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Monday, January 9, 2012

Cake Hack: All-thread

Cake Hack: All-thread


In a few weeks I'll be delivering a baby shower cake to my cousin.  To match her theme, I wanted a tool that could make a texture similar to ribbed ribbon.   When I was a teenager, I used to work at Joann Fabrics ... moms would come in and buy ribbed ribbon in all kinds of sizes and colors for hair bows (typically for cheerleaders ... I don't know what that was about though).  That's what I want my next loopy bow to look like.

The first thing that came to mind was the ribbed / smocking rolling pin by PME:


$9 shipping for that???  Really?  I couldn't find any online store that could get it to me for less than $27 total.  I posted a facebook message to my cake club to see if I could borrow someone's.  The club president reminded me of a trick that was demonstrated at one of our meetings a while back: use all-thread.

All-thread is a steel rod that is threaded (like screws) down the entire length of the rod.  I'm not sure what it's supposed to be used for, but I found a section for it at my local Ace Hardware store.  There are different lengths and thicknesses (again, like screws).  After some pondering, I decided to get the 1/2" x 1' rod for $2.70 ... that's 1/10th of the cost of the PME pin.


I rolled out some fondant and then rolled the rod over it.  Remember, the rod is threaded ... not ribbed ... so it does move towards one side as you continue to roll.  The 1' length was plenty of room for what I was testing on.  This is pretty much exactly what I wanted!  I'm thrilled and can't wait to make my loopy bow.

NOTE:  This product has not been declared food-safe.  Use at your own risk.

5 comments:

  1. You gotta love the hardware store! I should go visit it more often :-) Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Wow! This is a brilliant idea. My love for my local hardware store has doubled. Thanks for a great tip!

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  3. I love the step by step photos! I'm a home based cake maker and have only worked with marshmallow fondant, which is what I see you used on this cake. I noticed in your older posts you've used an assortment of fondant, including marshmallow fondant mixed with modeling chocolate and a recipe from Toba Garrett. Although marshmallow fondant works for me, I'd say 90% of the time, I'd like to find something more consistent. Since you've tried different types I would love to know which is your favorite. Do you have a no fail fondant? Thanks!

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  4. I don't have a no-fail fondant, more of a bag of tricks and experience to manipulate it for whatever situation I need it for. For regular fondant to cover a cake, I would prefer to make fresh marshmallow fondant because it's easier than measuring out different ingredients for other recipes. If I need the fondant more moist, more stiff, or less stretchy, that's when I start to introduce modeling chocolate. Fondant can never be 100% consistent, even the store bought stuff, because of so many factors ... it's better to know how to address an issue when it occurs.

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