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Letter and number cake covering help
I can never cover number or letter cakes without my sugarpaste tearing and letting me down every time. Am I rolling it too thin?? I have a letter K to cover and I know my sugarpaste is going to tear at the sharp angles. I use Renshaw.
Hi gucci906
I find Renshaws paste very stretchy and haven’t used it now for good few years in favour of Carmas Massa ticino.
However, if you roll the Renshaw out to about 5mm – 6 mm it should cover without tearing. It can be strengthened with a little tylose powder. I used to add 1 teaspoon to 500g of sugarpaste, knead it in and let it rest for about an hour before using. Don’t add more otherwise it will turn into gumpaste. The following video is not for a letter K cake but it gives some good advice about rolling length and depth. Have a peek at it, I think it may help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdxJ-z2xka8
I find it better to roll several inches bigger than the cake. Cover and stick down all the edges first but keeping the icing loosly draped over the V parts of the letter. Place one hand under the loose drapes and push the icing into the notches of the K. Smooth out with the other hand as you go along and adhere. You may need to slightly cut into the notches to fit snuggly. That’s how I did my sister’s cake whos name has a double K! (when she’s being selective!!)
I hope this makes sense, difficult to describe the method verbally, it really needs a visual which I haven’t been able to find for you.
I hope you manage to ice the cake without too many problems. If you find the Renshaws is stretching too much use the tylose, it really does help. An alternative way to do it is in panels but you will need to smooth seams in where the joins go. If I have many seams I pipe along the join with royal icing and wipe it away with a damp brush. The royal icing sets in the crease of the join and virtually masks it away. 🙂
