[qahtan]

This is the cake a friend and I made and decorated, both of us are self taught, qahtan

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...bake/cake6.jpg

[m brown]

Beautiful!

[panini]

Very Nice!
Very clean cut, and eye appealing.
Great work,
pan

[chrose]

Very nice work, but I thought I saw a dragee that was close to .25 milimeters off. You gotta watch those imperfections!

[qahtan]

OK thanks for the tipping me the wink, I will watch for that next time,,,,:-)))

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...tbreadtree.jpg

Shortbread tree table centre for Christmas.... qahtan

[felixe the dog]

nice work

[Bakerlady29]

Hi Qahtan, very beautiful cake there=) I am just starting out, doing the self-taught method too. I was just curious, what types of decorating utensils do use/have around the house, that you use for decorating your cakes?? Do you have the piping bags and/or do you use the paper roll up technique for the small decals?? Just a newbie wanting to know the best way to go about getting that good=) Thank you for any help you can give me, Bakerlady29

[qahtan]

Thank you all for the compliments.

Hi Bakerlady.;-)))

For large stuff meringues, whipped cream etc I use large nylon bags made by Tala in UK. with the large tips also.
Cake decorating like the one in the picture and similar, the only part that requires pipping tips is the base and the embroidery, other than it is all hand work. Petals for the flowers and small flowers, made one at a time
and assembled later.
The icing on the cake is also hand made rolled icing , made with glucose and gelatine etc, coloured as needed.

The very fine tips for the embroidery I sent to Australia for as at that time they were not available in CANADA,they are used with parchment paper cones.

The cakes are all traditional fruit cakes with almond icing over the cake first then the rolled icing.

All my "toys" have been collected from all over for a long time,

Lace is a bit tricky to make but is worth the effort when seen on the cake.
Unfortunatelly I didn't have a camera in the early days but I do have a couple of cakes that I will try and post pictures of.

In the box of tricks. aides to making flowers are things like plasic spoons,
tiny rolling pins etc.

Hope this has helped you, qahtan.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58.../heartcake.jpg

[Bakerlady29]

Thank you Qahtan!! I guess it is time to start my collection too,hehe=) I have my b-day/christmas wish list already written out, with all the things I would love to have in my kitchen. Baking has become such a passion of mine and I would love to learn all I can!! I am told I am not too shabby at the baking part, but I know I really have a lot to learn on the decorating part, hehe=) So any tips are greatly appreciated(and written down in my notebook, I have almost 2 notebooks full now, lol=) Thankyou again for taking the time to reply!! Bakerlady29

[Free Rider]

That is very pretty.

[Free Rider]

Originally Posted by qahtan

...................
The cakes are all traditional fruit cakes with almond icing over the cake first then the rolled icing.
............

Oh yum. We used to have those at Christmas -time with marzipan and then icing over dark fruit cake.

I've just learned how to make buttercream icing roses, but I'm lousy with the leaves. Thinking of sticking to chocolate leaves.

[qahtan]

Buttercream leaves are easier than roses,,,,,
Though I don't like the type of butter cream used for cake decorating.
qahtan

[Free Rider]

Originally Posted by qahtan

Buttercream leaves are easier than roses,,,,,
Though I don't like the type of butter cream used for cake decorating.
qahtan

Agreed on the type of butter cream. It's a bit sweet for me.

I have trouble with my consistencies of icing for decorating, which is why the trouble with leaves.

[momoreg]

VERY pretty!!

[qahtan]

Then you do a crafty move and if you really have to have leaves use the silk ones,,,, I think they look good and you can bend them to how ever you want them, you can see a couple in my top cake,, :-))))....
qahtan