My Chocolate Fantasy

Decorating a cake can be a blast. In fact, decorating a cake is an art. It is all about making the finished product look good and very interesting. If the cake is meant for the kids then it also should be inviting enough for the kids to make them taste it.

If the decorating of the cake is done properly half of the job of a successful event is done. Cake is universally liked thing to eat. It can be eaten as dessert or as an accompaniment with the afternoon tea of coffee or just as something to munch on. So decorating a cake is all the more important.

When you are thinking of decorating a cake first thing to think about is the end consumer of the product. If the cake is for the tiny tots then first thing to remember is the shape and theme of the party. The children are fond of their favorite cartoon character or they want their super hero of the time. If the cake is made of a known hero or a cartoon character then decorating the cake becomes that much easy. Correct color combination is required and bingo the character comes to life.

If it is a wedding cake then decorating a cake becomes a lot more intricate matter. The cake decorator can either match the decoration with the décor of the venue or with the dress of the bride, or the flowers she is going to carry. This is where the art part of the decorating the cake comes in. Not only the color combination comes into play but the flowers also play an important part in the decoration. It is once in a life time situation so everything should be just right. Each flower has to be perfect.

There is tremendous scope for imagination when it comes to decorating a cake. Icing sugar, candies, colored sugar particles, butter cream icing, marzipan, and flowers made from marzipan, these are some of the things used for decorating a cake. White or dark melted chocolate combined with heavy cream makes a velvety smooth icing. It is called Ganache. It gives a smooth backdrop to decorate the cake more attractively.

Decorating a cake holds immense attraction for the artists. Many artists from different medium have turned and tried their hand into decorating a cake. Some of the known decorators are Ron Ben of New York. He was a trained dancer. Colette Peters was a painter. Judy Uson of Philippines has a fine arts degree. Bonnie Gordon a Canadian was a student of art history.

Decorating a cake gives immense satisfaction to the creator. It is considered as a form of art. The only difference is the art creation of decorating a cake lasts only momentarily. As soon as the cake is cut the pictured is shattered but the delight on the face of the customer is award enough for the artists to try and find new ways and ideas for cake decorating.

Yet another interesting stop in our culinary adventures in Paris, the Le Gourmet restaurant offers great French cuisine for prices I hadn’t seen in Paris in 15 years.

by Phil Chavanne

Lunch time, where to go?

This is the third installment of the series of articles which I set about to write a couple of weeks ago on eating out well in Paris. I love food, I love good cuisine, and I want fellow travelers to enjoy Paris to the hilt. That’s enough reasons to guide them to those places I am certain they will enjoy.

Lunch time in Paris is restaurant time. People who work in the city do not carry their lunch bags with them. They rarely enjoy the benefit of a corporate catering service, but even if they do, such catering is hardly a feat for anyone’s eyes and taste buds.

Small restaurants perform a vital service: they feed the locals rather satisfactorily, inexpensively, and in record time.

What applies to locals applies to travelers, and your next culinary stop happens in just such circumstances. After a long morning walk in the quaint streets on the slopes of the Montmartre hill, you feel nicely hungry. Your steps lead you to Place de Clichy, a busy crossroads between the 17th, the 9th and the 18th districts (metro station: ‘Place de Clichy’).

Time for a gourmet experience!

Le Gourmet

You may be hungry, but you are no fool. You want to eat well, and spend your heard-earned cash on food worth this name.

In my considerate opinion none of the eateries positioned around Place de Clichy are worth the money they ask for. I find their cuisine either overpriced, or downright vulgar. I never had a satisfactory lunch at any of these places.

So where to go? Not far away.

When you are on Place de Clichy, turn yourself so as to face the downward slope, with the metro station in your back. Aim at Rue de Clichy, left of Rue d’Amsterdam. Walk down the street for about 200 yards, and turn left in Rue de Bruxelles. Walk another 200 yards. There you are on the right sidewalk.

Your next favorite food stop is located at No. 19 rue de Bruxelles.
Name: Le Gourmet.
Identifiable sign: its French bistro-style facade. And a crowd.

Entering the bistro

If you happen to walk in at around noon thirty, you may have to wait just a tad. The place is packed. I have been to this restaurant numerous times, and I still have to be there the day it is not packed at lunch time.

