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May 23, 2018 Blog

Lumberjack cake

How To Make A Lumberjack Cake With Buffalo Plaid Cake Inside And A Gravity Defying Chocolate Axe On Top!

The lumberjack cake is probably my favorite cake of all time. What happened to be a random experiment to see if I could make a buffalo plaid pattern inside a cake became a viral sensation! Three years later, it's still my most popular tutorial and now you can learn how to make it for free!

This tutorial is an updated version because I felt like I could improve upon the original design but you can watch the original lumberjack cake tutorial for free too!

If I HAD known this cake was going to go viral, I definitely would have taken the time to finish my board *cringes). My video quality at the time was a GoPro and some of the techniques where a little fussy. Since then, I have made dozens of lumberjack cakes and have streamlined the process to what I feel is a pretty simple and fun cake to make. I also have three new recipes for you that I like to call the "Sculpted cake recipes series" which are cakes that still have a lot of great flavor but are a little bit sturdier for using in carved cakes like this one. My original cake tutorial used box mix which is really tender and breaks pretty easily.

Since then, this cake has been made and re-made by some huge pages including tastemade which used to bother me but now I just know it's part of this business. But the thing that REALLY get's me is that the plaid is never true plaid in any of these other videos. It's my inner OCD going nuts.

Check out these "not buffalo plaid" cakes

craftsy.com - The not plaid cake to get you to buy their tools tutorial

cupcakescookiesandcardio.com — cupcakesandcardio.com - The original not plaid version of my lumberjack cake

To create the plaid texture in this cake, you have to make two 10" red velvet cakes for carving, two 8" chocolate cakes for carving and two 10" yellow cakes for carving (dyed red). You will have a little cake leftover after stacking. I HATE wasting cake so I added some roots to the design that uses up the excess cake and I think gives it a fun tree stump look. You can see the layer of yummy cake clay around the outside edge which tastes a lot like fudge! Yum!

Now that's some real buffalo plaid 😀

So after much discussion with my husband, we have decided to not only release the original lumberjack tutorial to be a free video, we have also made a NEW updated version with a different style of bark texture that I think is a lot more realistic, simpler way of making the edible axe using my modeling chocolate recipe and even a simpler way of making the wood rings on top using buttercream instead of fondant. You can use the old bark texture if you like or the new one depending on how much you enjoy working with fire haha.

The new bark texture is created using my LMF fondant recipe and my crackled fondant technique with the addition of some granulated sugar for extra crunchy texture. I get asked a lot of the fondant has a "burnt" taste because of the torching and the answer is no. We're only caramelizing the sugar like you would a s'more since the fondant is made mostly of marshmallows. The crunchy outer layer of sugar combined with the marshmallow fondant and the ganache underneath results in a cake that tastes literally like campfire marshmallows. How freaking lumberjack is that??

I hope you enjoy this new version of the lumberjack cake and a HUGE thank you to all the support over the years that I have received from fellow cake decorators, friends, family and straight up strangers who always tag me in their lumberjack cake creations, shared my tutorial and just overall kept me from becoming horribly bitter lol. I'm happy to release this tutorial into the wild 😀

What is a lumberjack cake?

A lumberjack cake could be many things, if you search pinterest you'll find a whole plethora of lumberjack cake versions ranging from cute stacks of pancakes to beards, bears and suspenders. My version of the lumberjack cake was actually a very quick experiment that I didn't really think anyone would think was that interesting.

I kept seeing plaid everywhere and I couldn't help but think... could you make a cake plaid on the inside?

*This photo has been shared over a million times on social media in less than 48 hours! Crazy! People love lumberjacks LOL

It's all About the Plaid Cake

Maybe it's because I'm an Oregonian.
Maybe because it's the hottest trend on Pinterest right now.
It could be because I have a crush on #FashionSanta and I know his favorite color is plaid.
Or maybe it's because I'm a child of the 90's and if I start wearing mauve lipstick and JNCO jeans, someone please send help.

