Cake decorating tips, please

[lockedindream]

I'm taking a class on 19th Century Spiritualism. I really have enjoyed not just the content, but especially the classroom dynamic. There are 7 students in the class from various disciplines (English, Cultural Studies, Communications Studies, Religious Studies, Sociology). It's so nice to have people from different backgrounds working together. I am

Comments

[flutterbyz]

What about using sheets/layers of rolled fondant as the planchette? You can buy sheets, but I'm not sure if you can buy vegan ones. It'd be easy to cut into shape.

When we made chocolate-espresso bean bars we lined the pan with parchment paper and the chocolate didn't stick at all, although it was hard to get the paper to stay in place.

I of course can't remember the brand of margarine I used for the oreo cookie icing, but it worked beautifully in terms of consistency and tasted right too. I think it was Earth Balance. It worked equally well in the cookie batter, so it could replace the fat in your cake recipe as well.

For the rest, I'm afraid I haven't learned enough vegan baking to be helpful with egg subs, and I've never worked with ganache :P Cake decorating is not my usual kind of baking.

[corbet]

Hmmmm...I wonder if you mean the same thing I do by 'ganache'. The ganache I've made in the past is a super-thick, almost fudgey icing. It's fabulous, but I wonder if you'll be able to put it overtop of a lighter, fluffier buttercream?

For a planchette, what about just lopping the edges off of a bar of good quality chocolate, to make it triangular? It could be either white or dark chocolate, and would save you the hassle of cooking an extra 'piece' for the cake.

It's an awesome idea, btw. Pictures, pleeeez?!!?

[lockedindream]

Yes, for chocolate ganache I am basically going to mix choc w. coconut or almond milk to make it soft, and then hopefully put it in an icing tube so I can decorate w. it.

The chocolate bar is a good idea! That might be the easiest.

[nobodyhere]

I'm actually not big on decorating cakes, so I'm not much help here. I'm interested in seeing the outcome, though :-)

My 2 cents is to avoid fondant if you can because it doesn't taste very good.