My advice: come at around 12:00 am, and grab a spot before everybody else does.

The place exudes old charm, with dark wood panels, old posters, menu slates marked with chalk on the walls, a traditional bar, a mosaic floor, bistro-style chairs and tables. It smells good, though cigarette smoke can become an issue at times when the facade door isn’t left open.

The owner and chef bought the restaurant about 2 years ago from its first and long-time owners, an elderly couple who retired after having steered the ship for longer than any local can remember. The new owner liked the decor, and decided to preserve it as-is, except for the facade which was changed early in 2006.

In this very Parisian setting, patrons feel immediately welcomed and are quickly seated either by the boss or a smiling waitress. This is lunch time, and they know patrons are in a hurry. No unnecessary delay.

Seated, and menu in hands

The menu is in fact chalked on the slates that hang on the front and back walls. A remarkable feat for such small a restaurant, the menu changes every day.

Anyone who lived in Paris for some time knows that restaurant menus do not change beyond the ‘plat du jour’ – the main fare for the day. Even the ‘plat du jour’ does not change that much: from one week to another, the same courses tend to get back on the menu.

Not so at ‘Le Gourmet’: the menu changes everyday and no two weeks are alike. True diversity. Even if you were to eat there every day for 20 days, you could try 20 different courses.

Gourmet cuisine is a mission

The boss comes from the province of Touraine, in Western France. He likes to work on French traditional dishes, and his cuisine draws its main inspiration from the famous Burgundy and Lyons regions.

Among the ‘terroir’ dishes served at Le Gourmet, you can taste veal knuckle (souris de veau), prime cuts of veal (onglet de veau), roasted gilthead bream (daurade royale rôtie), stewed duck (pot-au-feu de canard), pike dumpling (quenelle de brochet). And the list goes on.

To get fresh products from his favorite suppliers, he wakes up at 3:30 am every day to go to the wholesale market (the Rungis market, situated south of Paris). He buys only what he needs for the day, loads up his truck, and heads back to his restaurant where he’s spend the rest of the morning to cook for lunch.

The chef’s motto is “fresh products, traditional preparation”. He uses butter, not margarine. He doesn’t buy frozen products, and no off-the-shelf sauces as he prepares his sauces himself. He is light-handed on spices which he thinks ‘are all too often used to hide something’.

Appetizer, main course, dessert, wines

Le Gourmet’s menu typically offers a choice of 4 appetizers (such as a warmed up goat cheese served on a loaf of country bread), 3 or 4 main courses (meat, fish, poultry), and 4 desserts.

The choice of desserts is also ‘old-school’: depending on the day, your selection may include chocolate whipped cream, baba au rhum (a spongy cake saturated with dealcoholized rum), biscuits with ganache (a mix of chocolate, cream and butter), orange cake, fondant cake, floating island (beaten egg whites floating on a French custard), red fruit pies, and so forth.

Light wines get the lion’s share of the wine list. The chef’s hometown is Valencay (in the heart of the Touraine region), and he purchases his bottles directly from local producers. The list comprises a variety of well-thought-of vines: Gamay, Cabernet, Valençay, Bourgueil, and Saumur-Champigny.

All this for how much?

Beyond the quality of the food you are served at Le Gourmet, the check is another pleasant surprise. For a meager €13 (about $16), you have a full meal served in record time in a most pleasant atmosphere. For just a few more bucks, you have the wine to complete your experience.

To be honest, there are very few Parisian restaurants which will give you that much for such a low price. Le Gourmet wins my vote any time, any day. I recommend it to you wholeheartedly.

Where?
Le Gourmet
19 rue de Bruxelles
75009 Paris
Tel: 33 (0)1 48 74 53 42
Subway station: Place de Clichy
Lunch and dinner

It’s hard not to give in to the sweet temptations of Paris. After all, one can hardly walk a block without passing a patisserie (the French version of a bakery). Rows and rows of delicacies line the window. Macarons, éclairs, tartes, beignets and pain au chocolate. Even those without a sweet tooth easily find much to savor in Paris.

Some of the most famous tea salons in Paris offer up these tasty morsels with utter civility. Sit down at a table in Angelina on the rue de Rivoli, and you’ll be hard pressed to pass up on their famous L’Africain – the impossibly thick hot chocolate that is worth dying for. When coupled with a colorful (and flavorful macaron), you’ll know that you’ve found bliss in Paris. 

