Qs on cake decoration..

i'm not a pro.. but someone asked me and i thot i can compile my answer onto my blog.. so here goes..

before any cake decoration (or cake frosting), think of storage.. after u frost ur cake, do u hv a big enough space to place your perishable cake in the fridge?!

2 ways to bake and deco cake with frosting..

A. baking cake way advance

i shall use a timeline for better understanding.

Assumption: Decorated Cake is needed on Saturday morning.

1. bake cake on monday or x number of days before the Saturday
2. [quote]First wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap and then in foil, even if storing overnight (freezing for even a short stay, tightens the cake's crumb). Place inside of a resealable plastic bag. If any part of it is exposed, it will become stale very quickly from the loss of moisture. [/quote]
3. everyday onwards, you will think of how many ways u can screw up ur cake decoration.. e.g. your bb simply refuse to sleep that night, or, a big fat lizard drop from the ceiling while ur work is in progress, or, your cream simply will NOT whip.. :(
4. On Friday morning, place frozen cake with its wrapping (do not unwrap yet) into chiller/fridge to thaw.. i always believe in changing temperature of food as slowly as possible..
5. Friday 8pm.. bring out the cake from the chiller.. Pls do NOT remove wrapping yet as we do not want condensation to form on the cake!
6. Friday, 9pm.. unwrap ur cake and assemble your cake..
7. after assembling, start to whip ur frosting* (see below on how)..
8. frost cake and pray that your bb will not cry for your milk in the process.. :P
9. finished.. wipe brows.. wipe forehead.. take lots of pictures.. in case the next day, bb punch the cake and leaves you with NO evidence of your hardwork!! *GULP*

B. bake cake and frost cake ASAP

1. bake your cake, cool on racks..
2. the soonest you can frost a cake is after your cake is REALLY cool.. which takes abt ONE hour *generally*.. so go and catch something on the TV or think of how many ways u can screw up ur cake decoration..
3. cake is cool.. cut and assemble
4. follow step 6-8 above

Whipping the cream
use "non-diary whipping cream".. can get from cold storage near milk and cheese section or PH (Phoon Huat local bakery supply store).. if get from PH, it has a picture of cake on the carton box.. i can't remember the brand.

depending on how big ur cake, agak agak is use 200ml.. (but for my first time that time, i use 200ml-250ml cos i scare i mistake, then can scrap and throw away, instead of whipped again)..

non-diary so that it is no so jelak..

1. make sure the cake is cool to room temperature.. cos i think the cream very "siao jie".. may melt if warm.. (i think)
2. before whipping, i put the bowl and paddle in the fridge for 10min
3. then i take out the bowl, paddle and the whipping cream from fridge.. pour into the bowl, and start to "mix" (on the mixer) at low speed for like 30sec then to medium speed until u take some of the whipped cream on your spatula, the cream wun fall off when you hold the spatula at 90 degree.
4. dun overbeat coz it will then curdle and become butter (from what i read in websites).. if curdle a little, u can stop and add more whipping cream to beat a while more.. best is to dun reach this curdling stage..

storing of whipping cream
sigh.. why oh why they come in 1L packaging?? i also don't know why.. so, what i did was to store them like how i do with my EBM.. i will pour them into my milkbag in 200ml each bag and freeze the balance.. the next time i want to use, i just thaw one bag at a time.. exactly like freezing EBM.. i'm a pro in freezing EBM.. :P

tips on applying
steady hands.. steady hands!! and whenever there's error, just scrap up the cream and restart..

the most challenging part for me is the stupid crumbs!! haiz.. i still hv to master on how to hide all crumbs under my frosting..

all the best!!