Buttercream and Fondant

I was at a wedding last weekend and the cake was delicious. Thanks goodness, as it was my brother's wedding and he was staring at me when I took a bite hoping I approved. It was a white cake with a raspberry filling. The vanilla butter cream had a good balance of flavors. Buttercream that tastes like you're eating a stick of butter is not fun. That's when you eat around the frosting and quietly put your plate aside with a napkin on top to cover up what you didn't eat. To help counteract that problem and give buttercream more depth of flavor I use a trick I picked up years ago from Rose Beranbaum- stir in some melted and cooled white chocolate at the end. There isn't so much white chocolate that you taste it but it gives better flavor overall.

 

Rolled Fondant is also frequently used on wedding cakes. Most pastry chefs buy it and dye it the desired color but some make it from scratch out of sugar, corn syrup, glycerine and gelatin. I did it a couple of times but it wasn't worth the time. I wish someone would figure out how to make it taste good.  Some brands are definitely better than others but for me it always tastes like wet cardboard. A talented pastry chef can make impressively beautiful and creative cakes with fondant. A pastry chef's technical skills is important as there should be a thin layer covering the cake and it should lie flat over the cake without any wrinkles. As much as I am in awe of these cakes, give me frosting over fondant any day.