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Colette Peters is one of the world-s premier cake designers, with confections that have graced White House Christmas mantelpieces, royal weddings, the windows of Tiffany & Company-s Fagship store in New York City, and the American Craft Museum. The owner of Colette-s Cakes, a specialty cake company in New York, she holds a master-s degree in painting from Pratt Institute in New York. A former designer for Tiffany & Company, she created cakes to illustrate the books Tiffany Taste and The Tiffany Wedding. She is the author of four acclaimed books of her own decorative cakes, including Colette-s Birthday Cakes and Colette-s Christmas. She has been a featured guest on television shows such asToday, Good Morning America, Oprah, and the Food Network-s Chef du Jour.

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"Whether blowing out birthday candles or cutting the first piece at a wedding, there are no cakes better suited to wishing and dreaming than Colette's enchanting creations."
-Donna Ferrari, Food & Wine Director, BRIDE'S Magazine
 
"Colette is an inspired artist who follows a road never-before traveled. Her cakes are amusing and loveable, and they defy gravity. Colette's creations awaken the childlike spirit in all of us."
-Jacques Torres
 
"Colette's innovative style and approach are vivid and unique. Her work is an inspiration! This is a brilliant and innovative composition of edible art!"
-Ewald Notter, Notter
International School of Confectionary Arts

Aus dem Klappentext

Colette peters, the celebrated queen of the confectionary arts, unveils an inspiring resource for serious home bakers, professional chefs, and a?cionados of Colette's incredible edible architecture. The ingenious cake decorator-whose miraculous and luscious concoctions have appeared everywhere from White House Christmases to royal weddings-presents a master class in cake design and decoration, alongside an all-new selection of her own cake designs. With Cakes to Dream On, Colette's inspired creations can now be rendered into show-stopping cakes of your own.
 
Cakes to Dream On reveals the secrets to fashioning gorgeous and utterly distinctive cakes for all occasions-whether it's an opulent marriage reception (the majestic Ivory Wedding Cake) or a fanciful children's party (the whimsical Homage to Dr. Seuss). Colette presents designs for cake architecture ranging from the imperial splendor of Dolce de Medici, to the elegant grace of Bride's Vintage Cameo, to the topsy-turvy daydream of Mad Tea Party.
 
Colette begins with the foundations: she illuminates step by step the process of constructing a multitiered cake, from determining serving sizes and choosing appropriate cake pans to making ?llings, and ultimately stacking layers so they don't tumble off the table. Cakes to Dream On also discloses insider tricks of the trade: Colette's easy-to-follow instructions in techniques such as sugarwork, gumpaste, brush embroidery, and piping will help readers recreate the spectacular effects of this singular confectioner's toolbox.
 
Bakers-and their enthusiastic audiences-will discover that these sensual masterpieces tantalize the palate as much as they do the eye. Colette's cake recipes include the Coco-Loco Cake, an alluring marriage of coconut and coffee; the Meringue Buttercream and its luscious lemon, raspberry, and mocha variants; and the ambrosial caramel-tinged Heavenly White Cake.
 
As breathtaking as Colette's cake works appear, her clear explanations of technique are meant to stimulate readers' creative instincts and give them ideas for crafting their own distinctive confections. With more than 150 dazzling full-color photographs illustrating both processes and ?nished presentations, and more detailed instruction than ever before, Cakes to Dream On will inspire readers to create their own mouthwatering masterpieces. Colette's master class is truly a launchpad for cake lovers' own confectionary visions.

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Cakes to Dream On

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

Plan the architecture of the cake.

Decide how many servings you need so you can design the right-size cake.

Choose appropriate cake pans for the size and shape you are planning.

Make all of the decorations that can be prepared in advance.

Make the base that will hold the cake and cover it with royal icing.

Bake the cakes and let them cool. Also prepare the fillings and icings.

Make foamcore boards for each tier.

Cut the cakes, fill them, and crumb-coat them. Chill well before decorating.

Cover the cakes with fondant.

Insert dowels for double- or multitiered cakes.

Stack the cakes on the base.

Put at least one supporting dowel through the entire cake to reinforce the cake for delivery.

Decorate the cake.

Baking a cake is easy. What you do with that cake next is a little more difficult. Before you bake the cake, the first things you have to determine are what the occasion is, the design you want to make, and the number of people you need to feed.

How to Start

SERVINGS

Knowing the number of servings is the first thing that determines the size of the cake. You can't, for example, make a cake for 25 people that's 15 tiers high. Nor, on the other hand, can you make a cake for 300 that's only one tier high (unless you have really wide doorways). Most cake recipes yield approximately 6 cups of batter, or enough to serve about 20 people.