When hubs chopped down that Christmas tree all lumberjack like, my obsession with plaid became clear. I'm in love with lumberjacks. It makes sense: I love trees, I love beards, and I love plaid.

This lumberjack cake is a culmination of almost all my obsessions. If I could have worked in a mermaid I would have.

Lumberjack Cakes with Plaid Inside: It Needed to Happen

The latest tutorial coming to the Sugar Geek Show! Chocolate-y log with edible axe and a BIG OL' SLICE of lumberjack cake awesomeness in the middle! That's right, plaid cake. (you may faint now)

I would like to say this pattern was super simple to make but well... let's just say a lot of cake and a lot of scribbled notes ended up in the trash. Damn you maths! Why must you confuse me so?!

Ever measured a piece of cake with a ruler and a compass? Neither have I... Only crazy obsessed weirdos would go to such extremes to perfect the perfect plaid cake masterpiece!

Lumberjack Cake Bark

I know that plaid is kind of the show-stopper but f'real, this tutorial is the real deal. I got all kinds of cool stuff packed in here: airbrushing, modeling chocolate, fondant, hand-detailing and of course, crazy realistic textures! It's kinda my thing. This chocolate bark on the outside of the lumberjack cake is one of the easiest and most realistic textures I have made, not to mention tasty!

Yes, that's edible. I know you where thinking it and It's ok.

Is there a magical plaid pattern cake pan?

Be aware, there are many copycats out there who claim to have the right pans or easy ways of making this plaid pattern but I dunno about you but random squares of colors on the inside of a cake does not make plaid. Trust me, it took way too many brain hours to figure out exactly how to make this plaid pattern work so that when you cut into it, it really would be plaid!

There are cake pans out there made for making a checkerboard pattern on the inside of cakes but these may not work the way you want for making a true plaid pattern. The reason is there aren't enough rings to make the full pattern.

How to make a lumberjack cake

First you'll want to bake up your cakes. You'll need two 10" red velvet cakes, two 10" Bright red cakes and two 8" chocolate cakes (recipes below). You only need your layers to be an 1" tall so I fill my 2" tall cake pans with batter about half way then trim after baking. I prefer these recipes because they hold their shape when you carve. After baking I wrap them in plastic wrap and chill them in the fridge overnight before carving.

After you bake your cakes, you'll want to make your ganache and your marshmallow fondant (LMF) or you can use any brand of fondant you prefer. I like to make my own so that I can color it a nice dark brown. I use the same technique as I do in my black fondant tutorial but use brown food coloring instead of black.
You'll need an 8", 6", 4" and 2" round template. I used a mixture of cake boards, pans and cutters that I just had handy. Cut out your circles with a utility knife, making sure you cut straight down so your cake layers have straight sides. You'll need two sets of red velvet/chocolate cake and two sets of bright red/red velvet cake. Make sure you glue your layers together with ganache or they will fall apart when you cut into them. Buttercream doesn't seem to hold as well as ganache.
Stack your layers starting with the red velvet/chocolate layer on top of a 14" cake board. I like the boards from cake boards avare because you can clean the surface as you work. More ganache in between then give it all a good crumb coat and put it in to the fridge to firm up. While it's chilling, go ahead and make your modeling chocolate axe.

How to make a modeling chocolate axe

First you'll want to make your modeling chocolate. I made a batch of ivory and a batch of dark brown. For the support, I'm using ⅛" armature wire which you can buy in our shop. This is the same wire sculptors use for making clay sculptures so it's flexible but strong. You'll also want some aluminum foil tape to cover the wire and make it food safe. I buy mine from home depot but you can also get it online. Some silver dust to paint the chocolate works great too.

