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Posted
Day 2

My first class was Colette Peters demonstrating a number of different cake decorating techniques including: royal icing piping, antiquing, stained glass and Pietra Dura Fondant. She was very informative, not just about technique, but also on the business side of owning a cake business.

Is the white rectangle with the raised white and darker coloring in the lower part of the photo the example of the pietra dura effect? That sounds intriguing....

Posted
Day 2

My first class was Colette Peters demonstrating a number of different cake decorating techniques including: royal icing piping, antiquing, stained glass and Pietra Dura Fondant. She was very informative, not just about technique, but also on the business side of owning a cake business.

Is the white rectangle with the raised white and darker coloring in the lower part of the photo the example of the pietra dura effect? That sounds intriguing....

That portion of the photo was actually her antiquing effect. You simply create shapes in the fondant, attach to a cake, paint the edges with a combination of lusterdust and alcohol (she uses lemon extract because the oil helps it to adhere just a bit) then go over the top with water to accent the highlights.

Peitra dura in the classic sense is an Italian art where stone is inlaid into stone, and designs or scenes are created. They make tabletops in in it as well as flooring. I will post a picture of hers, with tips, later.

Rudy van Veen rocks, and someone should sponsor and produce a tv show in English with this insanely talented, fun-loving master chef!

Posted

The peitra dura is made by taking bits of fondant and coloring them so they are a bit marbled in texture.

You take your background color and roll some out a bit thickly on cellophane or wax paper, so it's easy to get off later.

Then roll and cut the colored fondant into the desired shapes, but smaller than you want the finished product. Starting with the image basics (the parts you don't mind getting a bit covered by other parts, like stems and leaves) place the colored parts on top of the background, and add little bits and strips of the background color in between. Make sure to finish with the highlight bits, in this picture the flowers were set on last.

Roll the fondant, taking care to roll in all driections to keep things straight.

You then have a section of fondant that can be used as a feature like a medallion on a cake, or actually cut out and inserted into the fondant on a covered cake.

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Posted

Congratulations to Team Chowdhury our new US champions and Chef Anil Rohira, PC of the year!

I'll have a link to a flick page in a few days. Later, after I sober up :huh:

Posted

Hey! Get over to the Embassy Suites! Only about 60 people have shown up for the Next Food Network Star audition! Pastry needs more representation!

The audition was easy and fun. I was interviewed on camera by one very nice woman, and it was very low pressure. Anyone interested should just get over there, and just smile.

BTW, I met another eGulleter there, which was also a great experience!

Posted

I've got some business things to attend to tomorrow, but I should be able to edit and post more this weekend.

Here are two fun images:

Chef Robert Ellinger, CEPC and Ciril Hitz

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Chef Tracey DeWitt, Team Captain WPF US Nationals 2009 Silver medalist

(also one of my pastry school instructors at the Cordon Bleu)

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Posted

OK, people, after sobering up and overcoming technical difficulties, you can find my Flickr set of the WPF 09 here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11037087@N02/sets/

While you're there, the Australia set has photos from my 4 days of chocolate class at Savour School in Melbourne, and a bit of food interspersed everywhere else if you care to look.

Enjoy!

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