Last weekend, the lovely Grace from Grace Daniels Cakes held a sugarcraft course for beginners here in Galway. I was there, I learned so much, my cake looked fabulous (see above), and I think I found myself a new hobby 🙂
Grace asked us to bring along a cake to cover, so I made a chocolate biscuit cake using a recipe from the Odlums website. The class included all the basics of covering a cake. Here’s Grace preparing the sugarpaste by kneading in some gel colouring:
I had some gel colours from my Daring Bakers’ Cookie Decorating Challenge so I brought them along. You can use ready-coloured sugarpaste either, using the correct amount for the shade you want. Here’s Grace working on some green sugarpaste:
Here’s mine wrapped in cling film, ready to be rolled out:
Ideally, sugarpaste is rolled out using a fancy smooth rolling pin. This makes sure there are no ridges or lines in the rolled fondant. You can see a smooth rolling pin on Grace’s table in the shots above. I just used my own wooden pin which did the job fine, but for a larger cake I would need to upgrade. Next came the scary bit…. putting the rolled icing on the cake!
The fear!
What if it cracks?
Phew! Next the icing is neatly trimmed:
Time to get started on the decorations! Grace brought along all her cutters for us to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over, and some of the other students brought some too. We shared and shared alike.
Here are some butterflies:
So cute. I made some flowers for my cake:
Then we all made little bunnies for our Easter-themed cakes. At first, my rabbit looked nothing like a rabbit.
Snowman? The ears and nose pulled it together in the end.
Grace was covering her own cake during the class as part of the demo. She made the fencing from chocolate sugarpaste which tastes so so good.
Her bunny has a bit more personality than mine, I think. It’s all in the ears! More practice for me….
You can see the other fabulous cakes on Grace’s Facebook page.
Thanks to Grace for a terrific introduction to cake-covering with sugarpaste. While the course gave me a new appreciation for the time and effort that goes into a novelty cake, it made the process seem more accessible to someone starting out. Icing isn’t scary and starting with a smooth, even cake is half the battle!
Thanks Grace! 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it Arlene, the photos are great! I love how the photos go from icing sitting on cake to perfectly covered, makes it look so easy! 🙂
Grace
Thanks Grace! I’ll have to get practising to be ready for “advanced sugarcraft”! 😉
Love the post! Your bunny is great!
Thanks Lily! It was so much fun to make. And the cake was pretty good to eat too 😉
A purple Bunny should have guessed
Some things never change, Simon! 🙂
Hi Arlene, I was at the class with you that day too my bunny didnt fair so well!!! im hoping to make a chocolate biscuit cake for my sisters birthday in a few weeks and just wondered did you cover yours with a ganache or just leave as it was before you put the fondant on?
Hi Ann Marie! I turned the choc biscuit cake upside-down (so the nice smooth side was on top) and covered it with a thin layer of buttercream. I beat 100g of soft butter and gradually added 200g of sifted icing sugar. I added about 2tbsp cocoa powder to that and a little milk (about 1tbsp) to make it more spreadable. That covered an 8inch cake with some leftover. I used most of it near the bottom of the cake to fill in holes! Hope this helps 🙂
Hi Arlene
Ur a dote thanks a million for that attempting it next week !!!! 🙂
Hi, I would love to come for cake decoration (sugar art/pastry), learn from you.
Thanks.
B. Smith
Any more dates for sugarcraft classes in Galway?
Not that I know of, Helen. I found out about the course through this thread on boards.ie. Maybe keep an eye out there for any future classes.
Thanks Arlene
Will keep an eye out
h