Bakers, please come in!

inamra

I'm planning to make LO's cake and maybe some cookies for favors for his birthday. I have NO experience with cakes (other than cupcakes) or decorating them. So I just had a few questions...(I will need to apologize in advance if these are insanely stupid questions, but I just really have no idea!)

(1) I know springform pans are made for cheescakes, but can I use them for baking regular cakes too?

(2) Are you always supposed to use icing for decorating cookies and frosting for decorating cakes? What's really the difference? It looks like the store-bought frosting can be used for both/either or something?

(3) You know how for cake balls, the coating looks all nice and glazed from the candy melt/chocolate. Can I potentially do something like that with a cake? Melt the candy melts/chocolate and then sort of pour it over the cake on wax paper for easy removal later, or is that some big no-no?

TIA!!!

lelekay

I'm mostly a cookie baker, but I do cakes from time to time, too.  I know there are others on here who are more serious bakers than I, so perhaps their answers will be better, but here's my first thoughts:

 1.  I've never used a springform for a regular cake, but I can't think of why you couldn't.  I might be a little afraid of taking the edges off, though,  I might still tip it over like a regular pan.  Why do you ask?  Is it just that you have one of those, but do not have a regular cake pan? 

2.  Personally, I use a variation of royal icing for my sugar cookies.  Mostly because it hardens nicely, therefore you can stack the cookies.  It also is nice and smooth and looks nice.  If you use something like buttercream frosting or store-bought frosting, it'll taste great, but it will stay soft, making the cookies un-stackable.  I also, personally, find it more difficult to actually frost with on cookies.

3. Try a ganache, like this one:

https://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chocolate-ganache/Detail.aspx

(sorry, on Safari, so can't linky)  They're pretty easy, and sounds like what you might be looking for.  I probably wouldn't try candy melts for this, but real chocolate.  I usually use Scharffen-Berger (Whole Foods and Trader Joe's often sell it).  I've used a similar recipe before on a flourless chocolate cake, and it turned out awesome. 

mrspresley

(1) I know springform pans are made for cheescakes, but can I use them for baking regular cakes too?

yep, you sure can you'll want to butter the sides with butter and dust with flour to make sure it doesn't stick to the sides (also run a knife along the edge before releasing it)

(2) Are you always supposed to use icing for decorating cookies and frosting for decorating cakes? What's really the difference? It looks like the store-bought frosting can be used for both/either or something?

first of all, you can use store bought frosting or icing for your cookies. they do make royal icing that is ready to use out of the tube at the store. that said, it isn't very hard to make either

like Leah pointed out, frosting is smooth/soft/sticky and royal icing dries semi-hard.  you can't stack cookies with royal icing w/o putting wax paper between them (even a little moisture makes them stick and your design will be ruined when you separate them) - maybe Leah's modified recipe is different? frosting is pretty much just slather it on and that's it - maybe you can add sprinkles but that's it.  with royal icing you can do all sorts of designs - this blog has tons of great ideas

and here is the link to the sugar cookies and icing recipe that I gave to Sandra recently

(3) You know how for cake balls, the coating looks all nice and glazed from the candy melt/chocolate. Can I potentially do something like that with a cake? Melt the candy melts/chocolate and then sort of pour it over the cake on wax paper for easy removal later, or is that some big no-no?

what do you mean by "for easy removal for later"??? you want to pour something over the cake but then take it off? i'm a bit confused here! but if you want something pourable i agree w/Leah that a ganache would be great.  if you scroll through my blog, there are several recipes with ganache   or, have you considered an ice cream "torte" like this? much easier than making a cake, IMO and really yummy and impressive looking for a party!

inamra

Thanks for the tips and info, ladies! Super helpful!

I was looking at springform pans because I was thinking about a small 2-layer cake this one set of different-sized small springform pans was fairly cheap so I thought maybe I'd save some $ and get the springform set with different sizes instead of cake pans.

mrspresley:

what do you mean by "for easy removal for later"??? you want to pour something over the cake but then take it off? i'm a bit confused here! but if you want something pourable i agree w/Leah that a ganache would be great.  if you scroll through my blog, there are several recipes with ganache   or, have you considered an ice cream "torte" like this? much easier than making a cake, IMO and really yummy and impressive looking for a party!

Sorry, I probably explain things in a "weird" way since I'm such a newb at this stuff! What I meant was if I put the cake on a piece of wax paper and pour the chocolate over, then I can remove the cake easier from where it's sitting on. So I guess pouring candy melt over a cake is unheard of? The reason why I thought of that was because I originally wanted a light blue cake to match his party colors...

