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asked October 23rd 2012

Another Icing Problem

Hi
After icing a cake with fondant i often find it seems to sagg a bit around the bottom also it sometimes seems a bit see through aoround the top edge and middle..am i being a bit heavy handed when smoothing the icing down or may rolling it out too thin?

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Hi Lynn

It’s possible your butter cream isn’t stiff enough making the fondant slide. Make the BC a little stiffer and roll your fondant out slightly thicker. Apply the fondant on a cool cake and smooth well all round. Hope it helps. x

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Thank you I will give that a try.I usualy follow the peggy porschen recipe which is half and half butter and icing suga but what would you suggest? Thanks again for your advice.

Lynn

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Hi Lynn

I use the Jane Hornby butter cream recipe for her vanilla wedding cake. It uses slightly more butter to icing sugar than PP. I seldom use BC but find that one has never let me down. She uses 175g butter to 300g icing sugar, this is enough to fill and ice an 8″ cake. I never add milk to butter cream and always have my butter cool and not too soft. I only do a light crumb coat, just enough to cover the sponge. BC is the bane of my life, I much prefer ganache, I realise not all customers like. x

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Thanks so much for your advice.sorry just one more question….I take it if you were making a vanilla sponge you would use white chocolate ganache?
Lynn
x

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I probably would, with seedless raspberry jam or puree. If you use puree it would significantly reduce the shelf life of the cake because fresh fruits and purees can be prone to molding, so best not used unless you’re going to decorate on the day and you know the cake will be eaten up quickly. There’s a white chocolate ganache recipe in the free/beginners tutorial library or use 3 times chocolate to 1 times double cream. You can flavour the ganache with alcohol if you want, or just the sponge like Paul does with the Baileys. I always make a simple vanilla syrup by boiling equal quantities of sugar and water plus a whole vanilla pod. x

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I use the vanilla syrup too….it makes such a difference in keeping the cake nice and moistand flavoursome.Will deffinately give the ganache a go.Thanks again your advice is much appreciated. x

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Suddenly cottoned on that you might use white chocolate ganache for the crusting. If you are, then definitely make the 3 to 1 ratio, it will make a stronger ganache (white chocolate needs to be stronger). x

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