This rue de Rivoli institution (and not the actress) has been enticing Parisiens and visitors alike with its gourmet delicacies for over a century, including Coco Chanel, Proust and the Parisien aristocracy. Designed by the famous Belle Epoque architect Edouard-Jean Niermans, Angelina remains a testament to a more civilized era. Located just steps from the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde, Angelina is the perfect place to stop for breakfast, lunch or just a delicious snack.

Another quintessential Paris tea salon is Ladurée. There are several locations throughout the city, but its original 1862 location on the rue Royale was a simple bakery. After that shop burned down in 1871, it was rebuilt as a pastry shop. Ladurée gained it’s true fame, however, in 1930, when the Louis-Ernest Ladurée invented the macaron: two mini cake shells joined by a layer of creamy ganache. He transformed the pastry shop into a tearoom, and a legend was born.

If ice cream is your flavor, then you can’t leave Paris without a visit to Berthillon on the Île Saint-Louis. Known around the world for its ice cream, Berthillon (pronounced bear-tee-yone) also has locations around Paris, but the one on the island is the original. People line up for a cone, a cup or, if they’re staying in an apartment, a gallon to take home with them.

A cheap sweet treat can be found on just about any street in Paris: a crêpe. While many Parisians consume crêpes as a fast food lunch (filled with meats and cheeses), a dessert crêpe is just divine. Filled with everything from Nutella to fruit to nuts (and sometimes a combination of all), a crêpe can be enjoyed on the go, or while sitting in one of the many parks and gardens found throughout Paris.

Imagine taking your girlfriend to New York City for a date. The metropolis is alive with opportunities to make a special impression, whether you have been together for days or months. Check out the 10 best dating ideas in New York City, from free but thoughtful to lavish.

Romance need not cost much. Maybe just a picnic lunch in Central Park would be a good choice for a couple with simple pleasures. Round off your date by hiring a bike and touring the trails. Central Park also hosts free concerts during the summer. Central Park also offers a neutral setting for a blind date.

Your boyfriend may have very different tastes in music from yours, but New York City will answer to them all. Surprise your opera-loving guy with a show at Carnegie Hall. This venue puts on numerous classical performances as well.

If jazz is more his scene, try the Jazz Gallery. Nightly shows will have him humming riffs the rest of the night and into the next day. You can treat your boyfriend and support this not-for-profit club at the same time.

For music lovers, another option is to see a Broadway musical. The line-up changes regularly, from old standards to newer productions. Comedy and drama feature on Broadway too, of course. Just being there will form part of the fun so that if this is a first date you can start on a high note that will set the tone for future days out together.

Before hitting the club or Broadway scene, stop in at Thalia for a romantic dinner. They serve items such as Ahi Tuna Tartare and Chilled Gazpacho among many other options, so treat your girlfriend to something special. The restaurant also offers a prix fixe Valentine menu.

Rockefeller Centre gives couples the choice of many exciting date ideas. Head to the Top of the Rock for breathtaking views of the city. Choose one of numerous eateries in the building for a snack or meal. Hold hands near the reflection pool of the Loft and Garden and enjoy some tranquility from the top of New York City. The building is such a large and busy venue, if you go alone there is every chance you could meet someone special.

Chocolate rarely fails to please a woman. Treat her to a tour of La Maison du Chocolat, also in the Rockefeller Building. Your tour will include tastes of ganaches, pastries and other treats.

A boat tour might excite a guy more than chocolate, so get away from the traffic by booking a tour while in New York City. Get onto a ferry to see Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Choose a yacht-based tour for more comfortable traveling.

A boat will give you one view of New York. For a higher position, book a helicopter tour. These run from fifteen to thirty minutes, depending on the sort of tour you choose. Look down on the Empire State building and other landmarks. If your date gets giddy at the thought of heights, here is your chance to comfort her with a cuddle.

For history buffs, ramble together around the Metropolitan Museum of Art, St. Patricks Cathedral and other historic spots or museums near Tiffanys. This will give you the chance to casually sidle over for some window shopping. Drop some oblique questions about jewelry preferences while planning how to pop the question, maybe at one of the romantic places listed above.

