Writing on Cakes
Its not as hard as made out.
There are rules of thumb ,which if you follow, will make it much easier.
1. First do it with a marker pen, a lack of good handwriting is irrelevant, my handwriting is terrible with a pen.
Break the words into steps, theres no need to write the whole word in one go.
Practice the most common word first ...HAPPY. Practice the H and only the H.
Do 10 x H's before moving on, make sure you've got it down. Its the anchor that will encourage you to get the rest of the word right.
2. Its unproductive to go for the easy way out and use plastic bags and steel tips, the day you get a lump that clogs the tip you'll know why.
If a paper cone gets clogged you can simply squeeze it clear and move on with barely a delay.
The paper cone also gives the control that is not possible with any other method, its that control that gives the results I show.
3. your index finger should point directly at the tip.
You write with your finger, the cone merely follows where you point.
The other hand is used to steady the cone, don't try it one handed.
Don't try to write fast as I do, just a steady pace until you are confident.
4. use scissors only to cut the tip, a knife will not do it at all.
Drop a continuous string onto the table or your fingertip and observe how it stacks, it has to coil up on itself as shown in the video.
If not, recut the tip, if it still wanders about ?, forget it and make another cone.
I try to make 2 or 3 cones, if one gives me trouble I just rip the tip off and squirt the choc into the next cone.
Practice making cones, my first day I made a dozen of them. I use baking parchment paper.
I was using a poor quality choc (cocoaBarry chunks).
Choc chips might work ok, I would try it.
If you use high quality such as callebaut you will find it flows too easily and letters tend to melt into each other.
The way to fix that is simply stir in 2 or 3 drops of heavy cream to bind it up slightly. Be careful, just drops of cream.
Cool ganache works good too.
Buttercream, depending how you make it can be a pain, it will not drop a string as required for the typical letter H.
I avoid writing with buttercream if given a choice. Little air bubbles in buttercream will give you fits.
Heres a quick vid of the above directions.
Its not as hard as made out.
There are rules of thumb ,which if you follow, will make it much easier.
1. First do it with a marker pen, a lack of good handwriting is irrelevant, my handwriting is terrible with a pen.
Break the words into steps, theres no need to write the whole word in one go.
Practice the most common word first ...HAPPY. Practice the H and only the H.
Do 10 x H's before moving on, make sure you've got it down. Its the anchor that will encourage you to get the rest of the word right.
2. Its unproductive to go for the easy way out and use plastic bags and steel tips, the day you get a lump that clogs the tip you'll know why.
If a paper cone gets clogged you can simply squeeze it clear and move on with barely a delay.
The paper cone also gives the control that is not possible with any other method, its that control that gives the results I show.
3. your index finger should point directly at the tip.
You write with your finger, the cone merely follows where you point.
The other hand is used to steady the cone, don't try it one handed.
Don't try to write fast as I do, just a steady pace until you are confident.
4. use scissors only to cut the tip, a knife will not do it at all.
Drop a continuous string onto the table or your fingertip and observe how it stacks, it has to coil up on itself as shown in the video.
If not, recut the tip, if it still wanders about ?, forget it and make another cone.
I try to make 2 or 3 cones, if one gives me trouble I just rip the tip off and squirt the choc into the next cone.
Practice making cones, my first day I made a dozen of them. I use baking parchment paper.
I was using a poor quality choc (cocoaBarry chunks).
Choc chips might work ok, I would try it.
If you use high quality such as callebaut you will find it flows too easily and letters tend to melt into each other.
The way to fix that is simply stir in 2 or 3 drops of heavy cream to bind it up slightly. Be careful, just drops of cream.
Cool ganache works good too.
Buttercream, depending how you make it can be a pain, it will not drop a string as required for the typical letter H.
I avoid writing with buttercream if given a choice. Little air bubbles in buttercream will give you fits.
Heres a quick vid of the above directions.
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I'd love to do stuff like that. It just shows you that hard work does pay off.
