European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Having your cake and not eating it Salt k i Collette Peters with a cake in the shape of an upholstered chair. The lamp is made of sugar. By Mary Macvean the associated press out of Collette Peters Kitchen come a Cactus whose Needles won t make you bleed. A brain that does bleed. A boxed sweater made without a single thread. And a cushy chair not made for sitting. All in cake. Unlikely and wonderful cakes. They Are 3-d cakes of a wild imagination having foot surgery How about a cast shaped cake that your friends sign in icing. Giving a birthday party for your psychiatrist wife perhaps you la want that brain cake that actually oozes red Raspberry blood when sliced. Peters trained As a Painter but has loved decorated cakes since childhood when her aunt turned out a Lamb shaped cake every easter. Still How does one move from relatively conventional easter lambs to a Cactus with Royal icing Needles buttercream leaves and chocolate cookie dirt in the pot Quot i thought a what s the most in cake like thing something with spikes on it something that s funny rather than just a Plant Quot Peters says. She talked about her Art at the chocolate gallery a Manhattan shop where she teaches and where she sat surrounded by hundreds of icing Flowers and leaves models of her cakes and the tools it takes to produce them. The sky so far at least is her limit. Gravity it seems has kept her from figuring out a satisfactory hot air balloon cake. Which to be fair Hasni to really gotten in her Way. She bakes As few As two cakes or As Many As 10 a week. Quot i never get tired of it a a she says. Quot it Quot being the inventing and decorating not the actual cake. Quot i used to be More inspired by the taste of cake Quot she says. Quot i still like cake but you get tired of it after a Peters does t bake erotic cakes and she tries to dissuade people from Tacky concepts or tasteless designs. But she rarely turns away work. Quot there be been a lot of sleepless nights Quot she says. Quot last night As a matter of fact Quot the following morning things did not appear much improved. A snapshot arrived via overnight mail of a House covered with lattice and balconies and porches. The client wanted it in cake three dimensional and in just four Days. Quot it was t that hard. Yeah it was hard Quot Peters says. Quot houses Are hard. You have to really figure out the proportions. You have to almost do a blueprint. You have to figure All the windows and the doors and the roof has to be at the right Peters studied at the Rhode Island school of design and in fact still paints. She has a masters of Fine arts in painting but when it came time for her undergraduate project she baked a cake she now Calls Quot really the icing was White and the Batter was dyed Rainbow colors. It was 1971. Quot i was Young Quot she says. After school Peters was hired to design China for Tiffany amp co. And baked cakes for friends. A Tiffany vice president put one of her cakes in a Magazine photograph and her ovens have been stoked Ever since. Nearly two decades later Peters is sharing her expertise in Colette s cakes Little Brown and co. Colette s cakes is a decorating Book recipes take up just 5 /2 pages of 163 it provides technical information about gum paste poinsettias and petunias. Quick and easy ideas to dress up your desserts by Teresa s. Johnson Cox news service you Don t have to be a professional cake decorator to produce Beautiful desserts you just have to know some of the tucks of the Trade a demonstration at the International food Media conference in Dallas proved this at a Long table tilled with cakes of Duncan Hines showed How Plain cakes can be turned into fancy treats with a few simple decorating techniques for instance chocolate curls added a touch of elegance to a chocolate cake pineapple titbits and pecans garnished squares of Carrot cake and mandarin Orange slices on tops of dollops of whipped Cream provided the finishing touch for an Orange Flavoured cheesecake Quot surveys show at Home entertaining is increasing Quot said Susan Waltman manager of product development for Duncan Hines Quot because of this people Are More interested in producing desserts they can be proud at the same time however today s Consumers Don t have As much time to spend in the Kitchen Waltman said so they Are looking for Quick and easy ideas Fiat yield pretty results following Are ideas on decorative touches that can turn a Plain cake into an Eye pleasing dessert a chocolate oils Aie an elegant decorating tool. To make them slice across a Square of chocolate with a Sharp vegetable Peeler. Depending on the Type of cake you Are decorating you can use a Square of dark milk or White chocolate. A to add interest and color to Ivory coloured Cream cheese frosting typically used on Carrot cake Sprinkle with grated Carrot or score the cake into serving pieces and Garnish each piece with two Pecan halves and a pineapple Titbit. A if you Don t want to Frost a cake but still would like visual interest try decorating the top s outer Edge with dollops of whipped Cream placing a piece of fruit in the Middle of each Dollop choose colourful fruit such As drained mandarin Orange slices slices of Strawberry whole Small berries such As raspberries or slices of Kiwi fruit if you Don t have the fruit on hand just a dusting of cinnamon or Nutmeg will add a special touch to the whipped Cream dollops a thin slices of Orange or Lemon can be used Tor decoration with Peel intact thinly slice fruit. Make one Cut Halfway through each slice and twist the slice into an Quot a Quot shape. These can be placed on top of the cake or around the Bottom of a bundt cake. A sprig of mint in the Middle of each slice also adds a Nice touch. A from the above two tips you can see that fruit is a popular decorating tool. Give whole strawberries four or five Lengthwise slices to just below the Cap then