My Frustration Moment When Handling Sugar Paste
My last lesson of basic cake decorating was in year 2010 , I was very new to sugar paste decorating and did not have any experience in handling sugar paste. During the class, with the guidance of instructor, we might not facing any serious problem in handling sugar paste until we are really hands-on.
In the class, we will be taught on how to decorate using sugar paste and some basic knowledge about sugar paste such as:
- not to leave it unwrap for a long time else it will dry out
- must knead it until its pliable
- not to roll out too thin else it would tear when covering the cake
- bubble appears, poke it with toothpick/needle and smooth it with fondant smoother
We will not/might not learn how to resolve problem if/should you face when handling the sugar paste beside the above-mentioned. Unless we have such experience and we can always seek for advice from the instructor during the class. Unfortunately, nothing further was shared as all students (including myself) did not highlight any problem.
The following problem occurred for the past few orders and yet to have the complete solution to avoid this to happen again (luck please stay with me ^^)
What are the causes?..
No complete advice on how to prevent this to be happened or solution on the recovery.. sigh!.. (perhaps there is but which is unknown to me). Trying hard to figure it out:
- Might be my generosity by over-filling the buttercream
- Might be the crumb-coated too thick
- Sugar paste not fully stick to the cake
- Sugar paste too thick
- Sugar paste was covered on the cold cake
- Weather too warm and caused the buttercream melted
Disaster 1: Crack due to fondant bulged
Disaster 2: Slid downwards (Fondant too soft?)
Disaster 3: "Elephant skin" (Fondant too thick?)
My solutions for my above-mentioned disaster:
- Filling not more than 5mm
- Apply thin crumb-coat, advisable to use Chocolate Ganache
- Chill the cake no longer than an hour
- Moisture the entire cake a little (apply a thin layer of apricot glaze or spray some water) before covering sugar paste
- Roll out sugar paste no thicken than 5mm
Thank you for stopping by and Happy Cake Decorating ^^
In the class, we will be taught on how to decorate using sugar paste and some basic knowledge about sugar paste such as:
- not to leave it unwrap for a long time else it will dry out
- must knead it until its pliable
- not to roll out too thin else it would tear when covering the cake
- bubble appears, poke it with toothpick/needle and smooth it with fondant smoother
We will not/might not learn how to resolve problem if/should you face when handling the sugar paste beside the above-mentioned. Unless we have such experience and we can always seek for advice from the instructor during the class. Unfortunately, nothing further was shared as all students (including myself) did not highlight any problem.
The following problem occurred for the past few orders and yet to have the complete solution to avoid this to happen again (luck please stay with me ^^)
What are the causes?..
No complete advice on how to prevent this to be happened or solution on the recovery.. sigh!.. (perhaps there is but which is unknown to me). Trying hard to figure it out:
- Might be my generosity by over-filling the buttercream
- Might be the crumb-coated too thick
- Sugar paste not fully stick to the cake
- Sugar paste too thick
- Sugar paste was covered on the cold cake
- Weather too warm and caused the buttercream melted
Disaster 1: Crack due to fondant bulged
Disaster 2: Slid downwards (Fondant too soft?)
Disaster 3: "Elephant skin" (Fondant too thick?)
My solutions for my above-mentioned disaster:
- Filling not more than 5mm
- Apply thin crumb-coat, advisable to use Chocolate Ganache
- Chill the cake no longer than an hour
- Moisture the entire cake a little (apply a thin layer of apricot glaze or spray some water) before covering sugar paste
- Roll out sugar paste no thicken than 5mm
Thank you for stopping by and Happy Cake Decorating ^^
