Check out my favorite, tastiest recipes:
*Here’s info on how to size up/down your cake pans: Click HERE
Favorite Mediums for Decorations:
Fondant
I make my own!! :) Before you make it, remember that if you are in a warmer/more humid climate, you’ll need to add more powdered sugar. Even the time of year can depend on what you need to add. So, adjust by how it feels. Click HERE for the recipe. Click HERE for a big review on the best homemade fondant recipes and commercial brand review.
Modeling Chocolate
The recipe I use in the link above is for candy melts. I prefer to work with Wilton because they come in so many colors and are readily available and cost effective. If you want to use real chocolate in your modeling chocolate, then check out THIS recipe and video by Lauren Kitchen. You need to adjust your ratios of corn syrup (or glucose) and chocolate depending upon what kind of chocolate you are using.
*For even more info, you can view my Craftsy class HERE or get 25% of Lauren Kitchen’s class HERE.
Buttercream
*Click HERE then scroll down to “What buttercream do you use?” My buttercream of choice is Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
For a great tip on how to get butter based frostings nice and white, see this post HERE
To help figure out how much buttercream you will need for your cake project, I’ve created a calculator…see how it works HERE.
Ganache
Ganache is my crumb coat of choice!! It gives you the smoothest surface and most stable surface for covering a cake in fondant. And, it’s firm at room temp so you can cover a cake at room temp and not have to fight with condensation. I show how to crumb coat a square cake with chocolate ganache and how to cover it in fondant in my first class, “Clean & Simple Cake Design”. I also show how to crumb coat a tall round cake in ganache in my “Simply Modern Cake Design” class. Both classes will give you fabulous technique to get beautiful finishes on your cakes!!
*Remember, the type of chocolate you use will effect your ganache. You need to change the ratio of chocolate to heavy cream if you are using dark to white chocolate.
Here are the ratios I use:
Dark chocolate: 2 to 1 ratio of dark chocolate to heavy cream
Semi sweet chocolate (SSC): 2.25 to 1 ratio of SSC to heavy cream
Milk Chocolate: 2.75 to 1 ratio of milk chocolate to heavy cream
White Chocolate: It can range. If you are using grocery store chips, use a 4:1 ratio of chips to heavy cream. If you are buying/using high quality white chocolate, then you can use a 3 to1 ratio of white chocolate to heavy cream.
To calculate how much ganache you need to cover any size cake, I recommend The Ganacherator. This is an Excel spreadsheet created by Australian cake decorator I Want Sprinkles and allows you to enter the diameter and height of each tier and gives you the amount of chocolate and cream you need. Users of older Excel versions might need this link. I also put together a post on post on “How much ganache do you need?” HERE.
Favorite Cake Recipes:
*My friend Summer Stone has an incredible blog called Cake Paper Party with AMAZING recipes that I’ve been the partaker of on many occasions. She is a baking scientist and genius and has an amazing handle on what it takes to make a good recipe. She also has a post on how to convert a recipe for random cake tins…click HERE for that. If you need more recipe inspiration, check her recipes out here:
Perfect Chocolate Cake (great for cupcakes)
Chocolate Mudcake
Vanilla Cake
Strawberry Cake
Carrot Cake
Lemon Cake
Coconut Cake
Red Velvet Cake
Cupcakes:
Gluten-free chocolate cupcakes
Red Velvet Cake (best for cupcakes – lighter/softer)
Coconut Cupcakes & Custard
Lemon Cupcakes & Lemon Curd
Coconut Cupcakes and Cheesecake Filling
Chocolate Cake in a Cup
Egg Nogg Cupcakes
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
S’More Cupcakes
Cake Ball Cupcakes
Other Yummy Treats:
Yummy Chocolate Mint Mousse CupsLemon Curd