Drawbacks Of Owning Fondant Only Cake Business?
Business By SweetAsLemmons Updated 4 Sep 2008 , 8:11pm by FromScratch
jkalman i am secretly cake stalking you so next up on my list of things to try will be Michele's fondant
Hehehehe... awwwe.. I'm so flattered. I have a cake stalker.
But really.. you won't be disappointed.. it performs better than many commercial brands I have tried and out of every recipe I have tried.. it is the best in taste and texture. It really does have to set up over night.. and when you knead it.. it will seem odd.. it will split a lot and look jaggedy (new word?) but keep kneading and it will transform into a beautiful lump of smooth fondant.
jkalman i am secretly cake stalking you so next up on my list of things to try will be Michele's fondant
You will love this recipe - as said previously it rolls super thin. I served a cake at a party a few weeks ago with this fondant, while cleaning up I noticed not a single plate had the fondant picked off.
In my area, most customers prefer b/c. I like to work with fondant, but it's not the rage here yet. Sharon Zambito has the most wonderful dvds for fondant, stacking and buttercream cakes. you would think her b/c cakes are fondant. I don't do things exactly like her, but it helped on some cakes I did this weekend. She is also a member here, sharonssugarshack.com. I wouldn't limit yourself to just fondant, but maybe just push it more if you can.
-michelle
Fondant in of itself isn't nasty.. Wilton fondant is nasty.. OMG.. and Satin Ice I even don't like much. .
I tell my brides I don't use the "craft store fondant"...afterall, why do you think they sell it at a craft store?
I also do not like the smell of Satin Ice and the flavor is too strong. I became a fondx convert long ago.
(If I had the money I would use Massa!)
I'm guessing you really, really do not want to do BC, so don't. I really, really do not want to do fondant, so I don't. Check your area, make sure you can make a living doing only fondant cakes, and then go for it. Do what you love and find a way to make it work.
I love the look of fondant...but covering a cake is a whole other matter I exclusively do all my cakes in WBH buttercream and my clientelle have come to expect that.Fondant is very expensive to buy and most of my customers don't like it and won't spend the extra money to pay for it on a cake. I have done several competition cakes and will only do them in fondant but that is covering dummines...I stink at covering real cakes Like others have mentioned it all depends on your area and what the clientelle will like and pay for...For my money I would not just include fondant only cakes but rather a assortment of Buttercream,Fondant.I just wouldn't get any business!!
Fondant in of itself isn't nasty.. Wilton fondant is nasty.. OMG.. and Satin Ice I even don't like much. It smells like vanilla play-doh to me. There are delicious fondant brands out there. Choco-pan is good.. Fondex is good too. I like making fondant (and not MMF which I find very chewy when it dries and sickly sweet). You can make real fondant for the same cost and it's way better IM(not-so)HO. I recommend Michele Foster's Delicious Fondant recipe. I would love to only offer fondant cakes for the simple fact that you can transport and handle them easier than BC cakes. When people insist on picking up their cakes I will insist on fondant since I use SMBC and it doesn't crust and it is VERY easily marred.
Could I please get a link to her fondant?
I'm from the uk and i don't believe you can get buttercream covered cakes here (someone please do correct me if i'm wrong). As far as i'm aware, it's used purely as a cake filling.
Thats why i was pretty confused when i looked at pictures and they said they were covered in BC because our buttercream is really soft and not stiff enough to cover cakes.
I think it's a real skill being able to cover a cake in buttercream and have it really smooth. I never knew you could do that with BC before i came on this site
I am waiting breathlessly for the Jenna Bush cake method to be all the rage --texture texture texture, random cakey spatula texture. Yes?
I am lost here. What do you mean "Jenna Bush cake method"?
Sorry but I got lost in this thread when this popped up
Thank you jkalman,
We have never tried fondant before and are hoping to sometime this week. Yeah!
I'm from the uk and i don't believe you can get buttercream covered cakes here (someone please do correct me if i'm wrong). As far as i'm aware, it's used purely as a cake filling.
Thats why i was pretty confused when i looked at pictures and they said they were covered in BC because our buttercream is really soft and not stiff enough to cover cakes.
I think it's a real skill being able to cover a cake in buttercream and have it really smooth. I never knew you could do that with BC before i came on this site
In the uk, isn't covering cakes with Royal Icing the more common thing or am I showing my age?
I think BC here is different from BC there...do you use IMBC?
In the UK they use mostly marzipan and fondant as far as I have read.
Oh and Jenna Bush's cake was one of those sloppy (on purpose) iced cakes.. with all the waves and stuff. I personally dislike that look but whatever floats your boat right?
I am waiting breathlessly for the Jenna Bush cake method to be all the rage --texture texture texture, random cakey spatula texture. Yes?
I am lost here. What do you mean "Jenna Bush cake method"?
