This is the easiest way I’ve found to prepare ganache when using it to fill and/or ice a cake, before covering a cake in fondant, or even just leaving it as the finish!  See Section 3 (Making Ganache) of the Fundamentals Course for a detailed video showing how to make this ganache.

See the notes section to adjust the amounts for making white chocolate ganache!

The only white (vanilla) cake recipe I’ll use, now, as it’s moist, dense, carves well, and is RIDICULOUSLY delicious! (Works great for cupcakes, too!) Just leave out the almond extract and substitute it for more vanilla if you want this to be a delicious vanilla cake!

This is an adaptation of Lauren Kitchen's Easy Buttercream recipe. It's a little bit sweeter than her original recipe (but definitely not too sweet!) and works well for piping flowers and buttercream designs, as a buttercream underneath fondant (as it hardens in the fridge nicely to get those sharp edges on your fondant) or just left as a buttercream finish on your cake. It's my new favorite!

This following Tylose gumpaste recipe is used for fine flower making like the flowers featured in many of the classes Nicholas teaches. Renshaw Decor‐ice gumpaste is a comparable commercially available product. The NL Brand Commercial Gumpaste that he references and uses during classes is a softer formula used on gumpaste used for more basic flowers. It is also used for mixing with scratch Tylose gumpaste (or the Renshaw gumpaste) to create a paste that does not dry quite as quickly as needed for making flowers, especially with basic flowers.