Check out more exciting dating ideas by visiting our online dating site. It’s free to join and you’ll get loads of great tips! Dating sites are a fabulous way to meet new people and have fun!

You usually hear, or say: it is just icing on the cake. You say that to mean that such a thing is not that important, as what matters more is what’s inside, the essence of a particular thing. In wedding cakes, however, you cannot say the same thing. You cannot say: it is just icing on the wedding cake. The truth is, the icing on the said wedding cake is equally important as the dough itself.
There are many kinds of icings on wedding cakes. Therefore, the task is not only limited to deciding on the design and the number of layers of the cake, it extends to knowing which type of icing should top the wonderful layers as well. Deciding on the type of icing is as complicated as looking for cheap wedding dresses.
Deciding the type of icing on your wedding cake need not be complicated, however, if you know what you are looking for. You simply have to understand what each type is, and what it is for.
Here are some of the most common types of wedding cakes icings:Fondant
This is perhaps the most common type of icing used on wedding cakes because, first and foremost, this does not need refrigeration. Therefore, you can make your precious wedding cake as the centrepiece of your reception without worrying if the icing will melt and the cake will deform.
This type of icing looks stiff and is sometimes regarded as having an appearance like that of a helmet. This smooth cream confection is made of corn syrup and gelatin.Butter Cream
Unlike fondant, butter cream is sensitive to extreme heat. Therefore, this type is not a wise choice for outdoor weddings.
In its simplest form, butter cream is made from powdered sugar and butter. If you want to add a little color, you can always add cocoa powder or vanilla extract. Although this is a popular topping for cupcakes, this is also widely accepted as a creamy and rich icing for sponge cakes.Ganache
Wedding cakes experts would only recommend this type of icing if the venue of your reception has a stable condition: no heat, no humid weather. Why?
This icing is made from chocolate and cream, usually 2 parts chocolate, one part cream. As such, this is a “heavy” type of icing that will give your cake a glass-like chocolate finish. Without the desired room temperature, you run the risk of having the icing slide right off your cake.Royal Icing
This type of icing is made from egg whites, powdered sugar, milk, and sometimes, lemon juice. It is a hard white icing. Usually, glycerine is added in order to prevent the icing from becoming too hard.
Royal icing is not only popular among wedding cakes; it is also widely used on Christmas cakes and gingerbread houses because it can create many decorative effects. Its properties allow it to be the perfect icing used in forming flowers, dots and other figures.
The type of icing that you’ll use largely determines the beauty and extravagance of your wedding cake. Therefore, you must choose it well, just as how you would choose bridal shops in Mississauga or how you would select wedding favors.
Wedding cakes are an important part of the wedding ceremony; it’s but proper that they be given enough attention from color, to number of layers, design, and even type of icing!
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Practically everyone loves a delicious slice of cheesecake, but how many people know the history of it? Historical documents indicate that cheesecake was created during the seventh or eighth centuries B.C. on the island of Samos in Greece. Historians believe that cheesecake was even served to athletes during the first Olympic Games to supply them with the energy needed for competitions. The Greeks made their cheesecakes by mixing together flour, honey and cheese and then pounding it into a paste. The mixture was formed into cakes that were baked and then cooled. The Romans later spread cheesecake from Greece to across Europe. Cheesecake quickly became a popular Greek delicacy and was even the predecessor to Western culture’s traditional wedding cake. It became customary for Greek brides to bake and serve up cheesecakes to their husband’s friends as a hospitable gesture. Although the original cheesecake recipe did come from Greece, it was quickly adapted by various cultures as it made its way to other countries. The basic ingredients of cheese, flour and some sort of sweetener have stayed the same, but the cheesecake we enjoy today is not much like the cheesecake of Greece. Even the method of baking has evolved. In ancient Greece, all ingredients were mixed together before baking, but the cheesecakes of today are made by layering before baking, starting with the crust, the filling, and finally a topping, if desired.In Australia, cheesecakes are now usually made with a first layer of crushed biscuits and butter, and the most common filling consists of a mix of cream cheese, sugar, and cream, but it is not baked. Australian cheesecakes are also sometimes topped with fruit coulis, in flavours such as raspberry or strawberry. Gelatine is also typically used to maintain the firmness of the filling. These days one can also find cheesecakes made with coffee, Irish cream, chocolate, or marshmallow.My top ten cheesecake recipes include Country Caramel Oat-Crusted Cheesecake, Mixed Berry Baked Cheesecake, Passionfruit, Toblerone, Strawberry and Baked Nougat Cheesecakes – the Nougat one is amazing with a Toblerone Ganache. The Bistro Cheesecake with Warm Rhubarb is a winner; while Strawberry White Chocolate and Vanilla Cheesecake, Turkish Delight, and Chocolate Blueberry Cheesecakes are also delicious.Some cooks feel too intimidated to try their hand at creating a cheesecake. However, they are relatively simple to make, so to inspire you I have provided a recipe below for a particularly delicious cheesecake – the Country Caramel Oat-Crusted Cheesecake mentioned above. The following mouth-watering recipe should make any cook proud of her creation, and it should satisfy any sweet tooth! (You’ll be sure to impress your friends and family with this one.) –Country Caramel, Oat-Crusted Cheesecake–Ingredients:1 and 1/2 cups rolled oats1 cup biscuits1 teaspoon vanilla essence1/2 cup caster sugar1/2 cup desiccated coconut1/3 cup golden syrup1/4 cup boiling water125g butter, melted2 cups cream, whipped2 teaspoons grated orange rind3 teaspoons gelatine dissolved in4 tablespoons hot caramel fudge sauce500g block cream cheese, softenedMethod:Combine the crushed biscuits, rolled oats, coconut, butter and golden syrup. Press firmly, using the back of a spoon, into the base and sides of a 22cm lined springform tin. Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes, and allow to cool.Beat the cream cheese, sugar, orange rind, and vanilla until smooth, and then fold in gelatine mixture and whipped cream.Pour into prepared crust and refrigerate until firm. Drizzle with caramel sauce and refrigerate until serving. (Time-saver’s Note: caramel fudge sauce can be purchased in a jar.)