The ice cream cake sounds delish! and I actually considered ordering/buying one originally but since we're having a BBQ party at a park, I decided that maybe an ice cream cake won't work well for our setting...

SanHawaii08

i did make the icing from scratch - used jaime's recipe and followed her tips exactly - they were super helpful!  any cookies that didn't look so good were the fault of the person doing the piping, not the icing, haha.  i actually took a cake decorating class years and years ago (and have probably frosted 1 cake since then, also eons ago), but never iced cookies before.  so i've had some (very, very minimal) experience piping - but you can do it!  just takes a bit of practice.  in the class i took, we did a lot of work on wax paper.    it's just pretty time intensive, so make sure you give yourself enough time!  also, i actually iced the cookies the morning of the shower, not realizing that they had to set for 24 hours - oops.  i baked them the night before, heh.  i should have started a day earlier.  i'm sure some of them got messed up after getting bagged up b/c they probably weren't completely dry  

i can't wait to see how things turn out! 

SanHawaii08

mrspresley:

with royal icing you can do all sorts of designs - this blog has tons of great ideas

 

omg, this totally makes me want to make more cookies!!

inamra

SanHawaii08:

it's just pretty time intensive, so make sure you give yourself enough time!  also, i actually iced the cookies the morning of the shower, not realizing that they had to set for 24 hours - oops.  i baked them the night before, heh.  i should have started a day earlier.  i'm sure some of them got messed up after getting bagged up b/c they probably weren't completely dry

Ah, I see! Thanks for the tip! I would've iced the cookies the morning of too if you didn't tell me this!

Oh on a side note, is an air bake pan pretty much necessary for baking good cookies? I find that if I don't take them out of the oven at a very exact time (our timer just beeps once when it's done and I often don't hear it, esp if I'm busy with B upstairs =P), the bottom is always a little burnt =(

lelekay

If you want a light blue smooth cake, it sound like fondant is really what you're looking for.  It is very possible to do yourself, but a little tricky if it's your first time. Basically, you just frost the cake with buttercream like normal, then roll out the fondant like dough and lay it over.  You can buy fondant ready-made (Wilton makes some and it sells at craft stores like Michael's or JoAnn).  The rolling out isn't too tough, but then getting it on the cake smoothly can be a bit of a challenge if you're new at it.

I do like air bake pans for cookies (I have these and love them), but personally, the thing that seems to help the most is putting parchment paper down first.

inamra

lelekay:

If you want a light blue smooth cake, it sound like fondant is really what you're looking for.  It is very possible to do yourself, but a little tricky if it's your first time. Basically, you just frost the cake with buttercream like normal, then roll out the fondant like dough and lay it over.  You can buy fondant ready-made (Wilton makes some and it sells at craft stores like Michael's or JoAnn).  The rolling out isn't too tough, but then getting it on the cake smoothly can be a bit of a challenge if you're new at it.

I do like air bake pans for cookies (I have these and love them), but personally, the thing that seems to help the most is putting parchment paper down first.

Ahhh, yes, fondant scares me...I'm not sure I want to try since I'm such a beginner at this stuff...I think I'll try to stick with a ganache then and if my test run goes bad, then I'll just order a cake instead =P

Thanks for the tip on the parchment paper! I'll do some more thinking on the air bake pans...maybe I'll get my first one soon =P 

SanHawaii08

i have these pans, I bake on parchment paper, and the bottoms come out golden brown - but that's how i decide whether the cookies are done.  so i think it's okay?  actually, i'm not sure what color cookies are supposed to be on the bottom!  haha.  but they're not burnt.  <shrug>

mrspresley

the best thing to bake cookies on is pampered chef stoneware!!! if you get the pizza stone/round you can use it for both pizzas and cookies. or you can get a bar pan and use it both for bar cookies, regular cookies, brownies, casseroles, etc.  there is a specific "cookie sheet" too but i like to get things that can be used for at least more than one particular use

re: being able to remove the cake after you've glazed it,....most of the time cakes are decorated on whatever they are going to be displayed on and they aren't moved.  so you will want a cake stand or at least cake circles. cake circles are cheap.  or if you want you can cut out a circle of cardboard and wrap it in foil - but that wont' be as pretty as a store bought white cake circle.

MauiWedding08

mrspresley:

the best thing to bake cookies on is pampered chef stoneware!!! 

This!

my mom is a total sugar cookie expert (well, based on taste - since she doesn't like the taste/texture of royal icing she can't decorate with great precision or intricacy).