Siamnovella

This is our latest post for Siamnovella. We are providing a tutorial that will aid readers if they wish to make a unique celebration cake design – a Pillow cake. Pillow cakes are wonderful and eye catching. They appear highly detailed and complexed to construct, when in reality they are actually rather simple in nature. This tutorial guide will describe to readers how to create a square pillow cake which will have curved sides. For readers who would prefer a pillow with straight sides, simply omit where necessary the stages that remove the curves from the cake design.

Some of the following info was provided by a professional bakery and its staff. For more helpful tips, look on online for Birthday cakes London and you will find the Cake in a Box website. The following utensils have been recommended by their team.

What you will need:

• Buttercream
• Sugar-paste
• Food Colour
• Sugar-paste smoother
• Use of a chill/fridge
• 1 x Confectionery rolling pin
• Ruler
• 1 x knife
• Kitchen toothpicks

Stage One

Firstly, we must make the cake. We achieved this by using a double layered 8″ cake which was filled with cream and jam. filled cake. Once prepared, the cake must be placed in a chill/freezer to harden.

Stage Two

The cake is now frozen and ready to work with. Use a ruler to measure 1″ in from the edge. Mark the area then place a toothpick on this location. You will repeat this process with the remaining 3 sides.

Stage Three

With the toothpicks inserted and aligned, the next task is to mark a curved line from the toothpick to the corner closest to it and then a curved line to the opposite corner. To achieve this a knife will be required. Again, repeat this process with the remaining 3 sides.

Stage Four

With the curved lines marked on the cake, you will now cut down into the cake – using the cured lines as a guide. As done previously, repeat this process with the remaining 3 sides.

View this online video for more helpful info:

Stage Five

The next task is to cut the cakes edges with a knife, so as to taper it. Don’t be afraid to continue carving until you have the look you want. The cake will now be turned over and the process repeated for the remaining corners.

Stage Six

When you have the shape you are happy with, you are ready to stick to a cake board. This can be achieved by using icing or a jam. Once done, the sugar-paste will be rolled and prepared for use in covering the cake.

Stage Seven

To make it less difficult to smooth the cake underside, simply elevate the cake in a way that allows you to carefully sugar-paste. It is advisable to work and smooth the sugar-paste from the cakes centre area, out to the the corner edges.  Be sure to take care when smoothing the corners and then cut away any extra unwanted sugar-paste.

Stage Eight

Now we are ready to begin the decoration of the pillow cake. For this tutorial, the overall design is going to be minimalistic.

What you will need:

• Edible Dust/lustre (pink, pearl)
• Sugar-paste
• Sugar-paste colours
• Edible Glue
• Confectionery brush
• Decorative pearls
• Edible dragee decorations

With the utensils sourced, the first thing to do is mix your edible lustre. Take the pink and pearl dust and mix until you get the colour and sheen you are happy with. When it is ready you can dust the pillow all over.

Stage Nine

You are now going to make some sugar-paste curls. Simply roll out some sugar-paste into a string then cut and curl.  the curls can be attached to the cake with edible glue. This action will be repeated until the pillow is circle is covered.

Stage Ten

At this stage we will use the edible glue to attach a small flattened sugar-paste sphere to the middle of the cake.  Now take a pre-made pearl, dipped in edible glue, and attach it to the centre of the pillow. You may glaze it with a dust mixture and then attach some  edible dragees around the pearl decoration.

Stage Eleven

The sugar curls you made earlier will now be painted.

to add tassels to the pillow, it is again needed to roll out some sugar-paste into a string like format. Again, these can be attached with edible glue. Allow time for them to set.

Stage Twelve

After attaching the tassels to the cake, you can now add one pearl to each for decoration.  Your pillow cake design is now completed and should be left to harden.

Although more detailed than required, the pillow cake should resemble the cake below is shape:

We trust you have found this guide informative and hope you enjoyed making your pillow cake. For more detailed  information please contact us through the various channels.

Hello and welcome to our book review. As more and more people take up baking and cake making in the household, the age old art of cake making and decorating is becoming popular again. To cater for this trend, numerous new books have been written and published to aid would be home bakers in their various quests to make tasty bakery goods. To help us define which books are best for novices, we asked members of the highly trained Cake in a Box team to help us review various book titles in order to recommend a selection to our website visitors. Cake in a Box is a professional bakery and specialist cake maker business. If you would like to check their credentials then please feel free to visit any on-line search engjne of your choice and search cakes Glasgow for more info. Their website will provide an idea of the level of skill they possess.

Review 1 – “The Contemporary Cake Decorating Bible: Creative Techniques, Fresh Inspiration, Stylish Designs” (by Lindy Smith)

The Books illustrations are good and easy on the eye with excellent layout. For each area of cake decorating there are easy to follow steps provided for the reader. The book touches on the early beginnings of cake decorating as well the the more expert type techniques, thus giving a broad spectrum of information. The author outlines some innovative cakes designs and new intuitive techniques as well as interesting recipes for the reader to use and adapt.

All in all this book should be considered as one of the most comprehensive sugar-craft books on the market. It provide a vast amount of information regarding all types of cakes and cookies and covers so many techniques in an easy to read, user-friendly way. The cake designs can be considered unique and modern by today\’s standards and the information provided could help all cake makers from beginners to seasoned campaigners.

Think you would benefit from a video tutorial? Then watch this helpful video with contains some valuable cake decorating techniques:

Review 2 – “The Cake Decorating Bible: Simple steps to creating beautiful cupcakes, biscuits, birthday cakes and more” (by Juliet Sear).

This book is one of the newest on the market and is aimed directly at the novice at the home baker. The book can be viewed as a definitive guide to making all types of cakes, cupcakes and cookies to a very high standard. As well as providing elementary information it also describes and illustrates many techniques that are at the forefront of cake design creation. The author touches on all the basic principles of cake decoration including making royal icing and sugar models, to food colouring and cake dyes to decorate cupcakes, to gaining the skills needed to construct multiple tiered wedding cakes. The information for readers is vast with all the essential reading  provided to become a very talented cake maker with enough practice.

Book Remarks

Both books live up very much to their titles. For anyone looking to branch out into the home baking arena then either book would be good reading material and a valuable reference points. They can be purchased online form any credible book retailer. Feed back regarding this review is always welcome. If you require any further information then please get in contact with us via the necessary channels.