bat signal lit - need wedding cake help!

[flannery]

hello everyone,

i'm making a wedding cake for some friends for sept. 25th (still a beginner, though have had experience in pastry production, more finishing tarts, etc.) and my friend wanted something like the one in this image (by Cheryl Kleinman?) she really wants this kind of simple, elegant, modern look.

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/shopping/guide...ery_cakes/4.htm

1. how does one create that type of real flower sprays and attach them to the cake? this is one of my biggest stresses since i'm not sure of the timing for getting the flowers and putting them on the cake. the bridesmaids' dresses are lavender so i'm thinking of using purple/lavender flowers mixed with 1 or at most 2 other colors (any suggestions?) that would go well.

2. how far in advance should i make the cake/filling and assemble it?

2. keeping loosely to that look, how does one create the pleats in such a cake? does one use rolled fondant, sugarpaste, marzipan or?? does one do them one band at a time? how does one attach them to the cake? or do you band the pleats on a sheet of (marzipan) and then adhere it to the cake?

3. one of my concerns, if it is perhaps marzipan, is allergy to nuts. 1 tier of the total 3 tiers of the cake (12", 9" and 6") i'll be making with almond and the other 2 tiers will be sans almonds to cater to those with allergies to nuts. if it is marzipan pleats, what can i substitute on the non-nut layers?

4. what should be adhering the (fondant)? should i be using buttercream?

5. what's the best way to color the fondant (or marzipan or whatever it is) a light green?

6. after putting the (fondant) on, i can't refrigerate the cake, right? how do i deal with the fact that the pastry cream in the cake needs to be refrig. and the outer layer needs to be room temp.?

i need tips and help in understanding how to decorate this cake most efficiently since i'm working full-time while making this cake for sept. 25th. thanks in advance for your experience and help in any and all of the above issues!!!

Edited August 27, 2004 by flannery (log)

[ladyyoung98]

while i am not exactly sure about the flowers and hope someone else may be able to help u out there... i did take a look at the cake in question and just a quick glance..i would say it is a butter cream frosting that has been combed..which if that is the case you can get a cake decorating comb ( i think that is the proper name for it) any place that sells cake decorating supplies... i have tried that method with the icing a couple of times just for the heck of it and ive liked the way it has come out in the past.

on the other hand it could very well be fondant..in which case ..yes u would adhere it to the cake with the buttercream frosting...there may be other methods but at the moment i dont know them and perhaps someone else might.

though i have tried the fondant a couple of times..ive found that for a beginner that might not be the route u want to go given your limited time and may choose to use a decorators comb...that is just my suggestion and again someone else with even more expereince may have other equally good or better suggestions...good luck!

one more thing...will the cake be tiered or not? if it is to be tiered and u dont know how wilton's puts out several wedding cake decorating books that show u step by step how to build the tiered cake as well as how to transport it and how much batter to use per each sized pan and how long to bake them and at what temperature....most will also have cutting guides and only a few will tell u how many servings u can expect to get out of your cake.. i know i saw one the other day amongst the books that i have on hand while looking for something else..but alas now that im lookig specifically for that..i cant find it...again u can find these books anywhere cake decorating supplies r sold such as Michael's...Hobby Lobby..Cake Carousel etc......good luck!!!!!

Edited August 27, 2004 by ladyyoung98 (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

I've noticed your BAT Signal, but good god, I'm not bat women....maybe fat women, ha!

Some answers:

1. I suggest you purchase those gum paste flower sprays instead of making them. They are an art, and time consuming. There are MANY sources where you can purchase these. (I'll post a few in a later response).

2. You can bake the cake several weeks before the date, but you must wrap it and freeze it well. The filling and assemble of layers you should do the day before the event. Stacking the layers together.........well everyone has different opinions on that. I'll only stack 2 cakes on top of each other for transport and then assemble the rest on site. Some people feel comfortable delivering the whole cake completely assembled. BUT you need to know what your doing before you attempt that.

