Jessica Parsons

I know I'm really late to this, but it's such a great thread, why not bump again? A few quick combos I don't think I've seen: blackberry + cinnamon peach + creaminess + lime spice cake + blueberries (+ cream cheese frosting, of course)

OK, so this is really late, and the cake has long since been made and eaten (looked delicious), but here's a little input, perhaps for others who look at this in the future. I also worked in an ice cream shop, Baskin-Robbins, for a while as a cake decorator. Dealing with frozen buttercream does add an interesting element to the whole undertaking. Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes are cake on the bottom, ice cream on top, and I have always preferred this ice-cream-to-cake ratio (about 50/50) myself. They are always covered in softened ice cream, sometimes chocolate, but usually a special "deco" vanilla that is extra white. The piped decorations are generally buttercream--one of my favorite things about ice cream cakes as a kid (and still, as a matter of fact) has always been the dense, grainy texture of frozen frosting! Although the content of the buttercream may vary from shop to shop (they're franchised by independent owners), the stuff in my shop was (I believe, although I wasn't as savvy about these things at the time) of the shortening-based variety, in huge tubs from Westco, if I remember correctly. We also used whipped dairy product (that stabilized stuff sold in quart cartons, I can't remember the name), which they whipped to a texture that could never produce smoothly piped shells, then stored in pastry bags in the fridge. And we used quite a bit of "dipping chocolate" (a la the ubiquitous Dairy Queen dipped cone, but put into a squeeze bottle), dripped along the edges or drizzled into designs. The one decoration material that was a surprise to me was fudge. The same fudge they put into the heated containers to pour on sundaes, they put into pastry bags at room temperature, and it had a good, thick, frosting-like texture, excellent for piping, although a little stretchy. As for the buttercream transfers, I did a few of those, and they are way easier than they look! Really great, especially for frozen cakes. We just put a sheet of wax paper on a template, piped buttercream to trace and fill the picture, and stuck it in the freezer to harden. Once it was hard, we put it frosting-side down on the cake, and peeled off the paper. The design comes out a mirror image of the original, so you may need to plan ahead for that. Really a fun technique. Finally, here's a method I used for an ice cream cake last summer. I had made a shaped cake (uh, for a bachelorette party) which I cut out of a rectangular jelly-roll-pan-sized cake. With the leftover scraps, I made the base of an ice cream cake, pressing them into the bottom of a springform pan which I put in the freezer. Then I covered the cake (chocolate) with fudge and almonds, followed by slightly softened espresso gelato, and back to the freezer to harden. I decorated the top with some really good fudge, which I put in a decorator bag and piped in rosettes around the edge and a happy birthday message in the middle (obviously unrelated to the bachelorette party ). I also sprinkled some more almonds near the edge. It was really good, and really easy--kind of a frozen trifle. Also, because the cake was pressed firm, and there was only one layer, it cut really nicely.

Ooh, I really like the tea idea, especially with fruit herb teas. Celestial Seasonings makes delicious fruit teas that I think I'll try for this very thing this weekend. I don't think they'll really provide the contrast of flavor that a regular tea would--these teas are very fruity, with none of the spiced, semi-bitter characteristics you normally associate with tea--but they are not really sweet, and have a nice dry quality to them, which I think will add flavor to the fruit without being over-poweringly sweet. I think they'd be great with apricots, cranberries, or what I'm going to try--dried strawberries.

Wow, we really have gotten off topic, haven't we? I realize I should have followed my better judgement and not brought this issue up at all, as I see I've already made an annoyance of myself. Arghavan, you bring up a good point about the similar densities of water and cream, and I did forget to account for that. An interesting note, though--I did a few quick calculations based on cream labels, comparing my percentage results with the labels' stated percentages. I found that the higher the percentage of fat, the less accurate my calculations were. For example, the calculated percentage for the 30% whipping cream label pictured in the whipping cream demo was right on, but the calculated percentage for the 38% heavy whipping cream was only 35%. Of course this makes sense, since, fat being typically less dense than water, the more fat there is in a liquid, the less dense it will be, resulting in volume measurements that overestmate the total grams, and thus produce a lower percentage. The 3% difference is significant in the numbers we're dealing with, but from everyone's experience here, it's still irrelevant in terms of making proper whipped cream that lasts (which chiantiglace has demonstrated so beautifully). Chiantiglace, I'm pretty sure you've still got some things mixed up with regard to weight/mass/volume/density, and I typed up a really long explanation why, but I realized that it has absolutely no bearing on the topic of stabilizing whipped cream, and I wasn't helping anyone by bickering over scientific minutiae. I'm sorry if I upset or offended anyone, and I'm embarrassed that I even brought it up, here in one of my first posts to this forum.

