It always pays to make extra. If you’re making layers for a birthday cake, it’s just as easy to make four as it is two (provided you have the pans). The same thing goes for buttercream. If I’m going to the trouble, why not make a double batch? For it too freezes very nicely and […]
READ ONIt should be obvious from the photo series below what a boon frozen layers are to the cake builder. For indeed freezing is the only practical way to stack and shape tender buttercake layers which are so prone to breaking, tearing and crumbling at room temperature. Frozen layers, by comparison, can be turned on their […]
READ ONHere’s a skill that every aspiring baker needs to master. The good news is it isn’t difficult, especially if you work with pre-made and pre-frozen layers. Take the crumbles and tears out of the process and it becomes, well, a cake-walk (sorry). So then, armed with two frozen 9-inch layers, begin by trimming them to […]
READ ONSince a well-prepared cake is the literal foundation of a good rolled fondant icing (or any icing for that matter), it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to back up and demonstrate how to put together a basic layer cake. One of the most common misconceptions about rolled fondant is that […]
READ ONWhat kind of a music lover would I be if I didn’t acknowledge the birthday of Aretha Franklin? Talk about a voice that carries you away, her box set got me through many a lonely all-night bread shift. Here she is in all her gospel-soaked glory belting out Do Right Woman, Do Right Man with […]
READ ONDoes glycerin pose any of the risks of its cousin nitroglycerin do you mean? Not unless your buttercream contains sulfuric acid and you’re planning on a nitric acid filling, since that’s what it takes to “nitrate” glycerine into a high explosive. That’s exactly what a young Italian chemist by the name of Ascanio Sobrero did […]
READ ONThe gelatin, the glucose, the glycerine, and the fat you mean? What purpose does it serve in a batch of rolled fondant? Obviously it keeps it flexible, but then water will keep a mass of powdered sugar flexible too…at least for a while. Why all the fancy stuff? The first part of the answer you […]
READ ONThis is ever-so-much quicker and easier than poured fondant. My only suggestion before you start is that you not wear any kind of dark-colored shirt or sweater, since lint has a way of finding its way into a pristine batch of fondant (there’s a reason pastry makers wear white, you know). Starting with this recipe: […]
READ ONThat I’m delighted that Lent is over for another year? This year I got very ambitious and gave up wine (a glass or two of which I have most nights at dinner). With the exception of a couple of slip-ups, I did pretty well and was for the most part quite even-tempered. A priest at […]
READ ONIs it more important for a cake to look marvelous or to taste marvelous? I mean, if even the best rolled fondant tastes, well, not completely terrific, is there any value in putting it on a cake? The answer is of course, yes, since there are circumstances (like weddings) where the look of a cake […]
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