Restricting carbs does not mean that people cannot have a piece of cake too. In fact, there are many recipes to choose from to satisfy the cravings for something sweet. Cake is not the only sweets one can get being on a low-carb diet. To give you an idea on what kinds of sweets people can have on low-carb diets, we give you few recipes to follow.

1. Cream Puff Shells – To prepare, it needs ingredients such as ½ cup of shortening, 1/8 teaspoon of salt, 1 cup of boiling water and 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour and 4 eggs. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Except for flour and eggs, mix all the ingredients and heat until the mixture boils. Minimize the heat while adding the flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture forms the ball. Take it out from the oven to add eggs one at a time and beat the mixture thoroughly until it becomes thick and breaks from the spoon.

Spoon the mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Minimize the heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and further bake for 20 minutes more or until golden and sound hollow when being tapped. Cool and fill.

2. Cream Cheese Tart Shells – Its ingredients include 3 ounces of softened cream cheese, ½ cup softened butter and 1 cup all-purpose flour. Blend butter and cream cheese together and stir in the flour until the mixture is completely mixed. Chill for one hour (this can be prepared earlier and chilled for 24 hours). Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and start to shape the dough into 24 one-inch balls. Press the small balls into ungreased 1 ½ inch muffin cups (the size of mini-muffin) to prepare a shallow shell. Fill with your favorite filling and bake for 20 minutes or until brown.

3. Delightful Fruit Dip – This is very delicious and easy to prepare low-carb dessert. It is nutritious too for it uses fresh fruit to prepare. The ingredients are 4 ounces of cream cheese, 1 and 1/8 cups of marshmallow fluff, ½ cup of vanilla yogurt and 1 dash food coloring. The fresh fruit choices are strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, and apple. Mix cream cheese, yogurt, marshmallow crème, and food color until smooth. Serve with fresh fruit.

4. Ganache II – The ingredients include 16 ounces of bittersweet chopped chocolate, 1 cup heavy cream and ½ cup unsalted butter. Put the chopped chocolate in a large stainless steel bowl. Using a large and high-sided saucepan, heat the cream and butter and stir frequently until it starts to boil. Remove from the heat when it boils and pour over the chopped chocolate and begin stirring until the chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Let it cool and then store in fridge. It can be reheated using a double boiler over simmering water.

If you are concerned about your health and want to be able to eat better while still snacking occasionally, or maybe you’re a vegan or you have celiac disease, in any case, you want cookies. Well here are some healthy gluten free cookies recipes that will surely allow you to feel like you’re being good while still tasting deliciousness.

