I use ganache to coat by cakes before covering. Some folk use buttercream, but I really struggled one hot summer (It happens!) with the buttercream melting under the cake and making it hard to smooth the cake or creating big air bubbles when left. Another cakemaker friend recommended using ganache, it is used by many professional cakemaker around the world, and I have never looked back.

Ganache is made by scalding cream and adding it to chocolate. It makes a beautifully smooth, liquid chocolate mixture that can be used in different quanities to create fillings or coatings. You can add flavourings to the cream to compliment your cake flavour if you wish, or leave it unadulterated.

In my experience, when administered well, ganache creates a firm, smooth surface which is the basis for a smooth polished surface on your cake. Of course, we've a bit to go yet til we get to that stage, but it's all in the preparation!

For milk or white chocolate ganache, I use 3 parts chocolate to 1 part cream.

Hello fellow cakers and followers (wave),

I thought I'd kick off this blog with a wee post about how I came to cake decorating in the first place. I've always baked. Ever since I was a kid, when I was bored, I would bake something. I also like eating cake!! I have a very vivid memory of helping my Mum decorate my younger brother's birthday cake. I can't remeber what age he was, or I was for that matter, but the cake was a snooker table. I remember colouring little balls of icing with liquid food colouring!

After having my eldest child, I decided I would not only bake his birthday but I'd decorate it too! Feeling up to the challenge, lol, I decided to make a pirate ship! It really wasn't too bad at all, but I cringe when I look back at my early cakes. But everyone has to start somewhere! Not that I thought for a second I would be making a career out of cakes! The cake went down a storm at nursery and I was asked to make a cake for one of the staff. Naturally, I baulked at the thought of it, but the staff member convinced me I could do it. She had such faith in me that I could pull it off and I didn't want to let her down! She wanted a shoe and shoe box of all things! I've attached a photo, don't laugh!

But seriously, we all start somewhere. Most folk seem to start out like me - by accident rather than a plan! I had made over 100 cakes for family, friends and neighbours before I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could actually do this. And so, back in 2012, I took the nerve-racking step of setting up a facebook page and declaring myself an actual business!

And practice makes perfect right? I never think of my work as perfect, but practice goes a long way! Here's my latest cake with a shoebox and shoe!

Jennifer

Forgoodnesscake