First roll out your brown modeling chocolate into a wedge. Cut into an axe shape.Cover the wire in aluminum foil tape. Bend your wire so that it has a long part that comes out to form the handle and the other part goes through the front edge of the blade. This is where the wire is going to come out and then go into the cake to make it look like it's stuck in the cake.
Cover the other side of the wire with a thin layer of modeling chocolate and cut off the excess. Take your ivory and leftover brown modeling chocolate and marble. Roll into a snake and then cut a line down the center. Place the wire in the cut then fold the modeling chocolate round the wire and smooth the seam. Place into the fridge to chill until firm.

How to make the tree stump look

After the cake is chilled, I make the tree rings on top using some easy buttercream colored ivory and brown. I used two separate piping bags and pipe alternating rings on top until I reach the edge. Then I smooth out the top with an offset spatula.

For the roots, I take the leftover red and chocolate cake that we didn't use for the plaid inside and crumble it up with some ganache to make cake clay. I form that into the roots and attach to the sides of the cake. Back into the fridge to chill

How to make the lumberjack cake bark texture

Originally I made the bark texture by placing ganache onto some crumpled tinfoil that is sprayed with vegetable oil and then wrap it onto the cake, freeze and pull off the foil but I decided to try out a new technique using my crackled fondant tutorial for a more realistic bark texture.

First I roll out my brown fondant into a piece that is almost as tall as my cake and about 25" long and ½" thick. I torch the surface with my blow torch then add some granulated sugar and torch that. I let the whole thing cool.
Then I paint the surface of the fondant with some white food coloring and then some ivory to give is some variation. Let it cool fully. Cover the top of the fondant with some plastic wrap and roll it up.

Spray your ganache with some water to make it sticky and then wrap your fondant around the cake. Lifting the fondant to make it "crack. If you get a rip or tear don't worry, it's bark! You can't mess it up. Just fix any holes and push it into place. Trim off the excess around the roots and at the top.

Finishing the lumberjack cake

The only thing left to do is place the axe! If you're delivering this cake or traveling, don't put the axe in the cake until you arrive. *tip: the more the handle is straight up and down, the more balanced it will be and be less prone to tipping over.

That's it! I hope you guys enjoyed this free lumberjack cake tutorial. If you make this cake, I'd love to see your version in the comments. Let me know what you think of it and if you have any issues, you can always ask me there.

Thanks guys!

xoxo- Liz

Watch the lumberjack cake tutorial at the bottom of the recipe!

Recipe

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5 from 30 votes

Lumberjack Cake Tutorial

Learn how to make this amazingly awesome lumberjack cake from Liz Marek of the Sugar Geek Show. Liz is the original creator of the Lumberjack cake. She shows us how to make the perfect buffalo plaid cake pattern inside, buttercream rings, gravity defying modeling chocolate axe and bark texture!

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Decorating time1

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10" cake

Calories: 24877kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

Bright Red Cake Layers

12 oz unsalted butter room temperature
19 oz sugar
6 large eggs room temperature
19 oz all purpose flour
4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 oz milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 oz vegetable oil
2 teaspoon yellow food coloring
1 tablespoon red food coloring

Red Velvet Cake Layers

9 oz unsalted butter room temperature
22 oz sugar
22 oz All purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon cocoa powder
5 large eggs room temperature
20 oz buttermilk room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 oz vegetable oil
2 ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon yellow food coloring
2 tablespoon super red food coloring

Chocolate Cake Layers

8 oz unsalted butter room temperature
14 oz sugar
15 oz All purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 ½ teaspoon baking soda
4 oz dutched cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs room temperature
16 oz water or strong coffee room temperature
2 oz vegetable oil

Chocolate Ganache

16 oz semi sweet chocolate
8 oz heavy whipping cream
¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Heat oven to 335º F/168º C.
NOTE: It is SUPER IMPORTANT that all the room temperature ingredients listed above are room temperature and not cold so that the ingredients mix and incorporate correctly.