2 (again, oops). Like ladyyoung98 mentioned two different ways it can be done. One with your butter cream or two-with rolled fondant. I think marzipan might be too difficult for you to roll out and pleat like that, I wouldn't suggest you do that. The rolled fondant sticks to your buttercream like it's glued. BUT if you have too much weight in fondant hanging on the sides of your cakes-they could fall off with gravity.

3. I don't deal with nut allergies. To the best of my knowledge you have to be very careful with all your equipment and not let something that touched nuts touch your non nut food. I think it's too much hassle. I'll make the whole cake nut free or not nut free. I can't cater to everyones individual needs.........thats a slipperly sloop.

4. Refer back to my answer in # 2.

5. Food coloring, pastes. You have to knead that into fondant.

6. Some people do refridgerate fondant covered cakes and some don't. It's up to you and your particular cooler. Some coolers have soooo much humidity in them everything becomes covered with dew over-night- thats a problem! I suggest you use all buttercream to create that look and it will be a far easier task then using rolled fondant.

[amyd]

I think the pleats are done using buttercream piped with a flat tip like the reverse side of something to do a basketweave with (maybe a 2B?). I agree with the above poster - buy those flowers or use fresh; they look very intricate.

[joshalow]

!. If you're arranging gumpaste flowers, use a long wire, and wrap the flowers, in a cascading method down this central wire or you can attach them to a flower pick. If using the wire, you don't want to insert the wire right into the cake, so you can either insert a straw, or coffee stirrer into the cake, and insert your wire into the straw. Place the flowers on the cake at the hall.

3. There are a couple of ways you can create the pleats on fondant. These was a brand new embossing rolling pin presented at the ICES convention at the beginning of August by Rosa Viacava de Ortega, a talented decorator from Peru. This rolling pin will emboss the fondant to make it look just like the pleats. It looked beautiful, and would save lots of time. Rosa's website is http://www.rosasdesign.com/. I don't know if it's on the website already as it was something new for this year. The only problem is that she's in Peru, and it probably wouldn't arrive in time for your cake. If you don't have this rolling pin, you can make the "pleats" yourself. In this case, they really wouldn't be pleats, but strips of fondant that have been overlapped on top of each other. But, I would do the overlapping of the strips off of the cake first- easier to make sure you get them straight. Roll out the fondant very thinly, cut the equal sized strips, overlap them accordingly, using a bit of water as glue, and then roll over the whole thing slightly, just to help thin it out a bit more. Then attach to the cake. (This is how I would do this, if I didn't have the rolling pin- I'm waiting for mine in the mail as she ran out of them at the convention since it was such a popular item.) If using marzipan, do the same- but, I agree with Sinclair, regarding the allergy problem. Just having the marzipan near the "nut-free" cake could be enough to set off a reaction in people who have a severe allergy- so, I wouldn't have any nuts, marzipan at all if that is the slightest of concerns.

4. Use buttercream for a crumbcoat, and the fondant will adhere nicely to the buttercream.

6. Could you use fillings that have a longer room temp. time frame? In the Cake Bible, the dark ganache can be left at room temp for 3 days- it makes a great filling, as well as the Mousseline Buttercream, which can be at room temp for 2 days.

If you're working full time while having to work on the cake, you'll need to bake the cake ahead, make your buttercream ahead, arrange your flowers ahead, unless they are fresh flowers, which I guess would have to be a last minute thing - basically do a bit everyday so that when Friday night comes around, all you need to do is work with the fondant, and assembling the cake (unless you have a few hours on the Sat.

Sharon's Creative Cakes

[bkeith]

I just did a similar cake recently, and it was a bear -- the only real difference was the direction of the pleats - my pleats faced up, like a cummerbund. I used fondant for the pleating (and I'm pretty sure that's fondant in the photo you referenced). It's created a strip at a time -- each strip is rolled thin, cut to a uniform width, and folded to give that finished edge. The hard part was getting the strip of fondant onto the cake and keeping it at an even level while keeping the finished edge looking finished. The fondant wanted to stretch and tear and be generally obstinate. If I had it to to again, I'd make the strips and create the pleats on the table -- laying one strip atop the next all the way up, probably on a sheet of plastic or parchment, then, once the whole set of pleats is ready, attach to the cake. I think that would make a much cleaner finished product.