fan out for a pretty Garnish. Peach slices can be used for form a pm wheel shape. Maraschino cherries halved or whole add a Bright touch of red or for Green try slices or chunks of Kiwi fruit. A Many trendy restaurants have begun serving sauce under items instead of poured Over them and this can be done with desserts As Well for example a pretty dessert can be created by pouring sweetened Raspbe Puree into a serving plate placing a slice of chocolate cake with White icing in the Middle of the Puree then garnishing with a Tew whole Raspen a dress up a cake by creating extra and ribbons and bows. She explains How to build the pieces for 34 cakes including a few romantic Flower bedecked wedding cakes. But what s remarkable Are the cakes that make you laugh or make you wonder How she Ever could have made them. You want realism the Basket of Popcorn sitting on a red White and Blue Woven place mat is All cake and icing. The kernels according to the directions Are a simple matter of making random Mounds of buttercream in different sizes. Sure. A sweetheart with a Sweet tooth would be smitten by the sweater hand knitted Quot in frosting squiggles even the Box is edible. Cake furniture Peters has built several pieces including the striped easy chair that a makes you want to pick up the open Book gum paste sitting on it and Nestle in for a Good read under the floor lamp folded sugar standing nearby. Now you can try these yourself or you can Call Peters. The top of her line runs $4,000, Quot and i m not even the most expensive Quot she says. Quot i know people who charge $10,000 a maybe it feeds 500 people maybe its covered with Flowers maybe it s the Manhattan she delivers too. In fact she usually insists on it. Understandable. Twice in the past husbands picked up cakes and deposited them on the Back seats of cars. Twice the husbands slammed on the brakes and the cakes flew like the mannequins in those seat Belt ads. Twice Peters got frantic hostess phone Calls. The party starts in a hour. What can be done to reverse the damage layers. By creating four layers from a cake made in two round cake pans you can add extra frosting or Experiment with different fillings such As those using pudding or whipped Cream. Spread the fillings Between the layers but not around the outside so the layers Are left visible. To slice layers in half evenly Mark the layer s midpoint with toothpicks around the sides of the cake then Cut in half using the toothpicks As a cutting guide. A Candy pieces can add flavor color and crunch to dessert toppings especially those for children. Multicoloured Candy sprinkles Jelly Beans and Candy coated chocolate nuts or Peanut butter candies Are Good t Oices As Are chocolate or i the scotch chips. A for decorating make your own a orator s tube by cutting off one Ner from a Small zip lock plastic bag the bag with about i cup of frosting Ted chocolate or fruit Puree and Seal Quot a Fop use to drizzle frosting onto cake decorative patterns slip overlapping strips of foil under the edges of the cake to protect the serving plate. Spoon icing on the Bottom cake layer. Push a done to pull a icing to prevent pulling up crumbs. Smooth frosting to the edges with a flexible narrow stainless steel pastry or icing Spatula. Position the top layer Over the Bottom right Side up so that the two Flat sides Are together. A spread frosting around the sides beginning at the lower Edge and pushing up toward the top layer. Spoon remaining frosting onto the top and finish by smoothing or leaving it textured or swirled. Turning the task of frosting into a piece of cake by Joan Drake los Angeles times the word Quot frosting Quot has come to be used interchangeably for All types of cake decoration. By the strictest definition however frostings Are Sweet mixtures that Are thick enough to spread in a thin layer but that still hold their shape or texture icings Are thinner and shinier than frostings yet Are still capable of holding a shape. Glazes Are More liquid and Are poured or brushed Over a cake there Are countless ways to decorate cakes but the typical american layer cake has a rounded top and a simple complementary frosting this covering not Only adds Eye Appeal and flavor to shortened cakes it also provides a protective coating that helps maintain the cakes moistness before beginning to Frost the cake layers trim away any ragged edges with a pair of scissors if the top or sides Are uneven they also May be trimmed Loose crumbs should be brushed away so they Don t get mixed into the frosting if the surface is still rough it May be coated with a very thin layer of frosting that has been diluted with milk this layer should be allowed to dry about 10 minutes at room temperature or be chilled place the Bottom cake layer upside Down in the Center of a Pedestal or serving plate slip overlapping strips of foil Wax paper or Parchment about Throe inches wide under the edges of the cake to protect the plate spoon one Quarter to one third of the frosting onto this layer and smooth to the edges with a Spatula pushing tie frosting rather than pulling or dragging it with tie Spatula prevents pulling up crumbs flexible narrow stainless steel pastry or spatula1are available in a variety of lengths choose the Sie most comfortable for you to work with position the top layer Over tie Bottom right Side up so tie two Flat sides face together tie sides of the Sake of course should be straight and even spread frosting around tie sides of the cuke beginning at tie lower Edge and pushing it up toward the top spoon it 10 remainder of the frosting onto tie lop and it Date it a smooth it or leave it textured or swirled after tie frosting has set carefully remove Hie foil by gently lifting the cake with a Small pastry a a sult should be a be ,1. Ike1 end clean Hale strips the Page 14 the stars and stripes Friday. Jar iry 24, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 15 los Angeles times 6
