What's in your cake?

Whether you choose traditional or modern batter with icing design, you should know your cake. The little dictionary below may help you to choose the appropriate batter for your wedding cake.

Buttercream
This is rich and creamy; can be easily colored. It is used for fancy decorations; not recommended for outdoor weddings.

Fondant
This is smooth and stiff; made with gelatin and corn syrup. It does not require refrigeration and looks great when decorated with marzipan fruits, gum paste flowers, or just a ribbon.

Dragees
These are hard little sugar balls; painted with edible gold or silver paint.

Ganache
This is a heavy dark chocolate and heavy cream combo. It can be poured over cakes for a glass-like finish or used as filling.

Gum Paste
This is made with gelatin, cornstarch and sugar. It does not fall apart or decompose and makes the most realistic and edible decorations.

Pulled Sugar
Creates beautiful designs like roses and bows, it can look like silk or satin. Pulled sugar comes from boiling sugar, water and corn syrup.

Marzipan
This is Italian almond paste; molded into decorative flowers, brightly colored and sugary and can be used as icing.

Royal Icing
This is a mix of confectioner's sugar, milk or egg whites. It is used for decorative dots and lattice. The finish is white, shiny and hard and does not require refrigeration.

Now that you are aware of what all this means. You can go to your pastry chef as an educated consumer :)

(Credit:Cake by Jon Rendle)