Bright Red Cake Instructions

Add butter to stand mixer and beat at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, fully combining each egg before adding the next. Add in your yellow and red food color and combine until color is evenly mixed through.
Combine dry ingredients and whisk together. Set aside
Combine wet ingredients and set aside
With the mixer at the lowest speed, add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the milk mixture, mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter. Repeat the process 2 more times. When the batter appears blended, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake cakes until they feel firm in the center and a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it, about 35-40 minutes. Chill cakes until firm before torting.

Red Velvet Cake Instructions

Add butter to stand mixer and beat at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, fully combining each egg before adding the next.
Add in your food coloring to the egg/butter/sugar mixture
Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine and set aside
Combine wet ingredients and set aside
With the mixer at the lowest speed, add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the milk mixture, mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter. Repeat the process 2 more times. When the batter appears blended, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Wrap and chill until firm before torting.

Chocolate Cake Instructions

Add dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder) together in a bowl, whisk to combine and set aside
Combine wet ingredients in a bowl and set aside
Add butter to stand mixer and beat at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, fully combining each egg before adding the next.
With the mixer at the lowest speed, add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the water mixture, mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter. Repeat the process 2 more times. When the batter appears blended, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake cakes until they feel firm in the center and a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it, about 35-40 minutes. Wrap and chill until firm before torting

Chocolate Ganache

Heat your cream to a simmer and pour over your chocolate. Let set 5 minutes and then whisk until smooth. If you have some unmelted chocolate, you can heat further in the microwave or over a bane marie until fully melted. Let mixture cool at room temperature until ganache is at the consistency of peanut butter.

Video

Notes

Watch the full tutorial on how to construct this lumberjack cake!

Nutrition

May 16, 2018 Blog

Cake Decorating Tips

Cake Decorating Tips I Wish I Knew When I Started Out Cake Decorating That Changed My Life

*This post contains affiliate links which means I get paid a few pennies if you buy something using my link but it doesn't cost you anything extra*

When I first started cake decorating, I knew literally nothing, not even what cake tools I should have. I do not have one of those fun stories where I grew up baking with my mom and grammy in the kitchen. I didn't know how to bake, I definitely didn't know how to bake from scratch, I definitely didn't know what fondant was. I just knew, cake decorating was a job that real people had and I wanted to learn how to do it.

My first PAID (yes someone paid me to make this) wedding cake circa 2009. I think I charged a whopping $150. The whole thing fell apart during delivery. The heavy sugar flowers cut through the box cake on the way to delivery. They were just stuck into the cake. No straws).

I had to tear the whole thing apart in the kitchen of the venue and reconstruct it from cakes purchased from a grocery store bakery. Crazy thing? Bride wasn't even mad and didn't even ask for a refund. You would NEVER see that these days. I wish I could hug that bride today. If she would have yelled at me (which she totally had every right to) I think I would have given up right then and there.

Cake Decorating Is Not A Job, It's How I Create Art

But let's back up and give a little history just in case you don't have my book and have no idea who this Liz chick is.

I grew up as an artist in a small town. If anyone asks what I do now, I say I am a cake artist. All I ever wanted to do when I grew up was to be an artist and get the heck out of my small town. Alas, life loves to crush your childhood dreams and a not-so-delicate 8th grade teacher informed me that being an artist was not a career. She suggested maybe veterinarian since I liked to draw cats and horses.

Whomp whomp.

I proceeded to live life basically goal-less for the next 10 years. No clue what I wanted to do or what "job" I should have. I have had over 30 jobs in my lifetime. Everything from fast food to filing home liens. Nothing stuck and I would get bored around the 4-6 month mark. I'd quit my job and move on.

Charcoal portrait circa 2006 - I used to have a side hustle that involved making charcoal portraits of kids. I don't know why I didn't just do this for a living. Things seems a lot less attainable in art before social media.