Actually, before anyone goes out and tries this, don't, because it won't work. Grams are a measure of weight/mass. Dividing it by the volume will give you a basically meaningless number. Now, the elementary school teacher in me has to explain (I always get guff for overexplaining things, so I apologize in advance). Say you had a box of apples and oranges, and you wanted to know what percentage of fruits in the box were oranges. If you weighed the oranges and divided by the total number of fruits in the box, this obviously wouldn't work. The resulting number would be meaningless, because well, you're comparing apples to oranges ( pun intended). Of course you already know you'd have to count the oranges and divide by the total fruits. (Now that's comparing apples to apples. ) So then, if you weighed a serving size of the cream (as indicated on the carton), in grams, then divided the fat grams by the cream serving grams, now that would give you the butterfat percentage by weight. BUT, is the butterfat percentage listed on most cartons measured by weight, or is it by volume? That I don't know. (And I'm resisting the urge to explain why that matters, since I'm sure you're all already rolling your eyes at me. )

Gelatin! Now there's an idea I never would have considered! Here is the link for anyone interested. Don't think it'll work for press molds, though.... As for gumpaste, I had been wondering if that would work! I think I'll try a few of these ideas today (and post results, of course). If they don't work out, I think I'll order the silicone. Thanks, everyone, for your input and advice!

I am constantly amazed by what a wonderful resource this forum is! I did find the Michael Joy book, through chefette's link, which looks very interesting, but out of my price range for something I'm probably only going to do once or twice (but who knows?...). The previous thread linked by nightscotsman was great! Hearing about this topic from Michael Joy himself was a treat, and the discussion of the artistic merits of using molds for competition was very, very interesting, although totally unrelated to my purposes (but that's me on the internet, come looking for one thing, find myself hours later with so much more... ). Once I knew what to search for, I found a few other links that might be useful, if anyone else is interested: Culinart.com: Company link for the Silicone Plastique product listed in chefette's link. Includes instructions. Alley Goop: Another clay-type silicone molding material. Shown for craft use but says it's FDA approved. The items I'm creating/copying are not especially delicate or detailed, so I may be able to use some molding materials other than silicone, especially since I'll be pressing items in, as opposed to pouring, and won't be exposing the molds to heat. One possibility that has just occurred to me is paraffin wax from the grocery store for about $2.50 a pound, and clearly labeled as FDA approved. (Besides, it's used for canning, so it has to be safe.) I'm also considering some modeling clays from the craft store. Can anyone confirm this for me--if something is labeled "non-toxic," is it safe to use with food? As I try stuff out, I'll post my results.

Thank you for both!

Perfect! Thank you! I should have known you'd know what to use! (While I haven't posted much, I've read a LOT.)

Wow, this looks like fun! Chefette, you mentioned using modeling clay or plaster as one of the ways to create molds/forms for the pastillage--I was just looking for a way to do that very thing. I noticed from the historicfood.com link that I could carve these molds out of wood, but.... I want to create a relief mold of an existing object. Have you done this sort of thing before? Is plaster food-safe? Do you know what sorts of modeling clay is food-safe? Thanks for all the time and energy you have put into this. It is very much appreciated!

I'm interested in making a press mold for fondant or modeling chocolate. I seem to remember seeing a book once in which the author created a custom mold from a piece of costume jewelry. As I recall, she said something about using silicone or food-safe clay to make such a mold, but gave no further explanation (and even if there were any, I can't remember what the book was, anyway). Has anyone ever done this, for cake decorating, or pehaps candymaking? Do you know of any materials that can be used for this? I've searched everywhere I can think of, and I can't seem to find anything. I've thought about using regular, hardware-store silicone out of the tube, but I'm not sure if that would work, or if it's food-safe. I've wondered the same things about "non-toxic" clays I find in craft stores, like Crayola's Model Magic. (I've ruled out polymer clays like Fimo, because I'm pretty sure they aren't food-safe.) Any suggestions or advice?