Pretty or Tastes Good?

[jen0610]

I wanted (and got) whipped frosting for my wedding cake. But while at the tasting, the baker had a sample of cake with fondant leftover from the tasting before me so I tried it. Yuck!
I would rather have my cake taste wonderful and look good than have a mediocre taste and look stunning.

IMO, too many people more concerned than how things "look" than anything else... and that's not just with weddings.

See, now I was always told that you don't actually eat the fondant. You should peel it off the piece of cake you are served. What you actually eat, should be a good tasting cake, filing(if added), and buttercream frosting.

 

[merryweather20]

It should be both. Most of the wedding shows and the Cake Boss they do make good tasting cakes. You can do some pretty fancy things with buttercream!

Competitions they don't care because the ones I've seen, judge solely on appearance. So the competitors just use materials based on the end appearance. Ace of Cakes is the only one that doesn't seem to care how they might taste, just what their business is I guess.

 

[RadioNate]

I have to admit that I have a long-standing grudge against fondant.

Even marshmallow fondant.

Give me buttercream frosting, handmade that morning, full of crisco and butter and every other bad thing. I don't care that it doesn't shape and mold the way that fondant does. I want that wonderful sugary taste!

(Uhm. . .maybe I might have mentioned that I and several of my co-workers like to buy frosting from a favored bakery, grab spoons and chow down. . .and that one co-worker spent MONTHS perfecting her frosting recipe. Not for moldability or any of that. No, it was completely about how it tasted. She tried out so many different frosting recipes until she got THE ONE.)

I was thinking this the other day when I caught an episode of Ace of Cakes. When you see what they make, they are more like "works of art" than cakes it seems! Half the time, the cakes are held together with pvc piping, wires, styrofoam or cardbord cutouts. I always think they MUST just bring a sheet cake to the events for people to eat and the "show piece" cake is just for the eyes. I don't know what fondant is or if it is edible, but it does not look yummy. Sure it makes the cake beautiful and clean, but how does it taste?

I also watch the cake competitions on food network and those cakes seem totally unedible, more like art.

I wanted (and got) whipped frosting for my wedding cake. But while at the tasting, the baker had a sample of cake with fondant leftover from the tasting before me so I tried it. Yuck!

I would rather have my cake taste wonderful and look good than have a mediocre taste and look stunning.

IMO, too many people more concerned than how things "look" than anything else... and that's not just with weddings.

You are not actually supposed to eat the fondant. Why do people not know that? When the cake is cut to be served the fondant is supposed to be peeled off and there should be a layer of buttercream underneath.

I think many of the Ace of Cakes show piece cakes just bring sheet cakes along to eat. I know for a fact I saw the sheet cakes coming into the event with the 'fancy' cake.

When I worked in banquets and weddings in HS we had a lot of beautiful pieces of frosted styrofoam on display with sheet cakes to serve in the back.

 

[terri01p]

See, now I was always told that you don't actually eat the fondant. You should peel it off the piece of cake you are served. What you actually eat, should be a good tasting cake, filing(if added), and buttercream frosting.

Who knew....you sit a piece of cake in front of me and I will try my best to finish every single piece so not to have any hurt feelings....hehehe

 

[Ember]

You are not actually supposed to eat the fondant. Why do people not know that? When the cake is cut to be served the fondant is supposed to be peeled off and there should be a layer of buttercream underneath.

Yep. Although, some strange people do enjoy the taste of fondant. Although, some people like fruit cake, so there's no accounting for taste. Generally, though, it's peeled off and the cake is enjoyed with just the butter cream.

 

[Shyvioletisme]

I'd rather have a cake that tasted amazing and looked slightly amateurish but cost a lost less than a cake that tasted ok but looked amazing and cost what those cakes cost...uh uh...
then again our wedding cakes looked amazing, tasted amazing and were cheap compared to the prices of the cakes on those shows, so what do I know...

