All About Food: Cake baker's creations a visual treat
Christopher Russom is a serious artist who creates imaginative works every day with sugar, flour and butter. Put them all together with a bit of this and that and voilà … some of the most amazing wedding and novelty cakes imaginable or, perhaps we should say, beyond imagination.
We had the pleasure of viewing his one-of-a-kind masterpieces at his newly relocated bakery, Christopher Garren's Let Them Eat Cake in Costa Mesa.
You may have seen his work on Food Network cake competitions, where he won on both "Cake Boss" and "Ace of Cakes." He now appears on the WE network's "Amazing Wedding Cakes." Go to letthemeatcake.net for a mind-boggling visual treat. Better still, drop in to the bakery for a cup of coffee, a delicious pastry and an informal tour.
Ever since Russom was a child, he was always drawing, painting and entering art competitions. When he was 9 years old, he began baking.
"In the Midwest, where I grew up, everybody baked," he said.
He studied psychology and history in college but finding his true vocation took him a while. One of his first jobs was working in a factory, stamping out "widgets." That convinced him that he was not cut out for repetitive, boring work.
He always had a creative temperament. Russom got a bit closer to his calling, working for a caterer but, he said, "It was the most work you could possibly do with the exception of working for a moving company."
He and his manager, Marjie Chua, opened their first shop in Newport Beach in 2001 with a leap of faith and almost no capital. He did all the plumbing and electrical work as well as the décor. His concept was to stand out from the pack through meticulous attention to detail, using the highest quality ingredients, no preservatives or chemicals, nothing ever frozen and everything made from scratch.
His artistic nature led him to the decision that he would never repeat any cake twice. He wants to be continually challenged, so every design is unique. He feels that the bride gets a better product because his creativity is always being stimulated.
If a bride-to-be requests a cake of his that she has seen or that she wants him to copy, he will not do it. Every cake is new and based on the bride's "package" of information about her and her wedding, including such things as her dress, her invitations, flowers, reception site and anything else that reveals her tastes.
Together, they discuss her notes and pictures and then he and his team design the cake. The bride is presented with a sketch and then a signed and framed watercolor, before the final decision is made.
Wedding Cake Icing Recipe - News
He teaches design and sculpting with white chocolate and fondant, as well as how to bake without recipes. We saw icing sculptures from simple Santa's to elaborate dragons and our favorite, a bouquet of exquisite flowers that we could hardly believe
Next time, I may try to glaze the top, or use the Royal Icing recipe from the Royal Wedding Fruit Cake. Needless to say, it comes highly recommended. Do you have a great recipe you and your family love? We'd love to try it! Send in your recipe on our
STATEN ISLAND, NY — No request is too big or elaborate for custom cake artist Nicole DeRosa, 25. She once worked with a bride in Brooklyn who ordered a four-tier wedding cake — decorated with three dozen cascading yellow calla lilies — to feed 250
"To see the reaction on people's faces, sometimes they don't have any words," Conklin said. Since that first cake, she has done nearly two dozen from wedding cakes to toddlers' birthdays. Her cakes are often vibrant and fun. And delicious.
In May, Harry entered a cake-decorating competition hosted by the Contra Costa County Cake and Sugar Arts Society. He won the judges over with his three-tiered wedding cake with handmade gum paste magnolias and brought home the blue ribbon for teens
Selecting Wedding Cake Recipes | Wedding Cake
Have you ever considered wedding cake recipes? After all, most men and women do not put a lot thought into the cake that is meant to be eaten, and instead focus mostly on the exterior design of the cake instead. The reason that the recipe for a cake constantly matters, however, has a lot to do with the taste of the cake and the fact that it has to be able to hold up under the demands of the frosting. This is particularly true where a wedding cake is concerned because it typically has layers and tons of decorative work.
So, how can a baker go about selecting the appropriate recipes? It all begins with the essential design of the cake in question. Will the cake have to survive being stacked up in quite a few tiers and layers? Will it be frosted with a extremely heavy icing, such as a rolled fondant? What flavors will the bride and groom prefer? All of these elements are essential in deciding on the appropriate recipes for the cake and icing, and it is frequently fairly challenging to make these decisions since it is hard to know which factor is the priority.
First of all, it is important to often keep in mind that the cake is meant to be an enjoyable and delicious dessert, and this means that the baker must encourage the couple to select their cake based solely on this factor. It is tempting to make the cake a lot more of a display than a food item, but that is missing the point. Picking the flavors and textures must be the crucial issue, and only then ought to they move on to a discussion about the design.
At that point the couple will be told about the cake decorator’s personal preferences in icing or frosting in order to aid them recognize if there are any limitations due to their flavor choices.
What does that mean? Well, if a couple opts for a quite delicate white cake, this may possibly be unable to hold up under the weight of a heavy, rolled fondant frosting. The couple might have to pick a diverse sort of decorative theme if they actually want a really delicate cake with their decorator’s conventional look or style.
The next thing that has to be considered is the general structure of the cake as well. Most wedding cakes are going to be put into tiers; and though these may possibly be round, rectangular, or square, they will still require to be able to withstand the pressures of this scenario. A great baker can usually make nearly any sort of cake a tiered cake, but the assembly process can grow to be particularly challenging when a cake struggles under the weight of icing and of the manipulation necessary for stacking up cakes.
Wedding Cake Icing Recipe - Bookshelf
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Very Easy! Add a little more water to ice the cake and a little less to make the decorations!
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