Thursday, May 25, 2006
Stunning wedding cakes
By Ed Dychauco
(Part 1 of 2)
THE Chinese Lunar Year of the Dog is said to be a marrying year. Hence, a lot of couples are scheduled to get married this year.
Big or small, lavish or simple, traditional or out of this world wedding, wedding cakes are and will always be the highlight of every wedding reception.
At home, in a restaurant, hotel, by the sea, on top of a hill, wherever and whatever your venue is, your wedding cake will be the center of attraction be it a June, Valentine, Summer, and Christmas bride.
Whatever time of the year, the wedding cake will always play a major role in the banquet! As compared before, nowadays couples have a lot of choices. Be it in color scheme and motiffs, shapes, sizes or themes.
It can be purely for decorative purposes (by using styrofoam as cake base and be kept for a period of time!) or it can be all cakes.
Type of frosting
Since our weather is quite warm, chocolate, whipped cream and butter cream is best suited in air-conditioned halls.
Most often, we use boiled (marshmallow) frosting because it is quite versatile. Although I should say that fondant cakes are the in-thing now and people just love the endless possibilities of decorating the cake.
In fact, the cakes can be personally designed to represent the couple's profession, business, hobby or job! Another type of frosting that is commonly used is the local version of "whipped cream."
This type of frosting won't melt in hot, humid weather because is not the refrigerated type. This is almost similar to boiled icing in usage.
Another type of frosting being used is royal icing. But this tends to harden and could crack if not handled properly. Royal icing is normally used in flower making.
Cupcakes/Small Cakes
If a couple cannot decide what design they would like for their wedding cake, then cupcakes or small cakes would be helpful.
Aside from ensuring that everyone gets to have a piece of the cupcake or a slice, the guests would be too happy to bring them home, too if they decide to do it.
Cupcakes can be decorated with the theme the couple have in mind. Be it edible flowers, butterflies or chocolates, it's like having the best of both worlds.
As for small cakes, it would be easy for big families to bring home to their kids. Expect also a higher rate for these type of cakes because it is labor intensive.
Decorations and toppers
Fresh flowers, fruits, gumpaste flowers? What accents would you like to have on your cake? Fresh flowers and sliced fruits would look nice, but not in the hot sun!
Fresh flowers would stand out in a garden wedding but make sure the cake is displayed in the late afternoon when the sun is almost setting or early in the morning.
Using fresh flowers in an air-conditioned room would at least prolong the life of it. Therefore, gumpaste flowers would be a better choice in our hot, humid weather.
Besides, one can achieve the colors the couple wants, though not necessarily realistic. For those who want to keep the flower decors for sometime, this is it!
Modern cakes also does not dictate that a wedding couple is a must as a topper! They can be flowers (fresh, silk or icing), doves, cupids, swans, etc. They can even have a unique, one of a kind topper like an edible coconut tree (for a tropical theme), seashells (aquatic theme), or even decorative candles! In European countries, couples tend to keep some flowers from their cake.
Hence, they would go for another type of flower for their cake. The best choice would be cold porcelain, a material that is formed and molded just like the regular edible gumpaste but would last a lifetime! It is washable and almost unbreakable!
(May 25, 2006 issue)
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