Hello CCers and Happy New Year!

I love the show Amazing Wedding Cakes they are truly AMAZING at what they do. I have been watching the marathon on We tv all day and I've been in cake heaven! What a great way to begin the new year! I had a couple of questions for anyone else who may watch or be familiar with the bakers featured on the show:

1.) I notice that the bakers on the show refrigerate their cakes after they have been covered in fondant, something I was told never to do because it causes condensation to form on the fondant and the cake will be a mess. So how do they prevent this from happening?

2.) In one of the episodes Lauri of Cake Alchemy mentioned a specific type of buttercream something like fleur de sales or something like that and I was wondering if anyone else has ever heard of it.

3.) Does anyone know or have a guess about what type of buttercream Reva and Mark use at Merci Beaucoup? It seems to have a different texture than an american buttercream, like it's softer than an American butter cream but firmer than a swiss or Italian.

I'm a cmplete cake nerd and would love to one day have half the knowledge as these pros..thanks to anyone who answers!

I love that show also!!! I refrigerate all my cakes and don't have any problems. If it is really hot out and you are worried; when you take your cake out, put it in a sealed box until it comes to room temp.

Reba is a member on CC so you can pm her and ask about the buttercream, I bet she will tell you. I don't remember the episode with Laurie, sorry!

Fleur de sel is a kind of sea salt.

Lauri makes a few "different" buttercreams on the shows.

I actually bought all the seasons at iTunes (the best thing I ever bought), so that I can watch them whenever I want on my laptop. I'll be on the lookout for the fleur de sel mention. I'm watching them in order; I've heard no mention yet, and I'm on Season 2.

Lauri also makes beer buttercream frequently it seems. I've seen it in two shows already. Once when she was with Cake Atelier on season 1 and then again after she started her own bakery.

I looked for fleur de sel to make my daughters b/d cake.It was used to make caramel sauce. I never found it. I still want to find it and make this caramel sauce.


http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2008/09/chocolate_cake_with_fleur_de_sel_caramel_filling

icer101, gourmet stores will have it. I don't know where you're located, but even Amazon has it.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=fleur+de+sal&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=5081996957&ref=pd_sl_4bh4pwmhpo_b

I cook a lot, so I buy it to have it in my pantry, and luckily, I'm in a metropolitan area. I love caramel sauce with salt. Hope you find it!

Sometimes you can substitute with kosher salt if it's dissolved in a recipe and then cooked, then they're just regular salts, both of them and you wouldn't be able to make a difference. But I see that in your recipe, you need to sprinkle it before you sprinkle your almonds, and for that you need the real thing because I'm sure they're doing it for texture (it has big crystals) and so that you can actually taste the salt when you bite into the cake and filling.

Booby Flay was on the Early Show talking about sea salts, and showed that people couldn't tell the difference between sea salt and regular salts. He said that salt is pretty much salt as far as flavor goes, and that when chefs use different types it's for the textures and the crunch that different types of salt give the food. Its all in the marketing...He said that he uses kosher salt.

so glad you posted this! i'm on season 3 via iTunes. i was curious about Mark's buttercream techniques. i've never seen anyone use buttercream like he does! (but i am just a hobbyist) does anyone know of any resources online that can describe or better yet teach his techniques? he sculpts bc ... he swirls colors and pipes amazingly. i mean, these aren't your average shell borders and rosettes. reva mentioned he has years and years of training ... could anyone enlighten us??

On one episode Make makes mention he is self taught cake decorator, also I believe he has an art background.

Mark mentioned he started at 11 years old, opened a cake book and it's history from there.

This guy is supposedly amazing with his piping of figures and flowers:

You could also contact Reva at her blog.

http://happysugarbakingland.typepad.com/happy-sugar-baking-land/2010/12/farewell-to-amazing-wedding-cakes.html

Thank you ccers for responding! I'm glad to know others are as excited about Amazing Wedding Cakes as I am!

Imaginethatnj wrote:

This is good information to have...I didn't know that the seasons could be purchased on itunes. I think the episode I'm referring to is the one where she makes the cake that resembles the building from Barcelona...it is a very quick reference so you really have to listen for it.

Mark is a buttercream Master and he makes it look so effortless but we all know it is nowhere near that easy.

I learn so much just from watching the show, I could literally sit and watch them over and over again but then I wouldn't get any caking done LOL

I also refrigerate fondant cakes all the time with no big problems. You might get some shiny condensation on the outside if it's humid when you take them out of the fridge, but that does go away.

There was a mini marathon of the shows on yesterday and I saw a piece of one episode where one of the girls (sorry I can't tell you the name; but it was the other Calif. bakery - not Reva's) was "airbrushing" a cake but she wasn't using any kind of airbrushing machine. It looked more like an aerosol bottle. Anybody know what that was??

Thanks Bobwonderbuns! Where is the like button on CC we really need one!! You guys have been great thanks for all of your responses!!

Just wondering if anyone has noticed the airbrush system that Christopher Garren uses...it's not the traditional airbrush system that I'm use to seeing. Has anyone used one like that before? If so how does it compare to the traditional airbrush system (seems to work just fine for him) and where do you purchase it?

"airbrushing" a cake but she wasn't using any kind of airbrushing machine. It looked more like an aerosol bottle. Anybody know what that was??

The aerosol can is a propellent that takes the place of an air compressor. You can find them at most hobby shops (like Hobby Lobby) in the air brush section. If you don't do a lot of airbrushing (or just want to give it a try) it's an economical alternative to purchasing a compressor. If you do quite a bit of air brushing, it can be a lot more expensive in the long run.

I just watched the little segment where they make the "peanut butter buttercream with fleur de sel" comment.

As it was said before, it's just a fancy name for salt. It's French salt. Unless you want the crunchy texture (it just just big crystals, but it's salt!) I don't think you could taste the difference when it's been dissolved. I agree that you need the real thing when you are sprinkling it somewhere so that it dissolves in your mouth.

ImaginethatNJ and DaPom - thank you both for the info on the aerosol bottle. I'm on my way to Hobby Lobby now. That's just what I need w/o buying the whole compressor and all for airbrushing!

there are other threads here that talk about that propellant. it was suggested that they (Christopher Garren's) probably use Preval

http://www.preval.com/

but i believe it sparked a little controversy here because it's not food safe.

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-641763-previous.html&sid=e1e2a2f68292a00c541e6569a854c967

I think Duff used it in one of their shows too and someone sent him an email and they answered saying that was an old show and they're aware of the non-safety now. They discussed that in another forum.

Wilton sells color spray cans. I wonder what the difference is from one to another.

Just for clarity...is it the aerosol can that's not food safe or is it the color?

The cans of edible airbrush colors (very similar to canned spray paint) can be purchased at most cake supplies I saw them at Michaels Crafts Store also. I enjoyed cake Alchamey's tobacco thermador with chocolate exterior. She showed how she made the full sheet of textured chocolate but not how it is cut to sizes needed?? Is this done with a hot knife?? Would love more experience with chocolate. They are all amazing!!!!!

I have had very little success with the hobby/amateur colors in a can

Does anyone know where to buy the foodsafe version of the aerosol can?

cakesnglass, I've read everywhere just to use a knife. No mentioning of hot or anything. Just says to use a sharp knife.

But that's a good question. I go to pastryna.com regularly and download their free back issues, and everywhere I just see they cut chocolate with a regular sharp knife.

Pastryqueen9, I purchased edible spray thru global sugar art. It's by "chefmaster" works a lot better than Duff's or Wilton's. HTL