We are getting more and more of his wonderful moulds in, the Tiara and magnetic bead mould will be in store soon.

Make gorgeous lace inspired cake with Earlenese moulds

Thank you too all our customers who attended and enjoyed the show. It was a fantastic and fun week.  To see all of Doms current moulds and the silicone plastique that he was demonstrating visit www.cakesaroundtown.com.au.

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Cake Pops and Candy Melts

With cake pop craze going mad, we have a lot of enquiries regarding how to melt candy melts successfully.  Candy melts are similar to compound chocolate in that they MUST NOT BE OVERHEATED. Overheating them will cause the to clug or basically cook into a pulp.

So below we have some tips on Melting your Candy melts succesfully by different methods.

What Are Candy Melts?

Melts are also known as confectionery coating. Their are a few different brands on the market Wilton, Merckens, Alpine and CK products. They are convenient wafers made of sugar, milk solids, vegetable oils, flavorings and colors. The Light Cocoa, Dark Cocoa and Dark Cocoa Mint-flavored Candy Melts also contain cocoa powder. Candy Melts taste delicious, but don’t require the careful melting procedures of chocolate.

Work Dry

Before you begin, make sure all of your utensils are dry. Water causes melted coatings to harden and streak. Melted Candy Melts are ready for molding when the texture resembles cooked pudding. For all methods, do not overheat by melting on too high a setting or for too long. Coating loses its proper consistency if overheated or if liquids are added. If coating becomes too thick, add 2 teaspoons of hydrogenated solid vegetable shortening per 14 oz. of Candy Melts or paramount crystals (same thing!)

Microwave Oven: Bowl

A quick and easy way to melt candy in a microwave-safe bowl, spouted measuring cups, Melting Bottles or Disposable Decorating Bags.

If you’re using a bowl or measuring cup, microwave 1 package Candy Melts at 40% power or defrost setting for 1 minute. Stir thoroughly. Continue to microwave and stir at 30-second intervals until smooth and completely melted. ALWAYS TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE POWER OF YOUR MICROWAVE. THEY ARE ALL DIFFERENT!

Double Boiler:

Fill lower pan with water to below level of top pan. Heat water to a simmer, then remove from heat. Put Candy Melts in the top pan and set in position on lower pan. Stir constantly, without beating, until smooth and completely melted.

Slow Cooker:

Ideal for melting large amounts of candy (1-2kg.).
Note: Do not melt less than 1.5 kgs. Place 1 package of Candy Melts into a slow cooker and set on low. Never use a higher setting. Stir occasionally as it melts. When almost completely melted (about 20 minutes), add another package. Stir occasionally again until almost completely melted, then add another package of Candy Melts. Repeat procedure until you’ve melted as much candy as you need. You can melt up to 2.5kg. of Candy Melts in your slow cooker (total melting time for 2.5kg. is about 45 minutes).

We hope this helps some of you the newbies to candy melt and cake pops!

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Lucks has once again inspired us with this gorgeous Cat and Wool Cupcakes! They are too cute! I could also seem them made with modelling two knitting needles on top, which would be gorgeous for Grandma or the knitter you know!

Here is how to make them:

SIZE: Other (cupcakes)
SKILL LEVEL: Easy

These adorable cupcakes will unravel into terrific fun for all!

1. Tint fondant pink using a drop of food colour either Americolor Pink or a Little Lucks Red is perfect. Find food colours here:

2. Roll out pink fondant (you could use alread coloured fondant too luck Regal Ice professional Pink) and cut scalloped circles sized to fit the tops of the cupcakes.

3. Mix a batch of icing with a scant amount of Super Red to match the fondant.

4. Ice the cupcakes in pink.

5. Use a small metal ruler or any other food-safe straight edge to impress “yarn” strands into each fondant disc.

6. Place one fondant disc on each cupcake.

7. Attach Kitty Collection Dec-Ons® decorations (Item #45259) to cupcakes with a dab of icing.

8. With a #5 plain round tube (Item #12753) and pink icing, pipe a curlicue loose “string” around each Dec-Ons® decoration.

The post Gorgeous Cupcake Cat & Ball of Wool Idea appeared first on Cakes Around Town.

SIZE: 12” two-layer and 8” three-layer stacked cake
SKILL LEVEL: Moderate/Advanced

Let your Spring spirit soar with this buoyant kite cake!

1. At least two days ahead, prepare the clouds and the kite. Print and cut out the kite pattern (available here) or create your own.

2. Start with the clouds. Roll out white fondant and cut a variety of forms either free-hand with an X-acto knife or with specialty cutters. Allow to dry over night on a curved surface, such as the side of a 4” or 5” polystyrene dummy or a large can or glass.

