Cake Reality TV...friend or foe?

I know what you are all thinking...that this is going to be a rant about how Buddy and Duff are famous cake decorators on TV and I am not. I may be a little green with Envy but it I think they are both incredibly talented and I have to say good for them for making a name for themselves. In this business it is an extremely difficult thing to do. Yes... there are things that that both chefs do that I'm not crazy about, but if we were all alike the world would be a very boring place.

All about Editing:

Sometimes on these shows they make everything seem like a cakewalk. Like every bakery has fondant sheeter . Why do you think I have such great upper body strength from rolling it out myself. Suddenly they layout the fondant on the cake and abracadabra there is beautiful 6 tier masterpiece before your eyes...they don't always show you all the people in between. In reality most small bakeries do not have a team of artists at their beckon call.
Another editing example on cake boss they show a customer coming in for a cake consultation (that they charge $100 for, they don't mention that on TV) and 2 seconds later they are making the cake and it is out the door all within one episode. I believe for the general public this is showing a very false sense of what is really going on: At Carlo's Bakery for a "custom" or wedding cake consultation you must book that appointment 3-4 weeks in advance and your cake should be ordered 6-8 months in advance. This method is perfectly acceptable and I wish my customers would abide by this general rule. Seeing this series of events and with no explanation of the process, it leads people to believe they can just show up at a bakery without and appointment and expect samples and a consultation the second they walk in the door.


I have an excellent story as an example for this topic, this happened to me about three months ago. A customer called me on a Wednesday asking me to make them Mickey Mouse Head sculpture for that Saturday. As much as I would love to say yes to something like this I can't...I went to pastry school not art school. Even if I felt like I had the chops to do it...It was way too short of a notice for me to make it work. So I offered what we call a Mickey Mouse Face cake and she was fine with that idea. I made the cake and I was very happy with it, I thought it was super cute. Well I happened to be in the front of the store when the cake got picked up...by some guy about my age (not the woman who called me) and I asked him if he liked it. He looks at me and says..."it is no Charm City Cake but it will do" and walks out the door. Well let me tell you I cried in the back room for the rest of my shift. I put a lot of effort into my cakes and I realize he was just being ignorant and he does not know the hard work that gets put into even a simple cake.

Anyway back to reality TV editing I realize a lot of these shows do crazy things just to get people to watch. Like Buddy dumping a bag of flour all over a co-worker from a second story window or Duff making his cake's light up and blow up all for the sake of television. I guess if it wasn't interesting or exciting people wouldn't watch. I feel sometimes all this stuff makes the general public think that it isn't a serious profession when you can goof off all day making cakes, which is not the case at all.


On Occasion they show cake disasters (not sure if they are staged or not) and I think that is a good thing...because I think people need to see that things can go wrong. Sometimes these cakes are so outrageous I can't see how they can be structurally sound and then they go toppling to the ground. In my opinion you can only push a cake so far.


STICKER SHOCK!!!
These shows give no hint as to how much these cakes actually cost! Brace yourselves now...because I know when I give our customers prices on "custom" cakes I see it all over their faces or hear it in their voices. I honestly feel that our prices are extremely reasonable. I do everything I can to work with people on a budget offering them a variety of different options to make cakes more affordable. I know of many local bakeries that do not do this, they have their set prices and don't offer cheaper alternatives to customers.

Carlo's Bakery straight from their website "Any specialty cake is priced per person; basic butter cream cakes start at $8.00 per person and go up from there. A good rule of thumb is to look at cakes that are featured in any magazines or publications; they are usually priced in the $12.00 to $18.00 range per person. The more elaborate, intricate, and time consuming the cake is, the greater price range you will be looking at."

Charm City Cakes straight from their website "Because all of our cakes are priced individually by the complexity of their design, we do not have a standard price list. Due to the care we give to each cake and the one-of-a-kind nature of each order, we require a minimum of $1000 on all of our cakes.



Structuring and Cake Supports

A lot of people get on Duff's case for using pipes, wiring and rice cereal treats etc. What I think people need to realize is that some of these cake requests are so insane that yes these things are needed. I don't think they need to use rice cereal as much as they do at times...but they need to use the method that works best for them. I mean let's face it some of these customers want cakes that are replicas of buildings, animals, motorcycles and the list goes on. I have said in previous blogs I like a cake that resembles a real cake maybe with edible fondant or gum paste touches of the theme. That isn't to say I'm not totally blown away the cakes that they make, like Duff's replica of Hogwarts Castle! As a huge Harry Potter fan I can't help but love that cake even if most of it is made of rice cereal treats.

