And I wish they'd ANNOUNCE the prices of their creations so the whole world would know what they charge.
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a tutorial show? No drama, no bickering, no yelling, just showing us how to accomplish something. Like the old Julia Child or Graham Kerr shows. Today we will learn how to ..... Now that's a show I would always set my DVR to copy!
me too!!!!!!
I love watching the cake shows! I love the drama, just because I love laughing at them! I get excited if I pick up a tip or two from each show, like techniques for sugar flowers or using certain tools for certain things.
I have learned that, despite health codes, you can use non-safe food items in your creations. You can stack cakes directly on styrofoam, stick wire in cake, use hot glue, tools that blow sawdust around edibles, have long hair and never wear a hairnet, touch everything in the kitchen area and then roll out fondant with unwashed hands and most importantly, you can compete in a cupcake challenge with full makeup and high heels and never experience foot pain or mascara smudges.
One thing that bothers me is that people are constantly touching their hair, etc while working on the cake that somebody is going to eat. It drives me CRAZY!
Yup....bare hands, dirty t-shirts, hair hanging over the mixer or work table. GROSS!
I like to watch these shows but take EVERYTHING with a grain of salt! My DD tells be to stop yelling at the TV LOL But the coolest thing I saw was where someone took a bowl of crushed ice and water, dropped dots of white choc into it to make popcorn. It look awesome but I haven't tried it. 
Yes, sawdust in my cakes is my favorite source of daily fiber! 
I for one enjoy watching them when I can. I hardly ever get to sit and watch them undisturbed but that's ok. I have gotten to where I don't like Buddy's show so much because the women and their bickering remind me of one of the other reality type shows that make me nuts.
I like to focus on more talent and actual good looking baked goods rather than the drama that might go on behind the scenes.
I like to watch any type cooking show though. Barefoot Contessa and Giadda are usually on when I have time to listen and I enjoy them.
As far as which are my favs? I like Ace of Cakes and Amazing wedding cakes. Don't like that Cupcake Wars show...nothing to learn there.
oh, about the 2" and 3" pans. I was given a complete set of 3" Magic Line pans and love them. I have a question though. Why is it when I put the same amount of batter in the 2" and the 3" pan that the 3" pan cake comes out a tiny bit shorter? They are both ML pans...just different heights.
any ideas ladies?
what i have learned from the cake shows? that the sky is the limit! to experiement, you will have mishaps, but you will continue to grow and learn new techniques in all the frustration!
i really enjoy the people in the background on the CakeBoss, you know the sculpters. they have some amazing wicked talent!
.... you can compete in a cupcake challenge with full makeup and high heels and never experience foot pain or mascara smudges.
Heck, one of the reasons I STOPPED wearing make-up was because I was always wiping the sweat off of my face when working in the hot kitchen! Why waste time in make-up when it's going to sweat off of you?
Heels in a kitchen..... oh sure! My workers comp carrier would LUV to see that one! 
What I have noticed, is on these shows they stack many layers of cake, with tons of filling, never leveling a single cake, and when stacked they look great. No bulging sides, no letting them settle, no thick dam around the edge to keep the filling inside. They pipe what looks like whipped cream for the dam, just don't see how they are so perfect, level, no bulges. I must be doing something wrong. I stress over every aspect of this. Still they aren't perfect. I even have a agbay, and still I have trouble.
....., and when stacked they look great. No bulging sides, .......
I think it's because the fondant is so dang THICK that it holds it in like a girdle!! 
My DD tells be to stop yelling at the TV LOL
Hubby does the same thing. Keeps telling me, "They can't HEAR you! Shut up already!"
"They can't HEAR you!
If they can't hear you, you're not yelling loud enough.
I asked the same question once and someone said that their cakes are partially frozen when assembled, so I guess that would make them easier to throw around without damaging them. I always think that their yellow cake looks like that rubber foam stuff in texture - mmmm, tasty![/quote]
It interesting that you have said this about the look of the cakes as I often thought the same - what they call "pound cake"? as it never looks very soft to me and when it starts being carved it looks sooo dry so I assumed it was partially frozen also
Can anyone explain further about the technique for making white chocolate popcorn in ice?
That sounds very interesting. Do you remember which show /cake artist it was?
Thanks.
I like watching the different cake shows, but all of them for different reasons. Ace of Cakes makes pretty cakes but I never really learned anything. They play around more than anything else, it seems. Cake Boss has way too much drama going on with all those sisters and brothers around, but he actually does show some of the techniques he uses, so I try to ignore the drama. I like the new one Fabulous Cakes because they do actually show technique AND PRICES, so normal people can get a true idea of what these cakes actually cost!! Cake Challenge shows I like because I like to see what kinds of stuff people come up with. BUT as for learning how to do things, the best place is here on CC, I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH HERE!! CC ROCKS!!
Living in Australia, we just don't get the same amount of shows that you lucky Americans seem to get. My neighbour has foxtel and we have regular 'date nights' to watch Duff and Cake Boss. lol I have learnt a fair bit from these shows - the joys of rice crispy treats (virtually unheard of here)!