I also refrigerate all my cakes (and everything I do is covered with fondant). They can get a little dewey, especially this time of year with all the humidity, but they will dry off as they sit at the reception. If you're really worried about it, get a box large enough to hold your cake and refrigerate the cake boxed -- the condensation will form on the box, not on the cake. That's a bit tougher if you're like me and stack your cakes fully before delivering, but it can be done.

As for fresh vs. sugar flowers. I much prefer to use completely edible adornments on my cakes, but right now, fresh flowers are THE thing in this area. A few years ago, pretty much everything I did had gum paste flowers on it. Now, practically every bride asks for fresh. On the cake you're looking at, it appears they've stuck the flower stems into the sides of the cake. Risky business in my book. If you're going to do that, use drinking straws. Tape the end of each flower stem to seal it, then poke a length of drinking straw into the cake, longer than the stem. Stick a little wad of fondant to mask the hole and give the stem something to hold on to. Then stick the stem into the straw. This way, the flower has almost no chance of contaminating the cake.

For sprays place on a horizontal cake surface, I put down a piece of parchment or plastic to prevent contact between the flowers and the cake.

Hope that helps.

[Tracy K.]

I think the pleats are done using buttercream piped with a flat tip like the reverse side of something to do a basketweave with (maybe a 2B?).

Hello flannery, and welcome to the wonderful world of wedding cakes.

I agree completely with amyd...if you have a large flat tip and a turntable, you can re-create this look with ease. Also, I wouldn't mess with marzipan or fondant pleats if you haven't got the time to practice (although I'd guess that if that cake were fondant, it would be applied in two pieces for each tier...a disc for the top of the cake and then the sides would be rolled, cut, pleated and wrapped around the cake, joined with the edges of the top and smoothed at the seam on the side...at least that's the way I'd do it.).

You mentioned using fresh flowers. Sprays like that are made like corsages. I'd say you have a couple of options, the easiest would be to have your friend's florist make up the sprays, have them taped to chopsticks or the florist pick could be slid into a drinking straw that you stick into the cake, then hide the join with a little buttercream. Don't add the flowers until you get to the reception--the sprays can be stored in the refrigerator, which is what florist's do. If you want to make them yourself, check out some flower arranging books (also, sugarcraft books will give examples of sprays) at the library or Barnes and Noble, buy some florist tape (any florist would sell you some, or try some craft stores (if you're in Manhattan, trek out to Jersey to a Michael's craft store), go to a greenmarket or grocery store, buy some cheap flowers and practice. It's really quite simple, although you need good dexterity and your hand might cramp up a little the first few times (it's teeny, pinch-y type of work). You start at the far end, say with a stephanotis blossom or some other small flower or bud, then work your way backwards inserting larger flowers, greens, etc. along the way, wrapping the stems in florist tape (don't forget to pull on the tape as you go to expose the sticky adhesive before you wrap the stems).

As for the colors of the flowers, see if you can get a fabric scrap from one of the bridesmaid dresses (a little cut from a hem or seam is enough) and take it with you when you look at flowers. Also, practice coloring the frosting...use paste color and be very sparing at first--food coloring deepens on standing. There are a number of different green colors available, some are pretty insipid. A "leaf green" would be a good all-purpose color, but it can come out a little yellow. Add a teeny touch (just a tip of a toothpick touch) of a red (use "red red"--I swear that's the name of the color) to dull it down a bit. But definitely practice with the coloring beforehand and write down your color "recipe" so the final cake will turn out the way you want.

Good luck, and remember, the best part of a wedding cake is seeing it destroyed and eaten!

[chefpeon]

The hard part was getting the strip of fondant onto the cake and keeping it at an even level while keeping the finished edge looking finished. The fondant wanted to stretch and tear and be generally obstinate.

Ok, first off, since I would rather work smart than hard, I would also recreate the pleats using the opposite flat edged side of a large basketweave tip. That would be the best way.....labor-wise anyway.