My First Cake Wreck

I ended up going to school for graphic design in 2004 so that I could work as an "artist" but of course, if you've ever been a graphic designer you know it's not really artistic. It's mostly stressful. But the best thing that came from that career is that I was so stressed, I started cake decorating as a way to relax.

The thing is, as I stated previously. I knew zip about cake decorating. All I knew was that there where people out there making cakes that were fabulous works of art. I bought myself some nice box mix, took a wilton class from Michaels and offered to make a friend a cake for her daughter's first birthday as a reason to practice.

The absolute worst thing about this cake is the tinfoil covered cake board. OMG the shame!!! Cover your boards! lol

The cake was a mess. I'm not gonna lie.

I couldn't get the lemon frosting (from a can) to stick to the cake. I didn't know how to make circles in fondant (yes I literally could not figure out how to make circles of fondant, don't judge me) so I bought giant sprinkles and stuck them to the sides of the cake.

Even though this cake was just fugly as all get out, guess what. My friend loved it and so did her daughter. I was officially bitten by the cake decorating bug. I wanted to cake ALL the things. Luckily I was in that part of my life where all my friends where getting married or having babies so there where lots of cakes to make!

The Cake Decorating Bug

As I began to dive into the cake world, I started searching for ways to learn. This is before YouTube tutorials existed, facebook groups or even the idea that people would share their precious cake decorating secrets.

I would go to book stores to buy cake decorating books, and the cakes were gorgeous but I couldn't find anything on very, very basic techniques. Like, how do you get your buttercream to be smooth? Why aren't the sides of my cake straight? Why do I get that bulge around the middle of my cake and so on.

My sister's wedding cake. That HUGE topper almost caused the whole thing to fall over because I didn't know to put any supports underneath it. The cake was super soft and you can see it bulging all around the middle. Sharp edges?? What's that? But they loved it and I loved making it.

After 10 years of cake decorating, I decided to put out this article because even though the world is FULL of ways to learn now, it can be information overload. What do you follow, what do you ignore and why is a must!

I hope this list of my top 8 cake decorating tips for success helps answer a few of those beginner questions and leads you to be the cake decorator you have always wanted to be. You got this!

Cake Decorating Tip #1 - Easy Buttercream Frosting

Buttercream comes in many forms. When I first started cake decorating, all that existed to me was canned frosting. It wasn't until I went to pastry school in 2010 that I learned about alllll the other frostings like SMBC (Swiss meringue buttercream) which is my favorite. It's made by whipping up sugar dissolved in heated egg whites to a stiff peak and then you whip in butter and vanilla until it's light, fluffy and delicious.

As soon as I frosted my first cake with SMBC I knew I was hooked. The problem is, it takes forever to make. You have to heat the egg whites, whip them, let them cool, then whip in the butter and if you're making a lot of cakes then that's a huge amount of time.

Then one day, I read about this recipe called Lauren Kitchen's Buttercream and everyone was raving about it. Same amazing flavor as SMBC with one BIG difference. She used pasteurized egg whites instead of heating her egg whites which significantly cuts down on the prep time. LIFE CHANGING!

Now I can literally make a batch of flawless buttercream in ten minutes. By the time I learned this recipe I was retired from baking. I tweaked the recipe to use a little less butter and named it Easy Buttercream and is my forever go-to recipe. It's great for stacked cakes, sculpted cakes, buttercream flowers and even cupcakes. It's not as sweet as regular ABC (american buttercream) which is what most people use for buttercream in the USA. French Buttercream, cream cheese buttercream and Italian buttercream are all delicious as well.

Cake Decorating Tip #2 - Cake Goop

I am embarrassed to tell you how long I used the old vegetable shortening and dusted flour technique for prepping my cake pans. It was the only thing I could do that was fairly easy and dependable. The issue? Super messy. I always had flour remnants all over the trash can, the sink, the floor (when you miss the trash can).

I WISH I could remember who told me about cake goop because it changed my world.

