Avoiding and Covering Up Sugarpaste Icing Mistakes
The most common problem will be stretch marks which give the icing a non-uniform thickness and severe cracks on the surface. Knowing what has caused these problems will help you to avoid them in future and when they do occur don't panic, discard your work or give up in despair.
Luckily, there are a wealth of ways to cover up a vast range of mistakes both big and small and ultimately no one but you will be any the wiser when you finally present your cake to an admiring audience.
Avoiding mistakes
• Before you start rolling out your icing make sure it is well kneaded. When you think you have kneaded it enough, then knead it a little more. Eventually you will come to know when it has exactly the right consistency and pliability and this may occur more slowly or more quickly depending on the temperature of the environment you are working in. The warmth from your surroundings and the heat from your hands will help the sugarpaste become more stretchy so that it will be less prone to cracks and tears during the rest of the process to cover your cake.
• Don't go mad with the icing sugar when you are rolling out your sugarpaste icing. You will need a certain amount, and again this may vary depending on your working temperature, but using too much icing sugar will dry out your dough and change its intrinsic consistency. With time and experience you will come to know the right quantities to use. Using a icing sugar shaker can sometimes help regulate the amount of sugar you use.
• When you roll out a larger area of sugarpaste icing it becomes more tricky to pick it up and transfer it to the cake. It is easily stretched and torn at this point. When you are starting out go for smaller cakes and work up to larger ones as you get more adept at handling the rolled out sugarpaste. Also, make sure that you roll out your sugarpaste to the size you need and no larger. Excess sugarpaste icing at the bottom of the cake will promote cracks and tears with their drag.
• Once the rolled out icing is in place on the cake you will need to smooth it out. This is when damage is easily done - it takes a little practice to get the balance between adequate pressure and gentleness right without stretching or tearing the icing. Although many people opt to smooth their icing with their hands, cake smoothers are especially designed to help you achieve this and may be worth investing in. The section of skin between your index finger and thumb is ideal for smoothing and round the icing on the cake edges.
Disguising mistakes
The many products you can buy for cake decorating provide you with a wealth of ways to cover up mistakes and are available in an almost endless selection of designs and colour schemes to perfectly match your iced cake theme. All will add interest to your creation and come as edible or non-edible options; far from having a ruined cake you could actually end up with something rather special through having experimented with decorations you might never otherwise have thought of.
• Chocolate decorations and curls – if you have a large area you need to disguise then you can cover an entire surface with chocolate curls or alternatively strategically place a chocolate decoration or two where needed. Take your pick from flowers, butterflies, fairies, hearts and probably anything else you care to think of.
• Roll out an additional piece of sugarpaste icing and create a little 'plaque' to which you can add a message, numbers, pattern or design. There are a vast range of cutters on the market which will help you achieve both the shape needed and any lettering.
• Ribbons are great for disguising mistakes and are particularly useful where the mistake has occurred on the cake side. Ribbons can be bought in any width, length or colour and there are some really fancy designs out there to choose from. Ribbons can also be used to trail over offending sections or bows can be constructed or bought ready-made. Alternatively make your ribbons with sugarpaste icing using one of the specifically designed cutters on the market.
• If your mistakes are extensive or multiple then consider sprinkling the entire cake with edible cake glitter available in every colour imaginable and which is sure to add some glamour to your finished creation with every mistake discretely hidden away. Alternatively choose from the almost endless range of sprinkles in every shape and colour imaginable which can be as subtle or dramatic as you like.
• Another great cover up for large area mistakes can be achieved with a vast range of cutters. These come in every shape, size and design you can imagine and add huge interest to a cake.
• If your mistakes are quite small but there are several of them then consider piping a few random dots over the cakes surface.
• Lettering is a great way to cover up mistakes but can be a little more difficult to achieve for the novice cake decorator. Of course, you can buy ready made lettering or numbers and there are many little tools and tricks to achieve uniform, professional looking lettering.
And so the list goes on – have a browse through any cake supplier's website to be amazed and by the vast ranges of products available for cake decorating or for, in this case, hiding any number of mistakes.
