K8memphis

Thanks, guys, you all have been very sweet--and where are my manners???? Here's a piece for you!

Kinda sets the mood type of picture--just pronounced husband and wife on the landing. The happy couple. A great celebation--my son on the left in the tux--he cleans up nice--back of my head in there to the right of the cake--my best side :) huge tall monsta cake. *(edited to say: and that's my husband to my right there) The groom's cake--a brownie bottom cheesecake with dense melted chocolate ice cream chocolate cake sandwiched with chocolate buttercream icing, chocolate curls, tuxedo and choco stawberies, lighted stand with chocolate fondant leaves. The bride's cake, white sour cream cake splashed with Grand Marnier, filled with whipped cream and fresh strawberries and filled with berry lemon cream iced with swiss meringue buttercream, dotted by angels with raspberry flavored fondant flowers. sniff

Full steam ahead--let's get baking. So once again here we demonstrate my advance planning and patience in allowing my eggs to gently come to room temperature--but but but it's only hot tap water and I use the eggs immediately-- Why oh why use a scraper when the beater is exactly the right size & shape to scrape down the bowl I grease and use waxed paper or parchment. And umm, I use a piece of folded aluminum foil with a tear there on the one end & the little legs bent in opposite directions so it will stand up--I put one or more in my cakes instead of baking cores and rose nails--so the bigger cakes can bake off better--They remove easy peasy--just slide a knife down each side and wiggle it out--the knife unfolds the little feet & it just slides right out. I use the wet toweling around my pans--it makes the cakes bake more level and I have less waste--they are secured with t-pins. If you use this or the magic strips that are sold for this purpose, hot water soaks them more thoroughly. So we're torting. Yeah great, we cut the cake in half now what. I like my one sided cookie sheets to lift my torted cakes--you can use cake cardboards too--if your cake is cold or frozen or if you're real good you can just lift it off. You replace the cakes the same way--be confident, be bold, line it up carefully, be quick & pull the cookie sheet out & the push the cake off at the same time. Wa la. Here is the icing dam I mentioned earlier and the filling--the berry lemon cream. Oh wait wait I forgot something... The grand marnier splash--it's simple syrup and grand marnier squirted on first--then the fillings. When I do the strawberry & whipped cream, I kind of sandwich the strawberries in the whipped cream because I don't want the cake soaked with the berries. Then another layer of the cake and the lemon berry filling and then cake. And how do you get that icing smooth??? Build it up much higher than you want it and scrape your way down to the smooth even cake resting just beneath the surface--I use a dough scraper. Dowel, ugh I hate cutting dowel, but I promise these plastic ones are the bomb--just stick it in & press it down --then mark it and twist it up & out--clean it off and hacksaw it off--or use a steak knife or use a pair of never been used on hedges hedge shears. I no longer use wooden dowel due to the musty taste than can be imparted to the cake immediately surrounding the dowel. Now these look even but put them to the test as follows. Slide them back and forth with a straight edge to be sure they are the same length. When you put in your dowel, put them under the weight of the cake you will place there--like if you were balancing that cake on your fingertips--kind of place your dowel there--not on the far outside perimeter of the cake--put two circles of dowel if necessary--put enough dowel to hold the weight--nobody was ever sorry they used to much dowel. And they have gotten very creative with dowel—I do use drinking straws sometimes—but I will often reinforce them with bamboo skewers too. So much easier to deal with than wooden dowel. Also there are stress free stainless steel set ups that cost so much it would stress me to use them but some people swear by them. And another kind they have now is a nice white dowel with a screw in the top that you can dial up or down to match the height you need—very nice—I found some in the drawer and used them in the groom’s cake—I loved not cutting freaking dowel!!! And remember, my stand will hold my cake up--it's built out of half inch thick foam core board. I have to be sure my dowel will keep it from caving in--but I didn't want too much additional height so I just slid bamboo skewers into the boards directly under my cakes so that they would not crack as I lifted them in place--these are the cardboards they rested on while they were in the freezer. Not the best picture –hey I’m not Patrick!! But you get what I mean. And this was sheer genius I didn't want to tax the servers too much by them having to cut the groom's cake with the brownie bottom--it's brownie, cheesecake baked on top of that then icing then cake in each of the two tiers. You know how tricky cutting brownie can be. So-o, I scored it-hehehehe--except then I squished it all back together so I could ice it & all--you know what happens to brownie when you squish it all back together??? It all goes all back together--hahahayeahnotfunny--so technically I would have had enough time to put on more of the flowers if I hadn't been doing stupid stuff like this So well here we go. We baked, we filled, we froze, we iced, we are in serious crunch time--now we gotta make some boxes so no birds christen all this hard work and the Memphis sun doesn't melt anything on the way. And if we have to slam on the brakes, and if there's an earthquake, well you get the picture. So you can tape any size boxes, like you can tape two sheet cake boxes together flat if you need that much room--we are disregarding the pre-folded creases imprinted on the cardboard and ignoring the flaps and folds. Remember you will want this to be able to be taller than the cake so you can cover with plastic--you can always get moving boxes too, but for my purposes with this cake that was not practical--for a stacked cake it would be. Set your cake in the middle and mark around it. Then score it with scissors or a knife. Make the creases along the scoring. Make the 4 cuts on the short side of each of the new creases --cut just up to the markings you made. This enables you to fold the pieces up & around the shorter sides--tape everything in place---so you can now cover the top with plastic wrap and your cake will be as secure as possible. I also drop a frozen freezer pack into a plastic bag with a folded paper towel to absorb any moisture and wire it into the corner of the box or set it under the cake--makes me so much happier when delivering. This is the real reason I was making boxes at the last possible minute and didn't have them ready in advance. (that's a spidery defect in the flooring just outside the box there--not dirt!! :) You also want to be sure your car seat is level--fold a towel or blanket to make it so. In vans & wagons many people use that puffy nubbly shelf liner so that the cakes do not slide. Alrighty--next stop the wedding cake!!!!

