Cupcake Stylist Q&A Tuesday -- What type of icing should I use on my cake?

I must confess, I borrowed the term “Q&A Tuesday” from Marie Forleo – thanks Marie!

I receive a number of questions regarding cake and cupcake recipes, storage, fondant, shipping, etc., so I thought I would take the first Tuesday of every month to address your questions.

Today’s “Q”:  What type of icing should I use on my cake (and/or cupcakes)?

And the “A” to that Q is, it depends…

There are a number of things to factor in, but you can narrow your choices by answering the following questions:

1. Will your celebration be held in a temperature controlled environment?
2. Does your filling require refrigeration?

IF your filling requires refrigeration, it is safe to assume your cake will not be placed directly in the sun, and the temperature will be monitored. So, in this case you are safe with a Buttercream, Whipped, Cooked or Ganache icing.  These icing types do fine with refrigeration, and are a great base for fondant decorations, ALTHOUGH the fondant decorations should be placed AFTER the cake or cupcakes are removed from the refrigerator and before serving.

IF your filling doesn’t require refrigeration, you can use fondant to “ice” your crumb coated cake.  Once your layers are covered with fondant, you can store your iced cake at room temperature for up to 4 days.  To keep the fondant from drying out, simple wrap your iced cake with plastic wrap.  Do not refrigerate or freeze, as the condensation can cause the fondant to “weep” and the colors to run.

Then, on the day of your party, simply remove the plastic wrap, add your fondant decorations, and you are ready to wow your family and friends with a fabulous cake and or cupcakes!

If you would like additional information on icing types, check out Wilton’s “icing chart:    http://www.wilton.com/decorating/icing/icing-chart.cfm

Was this helpful?  If so, please leave a comment below to let me know if you are going to use fondant or another type of icing to ice your cake and or cupcakes! 

Happy Styling!

Deborah

How to dress cupcakes in a hurry...

I recently was out of town and needed to put together some "pretty" cupcakes in a hurry.  Luckily I had a dozen Ribbon Rose Cake and Cupcake Toppers with me, so I knew just what to do...

Step 1:  I went to a local bakery and pleaded for 12 unfrosted cupcakes (they were very nice about it and gave me 13 for the price of 12 = ).
Step 2: I stopped at the local grocery store and bought two "cans" of ready made frosting.
Step 3: I stirred 1-1/2 cans of the frosting and scooped it into a plastic Ziploc baggie, zipped it up and clipped a small triangle from one of the corners of the bag.
Step 4: I swirled some frosting onto each cupcake
Step 5:  I added a little green food coloring to the remaining frosting and scooped it into another Ziploc baggie, zipped it up and this time I cut a very small corner of the bag off and then made a very small cut perpendicular to the first and piped what were supposed to be leaves onto the top of each cupcake.
Step 6:  I added the Ribbon Rose Cupcake Toppers and wah-lah...decorated cupcakes that were super easy and looked great!

The finished product...

Life on the Farm

I love driving around the Central Coast because you are sure to see cows, horses, sheep and other animals about.

These edible fondant farm animal cake and cupcake toppers are available in my Etsy Store located at http://www.cupcakestylist.etsy.com/.  Each measures between 2 and 2-1/2" and you can enjoy them...without the barnyard smell = )

Horse Head

Pig face

Sheep 

Cow

Pig



Happy Birthday Emerald

Emerald is a known as "the gal who walks around with a bird on her shoulder."  Well, Emerald's Birthday was Wednesday and I was asked to make some "Birthday" cupcakes for her.  These are my Birthday tribute cupcakes for Emerald

And I couldn't forget the bird...

How to dress a naked cake...

Decorating a cake can be overwhelming at times.  There are Soooooooooooo many ideas out there and the possibilities are only limited by our time and abilities. 

My goal as the CUPCAKE STYLIST is to help you stylishly dress your cakes and cupcakes with made-to-order toppers that you can apply to your own cakes and cupcakes, to make desserts that you can present to your friends, hear them ooh and aah, and then tell them you made it yourself!

This cake is one idea for using my fondant rosebuds available at http://www.cupcakestylist.etsy.com/

To make this cake:

1. Bake a 2 layer round cake.
2. Cover your cake board with fondant (optional).
3. Stack the cake layers and fill with your favorite filling and crumb coat with your favorite frosting.
4. Cover the crumb coated cake with white fondant.
5. Next color some fondant to match the rosebud leaves, and another color to match or complement the color of the rosebuds.
6. Roll some of the colored fondant and cut into strips, cutting the complementary color strips approximately 1-1/2” wide and the leaf color strips approximately 1” wide – cut the strips long enough to reach from the bottom of your cake to the top of the stacked layers, plus 1”.
7. Apply your fondant strips to your cake by brushing the back of the each strip with a little water, then “sticking” the strip to the cake.  (The number of strips applied will depend on the number of rosebuds you have.  In my example, I used 24 rosebuds)
8. Apply the rosebuds and leaves to the top of each stripe (again by brushing the base with just a little water)
9. Roll the remaining fondant into various size “balls” and apply around the base of your cake (please note: “balls” can be ordered also, to match your rosebuds).
10. Waa-lah!  You have a beautifully styled cake that will impress your friends and family!

Happy Styling!