chefette

so, do you think that someone printing and transferring a very detailed pattern - like the kate spade stripe on the Ellen Baumwoll "I Do I Do" cake would be perceived as superior to a more simple design that was hand painted on or achieved by using a stencil?

Thanks Wendy Adding to what you said - I think that some 'artists' and possibly misguided consumers as well have come to see - childish or inferior work as somehow indicative of handmade and I think that is doing us all a huge disservice. There will always be small variances in handmade work - especially chocolates - but a good artisan does their utmost to minimize these differences - that is what makes them good at what they do. In many respects, as any other artist does, we must rely on the consumer to seek out, appreciate, and have the intrest in supporting the arts and enjoying the special aspects of our art because there are alot of immitations and mass produced things out there that are more competitively priced - and there are lots of these products out there that are priced exactly the same as your artisinal work so it is often very difficult for a consumer to discern. Part of our whole effort is helping consumers know how to judge product how to identify quality. Every time an artist makes his own mold or transfer sheet or packaging there is someone else creating a method or selling that concept to someone who will turn it around and make it possible for about a zillion non-artists to immitate your work.

you can make mega gigantic batches of genoise doubling is definitely not an issue need to ensure the eggs are really well whipped gentle in folding in flour - best to sift it in if you have any doubts do in two or three batches as necessary adding some batter to the butter is the exact right thing to do - stir some batter in with the cooled butter then gently fold that into the main batter I think 350 is too low on an egg foam cake you need it to bake quickly - I would also ditch the sleeves - especially on such small pans crank up the heat and the cakes should hopefully turn out much better - sound like they aren't baking evenly due to your overprotective measures and not enough heat to give them that last bit of ooomph they need to get a poof from the egg foam genoise - or sponge - is just a stable dry cake base that can handle a bunch of soaking syrup and unobtrusively seperates fillings

the recipe I like (for a 6") - not to imply that I actually 'like' genoise - not sure that is really possible - it is just a vehicle 3 eggs 75g sugar 75g cake flour 15g clarified butter I see corn starch in many older cake recipes - what role does it play? I have often wondered about that - anyone know?

shouldn't be leavening in a genoise - this cake is based on egg foam and does not use a chemical leavener combine eggs and sugar in bowl and warm over hot water until about 100 degrees - (warm to touch) using whisk - whip to ribbon (will increase in volume significantly, be white and when you lift the whisk out of the batter and pull it across a band of batter will drop across the surface and mound) fold sifted flour in (usually in two additions) then fold in your melted butter butter and flour the pan - many also line base with parchment bake at about 400 for 10-15 minutes

I also think that the intentional 'flaw' is a sort of 'signature' but until you are well enough known - like maybe Alfred Hitchcock - the signature mark is sort of vain and meaningless. If anyone saw the episode of The Apprentice last group - not the most current one - where they made those mini M&M chocolate bars you can see that just because you have a machine to help you doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to do a good job. The quality control people tossed alot of the bars that the apprentices made because of bubbles and flaws. Now if you are asking if hand dipped are somehow inherently better or worse than molded chocolates that is another long and involved discussion and generally speaking from a skill standpoint - most chocolate people (well - french chocolatiers' would say that the hand dipped are the more skillful since it requires more skills and effort to do those well than to temper the chocolate and mold off chocolates. If you are asking if chocolate should be left plain or colored or decorated that is merely an aesthetic style choice. Clearly your friend has their perspective and when you make chocolates for her to make her most pleased you should keep that in mind - but it has no bearing on anything. Moving on - NSM said hell yes to machines and I would agree - that if you are producing any real volume on a regular basis you cannot manage without equipment. Assuming all aspects other than the equipment used to facilitate the processes are equal (that you have great fillings, great quality chocolate, and produce a clean and well executed product) then it is just a question for the consumer.

I think this is an interesting discussion - not at all unlike the discussion on use of edible papers that you can print designs on and transfer to a cake. Maybe the real underlying questions here are these: What is the value of artistry and skill? If you find a way to essentially mass market your skills and artistry to allow those without the same level of skill and art to appear as talented and skilled and artistic in their work - are you in fact devaluing yourself? Where do you draw the line between time saving, toolsets, and skill/artistry? I believe that doing fine molded chocolates is a real skill and that if you do them - you should do them perfectly - saying that you leave air bubbles to show they are made by hand is just opening the excuse door to sloppy workmanship. And keep in mind that it is not just about the exterior - good fillings are also part of the difference. For ages there has been a tug of war between pastry pros going for the rustic look trying to tap into the goodness and handmade warm fuzzies but then machines can made rustic looking stuff and rustic or perfect it can all taste like inedible glop or it can be good whether you make something yourself by hand or it is manufactured - whether products are simple and rustic or finely finished they should all be as good as they can possibly be - consumers should demand that. The product should reflect its use and its setting. If you are going for a fine sophisticated menu or ambiance then your work should follow suit and harmonize.