1. Flourless Chocolate Chewies: A great alternative that is healthy and tasty is nuts. They are one of the few foods that are really really good for you, like eat them every day and you will be better off for it. This is because of the healthy fats, the numerous nutrients and vitamins and their ability to remove plaque from arteries. Here’s what you need for these tasty treats:

Confectioner’s Sugar: 2 lbs.

Cocoa Powder: 6 oz.

Egg whites: 12 whites/oz.

Salt: 1 tsp

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Walnuts (or other nut): 1 lb chopped coarsely

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place parchment paper on the cookie sheets

Combine all the ingredients working in the nuts last, folding them over

Drop the mixture into tablespoon size bites about 3 inches from each other

Bake them for about 12 minutes or until they’re slightly firm to the touch

When they’re done you should have about two dozen. Enjoy and if you can’t eat them all at once, store them in an airtight container – they’ll be good for about a week.

2. Chocolate and nuts are not for everyone, so here’s another light and delicious gluten free snack: macaroons. Here’s what you will need:

Almond Flour: 4oz

Brown Sugar: 1 oz

Cocoa Powder: 1 ½ Tbsp

Egg whites: 3 large

Confectioner’s Sugar: 2 oz

Red food coloring 1 drop

Preheat the oven to 450 and place parchment paper on the cookie sheets

Combine the almond flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder

In a different bowl, whip those egg whites until soft peaks form

Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar to the first mix with a drop of red food coloring to bring out the chocolatey color of the cocoa powder.

Continue whipping the egg whites until the peaks harden

Fold in the first mixture

Fill a piping bag with a ½ inch tip and squeeze out 1 inch tips onto the cookie sheet

Bake for 1 minute and remove to double pan

Turn down the oven to 375 and put them back in for about 8- 10 minutes or until they’re dry

Remove the cookies and pour ¼ cup of water onto the cookie sheet under the parchment paper

Let the water rest for a few minutes and then pour it off

Remove with spatula

If you want to add a hint of chocolate, you can make spread a ganache by following these steps:

Simmer 6 oz of heavy cream

Pour it over 4 oz of semi sweet chocolate and mix

Spread over the cookies

These two gluten free cookies recipes will be sure to amaze even those friends and family members who don’t watch what they eat. Try them both! I bet you didn’t know gluten free cookies could be so good.

If you are new to cake decorating, then you can be confused by the many phrases for cake decorating.  While these phrases may be intimidating at first, if you take the time to get familiar with them, then you will approach them with sureness.  Presented below are many of the most common cake decorating terms, and their meanings.  After you master these terms you will likely be inspired with your own cake decorating ideas.

 

Airbrushing

Airbrushing a cake is a rapid method to add a picture or setting onto a cake’s surface with food coloring.  Airbrushing is accomplished with an artist’s paint gun that uses an compression air pump.

 

Border

The border of a cake is a constant thread of icing that ornaments the top, sides, and/or bottom edges of a cake.

 

Buttercream

Buttercream is a rich icing created by mixing either butter or shortening (or both) with icing sugar, and beaten until smooth. Buttercream is an all-purpose icing, easily made, that can be used to both decorate and cover a cake

 

Decorating Bags

Decorating bags are also known as icing bags, frosting bags, or pastry bags.  Decorating bags are small, triangular shaped bags that are made of parchment paper, cloth, or plastic.  The bags are equipped with embellishing tips and filled with frosting and used to pipe decorative items such as icing flowers, edges, scrollwork, and lacework patterns.

 

Decorating Tips

Decorating tips are sometimes called decorating nozzles. Decorating tips are used to produce decorative items such as basketweave patterns, icing roses, and shell borders. Tips come in varying shapes, and are used with an icing or pastry bag full of icing.  When the bag is squeezed, the frosting or cream is piped out in the shape of the tip.  Drop flowers are created with a single squeeze of the icing bag, while rose petals are made with masterful maneuvering of the tip and icing.

 

Flower Nail

A flower nail is shaped like a nail with an large, oversized head.  A flower head is used for piping royal icing and buttercream flowers that are transferred to a cake after drying.

