Delishiously Defined

Let's continue on our journey through cakelishousness!

Your wedding cake is an investment of $3 to $9 per slice or more depending on what you choose. So to avoid wasting this money, the goal is to find the bakery that creates the type of cake you like. Isn't cake just cake? Nope! Just like there are many types of frostings, there are as many (more really) cakes!

If you are visiting a bakery, it's helpful to know the lingo. Not all bakeries will make the same type of cake as their standard wedding cake. And not all bakeries will make the same type of cake taste ...um...tasty! :) Like frosting, cakes are more or less defined by their ingredients. The main categories are 'butter cakes' and 'sponge cakes'. Within those categories are the specialty flavors.


Pound Cake: This dense butter cake is often used as a wedding cake because when done properly is moist and sturdy. Traditional recipes consist of 1 pound each of butter, eggs, flour and sugar plus the flavoring and leavening. This makes quite a large cake! Most recipes call for creaming the butter however I have found a recipe from the fabulous Cooks Illustrated to be the best ever and it's a little non-traditional in the mixing method. A membership will be required if you want to check out this recipe, but they'll give you a 2 week membership for free - a great deal! They have the best recipes ever! My husband particularly likes their equipment reviews and the taste testing so we have several (I think 6) of their cookbooks, many magazines and have not been disappointed with anything we've tried (which is really A LOT!) I'd recommend getting the full membership so you can start your marriage with an arsenal of great recipes!


(Side note: Obviously, you are not going to ask the baker their process for mixing and making a pound cake. But if you are looking for a consistently great recipe for entertaining at home or if you're adventurous enough to DIY your wedding cake, Cooks Illustrated has the best!)


Chiffon Cake: Chiffon cakes are not technically 'butter cakes' because they don't have butter. Instead, the fat in this recipe comes from oil.  This creates a moist light cake. They lend themselves well to refrigeration so fillings of fruit and custards work nicely with chiffon cakes.


Sponge Cake: This cake, as suggested by its name is like a sponge. It's got some squish to it but firm enough to bounce back. It's not overly sweet and a little on the dry side, so a sugar syrup is often poured over the cake. There is little or no fat (butter!) in this cake and most often the egg yolks are beaten separately from the whites. Sponge cakes typically don't have any fat in them... except the Victoria Sponge cake, brought to us by Queen Victoria of course who, was said to enjoy sponge cake with her afternoon tea.  BTW- she also brought us the white wedding gown!


Genoise Cake: from France, a sponge cake using whole eggs rather than separating the yolk from the white to be beaten separately. This can be a very dense batter, thick enough to be piped or spread on a flat sheet without running all over the place.  As you might imagine, this thick batter creates dry cake! But this variety that is really great for soaking with liquors or flavored syrups!

So that's what goes into the main types of cake that bakers will use as their basic wedding cake!  Which one is the best? Well, that's what you and your fiance have to decide. 

By popular demand, next week we'll talk MORE about cake but get into international delights and non-traditional wedding dessert options! Woohoo!

Defining Delicious!!

My Aunt Dolly made the greatest cakes the world has ever known, including wedding cakes! She passed away when I was around 3yrs old. We made a real connection in those few years though, so when I create an awesome cake, I know she had her hand in it.   And yes, I did just say I create awesome cakes because I have been known to do this from time to time.  I've created some real disasters also!  Experience is the best teacher! lol!   Someday Aisle Do will have a cake division but meanwhile I love sharing my practical cake knowledge. 

There are many trendy things happening in the world of wedding desserts.  Maybe I'll make this a series and talk about the other less traditional but very cool dessert options out there. (should I?) But for the moment, I'll focus on the traditional wedding cake!  There are enough aspects of wedding cake that we could talk about this all week and still have more to say next week.  So let's get on to it.

What makes a delicious cake?  Well, there's a variety of cake types, frosting types and endless flavors to choose from. So it might help to know what is what so if you are heading to a wedding cake tasting, you can compare apples to apples and buttercream to buttercream!  

Buttercream Frosting - in it's most basic form:  butter (unsalted), powdered sugar (10x Domino is my favorite, recipe on the side of the box!), flavoring/extracts (vanilla, lemon, almond, etc. ) and a scant amount of liquid (milk or water) to make the mixture smooth and spreadable is all beaten together until fluffy.  The more liquid added, the less likely this can be used to make frosting flowers and other piped decorations.  Buttercream frosting could get fancier by adding cream cheese.

