What's your best dessert?

[panini]

Well, I must admit that I truly love doing miniatures, old fashioned petit fours,short dough, rasp,frangiapan topped with marzipan,topped with fondant. I really enjoy doing all the classical chocolate drop work. I love to match the centerpiece to the dessert. We did a very upscale party two weeks ago. One of the guests brought wine from Europe and South Africa back with him.I made three miniature pastry trays. The centerpieces were, small chocolate wine press,marzipan grapes. A blown sugar wine split. A poured abstract sugar piece. It was one of the best evenings I have had all year. It was a charity thing so we got to enjoy our work with the guests.

[W.DeBord]

I HATE making classic petite fours...when we were busy that was the item I always asked if we could buy out to suppliment my work. I just can't hit my fondant correctly, I'm like an idiot with fondant! Plus, mine never set nice, it would remain rather tacky to the touch (unlike the ones we purchased). Think I'm doing something wrong? I tried different brands and got frustrated with several. I was using simple syrup to thin, two coatings to cover...can you tell me anything you do to simplify the fondant process (do you freeze your cakes before coating?)??? Do yours remain tacky or can you touch your coating and not leave obvious finger prints?


I also love following a theme and doing centerpiece cakes, Jeff. That was my favorite part of my job!

But, I still don't have a favorite dessert. I'm not one to be politicly correct and go safe....I guess I'm stuck answering it the way I always have....it's what the client loves that turns me on and makes me strive to make it great for them. but I won't phrase it like that!

Now that you know I'm an idoit with fondant...your safe to tell me how you coat your cookies Dana, I'm a total dork with the stuff????? Just a little hint, PEASE, BEG, BEG, BEG...........?

[angrychef]

Wendy, the general idea for the cookies: use any shape of sugar cookies( a 1-2-3 dough works well), dip only the top surface in the fondant(which you can color any shade you want, I use an airbrush system) and then let dry for an hour so you can paint. You really can paint anything. I do a lot of animals; so you paint on the eyes, nose, mouth, tail and any distinctive markings then let dry overnight so the fondant hardens and then you can pack the cookies one on top of the other. I use purchased fondant which I thin with water(i've never used simple syrup, heck, the fondant is too sweet as is) after it is warmed. Warm the fondant only to body temp.(test on upper lip or wrist), it gets a funky finish if it is too hot. For painting I use regular slim brushes and food coloring paste which I thin a bit with water.

[W.DeBord]

Is that what I'm doing wrong, using simple syrup? I use purchased fondant too....I know I read somewhere to use simple syrup (I think I got that from Friebergs book), now that's got me baffled... I get crazy watching my temp. because I can't figure out what's going wrong. So I know I'm not over heating for sure! Plus, you said it gets firm enough to stack them? OH MY, thats how purhased petite fours are, very durable, **** I wonder if that will fix my problems?!

I would never guess you could paint on pouring fondant! Wow, I can picture what your talking about with animal faces and patterns, that would be really neat. I can see why you wouldn't want to broadcast that, thanks for sharing!!!! How did you come across this method? Did you dream it up?

[angrychef]

No, Wendy, there is nothing wrong with using simple syrup(in fact, I think most books say use simple syrup). I just prefer using water because it's easier, cheaper, been taught that way, and have been doing it for 5 years.The most important thing is that the cookies dry overnight. It dries to a nice shiny smooth icing, kinda like the royal icing cookies but with a shine. My old German boss employed this method for doing his holiday cookies, but with less detail. As I started doing it on my own, I'd get a little more creative and go more detailed.
By the way, email me so I can send you a picture of the mask: angrychef@earthlink.net

[W.DeBord]

Have you ever noticed a difference in how your fondant works and sets with simple syrup vs. h2o? I was hoping that would be the answer for my failure in mastering fondant.

How thin do you make your fondant (for your cookies)...after you dip your cookies do you need to touch up/scrap off extra with a bent handle at all?