Balancing Taste And Aesthetics

Decorating By wuzzled Updated 8 Feb 2007 , 8:46pm by mbalis

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wuzzled Posted 8 Feb 2007 , 8:30pm
post #1 of 4

A co-worker sent me this blog post where Anthony Bourdain gives his opinion of all the people on Food Network. His comment about Duff ("Ace of Cakes") is that he makes awesome-looking things, but really, with all that fondant, how does it taste?

I have to admit to having had the same thought! Of course fondant is really useful for making some cool looking things that would be 5000 times harder to do in buttercream or something else. Of course we know it tastes bad, and that's why some of us try to improve it by using MMF. But I've also never seen anybody down all the MMF off a piece of cake either.

So what do you think about the tradeoff of look and taste? Presumably somebody wants a cake because it's tasty. But the kind of cakes we like to make, they want because they're pretty. How do you balance the two? For one thing, I try to put a liberal amount of buttercream under the MMF so that when somebody peels it off, they still have frosting to eat. Any other thoughts?

3 replies
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JoAnnB Posted 8 Feb 2007 , 8:34pm
post #2 of 4

The last wedding cake I made (and served) almost every plate came back empty. I didn't see any fondant that was peeled off.

I used home-made fondant and very little crumbcoat, and a generous filling.

The abiliby to enhoy fondant is subjective. Even Wilton's has improved some, although I still prefer to make my own.

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Momof4luvscakes Posted 8 Feb 2007 , 8:39pm
post #3 of 4

I think no matter what you do, some people just don't like fondant (that includes me). I use generous icing, a lot of filling, and MMF or Satin Ice. I usually get empty plates too, which is the best compliment!!

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mbalis Posted 8 Feb 2007 , 8:46pm
post #4 of 4

None of my family or friends eat the fondant...nor do I for that matter. A thick coat of solid surface is just not appealing, no matter if it is MMF or Wilton. However, they do understand it's need as a medium for that ultra smooth surface, and shaping ability for accents.

That being said...if your cake is moist and your BC rocks you will get no complaints on taste OR looks!

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