joshalow

I haven't posted in a while. I moved down to So. Florida to be the full time cake designer for a high end events/catering company in Miami. The pastry chef was making $85,000. at this company. The baker was making $60,000. My salary was between theirs. We were all full time, salaried employees. Despite the salary, I left the company- many reasons, one being the working conditions, and many unfulfilled promises to provide good working conditions, etc. The pastry chef moved across the country- the only one left is the baker. The turnover is very high at this company despite the salaries. I am much happier now even if I make much less than I was there.

Thank you for your response. I really appreciated it. I got a Bronze medal for my wedding cake]My entry I expected the judges to cut into my cake to taste it, but they didn't although the one judge stated that I should have cut out a slice, or have another cake to the side with slices cut out for them to taste. I took it for granted they would do the cutting themselves Overall, I enjoyed the experience.

I've signed up to compete in the cake competition (only the cake competition) at the ACF's convention coming up in Orlando next week. It is my first time competing at this specific event. I have been looking, without much success, for info on the net about it, ie. others' experiences, so I can have an idea of what to expect. Any advice, or information about what to expect would be greatly appreciated. TIA

The article I mentioned from the American Cake Decorating magazine, suggest using Ulano TZ/CL emulsion because it is food safe.

Thanks Lloyd for sharing these tips. This is something that I've been interested in for a long time, and had been searching for information on how to make the transfer sheets using a silk screen. A friend sent me copies of an article that appeared in the May/June 2003 issue of the American Cake Decorating magazine that has step by step pictures and instructions for making your own silk screen transfer sheets. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to start playing around with it, but would love to work on this someday.

I like her mousseline buttercream recipe as well. I use it all the time, mixed with fruit fillings for the fillings for my cakes. It makes such a light filling! I also use her ganache recipe. Like others, I like the banana cake with the sour cream ganache.

No problem DiH No offense taken- Hopefully I can get the problem fixed with the website soon.

I've seen that site before somewhere. I remember it cuz none of the pictures enlarge for me when I click on the thumbnails. It must be using some pretty fancy schmancy coding that's written for the minority rather than the majority of computer users. All this to say that if it doesn't work for some of you, it's nothing that you're doing wrong. Di ← It's my website- and unfortunately, since I am not a web designer, it still has some quirks that need working on. I find if I click on the cakes from the top left corner and go "in order" from left to right, top to bottom, the pictures open up. I used javascript on that effect, but have no idea why that is happening. If anyone knows how to fix that problem, I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions. I e-mailed a contact who designs websites for help and never got any response, so now I have to find someone else who might be willing to work on getting the quirks out of my site, that is if I can't fix it myself. Here's my old site with pictures that open up easily if you want to see examples of the writing done with the cutters. There is actually an example of writing on the side of a cake, done with larger cutters.

Thanks for the suggestion Kris- I'll have to add it to the FAQ page.

Another, real easy way to do writing on the side of the cake is by using alphabet cutters and gumpaste or a 50/50 gumpaste/fondant. There are some nice cutters avaiable. Hereare some examples of some cakes (blue baby cake and anniversary cake beside it) with writing done using the cutters (although the examples are not on the sides )

My thoughts as to how it's done, is that a bottom piece of fondant/chocolate clay has been placed on the bottom, to create the bottom flap. That piece, along with the other 3 sides have been cut into a V shape, probably before draping the fondant over the cake, so that you don't have the excess fondant folded underneath it, as you would when wrapping a present. HTH LEt us know how it goes, and what you did.

In a way, I do have to agree with the others- you may want to reconsider making your own cake. I made my own wedding cake (along with my dress, invitations, favors, etc- everything except for the food, which I left to real chefs, and the flower bouquets.) I already had experience making wedding cakes, and gumpaste flowers, so that was not an issue. My regret with making my wedding cake is that it took away from precious time that I could have spent with family and friends who came days before the wedding, or doing the things that many brides do before a wedding. I had to make sure my wedding cake was done on the Friday night and delivered to the reception hall since we had an early, semi-formal wedding on the Sat. Although at times I think I might have someone else do my wedding cake, if I had to do it over again, I do still think I'd probably would end up doing it myself anyways, simply because I like doing those kinds of things. Everyone has given you some great suggestions- the cupcakes are so popular and so easy. Purchasing gumpaste flowers instead of having to learn how to make them is much easier as well, although learning how to make the gumpaste flowers is a lot of fun! There are even kits being sold to make "replicas" of designer cakes- there was a recent thread about this. Steve's suggestions about rustic, out of the box looking cakes is a good one. Here are a couple of suggestions for some, easy out of the box cakes: This one is simply made with edible wafer paper, cut in triangles and attached to the cake with royal icing. If you like chocolate, there are chocolate cigarettes, available already made, which make for an interesting, easy to decorate cake. Here are some example of some cakes done with the chocolate cigarettes. You may want to consider making the cakes ahead of time and freezing them- gives you more time than making them last minute. You may also want to consider having 2-3 separate cakes (on their own stands, etc.) instead of having the cakes stacked, so that you don't have to deal with stacking and the support issue. If you do decide to make your own cake, doing some practice runs with it before hand, having everything you need, and more- available when putting it together, may help you get through it easier. Best wishes for your upcoming marriage!

Thank you so much for posting all these beautiful cakes! I've really enjoyed looking at them all. Wow! There are sooo many I like!!! Are these cakes going to be featured in Brides magazine? !

The Mousseline Buttercream recipe in The Cake Bible says it can be left at room temp for 2 days. I use that a lot, mixed with different fruit fillings, and it's very nice. The regular ganache recipe (in the Cake Bible) also can be left at room temp for 3 days.

I lived in Spain for a year, so I had things there I had never had before, nor after. One was pig's brains, also pig's lungs, and pig's cheeks. I was offered iguana, but I grew up in Puerto Rico, where iguanas ran in our backyard, so I couldn't bring myself to eat it. I saw people, in Spain, eating chicken's feet, bull's testicles, baby eels, and garden snails- I couldn't bring myself to eat any of those. I also have had tripe and emu.