Who doesn't love cake? You can pick your own flavor of batter, you can tweak it with other flavors and blend-blend-blend or add some sprinkles in that bowl!! Then, there's the frosting. Offering more creative work-space for your noggin! Bake an orange cake with some whipped vanilla frosting...volia! Orange Dreamsicle Cake! Even better make the same in a cupcake form and use pipettes to inject some whipped cream vodka and there you have it! Your ADULT cupcakes. Go crazy. Do some baileys, or some Irish stout cupcakes...anything you can drank, you can put in a cupcake or cake, guys and gals! The sky is the limit! Want to keep it kid-friendly? Do soda flavored shots into the cupcakes. Chocolate cake injected with root beer. Orange injected with Orange Fanta, do whatchu want!
Now, for types of frostings...there's buttercream, rolled fondant, royal icing, whipped and a few others. But those are the most popular. Did you know that rolled fondant originated in the U.K. and it seals in the freshness of the cake. That's why its more commonly used, especially for cakes that are made many, many days in advance. No oxygen can get in, unlike buttercream (which is porous). So, when you cut into a fondant covered cake, the slice is nice (and still moist!)
Buttercream can be a great icing and is very versatile except in the high heat season. That's where hy-ratio shortening comes in. You can also make your buttercream completely dairy free by omitting milk and butter (which require refrigeration) and substitute with water and shortening. The hy-ratio is not the same as what you can find in the grocery store. Since all trans fat has been removed from shortening (except hy-ratio), they have no durability. Hy-ratio has a higher melting point and will hold up longer in warmer months. Being from the south, that is a crucial element in any confectionery creation. There are different types of buttercream, as well, but I am not going to get that far into those. You can flavor it, color it, frost a cake with it, decorate and pipe with it, draw with it, write with it and much more. This is now considered more "old school", since many decorators are switching to fondant.
When using rolled fondant, there are many brands on the market. I want to stress that for flavor quality & workability/pliability, you get what you pay for! You can also flavor fondant. Fondant is not everyone's cup of tea. Either you like it or you don't. Many people just peel it off and throw it away. I personally think it is very rich and divine. Have a White Almond Cake with lemon filling and covered in marzipan then fondant? Too much sugar for you? As the Brits would say, "You Americans have too large of proportions!" They are very accurate when it comes to this. The proper method to fondant cakes (the traditional way), is to serve a very thin and tall slice. It is VERY rich!
What is marzipan? It is a mixture of almond paste, confectioner's sugar and egg whites. This is also a European tradition (the method I learned back in the mid-90's), in which you cover the cake with after your apricot gloss. Apricot glaze (method is called glossing) is melted down to liquid and brushed all over the cake. After about 30 minutes it becomes tacky and seals in freshness and CRUMBS! (no crumb icing needed, if you're doing buttercream). Marzipan is rolled out and laid/covered over the cake and smoothed as much as possible. Any imperfections that are visible will show thru your fondant. Icing smoothers are a great tool to use for this. Then, roll out fondant and finish the cake.
That's enough sugar speak for now. Hopefully, I didn't give you a sugar-rush overload!
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