Free Cakes For Romantic Occasions by May Clee-Cadman Page A

Book
    Over the next few pages you will find a guide to the cake-making techniques you need to create the designs in the book. This covers:
    Cake-making equipment – both essentials and more specialist items you may not need every time
    Four delicious traditional cake recipes
    Different types of icing and fillings, and how to work with them
    Putting a cake together – icing the board, levelling a cake and assembling tiers with dowels
    How to make and ice cupcakes, mini cakes and cookies
    The following chapters will guide you through the processes involved for successful cake making. Whether you are an experienced baker or a first-timer, you will find recipes and designs that suit every occasion. Easy-to-follow step instructions and sumptuous pictures will help you to create beautiful and delicious cakes for all your friends and family to indulge in. Why not be creative and adapt any of the designs to suit a particular occasion or theme? Above all, enjoy yourself!

Techniques

Equipment
    Here is the complete list of all the cake-making equipment used for the designs in the book, but you will not need everything every time. Check the materials and equipment lists at the beginning of each chapter for the specific tools required.

    1 Greaseproof paper To line the cake tins.
    2 Spirit level To ensure that stacked cakes are level.
    3 Large and small palette knives For smoothing buttercream and jam onto cakes.
    4 Pastry brush For brushing water onto under iced cakes.
    5 Large rolling pin For rolling out the sugarpaste cake coverings.
    6 Small rolling pin For rolling out the flowerpaste and icing for the sugarcraft details.
    7 Icing smoother For achieving a really smooth icing finish.
    8 Small plastic board To roll out flowerpaste and icing for the sugarcraft details.
    9 Cocktail sticks For applying food colourings to sugarpaste icing.
    10 Flower foam pad Also called a celpad. Used to thin and curl the flowerpaste.
    11 Cake boards Drum and thin hardboard, various sizes, round (see individual projects for specific size required).
    12 Plastic dowels Used to support tiered cakes.
    13 Paintbrushes A range of sizes for painting, dusting and dabbing.
    14 PME1 bone tool Used with the flower foam pad to form and curl flower petals.
    15 Cutters Small leaf; rose leaf; small blossom plunger; large and small butterfly; large and small flower; large, medium and small daisy; various round; large and small star; large and small rose petal; large and small heart plunger; small primrose; small heart.
    16 PME piping nozzles No.1.5, No.2, No.3, leaf, savoy star.
    17 Tilting turntable For use when a cake is being decorated.
    18 Stay-fresh plastic mat To cover up flowerpaste to stop it drying out.
    19 White stamens For flower centres.
    20 Various food colourings To create the icing colours used in the designs.
    21 Edible lustre Snowflake and pink, to make cakes and decorations sparkle and shimmer.
    22 Edible glitters Used as a highlight on rose petals and cupcakes.
    23 PME6 scriber needle Used to score details onto cakes.
    24 Sharp knife or scalpel For cutting straight edges or shapes precisely.
    25 Ruler To help with levelling cakes and to measure sugarpaste strips.
    26 Florists’ tape and wire in green and white For fresh flower details and to wire up sugar flower displays.
    27 Card butterfly former For creating a butterfly shape.
    28 Cake tins Various shapes and sizes, mini heart and mini round tins.
    29 Sugar shaker For decorative dusting on cakes, cookies and brownies.
    30 Rose leaf veiner For giving texture to cut-out sugar rose leaves.
    31 PME blade and shell tool For scoring lines and cutting into icing.

Preparation
    To maximize your enjoyment of the whole cake-making process, always start with a clear workspace, with all the equipment and ingredients you need to hand. You will also have some time in between each step (while your cake cools, or your icing sets) to make flowers and to clean down your work surface in preparation for the next