Will people eat fondant now?

I'm so excited to find this online. Real fruit fondant!

Generally people love fondant icing for its versatility and it makes beautiful cake presentations. But sadly, once the cake is cut, it will be peeled off and left on the side of the plate while the cake is being consumed. And more often than not, they usually end up in the trash can. Sometimes, i wish it was made of wax instead. Such a waste of (expensive) resources and effort. It is, literally an eye candy.

Perhaps now that it comes in flavours, (orange, lemon, blackcurrant, raspberry and strawberry) people will start eating fondant. I for one, don't really have a sweet tooth, but i can't wait for them to reach our shores to sample it :)

Butterless buttercream?? Hmm...

The first lesson at the Wilton Course 1 in ICCA was more on the theoretical side. It was mostly on the introduction of the tools that are used in cake decorating and how to use them, which includes how to fold a parchment paper (this is more ideal for melted chocolate so i shall try this for the writing on my double double disaster cupcakes!) and also how to make the decorators' icing aka buttercream as well as 3 different consistencies for different techniques.

The decorator's buttercream i learned here at the first lesson is something i find very interesting. First of all, it has NO BUTTER! I have been to several classes and have had several different views from different people in producing the buttercream but none that has absolutely no butter in it. From what i know, shortening are added to better hold the shapes of your designs apart from adding the meringue powder as explained in one of my earlier posts. Some even prefer to use 100% butter because it has more flavour.

But i have to say, this butterless buttercream is THE BEST so far! I find it less sweet even with the same amount of sugar i normally use in my buttercream (with butter) and is creamier too! And it is especially ideal if you want to produce super white frosting for wedding or christmas cakes (for the snow etc.). Also, if you want to get certain colours right, this is the kind of buttercream you would want to use.

Click here for the recipe.

The super white buttercream.

Then again, it really depends on your preference. I'd go back to half cup of butter (instead of 1 whole cup of shortening) just to achieve the ivory colour. Otherwise, 100% shortening is fine by me. It's cost efficient too! ;)