This will be the last installment about the Christmas cake I made. I wanted to go over some of the problems I had and mistakes I made and things I'll try to change around next time.
Problems I had:
- Fondant. 'Nuff said.
- Sides bulging
- Cake was overpoweringly sweet
- Cake was a bit dry
At the end of the last post I had a photo of my finished cake. Well that photo is a bit misleading. That's what it looked like when I was finished decorating it and for that day but by the next day the sides had started to bulge. I thought that I was safe from that happening because I had used a dam around the filling when torting the cake but I don't think that I had used a stiff enough frosting for the dam. I thought I simply had to use the same frosting and that the act of putting the dam there would be enough, but I should have made the frosting for the dam much stiffer. Next time around I'll trythe stiffer frosting, as well as less frosting since it was so sweet!
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| Bulging sides |
The cake was also very very sweet. Not so much the cake itself, but with the frosting between each layer, ganache over the top and then fondant, it was very rich and sickening. Next time I'm going to try making a swiss meringue buttercream frosting, I've heard terrific things about it and it isn't meant to be anywhere near as sweet as American buttercream. It's meant to be a bit difficult to make but with Sweetapolita's instructions I'm going to try and attempt it anyway. Note: If you haven't looked at her blog before, I seriously recommend it!! I'm always lurking on her blog drooling over her gorgeous creations! That ruffle cake is to die for!
I'm also going to try putting less frosting between each of the layers next time. We'll see how it goes next month...
The texture of the cake was a little too dry as well. Normally this cake is really really moist, it's one of the things I love about the recipe. There are a couple of factors that I think may have made the cake so dry. For starters I wasn't really sure if this was the right type of cake to put under fondant, I'm still thinking that maybe it was too soft and may have added to the bulging problem. I don't think that going in and out of the fridge and freezer really helped and I think that the hot weather may have also contributed. I really have no idea but there are some things I'm going to do next time to make sure this doesn't happen again:
I'm going to try out a recipe for a white cake that many bakers on Cake Central recommend from Beyond Buttercream. I don't really have a go-to recipe for a white cake so I'd like to try this one and see how it works for me.
Next time I'm not going to constantly take the cake in and out of the fridge or freezer, I'll try to organize it a bit better so it gets defrosted only 1-2 days before it's going to be served. I'll also brush each layer with some sugar water when stacking, supposedly that's supposed to help lock in moisture.
I had left it out at room temperature the last night because supposedly you're not supposed to put fondant cakes in the fridge since it makes the fondant sweat but I've read from lots of people that do it anyway without any problems so I may try to do it anyway next time so the heat doesn't dry out the cake.
I haven't given up with fondant, I'm determined to get it right. I think my biggest issue was with the humidity and heat, but if I want to continue doing cake decorating in the future then I'm going to have to learn to deal with the Aussie summer weather! My house is relatively cool though and I hadn't bothered turning the fans on that day, next time I'll have the fans going in the kitchen.
Overall I'm pretty happy with month 1, I think that I did a really good job considering it was my first time tackling fondant and the weather conditions weren't in my favor at all. I'm looking forward to next months cake. Its my husband's and my 25th birthdays next month (our birthdays are 2 days apart) so I might do a joint birthday cake for us. I'm thinking a coconut cake with lemon curd filling and lemon SMBC frosting, yummo!
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