The following table indicates how many servings you can expect to get out of cakes of various shapes and sizes. This chart will also help you determine how many recipes of cake you will need. To ensure maximum baking efficiency, each pan should be filled only halfway. Although serving sizes will vary depending on who is cutting the cake, the numbers of servings listed below are based on pieces about 3 to 4 inches high and 1 by 2 inches wide.

CAKE PANS

Cake Shape and Size Number of Servings

ROUND, HEXAGON, OR OCTAGON

6 inch 10 8 inch 20 10 inch 30 12 inch 50 14 inch 70 16 inch 100 18 inch 125

OVAL

8 inch 15 10 inch 25 13 inch 40 16 inch 60

SQUARE

6 inch 15 8 inch 25 10 inch 40 12 inch 70 14 inch 100 16 inch 125

PETAL SHAPE

6 inch 8 9 inch 20 12 inch 35 15 inch 60

HEART SHAPE

6 inch 8 9 inch 20 12 inch 45 15 inch 70

DECORATIONS

Make as many decorations as you can in advance so you don't have to rush to finish them at the last minute.

CAKE BASES

The board that the cake sits on may not seem like an important thing to think about, but when you start making cakes that are large and heavy, the board will soon become very important. The base must be strong enough to support the cake's weight, and it should look like it's part of the overall design, not something simply utilitarian. I often make the base at least 4 inches larger than the bottom cake tier, usually larger. If you plan to put flowers or other decorations around the bottom edge, make sure the base is big enough to accommodate them. I think that a wider base makes the cake look more impressive.

Bases can be made from many materials, including wood, Plexiglas, metal, foamcore, and fiberboard. Wood and Plexiglas are strong, but also heavy and difficult to cut into circles or odd shapes, and Plexiglas can be very expensive. I find that ready-made 1/2-inch-thick fiberboard drums and 1/2-inch-thick foamcore boards are the strongest and lightest choices. They are available at cake-decorating stores and at craft stores. You can cover these boards with thinned royal icing to match the cake and not worry about the board warping. Another advantage to these is that when you are constructing your cake, you may need to insert a dowel into the entire cake for support. This dowel should also go into the board to keep the cake from sliding, and these are the only kinds of boards that will allow you to do this.

You can make your own bases by gluing together two or more sheets of 3/16-inch-thick foamcore, then cutting it with an X-acto knife to the size and shape you want. Unless the cake is very small (6 to 9 inches), don't use a single layer of foamcore because the board may bend from the weight of the cake when you lift it. If a base bends, it will crack the cake.

Covering the base with thinned royal icing is one way to give the board a professional finish. You can tint the icing to match the color of the cake or to contrast with it. To cover a board with royal icing, thin enough icing to cover the board by adding a few drops of water at a time until the icing is the consistency of thick syrup. Add a few drops of liquid food coloring to the icing to match a colored cake, if you wish. Pour the icing onto the board and smooth it with an offset spatula. Let it dry overnight. Attach a ribbon around the edge of the board with white or hot glue. The ribbon should be the same thickness as the edge of the board.

Another way to cover a board is to use food-grade foil. This can be found at cake-decorating stores. Place the paper on the board with about 2 inches extra all around to wrap under. Tape the paper under the board, stretching the sections tightly as you go.

CAKES AND FILLINGS

Create the cakes, fillings, and icings that you can mix and match.

CAKE ARCHITECTURE

Once you know what size and shape cake you are going to make, then you can bake the cakes and make the icing. I always bake cakes in pans whose bottoms are covered with a piece of parchment, which I first spray with a coating of vegetable oil. By doing this, you can cool the cakes completely in the pans, refrigerate them, and then remove them easily when they are cold. Just run a knife or metal spatula around the inside of the pan to separate the cake from the sides. A cake that is properly baked will pull away from the sides of the pan when it is done, so there shouldn't be much sticking. The cake will then come out of the pan easily with a quick tap when held upside down. And since the cake is now cool, it will be firm enough to hold together. Cakes crack if they are removed from the pan too soon.

To prepare a multitiered cake, first you need a support on which to place each tier, such as cardboard or foamcore. You can buy ready-made cardboard, which comes in the same sizes and shapes as most cake pans, or you can make your own cakeboard out of foamcore, which I recommend. To do this, place the bottom of the pan in which your cake was baked on a piece of foamcore, trace the outline, and cut it out with a sharp X-acto knife.

FILLINGS AND CRUMB-COATINGS

When you are ready to construct the cake, slice each cake horizontally to prepare it for the filling. My cakes are usually made in two pans, with each cake sliced in half. This will give you four layers of cake and three layers of filling. Place the bottom of one of the split layers on your...