Cakes for cargving..

Hi, sorry.   I didn't reply to this because I didn't understand the question-some of the terms used  are different here in Europe.  What do you mean cakes for carving?

Is it just a suggestion for cakes with a crumb you'd like? Fruit cake and chocolate biscuit cake are great for this too as you don't have the same problem with crumbs.

You could also try covering your cake with almond paste/marzipan first- this will give a smoothness to the cake.   

you could try freezing your cake first before cutting.  This will reduce the cake crumbing and make it easier to get clean cut lines.  Just don't ice it from frozen or you will get that 'sweaty' look on the icing. 

A cake decorator friend has given me a plain madeira recipe to pass on to you, it has a very tight texture so you won't have the problem with the loose crumb and it is ideal for shaping/carving. I find it quite dry, but after shaping, you could always soak the sponge with a bit of flavoured syrup.

for 8 inch cake
225g butter unsalted, softened
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
350g self raising flour
juice of half a  lemon  (you can include the zest too)

cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs gradually (and some flour as needed),  mix in flour,   add lemon juice.  Fill tin and cook at 150-160 Celcius. for 1hour10 to 1hour 20 minutes
If you find the top is browing too quickly; cover the top of the tin with brown paper or a silpat

Hope this helps

Hi there a simple pound cake should do the trick but as mentioned before freeze the cake then when you are ready to carve it take it out an hour or two before depending on the size, try carving it when it has almost defrosted but not compleatly..

 

another trick is to put the cake in the refridgerator and chill it right down, you will get some crumbs it cant be helped but this is why you add a crumb coat before the final covering,,

 

and all those TV chefs/bakers that say they dont freeze their cakes are liars.....

I've used about every kind of cake there is out there to carve with, and the only ones I don't recommend are sponge cakes, angel food, and heavy dense cakes that crumble, like carrot cake. I've been able to carve nearly every other kind, and I only refrigerate the cakes, I don't freeze them. Freezing makes it a little TOO hard to carve. Of course you're going to get crumbs all over the place, that's a given. That's why you crumb coat the cake with buttercream after you've finished carving it. I have found that nearly every "butter cake" carves beautifully.

Only 1 cake for carving thats pound cake with sour cream. Have fun

I have carved with boxed cake mixes and it worked just fine.  The freezing does the trick for me.  I stacked 4 layers from 2 9x13 cakes and carved a guitar shape.  I froze for 3 hours prior to carving and it worked really really.  The process was not crumb free, but I was able to clean up any crumbs on my board and I did a crumb coat before covering with homemade marshmallow fondant the next day.  It was a big hit and it looked nice and clean.  I too was thinking that pound cake would be best, but I have not tried that yet- I am fairly new to cake carving.  I found a recipe on easy-cake-ideas.com for a pound cake that looks easy and fabulous in the picture- much like the Sara Lee frozen pound cake that I grew up eating for strawberry shortcake.  I want to try it but the recipe is fo 9" round pans and I needed a 9x13 for my latest project.  I was afraid it woundt hold its structure properly.  Any thoughts or suggesions on that would be appreciated as well...

 

http://www.easy-cake-ideas.com/pound-cake.html

 

Rebecca

If my memory serves me - I think I remember doing cake mixes from a box - that it did either 2 layer cake pans or 1 - 9 by 13 - My round pans are 8.5 inches.  I would suggest trying the 9 by 13. and just test near the end of baking time. You may have to bake a little longer

 

Carol D

Thanks Carol.  I am just going to give it a try.  wish me luck