• Archive for February, 2012

    Our 24-hour Banner Service

    by  • February 29, 2012 • Uncategorized • 0 Comments

    You can make your planned party extra-special with a custom banner.  Many Party Time customers are surprised to learn about our custom banner service. Here are some of the facts about this service: We take care of the design. You can provide a photo or logo that we’ll add. We can customize it for whatever [...]

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    Tips for Storing and Freezing Icing

    by  • February 25, 2012 • Uncategorized • 0 Comments

    Once you decorate your cake, you always have to do the cleanup.

    There’s no need to throw your extra icing away.  Buttercream icing freezes really well.  It’s so easy to do a cake, just like the chocolate cake we just decorated, when you can pull the icing out of the freezer.

    The icing will keep in the freezer for a long time.

    Just squirt your icing into a Ziploc bag.  If you have a lot, you may wish to just put a small amount per bag.  Then you can stack these up in a freezer.  That way if you have a cake that needs just a little bit of icing to finish it off, you’ll be ready to go.

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    Congratulations to Alex!

    by  • February 23, 2012 • Uncategorized • 0 Comments

    A week ago Party Time held our Employee Appreciation Luncheon.  We’ve been getting great feedback from our wonderful customers, and so we wanted to thank our staff for the great customer service that helps make Party Time the number one choice for party supplies in Baton Rouge. At the luncheon we had a drawing for [...]

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    Writing with Icing

    by  • February 21, 2012 • Uncategorized • 0 Comments

    To get red icing to write “I love you,” there’s no easier way to buy it by the tube.  If you’ve ever tried to make a red velvet icing, you know it takes a lot of the coloring to get it red, and it never really gets velvety red.  So with this, Wilton makes this.  It comes by the tube.  You take off the cap and screw on the coupler.

    Any time you need red or black icing, just buy it by the tube.  It doesn’t really have a taste to it, so it’s not going to detract from your cake’s taste.

    This is a #3 writing tip.  Squeeze it just like a bag.  You can’t hold it like a pencil because this will make your writing jagged.  Hold your elbows close to your side and write just like you would with a pencil.

    If the writing gets squiggly, you’re not moving fast enough.  If it breaks, you’re moving too fast.

    I’m writing out “I Love You,” here on the cake.

    For longer words, like “Anniversary,” you may need to write at an angle.

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    Beginners Tips for Decorating a Cake

    by  • February 19, 2012 • Uncategorized • 0 Comments

    Now we have our cake iced, so we’re ready to add our top and bottom decorations.

    This is a twelve inch disposable cake decorating bag.  We just take and snip off one end of it.  Then you are able to put your coupler on it.

    This is tip #22.  It makes a large star, and it’s great for making a border.

    If you’re thinking right now, “I’m not a cake decorator,” – you can still do this!

    Take the bag and fill it with icing.  Pull it together at the top and give it a twist.  Hold it tight so it goes through the applicator instead of back up.

    Apply the icing with a rhythm.  The important part is being consistent all the way around the cake.  Just putting a bottom border to your cake adds a lot to the decoration.

    Now we’ll change out the tip.  That’s the great part of this coupler.  We’re going to add a leaf tip now to make a ruffled design.  This is tip #112.  It’s a little bigger in size than this #22.  We aren’t going to use a coupler with this.  We’ll put it directly in the bag.  We fill the bag.  #112 is a great tip for a beginner to use.

    We’ll use a consistent motion once more all the way around the cake.  We’re putting it at a 45 degree angle with the top of the cake, so it’s not on the top or on the side exactly.  In that way it broadens the surface of the cake.  Now we’ll come around.  Any time you need to stop, just quit squeezing and pull away and you’ll be able to pick up right where we started.

    See what a beautiful heart shaped cake we have here?

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    Icing a Cake Using Tip #789

    by  • February 17, 2012 • Uncategorized • 0 Comments

    Another tidbit I want to give you is to use newspaper.  When you take a section of newspaper, open it up, and put it on your counter, it makes cleanup so easy.  Whenever you need to set your spatula down, you can just set it on the newspaper, and when it’s time for cleanup, you can just throw the newspaper out.

    To ice your cake, you want to make sure your icing is a soft consistency so it’s easy to spread.  If it’s too heavy, it’s going to be hard to ice the cake without getting crumbs in it.  Use lots of icing.  Put it on the cake, then use your forefinger on the top of your spatula and use this to just spread the icing.  You don’t want to spread it thin and bring it back, because when you pull it back, it will bring with it all the crumbs.

    The easiest way to ice a cake is to use a quick icer tip.

    Some people refer to this as tip #789.  It has a smooth side and a ridged side.  You can put this in a 16-inch bag.  You have to trim the decorating bag so the tip is out of the bag.  Fill the bag with as much icing as you can so we can ice all the way around the sides of the cake.

    Fill the bag by folding this cup into it, then use your spatula and the rim of your hand as an edge to scrape off the icing and put it into the bag.  We’ve got our bag filled with icing.  Since we’ve already started, let’s ice the top of the cake with the chocolate buttercream.

    You have to have extra icing to make borders, so don’t be concerned that you’re going to have so much icing on the top of this cake.  In today’s world, we don’t want to pile the cake high with icing.

    At this point, we’re not interested in getting the icing real smooth.  We just want the whole cake covered.  Then we can come back later and smooth it out without worrying about the crumbs.

    When you’re trying to apply the icing using this quick icing tip, you want to be able to squeeze it.  You can see how nice and soft this icing it.  Drag it around the cake edge.

    Especially with a shaped cake, such as this heart cake, you don’t want to lump on so much icing that you lose the shape of the heart.  So we’re going to smooth this out and take off any extra icing by scraping it off back into the bowl.

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    Making Chocolate Buttercream Icing

    by  • February 15, 2012 • Uncategorized • 0 Comments

    We’re going to add some of the chocolate icing base to the white buttercream icing so that we can start off with the buttercream icing being kind of light in color.

    We’re going to use that to ice the cake.  Then I’m going to add more of the chocolate icing base to provide a deeper, richer chocolate look to the decorations.

    When you’re adding the chocolate icing base to your icing, you may have to add just a little more water – about a teaspoon’s worth.  This will make your chocolate buttercream icing a little softer and easier to spread.

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    Tips for Mixing Cake Mix

    by  • February 13, 2012 • Uncategorized • 0 Comments

    The most important thing is to follow the directions on the cake you’re going to use.  Today I’m going to use a cake mix that we have at Party Time, and the great thing about this one is that all you have to do is add water, so that makes it pretty nice.

    On the directions it tells you to add one and a half cups of water.  Add half a cup at a time.  Put a little water in first to prevent the mix from sticking to the mixing bowl.  The directions tell you to mix it on high for three minutes.  Then gradually add the water.  Notice that I don’t just dump it in there like you might do with a regular cake mix.  Just gradually add it in as it mixes.

    Gradually adding the water will make for a better, smoother cake mix.

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