Conclusion
In recent news Duff's show on food network Ace of Cakes has been canceled, and food network is in the works with him to develop a new show. The Cake Boss is growing... Buddy is even developing a new show called "The Next Great Baker". All I can say in regards to this is that I hope they pick someone with legit talent and not just an over the top personality. Buddy and Duff are all television producers dream in that aspect, since they both have over the top personalities are very talented. When I look at the big picture I'm going to say it is mixed bag of feelings but overall I think these shows are more friend than foe. I enjoy learning new techniques from them and the popularity of these shows brings in customers who are willing to try out a new fun design.

Thanks for reading & Sweet Regards,

Carol

Florida top 3!

Florida top 3!
So Jared & I went to Florida for our first vacation in 3 years and we had an amazing time! We ate a lot of excellent food on this trip so I’m going just go over my top 3 meals. First I have start out with Columbia Restaurant in Sarasota in St. Armand’s Circle. I got the half Cuban sandwich and the half Columbia’s Original “1905” Salad…okay the sandwich was good…but that salad was out of this world good! I’m pretty picky when it comes to my salads…hands down this is the best salad you will ever eat! Here is the description on the menu: The Columbia's legendary salad tossed at your table. Crisp iceberg lettuce with julienne of baked ham, natural Swiss cheese, tomato, olives, grated Romano cheese and our famous garlic dressing (our 100 year old family recipe of fresh garlic, oregano, wine vinegar and Spanish extra virgin olive oil).
This salad is a show in itself since they do it table side, here I am resisting in a restaurant not to whip out my camera and video tape I was so excited! I regret to say I did not get a photo of this delicious garlicky, crunchy, fresh, splash of acidity amazing salad…I hope I’m not going to overboard with the salad but it was THAT good…so go now to Sarasota and get one…I wish I could!

We stayed in a wonderful hotel called the Loews Royal Pacific and in that hotel is Emeril’s new restaurant called Tchoup Chop (chop chop). Let me say how beautiful the ambiance is, the lights are dimmed but have shimmering stained glass-like flower chandeliers hanging all over the room. In the middle of the restaurant stretches a large Koi fish pond…I couldn’t tell you if there were real fish swimming around I wasn’t quite close enough. It looks so beautiful I thought it couldn’t be real; the colors all around the room were so saturated, warm, romantic and still cozy. Anyway on to the food…after all that’s why we are here! We ordered an appetizer of the: Steamed Pork & Asian Vegetable Dumplings served with Sake Soy Sauce. I’m a huge fan of steamed dumplings I order them at every Asian/fusion restaurant who has them. These dumplings were tender not too doughy the filling was meaty without being heavy, the dipping sauce was like pure rich soy sauce reduction pure Umami.

For a few years now I wondered…what does Umami taste like? I had seen commercials with this new word and even watched a whole Iron Chef battle with Umami as the secret ingredient and I still couldn’t think of a time where I had ever tasted something this complex. After I took a bite of this dish it just clicked…rich, savory, earthy and meaty… Amazing! Jared who isn’t much of an appetizer person loved them too. For my main course I ordered the: Mongolian Barbeque Grilled Pork Tenderloin Caramelized Sweet Onion-Orange Confit, Stir Fried Lomein Noodles. The pork was perfectly cooked tender and juicy; the Lomein sauce had a molasses depth but still had a refreshing zing from the onion-orange Confit. Let’s just say I was too full for dessert and with the help of a large “Dwight Schrute” glass of wine I was feeling quite content.

The last meal I will describe came from the Emeril’s restaurant in City Walk. We opted to do lunch instead of an expensive dinner. They started us with some delicious sweet potato rolls unfortunately Jared was unable to enjoy because they contained lactose, but they were very accommodating in finding things he could eat. They made up traditional shrimp cocktail for him even though it wasn’t listed on their menu and he ordered turkey burger with homemade guacamole. I didn’t get to try the turkey burger he said was very tasty and had a sausage type flavor. My first dish was the Burrata Mozzarella & Kumato Tomato Stack Micro Basil, Aged Balsamic and Herb Vinaigrette. The creamy Mozzarella ball rested on a bed of the freshest tomatoes I have ever tasted. The balsamic vinegar brought out the acidity and was finished with the fruitiness of the olive oil and the micro basil. Next I had the New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp Served with Petite Rosemary Biscuit. The Shrimp was perfectly cooked with a hint of smokiness in the background and served in a creamy, savory barbecue sauce possibly a mustard base, (not your typical sweet sticky barbecue sauce.) I ended my meal with chocolate gelato it was made with a dark chocolate so it wasn’t overly sweet. Jared ended his meal with the banana sorbet; the dairy wasn’t missed because the bananas gave the sorbet a creamy texture. I ate a lot of lovely meals on my trip but those were my top 3. As you can probably tell my favorite part about vacation besides relaxing is the anticipation of where my next meal will be and then I revel in it.

~Sweet & Savory Regards
Carol