singsgood

The Cake Bible has a very nice recipe for this. Turns out well.

Thanks for the tip. I am a little confused though about defrosting in the fridge...I have read (and always done this) that refrigeration of fondant icing will cause too much condensation, even if the cake is still wrapped well, and goes very gummy. Whether this is true when it is going from frozen to thawed is another question. I have always read (and again, done this) that the best way to thaw is at cool room temperature with original wrapping still in place, to pick up any condensation. Would be interested to hear anyone else's comments.

Thanks so much! I will wait till fondant is completely dried and then wrap it up...and I don't have a huge empty freezer, but I do have two of them so that helps I wouldn't ordinarily decorate a cake first either, but in this case, the "decorations," the Barbie and Ken-sized, anatomically correct caricaturized four figures, are part and parcel of the cake now. One of the reasons I planned ahead and did it was because I was afraid it wouldn't work out as I wanted it to..it was pretty ambitious for me...and I didn't want to be furiously baking/decorating another birthday cake the day before the trip. Anyway, I appreciate the advice.

I had to make this cake way ahead of time (I really did!), and I won't need it for another 11 days. I have frozen decorated fondant cakes before, with good results, but this cake is my masterpiece...I'm the one who double-posted about rolled fondant figures...instead of making these ahead, and attaching them last-minute to the 3-layer, marzipan-and-fondant-covered cake, I decided (for my son's 21st birthday) to make the four members of his band as having had too much champagne - they are sprawled all over the top of the "bed" decorated cake with bottles strewn about. The figures, being fondant, are fused to the cake surface and are now part of it. It looks just as I hoped it would - no, better! - and I am loathe to ruin it by freezing. (I used commercial Wilton fondant.) I know if I had a fruitcake I would be ok to leave it out, but it is a 3-layer buttercake...(no perishable fillings) I know I can't refrigerate it- it will sweat and go gummy. What do you think? Do I plastic-wrap and foil-wrap it, freeze it and hope for the best? I know marzipan and the icing will provide a sort of "seal" for a cake, but for how long? I don't want it to go mouldy! This is such a showcase cake that I doubt it will be eaten anyway. If I have to choose between leaving it out somewhere cool and freezing/losing quality, I choose the first. Sorry to sound so ignorant, but I am desperate not to ruin it. (Added dilemma - it weighs a ton and has to go on an 8-hr journey..if I do freeze, how long to thaw before I box it for transporting? or do I take it frozen?) Doesn't anybody besides me ever have to complete a showcase cake way ahead of time? If anyone can help me, I would be so thankful.

Like I said, I shoulda known...all that butter...and brown sugar. Blech.

Thank goodness, now I know I am not nuts! (At least not about those horrible cookies!) I re-checked the recipe three times, experimented with the oven settings, parchment paper, etc... Wouldn't you think Martha would rather not be associated with such a stinky recipe?

As an Italian-American living in England for 13 years (beg. 25 yrs ago), my little village shop had no ingredients for a simple lasagne...I was pregnant, craving it, and desperate...used cottage cheese, cream, spinach and (got it!) Parmesan for the filling...and elbow macaroni doused in my homemade "sugo" for the pasta....it wasn't half bad! So I guess it wouldn't qualify for this thread...However, visiting out of town during my pregnancy, I cast an eye toward our hosts' kitchen (odd smell coming out of there) and saw a parade of little hearts (lambs'?) lined up on the worktop....begged off dinner due to sickness...After baby was born, other hosts offered up cold tongue (sorry, my British friends, tripe we do but not tongue!)...I pinched the child, made him whimper, and said I had to go feed him! Missed out on the tongue as well. You will notice these worst case scenarios have to do with offal-type stuff and animal parts...I am now practically vegetarian. Apologies to those of you who like hearts and tongue.

Whatever you do, avoid Martha Stewart's daughter's recipe "Alexis's Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies" LIKE THE PLAGUE. For some crazy reason I decided to depart from my quick, gorgeous, tried and true recipe (from "Desserts in Half the Time" with a few tweaks) and try this other one. I should have known - one pound butter, 3 cups brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, 4 eggs.... I did a "test" batch first, exactly as per recipe (which I found on at least three separate sites, all measurements the same), baked at 375 as specified, and came out with flat, burned cookies whose centers remained uncooked; in fact, the chips all migrated to the center of each one...they looked like flying saucers with lumpy middles. Inedible, sickly-sweet (and I love my sugar), greasy cookies...that, and the rest of the batter (which I could not doctor enough to make it work) went into the disposal. They weren't just too rich, they were, as I said, inedible. I have that slightly ill feeling you get when you have wasted precious time and ingredients (I used giant gourmet chips, best unsalted butter). Oh well, I've gritted my teeth. cleaned the mixing bowl, and tried again with my usual recipe. Kids coming to visit, you know....and I just took the results out of the oven : perfect. If anyone has had any luck with Alexis's recipe, please post! I followed it to the letter and it was unacceptable.

A chocolatier pal of mine let me taste an exquisite "xocolatl" imported from Sicily which was a very thin, deep, dark chocolate bar that snapped when he broke off a piece for me...he told me to taste it and decide what was added to the chocolate...it was gorgeous! The answer: black pepper. I have seen quite a few chocolate dessert recipes with chile powder (sometimes ancho chile), but I thought...wow, BLACK pepper in a dense, dark brownie, dredged in cocoa powder....and it worked! They were great! The black pepper doesn't distract from the chocolate taste at all, it just seems to deepen and enhance it.