People ask me all the time: “What does it take to get good at making cakes?”.  The answer came to me this week as I ran my first 8-mile training run for my first half marathon:  ENDURANCE.  As with any craft, learning to decorate a cake well takes repetition over a long period of time.  But what defines this period and  when does one practice one’s craft?  Before work?  After work?  During work?  While getting ready for work?  On the weekends?  The answer seems obvious: all the time…and forever.  I personally practice every moment I can and find ways to learn ways to improve my craft regularly.

Back to my running analogy.  I have never been a runner.  While I used to be an avid distance cyclist, I quickly learned that running uses a whole different set of muscles than biking.  And it requires an enormous amount of mental stamina in order to avoid boredom or talk yourself into stopping short of the day’s target distance.  My coach (and I use the term loosely since we meet so irregularly), at our first running meeting, gave me a battery of exercises to do while I am not running.  Some of these exercises simulate running while others train tiny muscles in your ankles or strengthen your hips to help improve the next run…and avoid injury.  I find myself thinking about running all of the time now.  This is exactly how it should be for the novice cake decorator. 

Carry a sketch pad.  Jot down ideas of techniques you’d like to try.  Carry a camera.  Take photographs of shop windows with a particular pattern or color palette that strikes you and later translate it into a cake design.  These aesthetic exercises are akin to the runner’s “non-running” exercises that will help you develop your craft even when you are not standing in front of a cake.

When you are standing in front of a cake, practice.  Practice techniques you’ve done only once or even a thousand times.  When you do something for the first time it often feels a bit clumsy.  The second and third attempts build your comfort level.  The fourth and fifth create familiarity…perhaps by the hundredth you will have that eureka moment and “get it”. 

The bottom line is that there is no magic period of time by which anyone will “get good” at decorating a cake.  We all have affinities for certain things and struggle with others.  There is truth in the old adage “practice makes perfect”.  So to all of you new cake decorators out there: keep practicing.  And I’ll keep running.

Do you like bread?  I do too.  When I travel internationally, I always check out the bread.  One of the breads that I discovered on my recent visit to Turkey is called Gevrekci.  It is basically a ring of bread covered in sesame seeds.  One of the unique things about this particular bread is that it is sold by street vendors all over Izmir and typically enjoyed in the morning.

On my last day in Turkey, I decided to explore Izmir’s Kemeralti Bazaar.  Kemeralti is Izmir’s tiny version of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.  Although tiny in relation to The Grand Bazaar, this maze of shops and wandering vendors can become a labrynth in which you lose your bearings.  On a mission to find a scarf for my sister, I decided to explore the bazaar.  Since I would be flying back to the States via Istanbul early the following morning I decided to leave all important documents and valuables in the hotel safe and headed out armed with just my camera and a pair of sunglasses.

Along the 15-minute route from my hotel to the bazaar, I snapped photos of some of the city’s landmark’s:  The Konak Yali Mosque, The landmark clock tower of Izmir, and a Gevrekci stand.  I had been capturing shots of the various street vendors throughout the city whenever I had an opportunity and found the perfect shot of one of the omnipresent bread stands.  I snapped the photo, put my camera back into my pocket, took a few steps, and was abruptly flanked by two men who started asking me where I was from in Turkish-accented English.  Having been primed by my Turkish colleagues the night before, I replied that I was from France, complete with French accent.  My friends in Izmir suggested that I may have a more enjoyable time at the bazaar if I were to pass as a European, partly since few Turks speak French so it would be easy to extricate myself from a conversation in which a pushy vendor might be trying to unload unwanted wares on me.  It became quickly evident that this was a bad time to be pretending anything…the two men immediately produced police badges and began asking for my passport.  Of course, my passport was (foolishly) safely tucked in the hotel room safe.  After a few more minutes of questioning I was quickly ushered into a police car that had quietly appeared behind me.  Now I was scared.  Not understanding WHY I was being asked to get into the car, I was reluctant to do so.  The alternative of dodging the two armed men in the midst of the bazaar was no more appealing, so in I went. 