Sorry but I got lost in this thread when this popped up
Here is a link to a picture of Jenna Bush's cake. You can see the texturing on the bottom tiers. This is balanced, neat, tidy, looks not only very edible but it also looks like a cake.
http://www.yumsugar.com/1644578[/url]
I'm now out of business because of losing my licensed kitchen rental (long story there, but irrelevent to this)... I didn't limit myself out of doing buttercream coated cakes, HOWEVER, I made it more desirable to go for the fondant covered cake than buttercream unless they went for some rough iced design. At the end I was setting a policy that Fondant coated cakes were going to be $1 less per slice than Buttercream...
Here's why: I'm a very picky icer when it comes to buttercream. If I can see where the spatula stopped it's not smooth enough for me PERIOD. I will spend 6 hours smooth icing cakes to my standards. How much is 6x15? Yep, that's a lot of money for the value of time. Now, compare that to the cost of a tub of fondant.
Also, if you are going to go "Fondant only", make sure you're using a good brand of fondant!! You're going to go through a lot of it (at some point making your own just isn't economical) and most of all it needs to be a quality flavor and texture. I use Albert Uster and I've never had any problems, even in "hickville" where I've taken fondant covered cakes the caterers comment that it's the first wedding they've been to in a LONG time that the plates got licked clean instead of half the cake being left on the tables...
Start off as simply cheaper for fondant than buttercream and make your reasons known because then it becomes your reputation. If you market a quality product the right customer in your niche, there is a market in any area. As like any other part of booking a wedding cake, turn it into an educational consultation and explain the differences of Wilton Fondant to 99% of all other fondants on the market and the palatability...
Good luck!!!!
The question is how good are you with buttercream and how fast are you at it could be a major decision for yourself. I can sttack a 3 tier wedding cake and finish it in buttercream in 2 and a half hours. Smooth enough to compete with fondant cakes. But I know some people have issues with this. As long as the cake is well finish and pretty, it doesnt matter to me if it is fondant or buttercream
But the majority of people dont like fondant, they just like the look. That means higher prices that has to be pass to your costumers if you are doing only fondant cakes. That could be good or bad depending on what part you live.
Edna
I think it depends on the type of business you have. If you have a bakery that does lots of weddings a weekend it may not work doing fondant only.
I am a custom cake studio. I strictly limit my cakes per weekend. I am fondant only and love it! I've only had one bride not want fondant. I had her come in and taste my fondant and she really liked it. Turns out she had only had the Wilton toxic fondant and never tasted REAL fondant before.
I'm from the uk and i don't believe you can get buttercream covered cakes here (someone please do correct me if i'm wrong). As far as i'm aware, it's used purely as a cake filling.
Thats why i was pretty confused when i looked at pictures and they said they were covered in BC because our buttercream is really soft and not stiff enough to cover cakes.
I think it's a real skill being able to cover a cake in buttercream and have it really smooth. I never knew you could do that with BC before i came on this site
In the uk, isn't covering cakes with Royal Icing the more common thing or am I showing my age?
I think BC here is different from BC there...do you use IMBC?
I think covering a cake in royal icing is seen as dated now because fondant has taken over. I have a few old cake decorating books, from 1980 that just focus on royal icing.
Sorry to be a bit thick but what is IMBC?
I just looked up IMBC and we don't use it. BC over hear is just butter, flavouring, water and powdered sugar which is why i was really confused when i read about cakes being decorated with BC on this site.
The cake fillings i've seen on this site are soooo extensive too and the cake recipes.
Mousse fillings, pudding in cake mixes, crusting BC......its all new to me but its so inspiring and interesting
Magnum,
I had no idea that cake could be so different from one continent to another. It is amazing to me. After all it is just Cake. Yummy wonderful delightful cake.
Didn't read through all the posts, but I only do fondant, and usually am booked with 3-4 cakes/week. Works for me!
Magnum,
I had no idea that cake could be so different from one continent to another. It is amazing to me. After all it is just Cake. Yummy wonderful delightful cake.
I can't believe the differences. I had never even heard of red velvet cake before! lol
In terms of sugarcraft, i think we're pretty much the same but the cake flavours and fillings in the U.S just seem endless!
Red velvet is a favorite in the South of The USA.
In Texas where I am originally from how well a woman makes a Pound Cake and a Red Velvet is very important for bragging rights.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-3663-0-Michele-Fosters-Delicious-Fondant.html
it doesn't sour over time with the milk in it?
i know sugar is a preservative...but just curious ....i'd like to make up a bunch and keep it in a bucket for future use.
Littlecakes.. Nope.. it doesn't. I have had some for months in a bucket and it is as good as the day I made it. I have kept a little bit aside to see how long.. it's been 3 months.. and it's fine.. no signs of spoilage.
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