3. For the kite, roll out a piece of white fondant slightly larger than the paper pattern. Tile the striped pattern from the Summer Variety Designer Prints™ Sheets (Item #45395) on your fondant. For more detailed instructions, see “Designer Prints™ Application to Fondant” in Lucks’ Resource Center under Tips and Techniques.

4. With your cutting tool and using your pattern as a guide, cut the precise kite form and allow to dry.

5. When the clouds are dry, spray the concave side of each with Lucks Pearl Shimmer Airbrush Color (Item #43706) and again allow to dry. Turn over and repeat this process on the convex side of each. Let dry.

6. Ice each cake tier and enrobe in fondant. Before stacking the tiers, airbrush the 12” round with Lucks Neon Bright Green Shimmer Airbrush Color (Item #45531). Respray with sporadic touches of Lucks Green Shimmer Airbrush Color (Item #43730) for added dimension.

7. Airbrush the 8” tier irregularly with Lucks Blue Shimmer Airbrush Color (Item #43708) or similar to lend the appearance of a cloudy sky.  (You can always mix Gel paste colours with the Pearl Shimmer to create your own pallette).

8. When completely dry, stack and stabilize the tiers.

9. Mix lime green icing using Lucks Neon Brite Green Liqua-Gel (Item #45275) or Americolor Electric Green in a white icing base. Use a #5 plain round tube (Item #12753) to pipe short blades of grass around the base of the top tier and long blades around the bottom tier.

10. Roll out more fondant, and cut a handful of cloud forms to apply around the 8” tier with a light application of water. Spray clouds with Pearl Shimmer Color.  Then, to the remainder of the rolled fondant, apply half a strip of the paisley pattern from the Summer Variety Designer Prints™ decorations with a light mist of water. Use a small flower cutter to cut out approximately 15-20 paisley flowers and attach to intermittent stems on the 12” tier, as shown, with small dabs of water and a ball tool.

11. Attach the kite form to the top edge of the cake with a small, moistened ball of fondant. To create the cross bars on the kite, either pipe before application to the cake with a #4 plain round tube (Item #12752) in royal icing and let dry, or pipe with buttercream or royal icing after application to the cake.

12. Using a #4 tip and white icing, pipe a wavy kite string. The kite tails can either be piped with a #4 tip and icing tinted with Lucks Pink Airbrush Color (Item #41542), or cut from fondant or gum paste tinted pink.

13. Arrange dried clouds in concentric layers on the top of the cake. Depending on their form, i.e., how evenly the bottom of the clouds rest upon the cake top, they may need to be supported with rolled balls of white fondant, or they may be attached with royal icing.

Decorating idea by Charra Jarosz

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Make a Matroyshka Doll Cake

Greg Cleary the wizard came in bearing gifts! He used our Matroyshka Doll Wafer Paper to create this gorgeous cake.  He used egg white to attach the dolls to the cake. He then used gumpaste to make his own little Matroyshka’s to stand up on the cake.

He finished the cake with some navy grosgrain. So sweet and simple. Oh and the covering on the cake was our Premium Ice Chocolate Fondant. He said it was lovely to use, stretched well, didnt tear and he cant believe how thin it rolled.

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Safari Cake

SIZE: 8”, 6” and 4” stacked
SKILL LEVEL: Moderate

Go ahead, stick your neck out and display this stunning safari cake…they’ll come running in herds!

1.    Ice the 8” and 4” tiers separately.

2.    Mix three batches of icing: one with Black Gel Paste, one with Lucks Egg Shade Airbrush Colour (Item #10160), and the last with three parts Lucks Green Airbrush Colour (Item #10162) to one part Lucks Brown Airbrush Colour (Item #10159).

3.    Apply Safari Tall Variety Designer Prints™ decorations (Item #45062) to the 8” and 4” tiers; measure your finished cakes to trim Designer Prints™ to the appropriate height. For the top layer, cut a zebra print round and apply to the top. To connect the pattern on the sides to the pattern on the top of the cake, either paint stripes with a fine paintbrush and Lucks Black Airbrush Color (Item #10157), or pipe with a #3 plain round tip and black icing. You may also bypass this step by using a piped border, or by leaving the top blank.

4.    Stack and ice a three- or four-layer 6” tier atop the 8” cake, dowelling well.

5.    Airbrush land and sky on this tier with brown airbrush and Lucks Blue Liquid Airbrush (Item #10158) colors, as shown.

6.    With a fine paintbrush, add ground definition to the parting line between land and sky.

7.    Arrange top tier on the cake.

8.    Fill a pastry bag, outfitted with a Delrin coupler , with egg shade icing. Using just the coupler, pipe the body, the neck, and the head of the giraffe.