The two men (different from the two original ones who stopped me on the street) asked me where I was from.  I decided this was no time for stories, so I said “The United States”.  They also asked for my passport, which I couldn’t produce.  They then wanted to know what my problem was.  I explained that I had been taking pictures when I was stopped by the other two guys.  Then the car started to move.  We were now driving into the bazaar.  The car was moving at a snail’s pace surrounded by throngs of people.  We had driven too far, but had made several turns, before the car came to a stop and I was invited to exit the vehicle.  I was greeted by the two original guys who were then joined by the two drivers and a fifth man who formed a circle around me.  As they all spoke in rapid Turkish to one another I discerned that we were at least standing in front of a police station and not some unmarked hole-in-the-wall building in which I would disappear forever.  This did little to calm my nerves though since I still didn’t understand why I was suddenly the subject of a police interrogation.

Now it became clear that they were all interested in the photos that I had been taking.  So I produced the camera and began scrolling through the images.  They kept going back to the shot of the bread guy.  I found it so strange.  Then they started asking me questions about whether I’d heard about the most recent bombing in Istanbul.  Of course I had; I was just in Istanbul a few days prior to judge a cake contest.  This did not help my case.  Now the questions about why I had photographed this particular bread stand became more insistent.  They pointed out a man in the background who turned out to be an Interpol agent.  They mistakenly believed that he was the subject of my photo and that I was making him (and the landmarks I had photographed) the target of another bomb attack!  Me!  A cake designer from Chicago.  I think by this time I looked so panicked that they realized that there was no way I could be involved in something like this.  So, after 20 minutes of questioning, I was released.  With the instruction to be careful of whom I photographed while in Turkey.  Suffice it to say that the gevrekci photo you are looking at now represents the last photo I shot on this trip.

On this visit to the bazaar I was reminded of an important travel tip: always carry your passport.  Had I had it, this entire episode may have been cut short.  My visit to Kemeralti will be burned in my mind…forever.

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Turkey for a product development project for Turkey’s largest bakery franchise company, Ozsut.  While Turkey has never been at the very top of my “places to go” list, I found myself excited at the prospect when the opportunity arose.  The journey itself was the longest I have made in a single flight to get to a work destination–15 hours door to door.  I flew from Chicago directly to Istanbul then switched flights to continue on to Izmir, where I would spend the bulk of the next two weeks. 

The team with whom I worked most directly comprised 4 people, 3 Turkish-speaking chefs and one English-speaking production manager, Sena.  Sena was able to help facilitate communication among us most of the time.  During the brief periods where she would be called away to tend to other matters, communication became a game of charades mixed with the few Turkish words and phrases that I had picked up.  I can now at least list off 90% of the ingredients required for most cakes and icings without thinking.  Now if I can just learn how to order food in a restaurant, I will be all set!

The purpose of my work was to help develop some new flavor profiles and products for Ozsut’s cake line, which will be launched this Fall.  The first challenge was taking American-style products and modifying them to fit the Turkish palate; then we had to tweak the formulas to allow for differences in ingredients available in Turkey.    All in all the project was a great success and I am looking forward to many more visits to Turkey where I will continue to work with Ozsut on future projects.

While I was in Turkey, the “Cows on Parade” project came to Izmir.  Imagine my surprise to see something so Chicago on the streets of Izmir.  Ozsut even sponsored two cows, one of which is pictured here.

As you might imagine, some of the foods that I encountered were a bit different from what we consider staples in the States.  One that I enjoyed immensely is called “kokorec” (pronounced coco-wretch).  Kokorec is a plate of barbequed sheep intestines served with hot peppers and tomatoes.  I admit that I was a bit reluctant to try the kokorec as the description conjured up visions of a squishy mass with an unpleasant texture.  I couldn’t be more wrong.  The kokorec was served as a sandwich and was bursting with amazing flavor.  Adnan, the technical director at Ozsut and my primary contact there, took me to what he considered to be the place for the best (and cleanest) kokorec.  Adnan was always extremely conscientious in ensuring that I ate nothing that would make me sick during my visit to Turkey.  So, on that note, for every street food that intrigued me, he took it upon himself to find a reputable restauranteur who offered that food where I could sample it without fear.

