Cake carving

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Permalink Reply by Eileen S on July 15, 2011 at 10:42am

I know you said you don't want to use buttercream, but for me it's the filling that works best because I can fill and stack my cakes, then wrap tight and freeze it before carving so it carves easier (no "pulling").  Usually my carved elements aren't the entire cake though, so I put the more interesting fillings in the base cake and use buttercream in the shaped cake.

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Permalink Reply by JJ Becker on July 15, 2011 at 5:17pm

I've done pretty well using some really stiff stabilized mousses.  Raspberry is my favorite because the high acid content in the berries lends itself to a really workable product.  Generally what I'll do is fill individual cake sections with the mousse, and then refrigerate for a good few hours before carving.  A lot of times I will carve mousse filled cakes already iced with BC.  It is a little wasteful, but sometimes having cold BC already on whatever your cutting adds an element of stability to the project.  Chocolate fudge is another good filling choice, or ganache.  You can do it with anything with practice- The Cat in the Hat cake in my pics is filled with fresh fruit and alternating custard and whipped cream.

 

Ultimately the thing to keep in mind when carving, is don't get carried away, KEEP IT COLD!  You get on a roll and you just wanna do one more thing, then you'll put it back in the fridge, and a half an hour later you're staring wistfully at an oozing heap of Santa Clause with a few dowels sticking out.  Just take your time, be patient-  and don't shape the cake... find the shape in the cake :)

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Permalink Reply by Bonnie Moses on July 15, 2011 at 8:30pm

Depends on how much you want to carve off. I'd only use buttercream if carving off a lot. Otherwise, you will have oozing. But it sounds like II Becker above has figured it out. I'll have to try his fillings and method. Thanks II Becker!

 

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