I can't stop. But actually, my whole point thus far is, baking and engineering the cake while very important, is not more important than what I've already covered. I mean excluding the flowers though. But if you can get a nice stand, buy it even, and house and maintain your ingredients in the different stages of your progess, where you have bare naked cake to protect from the elements--the elements of the refrigerator & freezer too--I mean keep the baking soda fresh in there. I mean some people think if you freeze a cake you're the baker from the lowest part of hell--likewise with box mixes, 'pre-measured ingredients'. When in reality--if you serve a brand new baked cake as a wedding cake--it is very likely going to serve poorly, crumble & all. In my humble opinion cake needs to mature to serve well. There are so many factors to doing a cake--a cake that slices and serves well is the point. Besides looking beautiful, tasting heavenly and not collapsing, it's gotta cut supremely well--that's why it was created. Umm, all that to say if you have a pretty stand you're halfway there. Stack doughnuts on it & it'll look pretty. Btw--I wrap my cakes in two layers of plastic wrap then slide them into baking bags to protect them from the elements. If the bag is not big enough I slice them apart and tape them together to make it big enough to cover. Baking bags like you might cook a turkey or roast in. So this is a great formula that is very common in cake circles--yes it does involve 'pre-measured' ingredients. You make yours any way you want. This makes a great wedding cake that will serve and stack great. One box Duncan Hines cake mix, one cup self-rising flour, one cup super-fine sugar, teaspoon vanilla extract, teaspoon of almond extract, cup of sour cream, three egg whites, one egg, a little salt, one and a third cups of water and two tablespoons of oil. (Recipe is complete and has been edited 6/8/05) So hers was a white sour cream cake splashed with grand marnier, the berry lemon cream fill in the top & bottom tort and whipped cream with fresh strawberries in the center tort and then swiss meringue buttercream iced. The groom's cake was a fat brownie bottom cheescake with a melted ice cream chocolate cake layer on top, all within each tier, all covered & filled with rich freakin' chocolate icing that I ate for breakfast two days in a row--Southbeach diet be damned!!! Then topped with tuxedo strawberies, choco strawberries and chocolate curls. Hmmm, can't find pictures of the groom's stand. I used over 10 dozen eggs, 20 ounces of vanilla, over 30 pounds of superfine sugar, pounds of chocolate, 6 pounds of cream cheese, 6 pounds of sour cream, oodles of boxes and boards and foam and hot glue and yards of lace, I lost track of the butta, but it was a lot a whole lot 15 pounds or so maybe. I used all my amaretto because I was out of freaking almond extract and I was NOT going to the store one more dang time. It baked out I guess, it wasn't particularly almondy--it was fine--just fine!! Umm, see my cake pans of 25 years of cakin' at that time had to be replaced due to a house fire, but my mental file still held them as on hand. When it came time to bake her cake I realized I had only replaced my square set with like some idiotic 15x12x9x6 s-h-i-t--hahahahayeahrealnotfunny--so all the while I'm trying to figure in my head, well I can bake a full sheet and cut out the 14 inch square and I'll have an 8 inch left or some lunacy--all this mind-numbing cake surgery going on in my feeble brain--wait wait--remember how thrown off I was just by not being able to find my friggin' yardstick bwoooahahahaha... So all that to say I dashed out on baking day and bought a set of even numbered pans... whew and whew again... I was asked how much I would charge for these cakes somewhere over three thousand. We got a little baking and some filling to do before Crunch Time...