One of the most memorable meals that I enjoyed in Izmir was at the fish market.  Adnan took me to an open-air market where we selected our fish of choice, sea bass and shrimp.  The fish were no more than 3 hours old, on ice, and sent directly to one of the restaurants behind the market where the chef prepared the fish to our liking.  I enjoyed lots of fresh fish during my stay in Turkey, but eating such a fresh catch sitting on the edge of the Aegean was nirvana.

Enjoy these photos from my recent visit…and tune in next time for stories about the cake show I judged in Istanbul and my visit to the bazaar!

Although I am by no means a hockey fan, the project was of interest to me just from the perspective of how it would be achieved.  My small role was to come up with a technique using gum paste to adorn two life-size hockey sticks (made of chocolate) with what I am calling “gauzey tape stuff” that provides friction for the player to grasp the stick as well as an area with which the puck comes in contact.  Sounds easy enough, but upon close inspection of the hockey stick model provided to me, I discovered that the “gauzey tape stuff” is textured. 

Fortunately for me, the School’s supply of textured rolling pins included one that would create just the right effect for the gauze.  I started by passing my paste through the KitchenAid pasta attachment in order to achieve a perfectly consistent thickness in the paste.  Then, applying consistent, even pressure, I added the textured effect to the paste with the selected pin.  With my omnipresent ribbon cutter, I rolled through the paste to cut an even-width strip comparable to the width of the actual “gauze” on the stick.  As I rolled this strip up, I brushed off the excess powdered sugar from the back side then was ready to attach it to the stick.

Using egg white as my glue, I started on what would be the back side of the stick and steadily unrolled the gum paste strip, overlapping just enough to create the look of tape.  The finished result was exactly what I had hoped for.  This little one-hour task was but a tiny part in a wonderful project in honor of a winning team. 

If you would like to learn more about how to create decorative finishes to showpieces or cakes, visit the French Pastry School’s web site for more information about its new L’Art du Gateau program which launches August 30, 2010.

I arrived at O’Hare with cake in hand and proceeded directly to an agent to check in, bypassing the self-service kiosks.  Having labeled the cake box with fantastic “Wedding Cake” labels, the agent began asking excited questions.  I figured that if everyone believed I was carrying a wedding cake instead of a simple birthday cake, more care would be given to the handling of the cake.  As soon as the agent realized that I had planned to take the cake on board with me, she insisted that I would have problems at TSA.  I assured her that I had already checked it out with a TSA agent in person at O’Hare on a previous flight as well as by phone with the airline and wasn’t too worried.  Just to satisfy her own concerns, she walked me and the cake over to the security area, cake in hand, to inquire about any special handling required.  The TSA agent she asked saw no issue, so we returned to the ticket counter to complete my check-in.  Still concerned that I would have problems with security, the ticket agent escorted me back to security, passing through the same line where she had gotten the thumbs up a few minutes prior and waited–partly to make sure I made it through, and partly in the hopes that TSA would make me open the box so she could see the cake.  No such luck for her.  I whizzed right through as though I had no luggage while agents feverishly searched an elderly woman with a container of yogurt in front of me.

Once on the plane, I placed the cake on the floor under the seat in front of me so I could keep an eye on it.  It was a little wider than my allotted area, but there seemed to be no one in the seat next to me…until about 2 minutes before our scheduled departure time.  At that point, I needed to find a better spot for the cake.  I asked one of the flight attendants if there was any way to find a safe spot somewhere on the plane for it.  Thanks to the wedding cake label, he was more than happy to try to accommodate my request.  Miraculously, he did find a compartment that was essentially the same size as the cake box, so my “wedding cake” could ride in peaceful solitude all the way to France.  He labeled the outside of the compartment “Wedding Cake: DO NOT TOUCH” and taped the door shut. 