 - note, if this is made with shortening rather than butter, 1- it would be decorating frosting and used to make roses and other flowers that need stability.  2. It will not be nearly as tasty even with extacts. 

Buttercream

French Buttercream -  Rather than powdered sugar, granulated sugar is made into a hot syrup and poured into beaten egg yolks. This is beaten until cooled and then butter is added in - twice the butter of the above buttercream frosting!  So this is a rich flavored and creamy frosting.

Italian Buttercream - similar-ish to French Buttercream.  The hot sugar syrup is poured into beaten egg whites, making this a fluffy and light tasting buttercream.  It takes to flavorings / extracts well.  It's also going to be closer to a pure white than it's French cousin.




Not really Swiss or Italian Buttercream, but close variation called White Mountain Frosting.


Swiss Buttercream - good gracious, does every country need their own version? Well darn good thing the Swiss got in on this, because this is quite tasty, albeit a tad more technically involved.  There is no sugar syrup that is poured into this, it's just egg whites, butter and sugar (and flavoring / extracts as desired)  But since you don't want to serve raw egg whites, this frosting is beaten in a bowl over a hot water or steam bath.  Also called a Bain Marie. 

Fondant - This is a rolled out dough-like coating.  It has a smooth satin finish (although any of the above buttercreams when applied by a real cake-pro can be just as smooth!) and it can give a rounded edge where the top of the cake  I honestly couldn't tell you how to make fondant because when I have used it, I just bought it. I know there is powdered sugar, glycerin, gelatin, shortening and flavoring.  There are homemade varieties that use marshmallows as the base.  I haven't tried this, but if you like marshmallows I'm sure it would be delish! Not all commercial fondant is created with good taste in mind, but there are a few good ones!  Satin Ice and Fondarific are brands that deliver a high quality and tasty product.  If you are considering covering your wedding cake in fondant, definitely ask to taste it or ask them which brand of fondant the use if they don't make their own. 

The stars, letters, cap and gold stripes made of fondant.

Chocolate frosting!  Before I sign off (we'll talk the cake part of the wedding cake tomorrow!)  I would really be unkind to not mention chocolate frosting!  All of the above can be made as a chocolate variety. However, chocolate is a very temperamental little son of a gun. You can't just add chocolate and expect that it will be a delightful chocolate version of buttercream - or anything for that matter. 

Over the years, I have made an undisclosed amount of really heinous chocolate frosting.  I am not even kidding! I would not kid about nasty chocolate!  So here's what I've learned - if you taste a chocolate frosting and it feels dry, flat, and just short of good, it's because cocoa powder or melted chocolate alone was added to the existing frosting recipe with hopes for the best. 

Alternately, some bakeries will make a ganache which is fine, but ganache is ganache and buttercream is not ganache! Chocolate needs some extra love and care.  I use both cocoa powder and melted chocolate and I find a the pinch of salt I typically don't add to a regular buttercream, adding it to a chocolate buttercream frosting is kind of necessary.




Chocolate!  Before I learned how to make good chocolate frosting!


Tomorrow we'll talk "cake"!  Just cake and nothing but cake!

Who's Ready for Some Cake?

Feature Article

by Tracey Baxter




Ahhhh -the wedding cake! Few wedding elements are as anticipated! Even those who won’t eat any will still marvel at it! So of course you’re going to look at photos and pick a super design and taste the finest cakes in town right? But do you need to spend a fortune on a cake? No. Here are some ways to make sure you get the most bang for your frosted sugarlicious buck:



Know who is cutting your cake! Of course I am aware that by the time it’s to be cut, you’ll have already paid for your cake, but you don’t want that money wasted. Cake slices are typically 1 inch wide by 2.5 inches long. Bakers will use that as the guide when planning the tier sizes and number of tiers needed. If the person cutting the cake varies greatly from that standard slice, some of your guests may not receive a slice of cake. In effect you just increased your cost per slice. So proper cake cutting is a must! If you don’t have an event-day coordinator, just be sure your caterer does not pass the cake cutting off to an untrained intern! Unfortunately, I have seen this happen at all wedding price points and have had to offer 'on the job training' and have even taken the reins myself when I was just supposed to be a guest!