 

Frosting

Frosting and icing are often substituted for each other.  Americans tend to use the phrase “frosting” for the creamy, sugary substance that covers a cake, while those in other English speaking countries tend to use the term “icing”. In the U.S.A., “frosting” typically refers to the icing that is spread over the cake, while “icing” normallyrefers to decorative icing, such as piped borders and icing roses.

 

Fondant

Fondant is also called sugar paste.  Fondant is an frosting sugar dough that can be manipulated in much the same way as pie dough.  Fondant can be rolled into smooth sheets, then draped over cakes, producing a smooth, perfect finish.

 

Ganache

Ganache is a velvety smooth icing.  It is prepared by melting either dark or white chocolate, then mixing it with heavy cream.

 

Gumpaste

Gumpaste is an eatable, clay-like dough.  It is prepared by blending glycerin, gum Arabic, and icing sugar.  Gumpaste is used to mold edible flowers and designs. Gum paste can also be rolled exceedingly thin and used to make intricate ribbons and lacework, as well as delicate flower petals.

 

Marzipan

Marzipan is a doughy almond substance.  It is made from the identical ingredients as almond paste, though marzipan has more sugar, less almonds, and has a smoother consistency.  Marzipan is frequently used for modeling cake decorations, and as a base covering underneath fondant.

 

Piping

Piping is a embellishing technique where a decorating bag or tube is filled with icing and outfitted with a decorating tip.  Piping takes place when the bag islightly squeezed to produce shaped dots and ribbons of icing toadorn cakes and other baked goods.

 

Royal Icing

Royal icing is a sweet white icing that is created by whipping icing sugar with either fresh egg whites or dried egg whites and meringue powder. Royal icing makes distinct icing borders.  It is ideal for piping complex writing, edges, scrollwork, and lacework on cakes. Royal icing dries very hard and preserves indefinitely if stored in a cool, dry place, but is susceptible to softening and drooping in high humidity.

 

There’s a certain amount of pleasure gained from making fancy birthday cakes that cost next to nothing. How? Not cheap ingredients! Make your fancy birthday cakes from the trimmings of other cakes.

There is inevitably some ‘fallout’ from making celebration cakes, particularly wedding cakes made of many layers. These cakes always need trimming and cutting into shape before they are glazed with chocolate.

• But what can you do with those delectable biscuity trimmings? • What to do with the traces of ganache from the different fillings? • What to do with the spare cake and cream left over from the cake shaping?

You can just eat it all, then and there, but that seems downright greedy – or throw it away, which seems downright wasteful… or you can make more brand new fancy birthday cakes!

Just after delivering a large wedding cake one year, to be honest I was a bit ‘caked out’! But my grandson wanted one of my ‘fancy’ birthday cakes. I needed something different, quickly.

I remembered that in my Grandmother’s time, bakers used to put all their cake ends and scrapings from the day’s production into a large bowl, together with any plain cake left unsold and a goodly slosh of alcohol. This was mixed, made into a large slab and sold next day in small slices as Tipsy Cake.

That set me wondering.

Could I do something similar for my grandson, but keep it alcohol-free, and also use up the spare ganache I had prepared for that wedding cake?

Yes! It was one of my most successful fancy birthday cakes, a 3D chocolate dinosaur.

The basic ‘construction material’ is now known in our family as Rubble Cake.

Rubble Cake is excellent for creating 3-dimensional detail. For larger cakes, use sponge layers and ganache for the main body of the shape, then rubble cake for the rest of the modelling. The shaped cake should be refrigerated at regular intervals to harden the chocolate in the mixture. Once the model is firm, more room-temperature rubble mixture can be added.

Rubble Cake: my original experiment (quantities are variable!)

Note: exact results are unpredictable according to the original cake components. Remember that ‘less is more’ regarding the amount of ganache you add to the cake crumbs. Too sticky a mixture is difficult to work with. However, don’t panic if you do add too much ganache; just pop it in the fridge to chill slightly in order for it to harden before use.

Model at will!

As well as fancy birthday cakes, this same mixture makes good plain truffles if rolled into little balls and dusted with cocoa. It can be used as a base for cold chocolate mousse cake or can be used as one layer in a chocolate layer cake.

(Note: so successful was Rubble Cake that now the joke is on me. Instead of making Rubble Cake cakes from leftover trimmings I now have to bake new cakes to break up for my fancy birthday cakes…)