Once I arrived in Paris, I was starting to wonder whether the passport control agent or the customs agent would give me any grief over the unusual box.  Not even a glance.  I was through passport control, collected my luggage and past customs in a matter of minutes.  As I started the long trek from the arrival gate to the RER gate to catch the train into the City, I quickly realized that there was no way that I would easily be able to manage the cake box (which seemed to be getting heavier with every step) along with all of my luggage (which contained everything I needed for the next two weeks along with the fragile sugar flowers for the wedding, I mean birthday, cake) alone on the train.  Well, on the train would be no problem.  It was the stairs and turnstyles that were beginning to make me nervous.  So, I decided to opt for a taxi to get from the airport to a friend’s apartment near the Bastille where I would spend the night before catching my train to Lille.  While convenient in terms of not having to maneuver the turnstyles or stairs of the train, or navigate the change from the RER to the Metro at the Gare du Nord, the taxi ride took nearly two hours due to the ridiculous traffic in Paris that day. 

I had forwarned my gracious host about the girth of the cake box I would be storing at his place so he had cleared out an entire shelf in his little refrigerator for it where it spent the night.  Having heard about my sugar flowers on many occasions but never seeing one in real life, Xavier wanted to see the ones that were packed away in my luggage.  I opened both boxes of gum paste orchids only to discover that one box had been packed a bit too loosely and had sustained some casualties.  Par for the course with something so fragile, but disheartening nonetheless. 

The following morning, feeling rested and wary of another too-long taxi experience, I headed to the Metro with cake and luggage in hand.  I made the trip down the stairs in two trips, wedged my way through the turnstyle and got my way to the Gare du Nord where I would catch my train to Lille.  The trip to Lille was a simple one, about two hours.  About 90 minutes into the trip, my phone rang with a text message from Stephane, the other friend who would be picking me up at the train station in Lille.  The message indicated that he was stuck in traffic and could nto get to the train station, that his father would be coming instead.  Having never met Stephane’s father, I had no idea how this would go down.

As I was getting off the train in Lille, my phone buzzed again.  Once I made it off the train and found a spot to set the cake down, I looked at the call log to see that the call I had just missed was from a “mystery number”.  It was a cell phone number from France, so I assumed it must be my ride.  I dialed the number back, reaching Stephane’s father.  He told me that he had just dropped his wife off at the train station to find me…that I should exit the train station, find the fountain out front, and look for a 60 year-old woman wearing a brown jacket.  Do you have any idea how many 60 year-old women wearing brown jackets there are in front of train stations in Lille?  More than one.  Fortunately for me, she was on the lookout for a guy with a giant cake box so I was easily found.

Once in the car, Stephane’s parents explained to me the plan: drive to their place where I would hide in the garage with the cake and await Stephane who would drive me to the party venue in Menen.  Confused about the garage piece I had to ask…turns out that the whole ruse for the surprise party was a dinner at Stephane’s parents.  So, Laurent, the guest of honor, was also on his way to their home.  Obviously he could not arrive to find me there or the surprise would be spoiled.

I was never so glad to see Stephane shortly after arriving at his parents home so the cake and I could escape the confines of the garage and begin the last leg of what was suddenly feeling like a very long journey.

In the end, Laurent was extremely surprised with the party…and everyone loved the cake. 

My travel story provided much conversation and laughter that night.  And a reason for me to never agree again to tote a cake with me on a plane for anyone.

Cake shows provide a medium for learning on many fronts.  Novice Decorators get a glimpse of the myriad skills that they have yet to learn, Master Decorators exchange ideas and learn how to apply advanced techniques in new or unique ways…and the general public learns just how far the world of cake decorating has advanced and they begin to understand that the next cake they order from their local Cake Designer can be so much more than a round cake with piped flowers.

Where Decorators who recycle cakes (that is to show the same display used in a previous show with minor or no adjustments) miss the boat is in this learning cycle.  At the conclusion of each show, the Decorators receive feedback from the Decorators who judged the show.  This critical feedback provides necessary information on areas on which to focus in order to improve one’s craft and skill.  Through the process of creating a new display utitilizing this feedback, the Decorator’s overall workmanship improves.  By competing regularly, the Decorator’s daily production pace improves and general productivity is better. 