No more pan spray, no more shortening and flour, no more parchment paper. Just brush it in the pan and bake it up. Cakes will slide out of that pan so easy peezy, you'll kick yourself for not making up a batch of cake goop sooner.

The ingredients are simple, mix up equal parts vegetable shortening (or margarine) vegetable oil and flour. Mix well until combined (I do mine in the mixer) and then store in a container. You can keep it on the countertop or the fridge but it won't spoil. I use a pastry brush to brush it on the pans evenly. Don't worry, you don't need a lot. Just a nice even coating will do you.

Cake Decorating Tip #3 - Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

I distinctly remember the day I ran out of fondant. I was in the middle of my biggest cake order yet. Six custom car cakes for a big birthday party! It was also the most amount of money I had ever been paid so the pressure was on. Halfway through covering my cakes, I realized I was not going to have enough fondant. It was 11pm and the cakes where due in the morning.

I decided to do a search for "homemade fondant" and found a recipe that involved combining some melted marshmallows with powdered sugar. That seemed easy enough! Even though Michaels wasn't open and I couldn't buy more fondant, I could definitely buy more marshmallows at the grocery store.

Trouble was, the fondant didn't work. It was oily and just cracked when I tried to cover the cakes. Ugh! In a desperate attempt to stretch what fondant I had, I combined my useless marshmallow fondant with a little of my leftover Wilton fondant and that's when the magic happened.

The fondant covered perfectly! It was soft, stretchy, didn't tear over the odd shape of the car cake and it actually tasted amazing. Like marshmallows.

I decided to keep making my fondant this way. Melting marshmallows, adding powdered sugar and a little bit of pre-made fondant. I got rave reviews from my clients! I even shared the recipe in my groups and it was named lovingly by some friends LMF fondant (Liz Marek Fondant) and was the first thing I think I was really known for sharing.

Cake Decorating Tip #4 - Professional Cake Pans

One of the things I distinctly remember struggling with early on was getting straight sides to my cakes. I would look in these books that showed these perfect cakes getting stacked on top of each other and the sides where just super straight. Mine... were not. They where curved or shrunken or crispy on the top and stuck to the bottom. What was the deal?

So for some INSANE reason, the pans I started out with had slanted sides. The walls where super thin and the best part? They weren't even evenly sized so instead of 8" they where like 7.5". Oye. One of the very first things I did was invest in some good quality cake pans.

It seems across-the-board, favorites are either Fat Daddio (my favorite) or Magic Line. I personally like the nice browning that happens on Fat Daddios because it makes them easier to release from the pan but I know others love how Magic Line produces a much lighter looking cake.

Whichever way you go, you can't go wrong with professional pans. They will make your cakes bake up much more evenly.

Vanilla cakes made with Magic Line pans, sprayed with bakers joy and line with parchment paper. Photo credit from Short Cakes

Cake Decorating Tip #5 - Using a Scale

For some crazy reason, in the USA, our standard of measurement is volume (cups). Everywhere else in the world they go by weight. This may be the reason why I straight up hated to bake my whole life. Everything I tried to make never turned out very well and I had no clue why. My guess is a lot of us start out that way. You find a recipe you like, sometimes it turns out, sometimes it doesn't.

The problem, my friend, is that not all dry ingredients can be measured by volume and turn out the same every single time. Did you know that some measuring spoons can even vary vastly from manufacturer to manufacturer? Sometimes you might get a little too much flour and not quite enough baking powder. Then your cake falls flat and you're out $18 in ingredients.

Buy a scale. Measure by weight.

I know you want to fight this change, change is scary. You no like change. But please, if you ignore all my other advice, at least take this.

I know you're going to say you can't afford one. But listen, you don't have to buy the fancy scale I have, go to Target or whatever store you have near you and go to the kitchen aisle. Scales cost less than $20 and are a priceless tool for cake decorating. This is one of my top tools for every cake decorator.