Interesting observation. It is possible that the green cake with the writing is in fact white chocolate ustilizing a transfer sheet and is not the edible paper/frosting sheet stuff. although it looks very thin. I think that the cake artists were supposed to produce normal edible decorations and cake coverings but I am almost positive that in one case I saw someone 'fluffing' up a flower that I had assumed was gumpaste and in the case of the I Do I Do cake - I suppose it is possible that the cake artist did use normal paper - that would be a big dissapointment. But - it is a possibility I guess. It just seems that it is disingenuous because it looked like alot of the attendees were brides out 'shopping' for their future cakes and if you did indeed use real paper...

So which vendor have you tried? PhotFrost http://www.computercakes.com/frosting_sheets.html "Not rice paper, potato paper, fondant or anything like that. They DON'T have a strange texture or taste. They are NOT hard to cut through. They DON'T add an extra layer or "skin" to your cake. They really are frosting, specially blended and pressed ultra-thin onto a backing page to pass easily through our printer. Your images print out sharp & clear, just like a photo. " Edible Expressions http://www.cakencandysupply.com/Special_Oc...xpressions.html Kopykake http://www.kopykake.com/pc_faqs.html are there others? is there a difference between the brands or are they pretty much all the exact same thing packaged and sold by different companies? From an interesting article on wedding cake trends: http://www.restaurant.org/rusa/magArticle.cfm?ArticleID=337 "Time is money," explains Bakels' Wilder. He notes that premade items allow less-skilled decorators to make high-quality cakes. Computer technology has also simplified cake decorating. ... all of which used to take a skilled decorator hours to reproduce — can now be replicated by almost anyone in a matter of minutes. The Kopykake company's new Kopyjet printer, for example, prints scanned-in images — using food coloring — onto thin, edible sugar sheets. The sheets get placed atop cakes, blending in with the frosting. Kopyjet even has a tiling option that allows for, say, a company's logo to be placed on each cake slice.

It looks like this is one method that could be used to achieve very intense colors without adding huge quantities of color paste or painting the fondant. Has anyone noted if there is a distint taste from the paper and ink? Does it leave consumers with ink dyed tongues?

If you wanted to use this paper instead of a transfer sheet on chocolate - couldn't you just put the chocolate in the cooler for a few minutes to get it to generate a little sweat the facilitate the transfer? Jeanne - does the 'paper' melt? I noted on some of the closeups that I took that you could discern some small wrinkles that must be the paper. On the green cake - note the seam on the left side of the picture and on the I Do I Do cake upper right you can see a little fold or something

Here are a few of the cakes where it looks like they used the transfers: This technique shouldn't be confused with the Jan Kish cake with its panels of flowers and fairies, all of which were individually hand-painted on pastillage or gumpaste--a much more difficult and skillful process. I can post some close ups later.

a sheetpan of opera or an opera-like cake is a fast way to come up with 600 rich special treats see if they will spring for tartlet shells or chocolates a la carte shells that you can fill with spectacular things that can be popped into the cooler lollipops with a flower center served on trays of rock sugar are simple, fairly quick and pack a big visual punch caramelized nuts can be served plain, coated in chocolate and 10X or cinnamon or other final coatings and give you 2 or 3 things re the decisions on the menu - I would start making the decisions about what it should be and why and share that with them - you are the expert - give them expert advice - don't get dragged around and then find you are dissatisfied. If you force them they will eventually tell you to make a whole menu of stupid things. what food are they serving? Have you spoken with the cuisine chef re what his plans for the impromptu event are? Try to follow suit stylewise or better yet - get to him now and start COLLABORATING and making your plans in tandem.

I noticed that several of the cakes at the Cakewalk event used very cool printed fondant. Was this done using the edible paper? Wendy - did you end up using this on your playing board game cake? What was your experience working with it? What source do you reccomend? I am psyched to try this out

Agree with bripastry guy - Chocolat-chocolat has a wide selection of chocolate boxes and they are in Canada.

J.B. Prince sells those 3" round gold cardboards with a tab that lots of patry shops use. They are attractive, sturdy and safe

butter is fine at room temp for days and days its the eggs that are the least safe or stable

At the Bride's magazine party last night they served fresh marshmellows - looked like the chef just piped them out onto serving trays to set up like little kisses - but you could do something like a s'more on a square of chocolate and/or cookie. People seemed to be enjoying those - just lifting them off the trays and popping into their mouths. Watermellon on skewers at this time of year is always delishous, refreshing and attractive - especially if you do an interesting presentation - also benefit as it is on skewer don't you want to do something in line with the plan for the restaurant? what style, cuisine? what have you been planning on? shouldn't you be trying to create draft version minis? Don't panic - this is your opportunity to create some hype and buzz and anticipation so stay focused and make sure what you do is in alignment with your pland and intent for the real desert menu. This is also an opportunity to shine personally - take advantage of it

If using fresh cream (especially ultra pasteurized) there should be no problem leaving ganache filled cakes out at room temp for a few days. poached fruits - like pears in wine shoujld be fine. I like pears poached in red wine with a ginger infused ganache Buttercream (italian meringue) is fine fruit compote fillings or gelled filling are good you can do a plain milk chocolate ganache, cherries, and vanilla buttercream (sort of black forest) stay away from whole egg mixtures, custards, pastry cream, curds With the small cakes - if you box them up so they are stackable you can fit a hundred even in a fairly tight space - or even use a styrofoam cooler chest with an ice pack or two if that gives you the latitude you need to make a tasty cake that people will like.

so this will be part of going the research lab route to puzzle the mysteries out, refresh yourself and break new ground. perhaps it's worth it to obtain the electron microscope after all to track progress of bacteria in ganache? or you could freeze them.