9.    Attaching a #5 plain round tube (Item #12753) to the pastry bag, pipe legs, nose, ears and tail. Use a #4 plain round tube (Item #12752) with black icing to pipe eyes and hoof; use a #4 with egg shade to add eyelids and ear definition.

10.    With a medium paint brush and brown airbrush color, paint the giraffe’s nose, ear tips and spots. With the fine paint brush, fill in background trees on either side of the giraffe.

11.    With a #5 tip and fudge or chocolate icing, pipe tree trunks, then the giraffe’s horns and mane.

12.    With a #5 tip and green icing, pipe tree leaves and blades of grass around the tree trunks.

13.    With a #8 plain round tube (Item #12756) and black icing, pipe a bottom border.

Decorating idea by Charra Jarosz

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Cake Boards arriving at our warehouse

Some days I wonder if we can fit another shipment of cake decorating supplies into our warehouse in Darra.  This last week saw a 40 foot container of cake boards arrive to further compliment our growing range of quality cake decorating supplies we offer.

Some of the great new stuff we have for 2012 includes more push-pops and better prices!  Great stands for our push-pops and cake pops.  We have bulk lollipop sticks now available at great prices especially for bulk buys.

Some really exciting stuff for us is our own Range of Chocolate Fondant that will be online soon.  A fondant that tastes as good as it looks! The other Cakes Around Town branded products are Royal Icing, Premium Gumpaste ready to use (900gram tubs), Paramount Crystals, Gumpaste powder mix and Super Fine Confectioners sugar imported from the USA. These will be online soon and we really are super excited to be extending our range of our own product to compliment the quality cake decorators in Australia.

We also will be sporting a great range of affordable ink cartridges for edible ink printers and we are securing new distributorship details to bring to you better pricing on edible ink paper. Watch this space.

The cake boards – all 40ft of them are great. Now sold in packs of 10 and singularly you can save plenty on quality cake boards which as you know get sent out when you order them. They consist of drum boards, masonite boards and silver foil cardboard. You can view all our cake boards here:

http://www.cakesaroundtown.com.au/catalog/cake-decorating-supplies-cake-boards-c-1_368.html

The bad news about the growing range of cake supplies is that our cake decorating classes have ceased for lack of space.  Unless we can secure the warehouse next door which is up for lease this is the way it will remain. But we will surely keep you updated.

2012 is the Year of the Dragon – Happy Chinese New Year btw. This year is a good  year for everyone and we can leave behind the horrors of the floods, earth quakes, tsuanmi’s etc that quite fancy Year of the Tiger, Year of the bunny was neither here nor there, albeit busy. I was born in 1974 (year  of the Tiger) and quite conveniently the same year  saw Brisbane flood again. Mental note to myself, leave Brisbane every 12 years.

So onward and upward to finding more cake supplies and another busy year ahead. Would love to take this opportunity to thank our all wonderful clients for their enthusiasm and support over the last couple of years.

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Lace Silicone Mat

On our recent trip to the USA we met Michelle Hester aka the Sugarveil Lady.  She showed us what her wonderous products, and we signed up straight away to distribute her wonderful selection of products here in Australia.

Sugarveil icing is a very thin icing made to a special recipe, which allows the use to create the finest of fine icing detail, which dries and can be used as a edible modelling lace or alike. Sugarveil has the dispense pump (available online soon!) and then it has a number of fabulous silicone lace mats for use with the icing. The results are astounding and no-one will believe its edible!

Check out our range of Sugarveil products online now: Cick here

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See some of our great new products such as (click on the link to see more of the product):

The Mat – by Sweetwise

Premium Non-stick Sugar Craft Mat by CAT

My Little Cupcake Cake Pop Mould

Premium Sugarcraft Airbrush and Compressor Set

and many more fabulous solutions for your cake decorating and chocolate making needs.

We offer a flat rate delivery service Australia wide – for only $8.95  you will get your products delivered to your door, and if you spend over $190.00 we will send it to you for free.  (Regular delivery service, express post options are available but charged per parcel).

We also aim to pack all orders up to 11am which are paid for by credit card same day, which allows you to get your orders super quick wherever you maybe.  Our aim is to improve our systems and stock control, so you get your decorating supplies, quickly, efficiently and well priced.

We hope we meet your expectations, service, supply and price are what we offer to all our customers and that is why so many return time after time.

The post Cake Decorating Solutions appeared first on Cakes Around Town.

Sold in white in 200 gram pouches – it is available online to buy now:

http://www.cakesaroundtown.com.au/catalog/greg-clearys-premium-flower-paste-white-200g-p-5045.html

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