Decorators whose primary concern is to bring home a blue ribbon are cheating themselves out of one of the most beneficial elements of the shows: Learning.  Although a cake may place in one show and not another, it does not change the workmanship nor will the Decorator gain any new useful feedback.  Winning a ribbon is certainly a thrill, but is somewhat meaningless if it is won by default. 

If you are a Decorator entering multiple shows, consider using the feedback provided by the judges and your fellow decorators to re-create the same piece.  This will allow you the opportunity to learn, put your knowledge into practice, and truly show your skill.

Throughout the Carnival celebration, there are masked balls, parades, and good food. In New Orleans, as in France, the Epiphany is marked by a party featuring the “Galette des Rois”. The Galette des Rois or almond cake literally translates to Cake of the Kings. This cake, a pithivier, is made of flaky puff pastry filled with a layer of almond cream into which a “feve” (usually a bean or small trinket) is baked. The lucky person who finds the feve in his or her piece of cake becomes the King (or Queen) for the day…and has to host the next Galette des Rois feast party.

In New Orleans, Mardi Gras is an even bigger celebration than France’s Epiphany cake. The New Orleans style (NOLA) King’s Cake is traditionally baked in a ring shape, covered in a flat icing, sometimes filled with fruit or cream cheese, and always decorated in the official Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold, and green. These colors have represented justice, power, and faith respectively, since 1892.

So take advantage of this built-in mid-week holiday (yes, it is an official holiday in Louisiana) and celebrate with either a traditional French pithivier or a NOLA king’s cake. You’ll be glad you did.

In 1963, Lawrence Herbert, , the founder of Pantone, created an innovative system for identifying, matching and communicating colors. His idea that the color spectrum is interpreted differently by each individual led to the innovation of the PANTONE® MATCHING SYSTEM® (PMS).  You, no doubt, have see this book of standardized colors (nearly 2,000 of them) in fan format.  Since its inception, PMS has since expanded its color matching system concept to other industries in which color is critical, including fashion which directly then influences the cake world.

Cake decorators in the know often turn directly to the PMS color reports to get a handle on what color schemes will be popular in upcoming seasons or years in order to plan new designs for wedding and party cakes. For example, Spring 2010 will bring splashes of sunshine to the fashion world, so expect to see cakes with turquoise-based color palettes; turquoise is a color that evokes tranquility and escape–perfect for destination weddings. Violet’s purplish hue lends itself to romance and will figure largely in Spring fashion. In cake it will translate to sugar violets as side designs, color bases for bows, and linens for table scaping.  Other colors to be on the lookout for in cakes in 2010 are pink champagne and coral.

Pantone color reports do more than simplify identify color trends though…colors are explained.  In reading the reports, a better understanding of how certain colors correspond to different types of events and to various personalities as well as reactions that specific colors tend to evoke can be grasped.  This level of understanding can help a cake decorator develop a broader sense of style vis-a-vis colors and be better suited to guide his/her client through the cake selection & design process.

If this is your first time hearing about color reports, read one.  It is just like learning a new word that suddendly everyone around you is using.  Read the report and watch the whole world glow.

While my friend was not intimidated by the array of choices, he had no idea where to begin.   Today’s chocolate bar labeling bears much more information than the manufacturer’s name, so it is important to understand a few key components of the label.  Just remember that choosing a chocolate is very much like choosing a wine.  There is, in my mind, no one “good” chocolate for every palate.  Just as one person may enjoy a certain Sauternes while another finds it syrupy, such is the variation in taste perception of chocolate.

First, know whether you are interested in milk or dark chocolate.  The difference is straightforward: milk chocolate is chocolate to which milk or milk solids have been added during the production process.  So it will have a creamier and usually sweeter taste than dark chocolate.

