4 replies to this topic

[nicola]

Please cna anyone get in touch with Rhi, I am trying to make a cake for my son its his birthday on Thursday.

He wants a Death Star cake. Can sort of get what I need to do but wouldnt mind a little help as to how I am  going to get the thing completley circular???????

[Rhianydd]

Oooh!  Sorry!  Just found this!

I would NEVER have thought of looking in here, not like I'm needed ha ha


I expect it is too late but....................................


Circle cakes are a bit of a monster, but I just wrote an article recently on carving, hang on and I will see if I can copy and paste it into here

Okay, bear with me, this might take a bit!

The original article was for an apple, but you can use the hollow at the top of the apple as the hollow at the front of the death star   (apple cake Pic below)

http://dragonsanddaf...-cake-121414917


ps If you use sponge cake, bear in mind it is really soft.  A madeira sponge would be best.  Put a really thin layer of marzipan on, REALLY thin, about 3mm thick and that will hold it together, leave overnight before covering.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 x 25cm (10”) round cake (fruit or sponge)
2.25kg (4.5lb) Squires Kitchen SK Marzipan
2.5kg (5 lb) ivory sugarpaste
Apricot Glaze for fruit or Jam and Buttercream for sponge.
Paste Food Colours: black
icing Sugar Shaker



Equipment

30cm (12”) round cake drum
Smoother
Non-stick board and Rolling Pin
Sharp knife
15mm width black ribbon
Glue stick or double sided tape to stick ribbon to the edge of the cake drum (thick cake board)
Long sharp serrated knife (I use a bread knife with very close small teeth)
Long palette knife

For fruit cakes, place one of the cakes face down onto the board (trim the top if it is too domed, but it doesn’t matter if it is only a small amount as we are going to carve the shape. Stack the cakes, using cooled boiled apricot glaze to sandwich.

For sponge cakes, spread a small amount of buttercream onto the centre of the cake drum. Slice the top off the first sponge and place right side up on your drum. Spread buttercream evenly onto the cake surface with a palette knife. Slice the top off the second sponge, spread your cooled boiled jam evenly onto the surface and sandwich the two cakes together carved sides together.

To Carve
I found it is best to use an apple or photograph as a reference, keep this in front of you and treat your cake as if it has many “front views”, carving each “front view” to match the apple/photograph. If you try to carve all of the top at the same time without turning the cake around, it will look slightly off.

It helps to start off the carving by rounding off the top of the cake. Take a long serrated knife and carve in your “comfort zone”. Eg If you are right handed, start on the right hand side. Follow the shape in the diagram and carve from about 2 ½” – 3” in from the right hand side down to roughly the join between the two cakes

(See  fig.1)

When you have carved the “face” of the cake, turn the cake a few degrees and repeat. If you do this very gradually, when you have turned the cake as many times and cut as many times as you need to get around the circumference, you will have a neat top to the cake.
Now repeat with the lower cuts to shape the base of the cake. It helps if you carve the base slightly more than you would think to allow enough room to tuck the icing underneath for a neater finish.

For the centre of the death star, use a 3” circle cutter, or use a glass to mark the shape in the centre to carve around, scoring round it with a small sharp knife. Follow the diagram below and carve out a hollow and 1 ½” deep into the cake at the centre point, gradually curving up to the side of the circle marker you scored. Use the knife at the angle shown in the diagram.

Remember to do the hollowed carving bit at the front where the death star has it lol  - Emphasise the shape a little more, so that it has the straighter edge to the hollow, whereas the apple is smoother



For fruit cakes, brush the cake with cooled boiled apricot glaze ensuring a smooth even finish but not too much that the marzipan will slip For sponge cakes, use buttercream using a palette knife to spread. Ensure that you remove all the excess for a neat finish.




Marzipanning the cake.
First prepare your SK marzipan by warming 1kg at a time for 40 seconds to 1 minute at full power on a plate in your microwave. This will soften it enough that you can knead it smooth without over kneading the SK marzipan or bringing the oils to the surface.
Knead the SK marzipan to a smooth ball. Dust your clean work surface with icing sugar (best using a sugar shaker) and  pin out your marzipan. Use marzipan spacers for evenly pinned out marzipan, or pin to 3mm thick for sponges and gently lift over the cake.  Lower centrally onto the cake and quickly smooth down. Speed is important here so that you do not allow the marzipan to rip. Smooth neatly into place with your hands. You an also use a smoother for a smoother finish. To neaten the hollow in the top, I found it easier to use the side of my thumb, with the cake on a turntable and rotating it round while smoothing at the same time. Allow to dry.

Covering the cake
Colour most of the SK sugarpaste with SK paste colour Holly/Ivy, leaving approximately 300g back for the board and stem.
Pin out the paste on a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Gently lift and cover the cake with the Holly/Ivy sugarpaste. Again, move quicky to avoid ripping. If you get an air bubble, burst quickly with a pin and with a little icing sugar on the fleshy part of your thumb, gently rub the tiny pin spam hole with circular movements, allowing the friction of the icing sugar on your hand to close the hole.
Trim the excess away, leaving approximately 1cm of paste. Tuck this sugarpste underneath the cake, using the blade of your small knife to neatly push it in. Then use your smoother to finish. Allow to dry.

To cover the drum,  pin out a sausage of SK sugarpaste long enough to go round the drum,  pin out flat on icing sugar and trim one side of the strip neatly, moisten the drum and carefully wrap the trimmed side of the SK sugarpaste strip round, overlapping at the back.  Use your finger/smoother to blend the join together, then gently smooth and trim the excess.

Tip – To avoid leaving smoother marks on the drum covering, ensure that your icing is only 2 – 3 mm thick so that it does not need thinning down.  Smooth the edge of the sugarpasted drum with the fleshy part of your thumb to remove the cut edge, thereby bevelling the board edge and neatening it. Leave to dry.




Sorry, any references to SK are just simply Squires Kitchen as a brand, but you can use any brand of marzipan or sugarpaste (ready to roll icing)

Edited by Rhianydd, 21 October 2009 - 04:48 PM.

[Rhianydd]

Just wondering how it went?


Pics?  

[nicola]

AWW, thanks so much for all the help, unfortunately it was a little late so I sort of made a pile of mush instead x.

I'm just about to upload the pics and will try and get them on here.

[Rhianydd]

lol

Well, I wouldnt have thought to look for a thread aimed at me lol

I spent about an hour uploding all that stuff,

then suddenly thought to check when the cake was for again, and pressed uload anyway lol


Sorry