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Very new hobby baker baking for newly met bonus child’s birthday! HELP! (1 Viewer)

Kbarber14

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Hello! I make a few cakes a year for my kids and typically do quite adventurous cakes that turn out pretty well, thankfully! I am in desperate need of guidance for my next bake. I learn from my mistakes each cake and keep them in mind for the next, but this is a cake I really need to turn out! I need to make a chicfila inspired 2-3 tier cake! Chocolate cake but need to find a stable icing to help in the southern heat that isn’t too sweet. I was thinking Swiss meringue buttercream but would really love some experienced input! I will be using fondant for the cow print on the cake but don’t want to use it anymore than that! Any tips for tiered cakes? I bought dowels and boards. I recently met my new bonus daughter and I of course want the cake to turn out just the way she envisions so it’s such a special bake for me! Any help for anything from the cake, to icing, to layering is so appreciated!! Her inspiration picture is attached. Thank you!!!
 

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Thanks Bill. :)

Hi @Kbarber14

Welcome to the site. :)

It's fabulous that you are making cakes for your kids and trying out new things, and what a lovely idea to create a Chic-Fil-A cake for your bonus daughter. Thank you for the visual.:loveit:

I've put together a few tips below and some links that may help you further. Here goes...

Icing — Swiss buttercream will hold in the heat but may not always hold its shape in extreme humidity especially if you are doing different types of piping on the cake. Therefore, looking at the picture you sent over, you could try doing the red piping with the palette knife or you may either pipe smaller red beads at the base of the cake or use red ribbon or a strip of red fondant to give the cake a pop of red colour. (Also use unsalted butter when making any kind of buttercream).

Tools - To ensure a smooth coating on the exterior of your cake, use a palette knife and then a cake scraper to smooth the edges and remove the excess buttercream.

Black Fondant—When cutting out black fondant, lightly dust your work surface with confectioner's sugar; this will prevent dusty marks from remaining on the fondant when you cut out the cow pieces.

Cake—For a tiered cake, you need something sturdy and able to withstand the weight. I tend to use a Madeira cake, but you could use a pound cake strong enough to support the weight of each of the above tiers. When stacking, I use the same-sized board as the cake and large straws for the dowels. I stick the tier to the cake using a small amount of buttercream. See below for an illustration of stacking, albeit with fondant.


Filling - Never use too much filling in the centre of your cakes as it can cause the cakes to slide when you are stacking and covering them. Also create a dam around the outer edge of the tier if you are using a different filling to what you are covering with. I use jam for my filling and when covering my cakes, so I don't need the dam to stop the filling from exceeding out the sides. (This tutorial shows you pics of how much filling I use).


Fridge/Heat - The Swiss meringue will solidify if you put it in the fridge but you will need to do this at first when you crumb coat the cake to trap all the excess crumbs. Once that has set you can then remove the cake from the fridge and apply more buttercream coats to fully cover the exterior of the cake. Once covered, you can leave the cake at room temperature to set fully. If you can, find the coolest place possible, and cover the cake with a box to keep it clean. If you have to put it back in the fridge due to the heat, I would leave the fondant pieces off and then stick them to the cake when the cake has set and then been removed from the fridge for a few hours and returned to room temperature. This is because Fondant sweats in the fridge). (Your oven may be a cool place to store the cake to keep it clean, I would have said microwave but I don't think you'd get a 3 tier cake in that. :D Keeps the bugs of it too!)


Just a point - When cakes are put in and out of the fridge for crumb coating, they can sometimes slump or bulge; here is the advice I gave to one of my other members to help with her cakes. If you click on the post, it will show you all the advice I gave her. -

Buttercream Bulge Help:


Depending on when you need the cake, you could always do a pre-trial single-tier cake, covering it with Swiss buttercream and see how it holds up in the heat.

I think I've covered everything and wish you every success with your cake.

I'm sure your daughter will be both thrilled and touched by your kindness.

Best wishes & Good Luck

If you need anything else, please let me know.


Angie 👨‍🍳
 

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