On the label…labels of some purveyors have become increasingly specific about the cocoa content in their chocolate.  While this percentage printed on the label is somewhat helpful in gauging the intensity of the bar, it is not necessarily a clear figure among chocolates from different makers.  This number refers to the total amount of ingredients in the bar derived from the cacao bean, including cocoa butter, cocoa powder and chocolate liquor.  So two 70% bars from two different manufacturers may indeed have very different levels of intensity.  Why?  One of the two “70s” make comprise more cocoa butter and less liquor than the other, thus changing the overall flavor.  The bar’s overall profile will vary greatly also based on the beans used to make the chocolate (more on this in a future post).

The other part of the label that interests me is the ingredient list.  When sugar is the first ingredient listed on the label of what is puported to be a dark chocolate, I usually pass.  Chances are your chocolate craving will not be satisfied by a bar that has more sugar than chocolate in it.  This is why so many of us end up eating multiple bars of chocolate until we feel we’ve actually HAD chocolate.  With so many domestic bars containing only a mere 13-15% actual cocoa, we end up ingesting lots of fat and sugar without the satisfying chocolate indulgence.

I also try to steer clear of chocolates made with artificial ingredients.  Artificial flavors mask the natural flavors of the actual chocolate, thus defeating the purpose of eating the bar to begin with. 

The best way to choose a “good” chocolate is to taste many of them and keep a diary of what you like/don’t like about each.  For each one, follow 4 simple steps:
1.  Smell the chocolate.  A good chocolate should smell chocolatey…not like wax or some artifical chemical.
2.  Break the chocolate.  The chocolate should have a crisp “snap”, not crumbly or dull sound.
3.  Look at the chocolate.  It should not appear grainy and should have a nice shine.
4.  Taste the chocolate.  The chocolate should melt on your tongue and feel smooth. 

After you’ve tasted each chocolate, make note of the flavors that you identify.  Ultimately, did you like it?? Even if a chocolate is popular or is supposed to be “good” it doesn’t mean that it will be pleasing to your palate.  Choose one that is. 

For an opportunity to indulge in a vast array of high-caliber chocolates, attend the annual For the Love of Chocolate event at the French Pastry School at City Colleges of Chicago on Saturday, February 6.  Event details at www.fortheloveofchocolatefoundation.org/events.html.

If you would like to learn more about the history of chocolate in France, please join me at a special presentation at the Culinary Historians of Chicago at Lexington College on Saturday morning, February 20, 2010.  For information about this event, please visit www.culinaryhistorians.org.

Case in point, this past weekend I was one of three judges to consider entries in a Marie-Antoinette themed wedding cake competition in New York City.  At first glance, I was drawn to a particular cake with a certain prominence; I thought “well, this will be an easy task”.  Not so fast.  Upon closer inspection, and conference with the other adjudicators, it was discovered that the work on another cake was a better representation of the theme: the color palette was spot on vis-a-vis Marie-Antoinette and her era, details coincided with Marie-Antoinette’s wardrobe, her Austrian heritage, and French lifestyle.  Some details on the first cake were out of sync with the period.  And as an overall piece, there seemed to be two incongruent styles represented in two portions of the cake that did not work well together.  After comparing each individual element on each cake to the rules the appropriate cake was selected as the higher scoring cake, without diminishing the many merits of the other entries. 

One of the greatest characteristics of a cake show is that it gives all of us a place to learn.  Whether you are a beginning cake decorator learning the basics of what it means to compete, or a professional designer who is looking for ways to take your own designs to the next level, judged shows provide the venue.  For judges the learning comes from conference with other judges whose perspectives and experience bring new light to details in each cake.  I have spent as much as 3 hours discussing and comparing three professional wedding cakes in tough competitions. 

At the conclusion of a competition, I encourage all show competitors and spectators to discuss choices with the adjudicators…not in an attempt to alter the outcome of the show but to simply learn more about the process through which the judges went in order to arrive at their conclusion.  Through such conversation, we all go home with some new ideas, new perspectives, and hopefully new tools to use at the next show.

If you are interested in upcoming competitions/shows, check out:

That Takes the Cake in Austin, TX February 27-28, 2010

National Capital Area Cake Show in Fairfax, VA March 20-21, 2010