How to make fondant cakes - complete tutorial - Part 1
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00 Okay, folks, in this video I'm going to tell you everything I know about making cakes.
00:06 So it's not going to be a long video, but I hope to get some details out there that
00:12 I was not able to find by researching the topic myself on the internet.
00:16 A lot of people cover some parts of the process, but not the whole thing.
00:20 So in this video I hope to at least show you the details that I've picked up throughout
00:24 the whole process.
00:26 So the first step is just to mix up some cake batter, and I've got the recipe and the link
00:32 in the description there.
00:33 This I got off Recipe Czar, and it's just a basic chocolate cake.
00:38 And you can mix it up in any order, it's very easy.
00:41 So I'm just going to do that, and I'll be back in a minute.
00:47 Okay, we're back, and we have the cake batter all mixed up here.
00:55 When I said earlier you can mix these in any order, I of course meant that the dry ingredients
01:00 should be mixed first, but you can put all the liquid ingredients in afterwards and just
01:05 mix it all at once.
01:07 It's pretty easy, and it's a very thin batter, it's really pretty thin.
01:13 Okay, so the next step is to prep the pan.
01:17 Another note, definitely buy these kind of pro-aluminum cake pans.
01:22 I use springform pans, and they don't really work that well because you end up with a ridge
01:29 on the cake that has to be filled with frosting later.
01:32 So get cake pans that are square on the edge and aren't springform, they're just solid.
01:40 And I like the thin ones better because they cook quickly, and you're going to end up stacking
01:44 anyway, so you may as well get the thin pan and do it that way.
01:49 So what we can do here to help it cook more evenly is...this is a strip of bath towel
01:59 that I cut and soaked in water, and what we can do...wrap this around the edge of the
02:07 pan.
02:08 They also sell these as, you know, baking aids in craft stores and such, and they're
02:16 a little bit more professional looking than this, but this works too.
02:20 And then just use a pin.
02:23 So the idea is that the wet towel will help keep the pan a little bit cooler on the outside
02:29 and help it to cook more evenly.
02:34 Okay, and now, some people put Crisco or butter and then flour the inside of the pan, and
02:45 I recently found this technique of using, like, a pre-made cake release mixture.
02:52 And this is a half cup of Crisco, a half cup of flour, and a quarter cup of oil.
02:59 And then you can just brush it in there, and it's a little bit easier to get a thick layer
03:04 of the release, and so you'll be sure that the cake won't stick to the pan.
03:11 And I think we are ready to pour this cake batter in there.
03:14 Fill the pan up about halfway, maybe two-thirds full, but not more than that.
03:19 See how much we get here.
03:29 Hmm, well, actually, this might be the entire batch here.
03:48 Okay, fair enough.
04:00 So that's a well-filled pan.
04:02 We've got this thing set, so we'll put this in the oven and cook for about 35 minutes.
04:07 Okay, so here we are.
04:10 This is the first cake, and as you can see, it's actually not bad.
04:14 It's got this kind of big dip in the middle there, but for the most part, it's reasonably
04:19 flat on the top.
04:20 You can kind of see that.
04:21 Not so bad.
04:22 When it first came out of the oven, it was pretty high.
04:27 This thing was actually a little dome, and it fell.
04:29 And it's been sitting out here for maybe 10 or 20 minutes, so it's still pretty warm,
04:34 but I can hang on to it.
04:36 It's probably about, I don't know, 100 degrees or something.
04:39 And you can kind of see that the cake has pulled away from the pan, which is good.
04:44 This means it'll probably come out nice and easily.
04:47 So let's see it.
04:50 No.
04:51 There we go.
04:54 Uh-oh.
04:55 So we did have a little bit of cake stuck in the pan there.
05:01 Maybe a little more release next time, especially on the edges.
05:08 So I was able to scoop out that broken piece out of the pan, and what I'll do is, after
05:15 I make some buttercream frosting, I'll kind of cement that back in there.
05:19 Look at that.
05:20 It'll be as good as new.
05:21 You can hardly see the repair.
05:22 And then we'll have that nice, continuous, clean edge so that the cake will have a nice
05:29 top to it.
05:30 Or who knows?
05:31 If the next cake comes out better, and it probably will, I'll use this as the bottom
05:35 and then use the next cake as the top.
05:37 Okay, and here's our second cake.
05:41 This one came out a bit more level than the first.
05:44 Look at that.
05:45 It's almost perfect.
05:46 And I'm not going to wait as long this time to try to get it out of the oven.
05:50 Maybe while the shortening is still hot in there or something, maybe.
05:57 Oh, look at that.
06:00 That's the way to go.
06:01 So maybe only wait about ten minutes, five or ten minutes, to get the cake out.
06:06 If you wait too long, maybe that's bad, too.
06:09 I don't know.
06:10 I'm still learning myself.
06:17 Okay, so now that the cakes are cooling, it's time to make some buttercream frosting.
06:30 And we can use this to glue parts of the cake together and also to smooth the outside.
06:36 So when it comes time to put the fondant on, there'll be a nice smooth surface for it to
06:41 cling to.
06:44 So this is, again, another recipe off Recipes R, and I've got the link in the description.
06:50 Don't melt the butter.
06:51 If you're in a hurry and your butter's cold, put it in a ceramic dish and microwave it
06:56 on low power and keep mashing it with a fork to keep it all mixed up.
07:01 If it melts and turns yellow liquid, that's not going to work.
07:04 It has to be--it still has to be firm enough so that you can sort of chop it with a fork
07:09 like this.
07:10 If it's too liquidy, your frosting won't turn out too well.
07:14 So I've got two sticks of butter here, and I'm going to put in powdered sugar and a little
07:21 bit of milk at the end.
07:22 Oh, and of course, don't forget the vanilla extract.
07:24 Thank you.
07:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]