 

[Shyvioletisme]

You are not actually supposed to eat the fondant. Why do people not know that? When the cake is cut to be served the fondant is supposed to be peeled off and there should be a layer of buttercream underneath.

see I wouldn't want to pay all that money and there be a big part of my cake I can't eat...our wedding cakes had a fondant like layer on it, but it was completely edible and meant to be eaten and really good! If I had to choose between a better design with fondant, but it cost more and I couldn't eat it or a lesser design in buttercream, but for a significantly cheaper price...I'd go with the buttercream. I just don't get paying for fondant when it isn't meant to be eaten.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I have a preference for both.

I don't want a nasty tasting cake that looks pretty--but I don't want an ugly cake that taste delish either.

I had a basket weave for my wedding which is what I really really wanted and the bakery we chose made the most delish cake and it looked beautiful (and was acceptable to my culinary trained mom in taste and appearance).

I don't particular like the taste of fondant--so while those cake shows make lovely cakes, I am so fond of icing that I juts couldn't get that kind of cake.


Now I did say my mom is culinary trained. She make Delish cakes. But that last event I attended where she made the cake--I expected the cake would look ridiculous and it did. It looked like chocolate threw up all over it. She just has this manner of going over the top and NOT in an Ace of Cakes sort of way. The cake was delish the icing was delish, the chocolate ganache was just over kill. It was NOT what the people wanted. The inspiration photo had a much more sophisticated design with MUCH LESS chocolate. But my mother ALWAYS feels that her methods are better and will go crazy.

I would NOT have allowed her to make my wedding cake. I actually didn't let her do much for my wedding at all--b/c I know that she won't listen and the cake will look like a professional nightmare. And for something like a wedding, I not only want to enjoy EATING the cake, I want good memories from the photographs as well.

 

[NotUrsula]

see I wouldn't want to pay all that money and there be a big part of my cake I can't eat...our wedding cakes had a fondant like layer on it, but it was completely edible and meant to be eaten and really good! If I had to choose between a better design with fondant, but it cost more and I couldn't eat it or a lesser design in buttercream, but for a significantly cheaper price...I'd go with the buttercream. I just don't get paying for fondant when it isn't meant to be eaten.

What was probably on yours was marzipan. They are similar, but marzipan is very much meant to be eaten. It is normally flavoured with almonds.
In the UK and Ireland, special occasion fruitcakes for Christmas and weddings are always iced with marzipan.

Personally I much prefer delicious to pretty, but there is no reason why you cannot have both. You can do pretty without making it an exercise in sculpture (which is where the fondant usually comes in.)

Oh, and btw, the lemon cake that the OP is recommending is spelled "doberge". I'm not pointing it out to be picky about spelling, but if posters here want to know what it is, they will more easily be able to find out if they look up doberge. There are several major bakeries in New Orleans that will ship them. (Ironically, versions that are shipped will have fondant on them, over the buttercream. Otherwise they will end up getting dry after time has passed.)

 

[Sparx]

fondant doesn't taste good at all, and cakes covered with it don't have that yummy butter cream icing taste all over it (maybe just as a filling between layers?) the cake itself should taste good, but the fondant is yucky.

 

[jen0610]

fondant doesn't taste good at all, and cakes covered with it don't have that yummy butter cream icing taste all over it (maybe just as a filling between layers?) the cake itself should taste good, but the fondant is yucky.

My neices wedding cake, two years ago, had a pretty good layer of butter cream icing on the sides that was covered up by the fondant. While some of it came off, while peeling the fontant away, it was very easily scrapped off and could be eating with your first bite of cake.

Now, the bakery did tell her, that the more frosting they add to the sides, the harder it is to get the fondant completly smooth and free from wripples, which would couldn't notice on neices cake. Maybe some brides choose to go with less on the side in order to obtain "perfection", but there wasn't anything noticable to the untrained eye on her cake.

 

[C.Ann]

You are not actually supposed to eat the fondant. Why do people not know that? When the cake is cut to be served the fondant is supposed to be peeled off and there should be a layer of buttercream underneath..

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Really? That's interesting.. What does it taste like that makes it so unappealing? Or maybe I should ask what it's made of - ie the ingredients?

 

[Rora]

I'd rather have it be yummy than look incredible but I'd prefer both.