Here are some pictures of the media gala last night. Fun Bars at either end of the hall that would not let us have drinks until the official start time about 1 hour or so after we were in the hall. They had two fun Asti spumanti drinks: A cherry fizz drink with cherry puree and asti - it looked like a pain to make since the bar people had to pour a bit of puree into each glass - add some spumanti - stir and then add more and stir again in most cases - as the evening went on I noted a few new solutions for making the drink concocted by inventive bartenders- including shaking a batch in a pitcher and pouring. The other drink was a lemonade - a slice of lemon - something pink and asti. They also served mini astis with straws, unfortunately I completely forgot to photograph one. One of the large Bride's Magazine posters Each cake was presented on a sort of white quilted pedestal. Some of the cake pedestals had Asti Spumanti bottles as the top support. You can see this in the photo of Steve being filmed by the Food network people about his cake: The event was held in a magnificent space, Vanderbilt Hall at Grand central Station. Here is a picture of the chandeliers Here is the obligatory posed shot of all the 'bakers' and that's Maria McBride-Mellinger--the person who pulled this all together--in the center of the group looking radiant in fuschia pink: and here is Steve with an idol of his, sugar artist Betty Van Norstrand. Steve's enjoying the cherry spumanti drink (Boiron fruit puree, we saw the containers) while Betty is sipping a Mini Spumanti. I personally did not feel that the straw enhanced the experience. The passed tidbits, unfortunately, did not include cake of any kind. The little amuse bouche were very glam and very good: 'grilled cheese' - two tiny cheese tuilles with a creamy cheese filling and a tiny brunoise of oven-dried tomato on top; 'duck quesadillas' - really my total fav! a bite size three-tiered tidbit with duck - maybe confit onions or a compote and a tiny spot of sauce on top; 'tuna' - a tiny perfect square of seared tuna raw on the inside with mango chutney resting on a corn chip; 'fava bean' - sort of a chutney of fava bean on a micro-round of toast; small perfect watermelon balls on skewers dipped in some spumati glaze; and marshmellow kisses. I should have documented the food because it really was splendid - so small and so perfect and so good but getting your hands on any was a feat.

We Take The Cake Kerry Vincent Betty Van Norstrand swans Steve Klc Lori's Creative Cakes Lisa Raffael Laurie Lucov Jeri Gotlieb Gail Watson Funky Black & White w red flowers Condra Easley Chocolate Cakes from Cabin Ridge Cakeline Butterflies Michelle Bommarito pink rose swag Ayoma Fonseka All White Alladin

I will put up the remainder later today. We'll edit in the names of the cake artists--so if any of you go to Grand Central today, make little notes of who did which of these cakes and pm me or Steve, so our journal here is accurate. It's important we credit the artists. The information on the Brides/cakewalk site is not very helpful, nor is the little handout they give you at the event.

Ruth Seidler printed yellow fondant folded XOXO Katrina Rozelle Le Gateau Cakery Cheryl Kleinman Sylvia Weinstock tall pink w ribbons Carolyn Wanke Very Different Cakes, Hollywood, CA Marion Cardwell Ferrer Jan Kish Beryl Ann Byrd Kate Sullivan Ellen Baumwoll Nhora De La Pava Catherine Warner green vows Anna Paz Martine Holzman of Lexington. KY Rosemary Littman Colette Peters Margaret Braun Cake Crumbs Marina Sousa quilted bamboo

Oh fine - one slight swing into the utterly magnificent and I have taken us off track? hah! Fine then... Maybe the whole question is more about how you design your kitchen to accommodate 30 people (sitting?) working? watching? eating? probably a good idea to have a direct entrance probably need to consider parking access to home (paved pathway?) as prior - have to expect a few of them will need to relocate water and other commestibles from other locations so you need a serviceable WC with good plumbing and plenty of TP and paper towels I am thinking having 90 guests in the kitchen every day would be annoying and expensive why would as many as 90 people even want to come to the kitchen? excellent flooring that will not show grime immediately, withstand wear and tear, easy to clean, easy on the feet also anticipate how one would design a kitchen where there is the private side for personal use not open to scrutiny/observation, access of milling visiting hoards of guests allow family members at home to obtain an egg salad sandwich and drink milk out of the carton from family fridge need a partition seperate family fridge and workspace also able to keep family from eating research (in case it is a better brownie) good lighting probably important