Sorry, no cake yet. We need to make our fillings & icings first--no sense having to store cakes umpteen extra times--might as well get them all filled before we store them. I made two half sheet pans full of the goo to make what I have always called French buttercream--it's a paste made with flour, sugar & milk, cooled completely then butter is added. It tastes like ice cream and is great on cakes but I only wound up using it to dam the cakes. (more on that later) The following is a shot of me not only waiting patiently but planning ahead of time for my butter to come to room temperature. That's like a dozen fat bald lemons for PH's lemon cream--I bought an extra food processor just for this step. Man this part smells soooo good--lean closer you can smell it... Lemon cream all done--like two gallons of it. I mix the lemon cream with berry filling. Like three gallons of berry filling--ok ok so I have a little leftover--but you never freaking want to run out y'know--more is better--too much is our friend. This is my recipe for this berry filling. Raspberry filling from K8 I made one by putting a 10 oz bag of thawing frozen raspberries (from the grocery store freezer section) or use fresh into a heavy sauce pan with a peeled diced granny smith apple and one third cup of sugar and a squirt of lemon juice and brought to boil stirring often while cooking gently for about 15-20 mins. Then in a little cup mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water, then pour into bubbling fruit stuff stirring constantly for another two minutes. Cool, puree in food processor and then strain out the seeds. Add almond extract if you want. Be sure to securely seal the edges of the filling with buttercream. You can actually use any combination of berries. This is not difficult and the fresh bursting taste is well worth the little bit extra effort. Enough for a quarter sheet. Yum Yum Sorry this next is sideways--the rotate thing is not responding--but... It's a lot easier to make cooked icings if you stand on a step of some kind--cooked icings that have to be constantly stirred. I mean I'm not short, I'm 5'8" but by the time I have my mixer bowl on top of a pot to make a double boiler--I'm up in the stratosphere to hoist up my elbow & stir for 5 or 10 minutes. And never let the term 'double boiler' scare you--stick a pot on a pot. If you don't have a thermometer to check the temp, just feel it and if the sugar is no longer grainy then it's ready. This is my set up for swiss meringue buttercream. Then apparently, 18 eggs whites won't all whip up in a 5 or 6 quart KA hahahayeahnotfunny--so I had to do all kinds of juggling of mixers & bowls--I have three bowls and two mixers--a shot of mixer central-- Not counting my 20 quart that needs a weird plug that hasn't been hooked up yet--it is a perfect match with my really cool oven that likewise is not hooked up yet--hmmm, two years & counting--all I need is a little bit of commercially zoned property & I'd be all set. No, really isn't this the coolest oven??? See the relief on the door??? Way cool. So another really huge area to consider is refrigerator space. I have two regular home friges. If we had done the catering too, we would have purchased another frige--a really big one. I had seven tiers of cake crammed into the two freezers--didn't get a shot of that--but it was pretty cool really--Seven tiers, a 16x14x12x10x8 and a half sheet, quarter sheet groom's cake well plus the anniversary cake--I always deliver a little anniversary cake boxed & decorated to match so I don't have to go insane trying to figure out servings minus the top tier y'know?? Brides always like to hear that they can serve the whole cake and still have their anniversary cake too. I mean this top tier was an 8 inch--that's a lot of servings. So here's a picture of the one frige with just the fillings & less than half the frosting. And there's the half & quarter groom's cakes too--not the brownie cheesecake part--the cake part before I stacked 'em up. I cannot tell you how many midnights & 2 AM's, 4 AM's I've been up cleaning out my frige so I can house some other huge mass of sugar and flour I've created. It's a constant rearranging of everything in there--don't be afraid to toss out the less essential stuff and even essentials to make room--and for heaven's sake don't go buy a bunch of groceries when you're doing a cake from home. Eat out!! Which brings me to the next dilema of a home baker--the family needs lunch dinner and breakfast--gotta stop for that too. No fun at all. Plus stuff everywhere...suffice it to say you have to work real hard at all the juggling of food stuffs and boxes and boards and all the while feed the family and keep your cool--answer the phone--field interuptions--hang onto some kind of organization and sanity or you're doomed. Now how many eggs was that I just put in there?? How many cups of flour lessee.... Anyways--labor of love huh??!!! This time yes sure--usually it's SHOW ME THE MONEY!!! Even though the pans won't fit in the sink... I do have a great dish dryer Y'all gotta be tired 'cause I'm tired--let's bake cake later (edited just to fix photo size :)

