Calling all cake ladies in florida..how are you covering your cakes in...

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Permalink Reply by Patty on August 17, 2010 at 9:01pm

I am not in FL but in Cincinnati...where the humidity is almost as bad...espcially this year! I find in this heat...I simply cannot put my cakes in the cooler before fondant. So...if I have to refrigerate...I make sure to let them come to room temp and have even used a cool hair dryer to make sure to dry the buttercream before applying the fondant. The key for me is to decrease the buttercream to almost a skim coat. I simply let my brides know in the warm months...sometimes they have to give up a bit of the taste for the look of elegance. Kudos to you...hope this helps!

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Permalink Reply by jeri c on August 17, 2010 at 11:39pm

I never put my cakes in the fridge before covering them in fondant. I do let them sit over night with a coat of buttercream in a cool room but never the fridge.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Marie on August 18, 2010 at 12:54am

I have to refrigerate them or the buttercream will melt off....I just put a thin crumbcoat so when the cake sits out it wont bubble or ripple...but it is hard to prevent that..oh and I roll out my fondant to no less than 1/4" thick...that seems to help too.

You might also try Edna De La Cruz's crusting buttercream on her site under recipes www.designmeacake.com

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Permalink Reply by Sweet Art Cakes! on August 18, 2010 at 1:10am

Thanks Ladies for helping out..I am gonna try all of your suggestions..
as you can see by this reply that it is now 1:06am and I am still up..just finished another round of flowers....again to use the coolest time of the day to do as much as i can...will def. post pictures of the cake when it is finished..
thanks for your help:)
Jeri..have you ever used planet cake's ganache recipe instead of buttercream..and if yes is it safe you think to have the cake in a non-a/c environment. She is having her shower outside...and I am not sure if the ganche will keep??
I personally love the ganche over the buttercream..but not sure...any thoughts...or anyone for that matter??

Have a good night ladies and a better tomorrow:)

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Permalink Reply by Karen Marie on August 18, 2010 at 1:22am

Ganache can be left out even for a week....it is very shelf stable....no worries....but just remember chocolate melts at about 88 degrees....ganache is just heavy cream and dark chocolate....soft gananche is a 1:1 ratio (8fl oz heavy cream to 8 oz chocolate) Hard ganache is 1:2 ratio (8 fl oz heavy cream to 16 oz dark chocolate....just boil the cream on medium heat...pour over chopped chocolate and stir until completely melted....store covered either on your counter or in thr fridge over night to cure....then melt and use over a cake or bring to room temperature and whip like buttercream....omg!

Hard ganache is used to make truffles and filling for covered chocolates. Soft ganache is poured over cakes or used as a filling or whipped for a frosting.
Sweet Art Cakes! said:

Thanks Ladies for helping out..I am gonna try all of your suggestions..
as you can see by this reply that it is now 1:06am and I am still up..just finished another round of flowers....again to use the coolest time of the day to do as much as i can...will def. post pictures of the cake when it is finished..
thanks for your help:)
Jeri..have you ever used planet cake's ganache recipe instead of buttercream..and if yes is it safe you think to have the cake in a non-a/c environment. She is having her shower outside...and I am not sure if the ganche will keep??
I personally love the ganche over the buttercream..but not sure...any thoughts...or anyone for that matter??

Have a good night ladies and a better tomorrow:)

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Permalink Reply by Sweet Art Cakes! on August 18, 2010 at 9:00am

awesome karen..you are the cake boss!!!! Lol!
I was hoping that was okay..gonna use the hard ganache over the buttercream...i think it is always a pleasant surprise over buttercream.
Thanks again to all my cake bosses!

Stay tuned!

Karen Marie said:

Ganache can be left out even for a week....it is very shelf stable....no worries....but just remember chocolate melts at about 88 degrees....ganache is just heavy cream and dark chocolate....soft gananche is a 1:1 ratio (8fl oz heavy cream to 8 oz chocolate) Hard ganache is 1:2 ratio (8 fl oz heavy cream to 16 oz dark chocolate....just boil the cream on medium heat...pour over chopped chocolate and stir until completely melted....store covered either on your counter or in thr fridge over night to cure....then melt and use over a cake or bring to room temperature and whip like buttercream....omg!

Hard ganache is used to make truffles and filling for covered chocolates. Soft ganache is poured over cakes or used as a filling or whipped for a frosting.
Sweet Art Cakes! said:

Thanks Ladies for helping out..I am gonna try all of your suggestions..
as you can see by this reply that it is now 1:06am and I am still up..just finished another round of flowers....again to use the coolest time of the day to do as much as i can...will def. post pictures of the cake when it is finished..
thanks for your help:)
Jeri..have you ever used planet cake's ganache recipe instead of buttercream..and if yes is it safe you think to have the cake in a non-a/c environment. She is having her shower outside...and I am not sure if the ganche will keep??
I personally love the ganche over the buttercream..but not sure...any thoughts...or anyone for that matter??

Have a good night ladies and a better tomorrow:)

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Permalink Reply by Gretchen Belsome on August 18, 2010 at 1:10pm

I have to agree with you on Karen being the Cake Boss she always has great advise and ideas. She knows her stuff. I love making ganache to pour over the cake and fill with, I got semi sweet chocolate and someone told me it was still to bitter for them. I notice at my grocery store they only had semi sweet, unsweetened and dark, should I use dark? I am in New Orleans and the Humidity is just as bad here, but I am not really having to many problems, it has rained for like a week here so the heat is not so bad. Well at least not when the sun is not out. Good Luck with your cake.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Marie on August 18, 2010 at 5:33pm

There will be no living with me now lol....
Thank you for the compliments.....knowledge is to be shared...
Gretchen....semi sweet has the most sugar in it of all those types of chocolate..you can mix in some milk chocolate up to half and still retain the richness of the dark chocolate....however dark chocolate has always been my favorite so it is never too bitter to me. Everyone has different taste.
Traditionally ganache is made from dark or semi sweet chocolate...unsweetened is generally for baking where you can control the sweetness.....
If you add sugar to the ganache you must heat it with the cream to dissolve it or the ganache will be gritty.....

Oh and Sweet....ganache on anything is a very good thing :D :P~~~ (that's a drooly smiley)

Gretchen Belsome said:

I have to agree with you on Karen being the Cake Boss she always has great advise and ideas. She knows her stuff. I love making ganache to pour over the cake and fill with, I got semi sweet chocolate and someone told me it was still to bitter for them. I notice at my grocery store they only had semi sweet, unsweetened and dark, should I use dark? I am in New Orleans and the Humidity is just as bad here, but I am not really having to many problems, it has rained for like a week here so the heat is not so bad. Well at least not when the sun is not out. Good Luck with your cake.

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