a fraction. you should check them out. i am sure the shipping costs are much lower than paying higher prices at your local stores.

http://www.fondantsource.com/

Well Tiffany & Susan

I should consider myself fortunate as I am 1 hour outside of Toronto. There are 3 large, & several suppliers their.

I have never really "googled" cake supply in the Buffalo/Niagara Falla USA area. Know there is a very large Micheal's their, but unless I know the prices, not going to drive over the border unless I have an occasion to do so. My bro-in-law & sis-in-law drive over to grocery shop at least once a mnth. What gets me is our dollar is either at par, or close to, and yet the price of shipping has NOT dropped. Can't figure that one out. So no encouragement there to shop online for me.

Susan, I have an American friend who grew up in Long Island NY.  She has been here for close to 53 yrs. Believe she is a dual citizen now.

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