When you use a scale to measure your ingredients, no longer do you have to worry about whether your cake will turn out. It will turn out every single time (granted you follow the directions but that is another tip, lol). You'll make less of a mess and you can double and triple your recipes easily.

To convert a recipe you already love to weight, measure out in cups as usual then place into a bowl and write down the weight. I usually will round up to the nearest whole number for ease.

For the love of butter, please do not google "how much does a cup of flour weigh" because that's how recipes fail. It depends on your area, how much moisture is in the air, the recipe you're using and even your elevation. One more little bonus tip, if a recipe calls for cups, use cups the first time around before converting. If it uses weight (like all of mine) go with weight and don't try to convert to cups. I mean... unless you like throwing cakes in the trash...

Get a scale. This is the link for the exact scale that I have been using since pastry school. (affiliate)

Cake Decorating Tip #6 - Reading the Recipe

So about that whole "following the directions" thing I talked about before. Would you believe that the #1 answer to 99% of all the questions about failed recipes that come to me is "did you follow the directions". Sometimes the answer is YES! Of course, but then they realize, oops, no they didn't. They used all the correct ingredients but skipped a few steps here and there in the directions. This part is SO important.

You can't mix and match mixing methods or switch out times. Baking is a science and someone spent countless hours perfecting that recipe you're trying and you spent good money on ingredients so don't waste them.

How to follow a recipe successfully

Read the whole recipe before you start making it.
Gather all your ingredients together to make sure you aren't missing something. Nothing like stopping mid-mix to go buy oil (guilty of this).
Bring ALL your cold ingredients to room temp (eggs, butter, milk). This is CRUCIAL to a cake turning out. If you don't do this, often times your batter will break, the center will be doughy or it might not rise. Cake batter is convincing oil and water and dry ingredients to come together as one. For this to be a success, they have to be the same temperature. Now, I have many times forgotten to bring my ingredients out of the fridge before I start baking.To warm up your eggs, place them in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes to warm them up. You can nuke milk for 30 seconds in the microwave to bring the temp up. Butter can be microwaved as well just make sure you don't melt it.4. Measure out all your ingredients in bowls ahead of time so they can easily be reached while mixing. This is called Mise en place (everything in it's place) and yes I do it too, every single time.
Don't make any adjustments to the recipe until you have at least made it successfully one time.

Cake Decorating Tip #7 - Chilling Your Cakes

Last but not least, I want to talk about chilling yours cakes. I remember hearing in the very beginning of my cake journey that you can't put your cakes in the fridge because if you did, the cakes would sweat and that would ruin the fondant. So when I covered in fondant, I would literally be trying to put it over soft buttercream. It was not pretty.

I distinctly remember making this cake for a friends wedding (yes wedding, lol) and the cake literally split in half while I was trying to frost it. How did people do this? How do you get your cakes to be so straight and pretty with sharp edges?

One of my first HUGE wedding cakes circa 2009. I delivered this cake fully stacked and was not refrigerated. The cake actually slid off the cake board during delivery because we where driving up a STEEP hill. I was so lucky the thing did not topple over. I now always deliver my cakes not stacked, all chilled and boxed individually.

The answer is you CAN put your cakes in the fridge. As Yolanda Gampp says, crumbcoat and chill! YES your cakes will sweat a bit coming out of the fridge but that small amount of condensation is not going to ruin your cake.

That beings said, if you live in an area that has HIGH humidity you might need to put a fan on your cake to get rid of that shine. For instance, you plan on painting on your cake, you take it out of the fridge and it's shiny. You'll want to wait until it comes to room temp before you paint on it. The fan will speed up that process.

Another tip, if you store your cake inside a cardboard box when it's in the fridge, when you take out and go to deliver it, the condensation will collect on your box, not on your cake.