Thanks guys. I was at first just making a fun pictorial to enlighten. But now I am going to include a little more nitty gritty stuff like construction--things that are not as sexy as making fun flowers but oh so important to making a successful cake. Let me rewind a bit, I found a coupla pictures I was looking for. That's where I just tossed my cut flowers into plastic tubs so they would not dry out until I could thin the petals out. But I mean I had to use then within a few hours--would run the risk of them becoming one giant mass if I let them sit too long. That's a shot of some flower and leaf veiners, see by the scissors, the white & blue blobs?? Flower & leaf veiners, just blobs of textred plastic. Old timey plastic flowers from the 50's & 60's work great as flower formers & veiners if you can find 'em. So we got the flowers done. Now it's time to make the stand and think about construction. Right out of the box I made the bottom board too big, drat that anyway. I got distracted looking for my trusty yardstick--which I never found till the next day--so I just plunged into making it with an 8 inch ruler and a dressmakers tape--jeez loueez. So not quite concentrating as I should have been. I usually always make my stands 8 inches bigger than the bottom cake--so when I center the cake on the board there's a 4 inch lip on either side of the cake. If you look at the original picture, the stand is 2 inches bigger on either side--so I 'bordered' the stand--you'll see in a minute what I mean. I doubled half-inch thick foam board for the top of the stand. To cut it, I just find a preferably serrated knife, steak knife whatever and hang it over the table-top and cut. This seemingly boring point is actually essential when you are trying to replicate a cake, or make a certain size cake. You don't have to use already cut materials--most times they won't accommodate your design anyway. Symmetry is everything. That's a shot of piecing the boards together to make the right size stand--there's another layer of solid foam board under those taped together pieces so it is very stable. But each cake will be on it's own secure board anyways--and just resting on this stand. I dotted drops of hot glue onto the top edge one of the boards (that did not take kindly to being photographed) & let the drops set up. So I could bevel the edge there by attaching a piece of balsa wood so it would rest against the drops and bevel the edge. See the pretty bevel after it's wrapped up??? I used wrapping paper and real lace to cover the boards. *The cake did not come in contact with the wrapping paper--wrapping paper could contain things harmful to eat. I would not recommend using it in a cake for sale but this was a family cake so you don't mind poisoning people as much ??? So I purchased wooden trim pieces, fleur de lis, from the craft store to use as 'a border' for my stand because I cut it too big. Half of the time, cake deco is figuring out how to undo or cover up boo-boo's and often times the result is even better than before. So I 'painted' them with food coloring and dusted them with non-toxic flower dusts. I glued them on the board and later you will see them better. You can kind of see the wooden fleur de lis in this shot. This is the full stand before the lights. Kind of pagoda looking. I found cool battery operated lights that I installed before covering my separations. I used 3/8 inch foam board and a piece of styrofoam in each separation. They are set up so that you can get to the on/off switch but still cover up the box--most of the battery boxes were white but a couple were black. Then I taped the lights to the bottom of the board above it. They all worked--it was my first time using these lights and I was really pleased with the effect. Before the cake board was added & it is also upside down so you can see the lights. So that's with the cake board added--now right side up--see the one little light there between my fingers kind of. Each one had ten lights--lots of fun these lights. So we got flowers, we got a stand, we got lights, camera...how about some cake action??!! Right after lunch...brb...

