cake making / icing questions?

Ok - will try and answer them all!

Swiss roll should be fine although circles of madeira would work too

Warmed jam fine although you shouldn't even need that for big pieces.

Easiest is to score the overlaps and then brush with a little water. Personally I would try not to have any visible seams though and maybe use a stripe to cover?

Licorice Allsorts are your friend for car features!

You could make up to 3days if you brush the cake with water / sugar solution (4oz caster sugar / 4tbsp water - boil and make a syrup) as it will keep the cake moist. Make sure you seal round the cake / board join too.

Weight should hold it in place or if you are worried just a couple of blobs of water icing

Hope this helps and good luck!

Hi

Here goes with some answers....

Firstly, you're definitely taking on a challenge! Vehicles are the most difficult cakes to create but hopefully these hints will be helpful.

Firstly if you are going to try and cover swiss rolls with say black icing to make the wheels you'll probably find that the sponge is too soft and won't support the weight of the icing - as the precious answer said, circles of madeira is better.

I wouldn't use warmed jam for anything as I can only imagine getting into a horrible sticky mess with it. You can carve/cut the sponge cake to shape and then fill it with either jam and buttercream or just buttercream and use this to stick any bits together. You may find that jam actually makes all the bits slip and slide on one another so for a beginnner I would recommend just buttercream. Then when you've got the shape, water down some buttercream slightly so that it's quite thin and use it to 'mask' the outside of the whole cake - you only need a very thin layer but this will stick the sugarpaste (ready roll) icing to the cake - if you do this and ensure the whole cake is covered with sugarpaste with no airbubbles and it's a madeira cake it should stay fresh for up to a week. The important thing is that the sponge is completely sealed so no air can get to it.

I would never have any seams of sugarpaste - because of the sealing thing mentioned above. We always cover everything in one 'base' colour and then if we need to add say windows or wheels or something these get added over the top of the base colour.

Also to get a good result and a smooth covering the sugarpaste must be very thick - at least 10mm. Otherwise, it will tear at the corners, you'll not be able to ease in the excess that you've rolled out and it will crack and go very dry before you have a chance to work it and get the cake covered properly.

Use small amounts of sugar glue (either icing sugar or a small lump of sugarpaste and water boiled in the microwave for about 90 seconds and then left to cool) to stick things in place - you may find if your hands are warm and your sugarpaste is soft that you don't need anything to stick it. I wouldn't use jam as it can be deceptively hot/warm and if it is it'll melt the sugar in the sugarpaste.

If you are near a sugarcraft supplier (or you can buy online) you can either get some modelling paste or some Tylo powder of gum tragacanth to add to the normal sugarpaste which will make it go 'stiff' and dry very hard so if you need any bits to support themselves this is what you use to make them, leave them to dry and then stick onto the cake.

As mentioned before - you won't need anything to stick it to the board - put the cake on the board to start with and ice the whole thing in situ, don't try to move it after you've covered and/or decorated it. The whole thing will weigh a lot once it's finished and it won't move about because of the weight.

HTH
Catherine

You two are stars, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions. The cake is only for a small family tea so if it is a bit of a hash it shouldn't be too embarrasing. My son won't notice if it isn't a work of art either but hopefully I can create something remotley tractor shape.

I have got a good while before his birthday so maybe a little practice will be in order.

Thanks once again and if it isn't too ugly I will post a picture :-)

I have a Debbie Brown cake book with instructions/pics for putting a tractor together - I can scan it if you like?

Wow LTP, that would be sooo helpful if you have time.

Thank you

Thanks for posting this. I'm about to attempt a christening cake for my daughter and these tips really help.

Kate

I was going to reply but pi and Catherine have already said everything. Good luck with it and remember to enjoy it!

Thanks PP. By the way, didn't have time to reply on your other posts but you cakes looked fab, I would be happy with those. I hope you do pluck up the courage to start a little business - what have you got to lose!

Thanks Mrs V - that's really kind of you.