Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi, Happy New Year everyone! I would like to start experimenting with sugar veil products but hadn’t realised how expensive they were!! Can anyone recommend a good starter kit – i.e. which is best mat to buy, what type of tools will I need? Thanks

Hi Anne
I bought the Doric cake lace which I think is a little cheaper. I have a few different mats but a little craft store near me sells them starting from about 17 for a single mat to 45 for a double mat. I don’t have any other tools except for the powder and the mats and I just use a palette knife to spread it on with. I love the effect of them and they are so simple to use. I tend to put mine in the oven as well as I find it peels off the mat easier. I’m a beginner with cake lace so more experienced members might be able to offer more help. I’m sure you’ll love it though.

Happy New Year!
I invested in the Sugarveil line of products. I purchased them from icinginspirations.com (it came with the icing mix at the time) they are located in Canada. Also look on eBay as well…I purchased the Mantilla Rose one there (eBay) for like $56 USD.

The Lacy designs are beautiful but I have to say that I am not that experienced with it. I agree with previous comment with using your own spatula to spread the icing on the mat. I have the smoother but you can also also use your own bench scrapper (icing smoother) tool. When done correctly you can just turn the mat over and peel it off slowly with the bench scrapper. YouTube helped me out tremendously here is the link below to the Sugarveil folks on YouTube to see all the helpful videos…it can even be used with your electronic cutter if you have one.

http://www.youtube.com/user/sugarveil

Hi annescakes1

More starter kits here http://www.thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=1138
Happy New Year x

Hi Annescakes
I’m of the same opinion as you and that I would love to use the sugar veil and yes it’s very expensive but from everyone I have spoken to about it all say it is worth the investment. The cake decorating suppliers I use are called Windsors Cake Craft and they are based in Warrington and they were doing starter packs for around £40-£50. They do have a web site so you can have a look on there. Hope that helps.
Donna

Hi Annescakes
I bought the Claire Bowman Cake Lace and I think it’s fab to work with! Much cheaper than Sugarveil too and I’m sure I got mine from The Cake Decorating Company too 🙂

I bought the Sugarveil kit at Cake International two years ago and its been a total waste of money! Any unused mixture can only be kept for a week or so before its no use and it can’t be frozen (I’ve tried). I thought the answer would be to make and store decorations with the leftover lace and mixture to use for future cakes but once its dry it just crumbles when you touch it. I don’t make up the whole packet but even then I just feel its too expensive to make up a batch for a single cake when you waste the rest of it!

Hi Everyone, thanks so much for your valuable comments, will let you know how i get on!