But if I WERE going to do it in such a way where I would be cutting out strips of something, there's no way I'd use fondant. Fondant is good for a lot of applications where you actually need to take advantage of that good ol' stretching action (like around corners and crevices), but if you want to do the pleated look using fondant strips, it would be a major pain in the ass.....as Keith discovered. The fondant's own weight stretches and tears it out of shape....especially if you are folding it over to create a "finished edge". Double the weight.

Easy solution though. Two words. Modeling chocolate. Whenever I need to do any kind of horizontal striping that's what I use. It doesn't stretch or tear (when you use it in a cool state-if it's warm it's harder to work with than fondant). If the climate doesn't allow you to use modeling chocolate, then save yourself the hassle and do it the buttercream flat tip way!

If you're really worried about it, get a box large enough to hold your cake and refrigerate the cake boxed -- the condensation will form on the box, not on the cake.

In my experience I have found that just a box is not enough to protect from the humid conditions of most refrigeration. If I have a fondant cake that I don't want to get any additional condensation on, I either put the box in a large clean Hefty bag, or I wrap the box completely with commercial large sized plastic wrap. Works great. Also if your cake is refrigerated, there

WILL be some condensation that forms on it no matter what. But the good news is, as it comes to room temp (and it's not humid outside) the condensation will evaporate away.

Regarding fresh flowers on cakes, some people get all freaked out about the stems coming in contact with food. There really is no danger if you make sure you use flowers that aren't poisonous. Like Poinsettias and Ivy.....big no-no there. If I'm making fresh flower sprays, I use

floral tape around the stems and then stick them in the cake. I've never used straws.....I hate

making more work for myself.....

[sugarhill]

i made a very similar cake for my wedding cake final project in school. the pleats were made with fondant... the only difficulty for me, like bkeith was keeping the layers from dropping or cracking. i used egg whites to glue the layers to each other and onto the cake. and the cooler the kitchen the better... cuz my fondant was drying faster than i could apply it... leading to the minor cracks.

[bkeith]

Ok, first off, since I would rather work smart than hard, I would also recreate the pleats using the opposite flat edged side of a large basketweave tip. That would be the best way.....labor-wise anyway.

Ah, but then you're smarter than I am.

Sad, but true -- whenever I approach a project, somehow my instinct is always to come up with the method that involves the most work. That's one of the reasons I think well on my feet -- lots of experience altering my stupid "master plan" in order to get the job done without killing myself. Through the years I've gotten better at reformulating before I actually start the project. But I'm afraid I'll never be the type who immediatley sees the very best way to do something unless I've already lived through that particular pain.

Easy solution though. Two words. Modeling chocolate.

Cool idea. That sounds a lot easier that fighting with fondant. Question, though: after rolling and cutting, you'd have a very square edge on the modeling chocolate strips -- more like shingles than pleats. Would you just go with it like that, or try to soften or round that edge a bit to give the pleated look?

That's another of my issues. I tend to be too much of a stickler for duplicating things exactly instead of letting an artistic impression do the work.

[HOMER]

Stoopid math background. D'oh!

[/HOMER]

[chefpeon]

I sent bkeith an apology via personal message, but wanted to apologize publicly too.

My above post came off as elitist and condescending and seeming to say "me smart, you stupid".

A big "ooops" on my part. I'm not like that.

As I told Keith, my only desire is to save my fellow PC's the agony of doing stuff the hard

way, because, believe me, I've done stuff the hard way......that, in essence is how I figured

out how to do it the easy way. I am hoping my dumbass mistakes will save others.

I certainly don't mean to do it in a way that makes me seem as though I consider myself

any kind of cake decorating God(dess), because I most certainly am not. Not even close.

My above post came off that way, and again I apologize.

Many lashes with a wet piece of fondant.

[bkeith]

I sent bkeith an apology via personal message, but wanted to apologize publicly too.

Hey Annie,

Got your PM, but wanted to reply publicly. I wasn't offended in the least -- I hope I didn't sound that way in my reply. I tend to rather flippant all the time (ALL the time -- probably to the point of being annoying), and smilies don't always capture the emotion correctly.

So thanks for the very amusing yet completely unnecessary apology.