Don’t plan for extra slices so guests can have seconds.  Bakeries charge “by the slice” so definitely use an accurate guest count when you tell them how many guests you’ll serve. Few guests want a second piece of cake and fewer will be bold enough to ask. In fact, some don’t eat cake at all; especially if they have been provided a full meal at the reception. Nor should you think about giving a bigger slice for all guests. Properly cut, a standard 1 x 2.5 inch cake slice is a generous portion at 5 inches tall.






No cake will taste good after a year in the freezer. Not even a cake from the best bakery and covered with industrial foil wrapping will taste good after 12 months in a freezer! So instead of saving it for your anniversary, plan to cut and serve that top tier. 6 inch round cakes serve 12 guests. At $4 per slice or more, you’ve just saved at least $48! A larger top tier would be even bigger savings. To celebrate your anniversary with your wedding cake, order a small cake in the same flavors from your baker in a year. If your baker offers a free top tier, ask if you can have a certificate to be redeemed for a fresh anniversary cake instead. Trust me; you’ll want a fresh anniversary cake in a year!




Fondant is smooth and elegant but always additional per slice. Not to mention it's a rare baker that makes fondant yummy. Most bakers offer butter crème frosting with piped butter crème decoration in their base per slice fee. A professional wedding cake decorator actually can create a smooth butter crème frosting that is almost as flawless as fondant. I know this because I can do it and I’m not even a cake pro! So just ask to see photos of their butter crème covered wedding cakes specifically. That way so you can compare their work to the other decorators’ frosting smoothing capabilities. You’ll probably be surprised at how smooth butter crème really is!





Brides often ask, “What about sheet cakes in the kitchen and a dummy cake just for pictures?” Well, I didn’t want to go here but… there is a reason these things are called ‘dummy cakes’! Dummy cakes are not free. “Dummy” cake forms are made of Styrofoam and still must be decorated. Styrofoam forms are not cheap so to the cake form price, add the decoration costs, the decorator’s time plus the real sheet cakes you still have to purchase; added up dummy cake is not a money saving option. Oh yeah… and then what do you do with the dummy cake? Put it on your mantle? Toss it in the trash? Nope, not such a wise investment after all. I guess if you are enterprising, you could rent it to others. Which leads me to – can you rent a dummy cake? Yes. They are usually around $150 to rent. That’s One Hundred Fifty Dollars…. to rent….a cake…. that isn’t real … that you have to return … because it will be rented to others again. ...just like it was rented to others before it was yours. Yuck. Yes, I’ve seen them cheaper. Yes, they look cheaper too.






Your Wedding Planning Homework!


It's time to taste some cake! Cake tastings in most bakeries are free. Take advantage and schedule one ...or two ...today! Bring pictures but until you've tasted their cake, don't show them. They'll always tell you " Yes, of course we can do that lovely design". The question you need to aske yourself is - do you like the taste of their cake enough that you actually want them to?














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Wedding Solutions Specialist Tracey Baxter publishes the "Aisle Do" bi-weekly e-zine. Get your Free Report: "5 Fun and Fabulous Reception Ideas for a Reluctant DIY Bride” at www.aisledoweddings.com 

Whimsical Wednesday!

What could be better than wedding cake bling?  Chocolate wedding cake bling of course!  Check out this simple wedding cake design that's made simply spectacular with the addition of Bedazzle My Bonbons. 







The twin packs make great favors for your guests, top your wedding attendants gift with a box of 6 or 8, garnish a cocktail with a single bonbon, or use them in your candy or dessert buffet.

There are so many ways you can add some dazzle to your event with these sparkle-luscious goodies!!

Orders can be any mixture of the 24 colors and 6 flavors available.  Yes, you read that right, you can mix colors and flavors- at no extra charge.  That is a pretty sweet deal!  But even sweeter than that, if you provide a swatch, the chocolatiers at Bedazzle My Bonbons  will create the custom special color you need for your event - complimentary! 

Now that's the kind of real service we like at Aisle Do and we look forward to incorporating these into an event soon!