I too get a little frustrated with Cake Boss, less drama, more caking!
I love CC and the way that folks are happy to share or offer an opion, it's awesome.
I never realized how much rice crispy treats were used in cake making before watching these shows. Some cakes seem to be mostly crispy treats. Which makes me question how it can be called a cake.
So, I suppose this is all thrown away after the cake part is cut and served?
Also , The supports they build don't seem to be very sanitary. Just build it and slap the cake or crispy treats on it.
I do enjoy watching them and have picked up some good ideas that a hobbiest like me can use.
Well being new to cake decorating, I learn something from every show. I do get confused though. For example all cakes seem to go in a walk in cooler/freezer and no problems with fondant, frosting, gumpaste, etc....hmm.... I thru a few gumpaste daisies in my fridge for 4 days-they were still rock hard (even had them on indy deby's buttercream (lovely frosting by the way!)).
I was shocked to see metal pipes and nuts and bolts going right on cakes (thinking about the wire debate going on here..)
Noticed how they all level with a big old serrated knife-no agbay to be seen - yet somehow it looks great at the end....
So I take it all in and try to figure things out... i still want an agbay 
On another note, I like the cake boss because my husband likes to watch it too. He is from full Italian descent and he states it so reminds him of growing up - the drama was real in his home lol.....I remember when we first started dating, I couldn't get used to all the yelling..scared me to death. Took me quite a while to figure out they weren't really fighting....And Buddy's cockiness..oh so familiar 
I know they embellish but they do remind me of my husband's family....
I think the thing I learned from the shows is to just to try new things. I took my first cake decorating class in 1995- and I always wanted to learn to make gumpaste flowers, but I was intimidated. I can't remember the show, but one of the bakeries made a ton of flowers for a cake. I watched the show a couple times- and thought - it doesn't look that hard- so I gave it a shot.
I only do this for my own enjoyment- so I have become more fearless.
I try not to watch those shows! lol I jsut get so mad when I see them whip out this amazing cake in hours and it takes me three days... Grrr.. lol oh wait, and my cakes aren't even as amazing as theirs 
I had never seen anyone steam fondant until I watched cake boss
had not thought of molding pieces of fondant and placing another piece on top to get a smooth finish on a sculpted piece i.e. face with high cheek bones until I saw it on fabulous cakes
and other tidbits here and there. The cupcake wars I get ideas for building custom display stands but that's about it.
I've learned it's definitely ok to mess up.
I mean if Stevie Famulari can throw a stacked-strawberry mess together, almost catch it on fire, and draw the ire of Kerry Vincent....and still STAY IN BUSINESS.....
....then my sometimes cracking fondant and buttercream swipes are nothing to give up over.
OK, I'm just a lurker on CC--love it! I'm just a (novice) hobbyist, so I don't usually have anything to add. But this time I do! Not about what I learn, but about how they throw around the cakes/finish so fast.
I remember watching some other cooking show or talk show, and the host said something about how they work--can't remember what. But anyhow, I think it was Duff, replied, along the lines that "You know that is 1, sometimes 2 weeks worth of work edited down to make a 23 minute show, right? And then they leave out a lot of the boring stuff that the general public wouldn't find interesting."
My take-a-way: They have 7 minutes of commercials and they aren't aimed at people really wanting to make cakes. I think that is why Fabulous Cakes is so appealing--it is geared more to letting people interested in the industry (from these other cake shows) about what really goes on. Next step is a how-to (ala Julia Childs).
Might also be why you don't see them leveling cakes--many times I notice they *have* been leveled though.
I do like watching almost all of the "cake" shows that we are able to get here in Canada (I have heard some mentioned here that I've never heard of or seen) and I'm happy to pick up a tip here or there, but I don't want to see everything from start to finish. Before we knew it, everyone that watched tv would consider themselves "cake decorators". However, I would like to see more pricing revealed on the shows that don't show it. Mainly to educate people so they know why we charge what we do for our creations.
When my hubby catches a few minutes of a show I've been watching, he'll comment that he wonders if anyone else has picked up on the fact that the beautiful gigantic creations they are showing have been put together by a "team". Someone bakes the cake, someone else ices the cake, someone else makes the characters, someone else makes the flowers and then someone finally takes the credit for making it! Wish I had a team!
I've learned it's definitely ok to mess up.
I mean if Stevie Famulari can throw a stacked-strawberry mess together, almost catch it on fire, and draw the ire of Kerry Vincent....and still STAY IN BUSINESS.....
....then my sometimes cracking fondant and buttercream swipes are nothing to give up over.
I learned this 2 decades ago when I was watching a show with a professional chef making a jelly roll. It split the whole way down the middle and she said, "Well, a little whipped cream will cover that right up." She didn't get upset at all.
On Cake Boss when Buddy puts strawberries on his cakes, it doesn't appear they have macerated. Just appears to be fresh, sliced strawberries. It seems like that would not taste very good between layers of cake. I think i'd want mine a little syrupy.
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