That is the picture of the picture of her cake. It is a Martha Stewart cake. I was asked how long it took me to make her flowers. I said, "Two days and twenty-five years." (The 25 years of course in reference to the daughter herself :) I made about 900 small, medium and large sized hydrangea blossoms. I think I have the picture posting thing figured out. I hope these photos are the right size. My one regret and we'll get that out of the way first is that I did not get to place all the flowers on the cake myself--I had cake angels helping me and very thankfully so because I was running out of time--but the placement wasn't exactly as I wanted it but all in all it was a huge success and it all worked out great. sniff I had a variety of cutters to choose from, the plunger kind, but mine were too small, the kind with the cute little handles, but there's not enough room to pop out the flowers quickly or efficiently, the green plastic Wilton ones were the most user friendly because they have smooth more cushiony tops where you don't slice your fingers off when you press down about 900 times. But I did use one metal one, since I made three different sizes but I put bandaids on my thumbs to protect them from the sharp edges. The green cutter with the white stick is just a Wilton cutter and a sucker stick. I hot glued marshmallows onto an oven liner pan for two reasons. One is so I could have an easy count of all my flowers and the other is so that I had a nice upside down resting place for my blossoms to dry out. I was using raspberry flavored fondant with tylose to help it dry nice. Another added feature --no extra charge--of the hot glued marshmallow pan is that hot glue makes great long strings that mimic hairs all over everything--as if I didn't have enough to worry about This handy dandy roller outer board made life much easier--I had the same correct depth fondant with just a couple rolls of the pin--every time--made things go much smoother and cleaner and easier. When the cutter got too small for me to push out the flower with my fingertip, I used a sucker stick to push it out. I just cut out beaucoups of flowers and piled them all in plastic containers until I could get to the next steps. This shot and the next show where I made my operation mobile to a certain extent so I could cut out beaucoups and stuck them in plastic containers until I could get to the next steps whether I was at the table on the phone or watching tv. I used three different methods. For the small ones I just used a ball tool and after sprinkling with cornstarch, I just pushed the ball tool into each petal so they cupped up around it. Medium sized ones, I textured the petal close to the center of the flower. Then thinned the outside of the petals by running the ball tool over the edges of the petals--you could use a marble for the same effect. The large ones I rolled out twice as thick as the others so I could get the greater size--small and medium I rolled out 1/8" thick--larges I rolled out 1/4 inch thick-- then I just ran a fabric texturing little baby rolling pin over the entire petal--but ran it over the petal like the spoke of a wheel--not just across the edge--from the center--maybe two rolls-you can kind of tell in the picture See how fat the fondant is too??? Real thick so I can get a greater size out of it when I roll it. However my dilema was that I needed 4-petal blossoms and I only had a 5-petal cutter. So here's the five petal one... Then I turned it over, pinched off one petal and Wa a a la there you have it times 900 . But each one had to be turned over, pinch off a petal & away you go. See the textured little baby rolling pin in the shot there in the top left corner of the picture??? Rather clear acrylic looking pencil shaped roller with little grooves in it. Ordinarily you would use a flower veiner for this--but this worked better for my purposes. A flower veiner is just a plastic mat with the texture imprinted on it and you press the flower dough into it to imprint the texture into the dough. This next is a shot of how much super pearl dust I used per air brush bowlful--it was real gas to just blow the stuff on my zillions of blossoms--I used everclear and mixed each batch as I sprayed it on. Made each bloom come alive. To be continued...

