‘It looks great, but can we eat it?’ - Page 2

MayQueen · 03-10-2008, 11:22 PM

I do have to wonder about parents who buy those expensive cakes for their tiny childrens' birthdays. Would a three-year-old really know whether Charm City Cakes made it or whether the local grocery store did?

isilzha · 03-10-2008, 11:27 PM

Its for the other people at the party (the adults, not the kids hehe).

Food Network Fan · 03-10-2008, 11:29 PM

They need something to eat while they are tossing back Aunt Sandy's cake icing martini.

BerryBaby · 03-10-2008, 11:30 PM

Daughter has never, ever liked cake. When she was little, she always wanted the doll cakes (with the doll in the middle and the skirt is cake). It was for the doll, not the cake. To this day, she still does not like cake.

Food Network Fan · 03-10-2008, 11:34 PM

My aunt used to make those for me. She decorated cakes. She made my wedding cake. I helped her make one with fondant daisies when I was 10 or 11 years old. I would cut out the daisy shape out of the white and then press little balls of yellow fondant into a screen to make the middles.

TFNQ · 04-21-2008, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Their work is amazing, however, if I order a cake, I want cake. If I want art, I go to a gallery.

During some of their shows, they said they supply sheet cakes with the "cake" cake. It's all included.

Most people just peel away the fondant (like you would the husk on a tamale) and eat the cake and buttercream only. The fontant is edible, but it's not that great. It's really used to keep the cake and icing airtight and fresh and makes a great "canvas" on which to decorate.

MayQueen · 04-21-2008, 12:40 PM

Ohhhh, so the fondant is what keeps the cakes fresh for a week. Thanks for mentioning that, TFNQ! Makes sense now.

TFNQ · 04-21-2008, 06:33 PM

Oh yes, that fondant stuff is air-tight and actually kind of strong after it sets up. Nothing sticks to it that much unless it's intended to, including the buttercream, amazingly. So when you peal it off, you have a frosted yummy, fresh cake under there. Fondant is marshmallow really, just rolled out flat. It stiffins up and creates that smooth surface where they do the decorating. Unless they mean for something to stick to it, it won't.

I've worked with it briefly and it's very difficult to master. That's why I find what they do at CCC so amazing. It either tears or gets hard too fast or sags or just otherwise is a pain. You can eat it, but why would you?

Also, they don't actually bake the cake until the last possible moment before decoration anyway. Those cakes don't sit for more than just a few days, tops. Even then, they are refrigerated when they're not working on them. They just don't show all that, but those cakes are fresh as they day they're made as the fondant goes on the day they're buttercreamed, which is the same day they're baked. They've said that on the show and I believe that to be the case. I've run the shows over several times and those comments get lost, but they're there.

Food Network Fan · 04-21-2008, 06:35 PM

That is really interesting. Maybe someday they will do a behind the scenes show and answer the questions for all the people who wonder about this kind of stuff.

Clove · 05-16-2008, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BerryBaby

They are more like sculptures than a cake. From what I've seen, many of the designs less cake and more stuff you wouldn't eat.

Their work is amazing, however, if I order a cake, I want cake. If I want art, I go to a gallery.

We live only 45 minutes from Baltimore and some of the people in town that we know have gotten cakes from Charm City.
Every one of them was beautiful and designed to a "T". Real show pieces!
They were also described as just so-so cakes (from the eating perspective).