Happy Friday, all. Today marked the last day of class before our final (not comprehensive) exam and graduation weeks. Unlike many students, I didn't enter school thinking I'd come out a cake decorator... and it's safe to say I'm still a member of that camp. To be sure, it's amazing to look at a three-tiered cake covered in fondant and gum paste flowers and think, Wow, I can't believe I made this; however, I'll take a crazy restaurant chef as a boss any day over a crazy bride.
We made three cakes this week: a two-tiered buttercream cake; a three-tiered (Styrofoam) fondant cake; and a croquembouche, which is a traditional French wedding cake. A tremendous amount of patience and detail were required, in that it took entire class periods to individually build each cake.
The buttercream cake is exactly that: covered and piped with buttercream. The cake itself is a traditional French "biscuit."
The fondant-covered cake has flowers made from gum paste as well as beads and patterns constructed with a 50/50 mix of fondant and gum paste.
The croquembouche is essentially a pyramid of cream puffs that have been dipped in cooking sugar (with half being dipped again in sucre grain). It is built using more cooked sugar to glue the puffs together. The topper is made with even more cooked sugar, and the base is nougatine that has been piped with royal icing. PS - The cake in the picture is Chef Laura's... not mine. :)
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