Very funny, 14 pictures. Wow though what a pain in the boo--it's bad enough delivering one tier cake--make that two deliveries times 50--not to mention each individual delivery from the cake artist. Oh man that's a big load of stress.

Hey Steve, If you're still there--the 10 day forecast says for the 24th, 25th & 26th, it's 70 degrees 67 degrees and 69 degrees for the highs--outside anyway--it should stay cool in the station??!! Also light rain the 26th--take a raincoat, dude!! Probably no stampede unless you start serving the cake!!

Some ideas for you--marzipan takes all colors including black very well--if you're going to be mixing it yourself--incredibly more forgiving than fondant is color-wise. Rolls out similar to fondant. Polident denture tablets will take the random food colorings out of your hands--when I'm airbrushing colors I just go ahead and get a tablet going in a cup of water so I can dunk my fingers in as I go--I can usually avoid getting the coloring on my hands otherwise. But it takes it right out--even if you don't get it soaked off right away. Purchased black fondant tastes fine.

In my head I hear my boyfriend saying "most of them were good, except the heart shaped ones, those were kinda weird, mike ate them" *mike's his roomate ← My brother's name is Mike--shoot, I'd tell him the heart shaped ones were made especially for him!!!

This is a recipe called sugar crusted Breton Butter Cake by Gale Gand. I was smart enough to realize this as superb, and while my results were delicious they were not even close to how hers turned out. I only tried it once, I should try it again. It's not almondine like you wanted, but it's a Breton Butter cake. Still makes my mouth water thinking about it. yum yum

I wrap mine in plastic wrap two to a pack and add a piece of bread--the bread goes stale and the cookies stay soft--assuming you want them chewy & soft. I actually get a little cookie cutter & cut out hearts out of the bread. My boy knows to discard it. I wouldn't put the bread in shortbread cookies or something like that.

I agree with y'all, MizDucky & Halloweencat--though I haven't used carob in eons, I made some dang good stuff with it--Pillsbury used to put it in their chocolate cake mix too--as itself it is a great ingredient.

Gosh, can I get a pair of the pink stripey ones in a 10?????? Way awesome so cool!! Beautiful work--may I ask do have anything in there for support?? And you might wanna consider moonlighting in shoe design when we get 32 hour days. Wendy, I'm so sorry those ladies ate your beautiful work--But at the same time I'm irreverently laughing my head off because that is too funny. I can just picture this lady who is in turn envisioning her last corn, picking it up gingerly, turning it back and forth questioningly and then zealously biting the toe off Next time, consider maybe setting your work on plates turned upside down to avoid any further confushoe-on... Great stuff, Wendy, beautiful work--(insert clapping hands smilie faces here)

Tepee, that is beautiful and so dainty tiny at two & a quarter inches. That beautiful flower is there to take a gorgeous presentation over the top -- beautiful heartfelt work!!! Artistry that exquisitely depicts Mother's Day's sentiments/nostalgia. You're awesome and your Mom is blessed.

I never knew that was you!! Your castle cakes--well, all your work is outstanding, stunning--but your castle cakes are my favorites--I could not love those floral tower toppers more--the inverted flowers you use for on top of the towers. Fabulous!! The website is very cool. Multiple congratulations!!!!

I use my hair dryer to dry my dipped gum paste stuff. Works great - I do use the everclear. And you can dust & steam & use markers first and then dip & dry - great effects. Wendy, I use a plate under my dusting so I can shake off and scoop up excess dusts. The first thing I do is use the opposite end of the brush to scootch a little dust out onto the lid of the dust jar - then I set that lid on the plate & dip my brush in that rather than in the whole jar. I have better control of the amount I'm using that way. Stuff lasts a long time that way for me. And I use small brushes for coloring gum paste pieces, like Keith said, flat for edges and round for coverage then a fluffier one to pearlize stuff. You can get colored chalk, and scrape them with a razor & chop it up a bit to make more dust as you need it - this from Scott Clark Woolley. Plain chalk not oil chalk. Having a box of that on hand for possible backup is reassuring. Instead of sneezing one day & blowing a whole $3 jar of dust to smithereens you have back up. The chalk is non-toxic just like the dust. Wendy, when I do stuff on wires, I put a 14 inch cake pan on a turntable & put a weight in it so it stays put - then I put my petal or whatever on a *moistened cloth wire and bend the other end of the wire so the piece will hang free over the edge of the cake pan - you can hang a lot of stuff around there. Gravity is your friend too. Then when they dry more you can take them and stick them into foam or whatever. Easy to count, easy to make a bunch in a small space. You can work faster. Umm, *moistened is an important word - When you are going to attach the petal to the wire, you make a small hook in the end of the cloth covered wire and dip it into egg white to be the glue to hold onto the petal, wipe it off - wipe the excess egg white off so only the moistened wire remains - your pieces will never fall off the wire. Random gum paste thoughts.

