How is ‘everything is cake’ made?
Bakers reveal the main ingredient that goes in making these hyper realistic cakes going viral
‘Everything is cake’ is the latest trend to go viral on the Internet. From a tissue roll to beer mug to an eggplant, these cakes look hyper realistic. But ever wondered what goes in the making of such cakes?
“It’s fondant, a dough which is primarily made of sugar. Stabilising agents are added to make it elastic and stretchy. Cakes are covered with fondant to give it a smooth finish,” says baker Pavani Kaur of Firefly India who has been making fondant cakes for 10 years now, and also works with gum paste, a sister product of fondant.
Hot and humid weather is a complete killer for fondant cakes. Baker Kishneet Sethi from Sugar Loft who once put 40 hours of work to make a fondant cake points that the weather plays a huge role as any kind of moisture is bad for such cakes. She says, “You need dry weather for fondant cakes, therefore winter season is the best. It is majorly because sugar becomes sticky, droopy like chewing gum.” She also elaborates that the reason for high-pricing of such cakes is because they’re time-consuming and one needs finesse.
However, some bakers also feel that a lot of cake goes waste in giving a specific shape. “These cakes come under the category of carved cakes. Cakes are carved to give a 3D shape, a lot of it is wasted and we count the cost for wastage too,” says baker Tulika Verma of Tuli Bakes. She also adds, “The remaining bits can be used to make cake pops but not all customers want those”, and also points that, “Fondant cakes are too sweet so we need to balance the flavours.”
For those who find fondant ‘extra sweet’, bakers too have divergent views about using fondant. Kaur says, “Over the years, there has been a shift of preference, from fondant to non-fondant cakes but I have managed to keep a few clients happy. Moreover these cakes give the artist freedom and better canvas to work with. Also the quality of fondant plays a big part.”
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