Supplies Cakes Two cakes, baked and cooled in 6", 8" round, 10" square, and one 12" round Ganache and fillings - if using all ganache, it requires 4.5kg (9lb 14oz) 4.4kg (9lb 11oz) Ivory fondant Large Spatula Large bread knife and sharp knife Turntable Cake plates 2 x 6 round, 2 x 8 round, 2 x 10 hexagon/ square, 2 x 12 round 18 round cake board Parchment/ baking paper Plastic wrap/ Glad wrap Plastic/ metal scraper Jam syrup/ sugar syrup and pastry brush Cornflour/ cornstarch Pizza Cutter Level Large and small rolling pin 2 Hard fondant smoothers Smoother pads (optional) Acetate (or plain chocolate texture sheet) Stripe cutter 7mm wide or bone tool 1 inch (24mm) Styrofoam ball, cut in half Pasta machine (optional) Royal icing Piping bag No 1, 2, 3 and 5 Piping tip Coupler (optional) Pencil (preferably 2B or HB) Pins Blue 3M painters tape and double sided tape 3 3/4 (9.5cm) and 5/8 (15mm) Round cutters and oval cutter Black food colour 1
Supplies Sugar Glue Clear alcohol Fine and wide soft paintbrush Ivory shimmer Gold Highlighter powder 2 metres/ yards Black 10mm (3/8 )ribbon 3 round stryofoam dummy cake, cut to 1 1/2 high Stacking Large dowel - 14-18mm, cut to 16 1/2 high with a point Drill and Screwdriver Cake board feet (optional) Screw Conduit cutters Wooden dowels Pencil Paper towel Flowers Gumpaste, tinted Ivory 200g Anemone flower cutter and rose petal veiner Rose leaf cutters and veiners 1 pack medium round ivory pearl stamens 24 Gauge floral wire White parafilm Wire cutters Celboard Shortening Sugar glue Ball tool Blue pad Gold highlighter Paintbrush Clear alcohol Flower vile 2
Tips & Tricks 1.For the top three tiers, cut two layers at 1 or 25mm each from each cake. For the bottom tier, cut the same two layers, but from just one cake. If you need to do this by hand, check out our Cake Basics free lesson. 2.Always ganache your layers by applying ganache to one section, and building it up. Don t slather the ganache all over the layer, or you will not know if it is level. 3.Allow your cake to chill in the fridge before shaving down the cake so the ganache layers are set Make sure your ganache is very spreadable for your layers and your first coat. Your first coat does not have to be perfect, just make sure the top is level, and the sides stay within the framework of the cake board. 4.Your second layer of ganache needs to be more perfect. Aim to soften your ganache by about half; not runny, but very loose and spreadable. You can heat it up by microwaving it at 30% for 10-20 seconds and stirring well. 5.Sizes to remember. The radius of the 10 circle and therefore the sides of the hexagon are 126.5mm. The cushioning pieces are 2 inches (50mm) squares. 6.Let the cake rest with ganache for 6 hours or overnight prior to covering in fondant. If if it warm, and the ganache is still a little soft, place in the fridge for 15 mins. 7.We always pre-knead our fondant, then allow the fondant to rest for at least half an hour. This avoids tearing and aging of the fondant. If you need to know more about correctly kneading fondant, again go to the Cake Basics. 8.Roll out your fondant to 4-5mm and blunt the edge before rolling it over the rolling pin. 9.Attach the top corners first, then work your way down the corners. Then work on the sides. Slowly sharpen the edges and corners, don t try to get it razor sharp on the first pass. 10.Allow all the cakes to rest for 6 hours prior to adding details or lustre. 11. When painting lustre, use a wide, soft brush, and work on sections at a time. 12. The pleats on the top tier should be 1 inch (25mm) wide. Overlap each one by approx. 1/4. The template guide for the fondant pleats is 2 when marking the cake. We made ours using a square cake board. 13. When painting the gold highlighter on fondant or piping, allow it to dry for a few hours so it attaches well and doesn t dent. Painting with alcohol and pearl lustre, make sure the consistency is like paint. If it starts to thicken as you paint, add a touch more alcohol. For the gold highlighter, you need to keep it much thicker. 14. For the bottom tier string work, fold a perfectly square piece of parchment paper into 16 angles, then center the cake on it, and mark those lines with a pencil on the parchment. Measure those lines up the cake and mark it at 1 inch (25mm) high. Use a round cookie cutter to create the swag shape using a non toxic pencil. 15. Build the black swags up using 4 layers with a no. 3 piping tip, and tilt your cake to assist. When piping the string work, use a thick royal icing consistency and a no. 1 piping tip. Test that the piping will not break on your bowl or a styrofoam cake. If it beaks, thicken up your royal icing. Divide the swags in half, and half again etc with each piping stroke. each swag should consist of 16 lines. 16.When making your string work, remember to pipe just past the swag edge to avoid the icing curving in towards the cake. Cut off the excess using a paintbrush or craft knife. 17.When stacking, cut a small section of the cake out at the top to avoid too much cake exploding out the top. 3
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Templates 5