Far beyond way too cool... Hey Neil, can you give a sales description of the chocolate rice krispie balls??? I mean I'm not asking for trade secrets, just how would they be described if I was there purchasing them?? Any nuts, spices??? Chocolate swirled inside?? Like what's inside taste wise-ish. That fountain is thee total bomb!!!! Far & away beyond too freakin' cool...wow

Wull, I use the 'cupcake calculator'. I explain that one box mix or cake recipe makes approximately twenty-four cup cakes. Then with the three fillings and icing - 4x2x1-ish is the serving size. That it is not yo momma's 9x13 cut in half & downed with milk for a midnight snack. It's an artistic, expensive, edible engineering feat of daring, delivered and set up with pinpoint accuracy for freshness, flavor and servability. For that reason, wedding servings are traditionally small. If they have 'cousin Louise's twin teenage girls' cut the cake then the chances of needing to buy more servings is justified. If they want to serve the same size I am selling then they need to get someone who knows what they are doing to cut & serve the cake. If they want to serve a bigger slice then they order more than their head count. Y'know their eyes get real big and it's like - whooo-oo we gotta get this right. So they know up front exactly what they are purchasing and who's fault it is if they run out of servings. I can't guess how many guests they will have. I also round up and bake off more servings than ordered - but that's my choice. And I make sure my cakes are user friendly - the icing does not stick to plates, the cake does not crumble. I leave boxes for leftovers. I give a little 5-inch anniversary cake already boxed & ready for the freezer and decorated to coordinate so they can serve the top tier. This is my gift to the couple. My brides always like that a lot. I had one wedding coordinator who loved my little flat turntable - it made it so much easier for them to cut the cake - they didn't have to circle the table to cut it - she got it everytime I did a cake for her venue. Wendy, if the bride's cutting corners with an inexperienced baker or server or not ordering enough in the first place then it truly does make everyone look/feel bad including her.

Whoa - wham! So sorry to hear that!! Will be thinking about you for your job search and stress levels. L & P, Kate

I believe I could tell the difference if it was a familiar recipe/formula made exactly the same - sure could. Just like the difference between dried anything and the fresh one, apples, freeze dried coffee, etc. We're just not as familiar with fresh yeast.

Wull, no difference in performance maybe - but to me there is enough difference in flavor and aroma that I called around and searched and searched right before Christmas and discovered Red Star does not even market it in most states - not TN - Northern states only at certain times of the year. I did find a pizza place in Pennsylvania that would overnight a $2 pound of yeast to me for like $40 overnight shipping charges - too funny - my nostalgia to use it in my Christmas baking did not run as high as that price tag.

Wull along the same lines as the good ChefP off of ebay I've watched like a hawk and acquired a 20 quart mixer ( so drooling ) and a commercial oven. And I feel sure I'm gonna' get 'em hooked up just any minute now!

Yeah - kind of a toss up - Whatever works best for you, I just wanted to give you all the info I have so you can make the best decision. I mean even at 80 degrees they would not melt unless in the sun or wind - but they sure would soften - but that sounds wonderful too. But the idea of having to smoothly cover 50 of those little mammas more or less at the last minute with fondant, when the chocolate shells can be made a coupla weeks in advance and be all smooth is what makes me lean toward choco or the ever popular cupcake. For cutting the circles of cake - my best experience was with cake baked so it was short y'know so it's already the correct height. Then I used a nested set of cookie cutters that are the bomb for this kind of thing - cut frozen cake of course. Happy Wedding Cake to you!