This cake was covered in tiny rolled pieces of fondant because I didn't know how to make a chocolate cigarette as the bride requested lol. During delivery, this un-chilled cake fell to pieces. All the fondant pieces detached every time we went over a bump. The fact we had very bad air conditioning in the car did not help. I think we bought a new car the day after this white-knuckle delivery.

To stop my cake from getting sweaty, I store my cakes in a regular standard freezerless fridge. I have it on the warmest of the cold settings so there isn't a huge gap between room temp and the fridge. You don't want it like a freezer or it will take even longer to come to room temp. Some commercial fridges will make your cakes sweat even more because their fans blow inside the fridge not outside. Weird huh!

So that's it! I just brain-dumped everything I could think of as a "must-know" for any beginner cake decorator. If you already knew all of this stuff then I hope at least you had a good laugh with me. I was just like every other eager newb starting to sell cakes before I knew what I was doing, I under-charged for years (probably still do) and made tons of mistakes. I would like to say I've grown a lot since then and have had a fair amount of what I would call success so there's hope for anyone, lol.

Tip #8 - Want to learn more about the basics of cake decorating? Take our basics series online!

This may or may not be a shameless plug but truly, I wish I had a series of videos to watch when I was first starting out to teach me everything, and I mean EVERYTHING from start to finish on how to make beautiful and successful cakes. If you feel like you're missing something in your process, you might check this out. We're even doing a 7 day free trial right now for new memberships so you literally have nothing to lose <3

Do you have a cake tip? Leave it in the comments below for anyone reading this post

May 15, 2018 Blog

Cake Goop Recipe

You'll never have to buy pan release again after you make your own cake goop!

Cake goop is super simple to make and works every time for a perfect cake release.

Seriously, I wish someone had told me about this amazing stuff before. It's stupid easy and takes only a minute to make and you know what? Your cakes will turn out every single time. No parchment. No flour and shortening messes. No using a knife to cut around the edges. No more buying pan release spray!

You're welcome.

How to make your own cake goop

It's super simple to make your own pan release. Just mix equal parts flour, vegetable oil and vegetable shortening (or margarine). Then combine it all in a mixer on low or hand stir. If you have some lumps, no biggie. When it's smooth and homogenous, you're done. Easy right?

I store my cake goop in a container and leave it on the countertop because I use it a lot but if you want, you can put yours in the fridge but truly, it doesn't go bad. You don't have to worry.

Tips for success using cake goop

Ok so it's super easy to make, super easy to store and makes all your cakes come out like a dream right. You can't really mess it up. EXCEPT if you use too much. I like to apply my cake goop with a pastry brush and do a nice even coat but early on, I got a little crazy with the layers and put a LOT on there. This can actually backfire and cause your cake to stick. So a nice thin layer is all you need.

Some cakes will stick no matter what. You need to know this. Because if the first cake you make with cake goop is strawberry which naturally has a ton of sugar in it and it sticks, you will curse my name and say darn you Liz Marek! You lied to me.

No, it's just the cake. As far as I know strawberry cake, cinnamon sugar and some cakes with high amounts of sugar will stick so it's best to use a parchment circle as well to prevent sticking.

Big cakes sometimes need a little help coming out of the pan. Does that mean your cake goop isn't working? Nope. Sometimes the base of a cake can just stick to the pan from being really warm so putting parchment in the bottom of your pan larger than 12" or sheet cakes can just give you a little peace of mind. I admit though... I never do and haven't had a problem *knocks on wood*

Cake goop is essential for clean releases on bundts like my wine chocolate cake, where every crevice of the pan needs to come out clean.

Gluten-Free Cake Goop

You can make your cake goop gluten-free by replacing the flour with gluten-free flour like bobs red mill 1:1 baking flour.

Recipe

Print Recipe

4.89 from 143 votes

Cake Goop Recipe (homemade pan release)

You'll never go back to store-bought after making your own pan release!

Prep Time5

Cook Time5

Total Time10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cups

Calories: 818kcal

Author: Liz Marek