Heather L. Horton
 | Heather L Horton is the owner of Sweet Designs Cakery in Pittsburg, KS. With many years experience in the kitchen combined with a bachelors degree in Fine Art and a Masters Degree in Communication, Heather and her team are more than qualified to create the best Classic and Contemporary confections out there on the market! Voted Best Bakery in the 4States Area Sweet Designs Cakery is heading full steam into their fifth year of business and continues to have fresh and exciting ideas in their field. Whether you want to walk in and just grab a treat on the go, or order a custom cake for any of your special occasions Heather and her staff can help you out. Open Tuesday - Saturday, Sweet Designs Cakery can be reached at 620-231-2253 or at www.SweetDesignsCakery.com and on Face Book!
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Candy, Chocolate & Sweets
2013-03-25 15:24:25
The great confection debate:fondant vs butter cream Part 1
A-Alot! There has been a debate going on for years. Which is better fondant or buttercream for cakes, cookies, confections and the like? Each pastry chef, cake decorator or home baker has their own opinion. You will have to decide for yourself.
Fondant is sugar dough much like play dough but made using mainly sugar. Some recipes call for gelatin and other additives. Fondant can be bought at the store in various degrees of quality. Most often if the product is cheaper it will have a lesser quality. For example, Wilton brand fondant has a very plastic/chemical after taste to it and can dry out quickly which makes it harder to work with. Fondarific brand, on the other hand, tastes great, comes in tons of different flavors and is very easy to use with a long workability time factor. Another more popular brand and more readily available is Satin-Ice. Its middle of the line quality leaves your mouth with a chemical aftertaste and has more limited workability. If you’re up for a fun challenge making your own fondant is easy! All you need are Marshmallows, water and powdered sugar. Marshmallow fondant is easy to work with, can be custom flavored and tastes great. It is also inexpensive alternative to store bought fondant. Many recipes can be found online. When ordering a cake from your baker be sure to ask which kind they use.
Buttercream icing is made in many different ways with at least 4 different bases: Butter, Shortening, Yolk Based, or Meringue based. Again, quality is key here. A classic American “decorators” icing will consist of a main fat (in most cases this is shortening or butter), liquid (milk in most cases) and powdered sugar. This icing results in a thick, heavy icing that tends to crust over after being applied to a cake or confection, mostly used for accents, flowers or just trim work. A more decadent & sophisticated icing is an Italian Buttercream. This icing requires beating egg whites and heating sugar syrup to be combined along with butter in the final stages. The result is a smooth and creamy delicious icing that doesn’t crust over after the cake is decorated. This method is a Meringue based icing.
Next month we’ll discuss popular (and unique) uses for both fondant and buttercream.
