Hi.
Which cake flavours is best used with fondant for a wedding cake?
Hey Akos,
Red velvet is not a flavor, it’s chocolate cake with a ton of red food dye. It was “invented” by the Adams Extact company to sell more extract and food dye. And the amount of food dye required is really unhealthy. Red food dye is one that is associated with health problems in children, so in the EU and US some red dyes have been banned. The push back by consumers has been strong enough that major corporations are voluntarily removing these dyes from their products.
Using a single flavor in a tier is always a good approach as it allows the cake flavor to shine on its own. But some brides insist on mixing flavors in a tier.
The general guidelines on mixing flavors in a single tier is to use complimenting flavors and colors. You want the cake and filling layers to coordinate both in flavor and color.
Generally it’s not a good idea to mix more than two flavors in a single tier. I also think it’s best to use a single filling that compliments the two flavors. If two different flavors of fillings are used with two different flavors of cake, it becomes a muddled mess.
Too many options also creates a lot of work and increases expense, especially when flavors require special ingredients.
When mixing flavors in a tier, cake formulas should be the same or similar in each tier. For example you can mix layers of butter cake and pound cake, but not chiffon and pound cake as a chiffon cake it too light to hold up a pound cake layer. So you would not use a butter vanilla cake layer and a pink champagne chiffon cake layer in the same tier.
The cake formula must be considered when they decorations are heavy. Fondant is very heavy. So a fragile cake formula like chiffon isn’t the best choice if there is going to be a lot of heavy gum paste/fondant decorations in addition to the fondant covering.
If the cake that will be consumed later has already been sliced, then place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the cut cake surface. Then place the cake in an air tight container.
Since fondant does not refrigerate well, you should not use a filling that requires refrigeration. So no custard or fruit purée fillings UNLESS it’s a commercially produced product formulated to stand at room temperature. If making a ganache filling use ultra pasteurized cream to delay develop of harmful bacterial.
If the leftover fondant cake is going to be refrigerated, instruct the client to store it in a sealed heavy cardboard box to mitigate against condensation. Then before serving leave it in the cardboard box on the counter for a couple of hours to warm up.
But warn them that any colored fondant on the cake may run due to condensation.
As for the best recipe for a fondant cake...unfortunately fondant doesn’t taste good. Flavor-wise it adds nothing to the enjoyment of eating cake. The texture is unpleasant as well. Fondant is so awful that pastry chef Duff Goldman, who makes the most extravagant fondant cakes in the US, recommends guests peel the fondant off and just eat the cake.
Bakers have known for years that few guests actually eat the wedding cake because the cake taste so awful with the fondant.
In the US, fondant is not as poplar in the high end cake market because it’s not enjoyable to eat. Its such a waste of money. It’s becoming more common here for brides to order a beautifully decorated dummy cakes with one real tier for the cake cutting. Then a delicious buttercream sheet cake that’s keep out of sight from guests is actually sliced and served for eating.