Clutch on Ace of Cakes

bourdain's show is great, and i liked the one he had before even better - "a cook's tour." tony is an old school chef, i've worked for guys like that before in some pretty chaotic kitchens.

alton brown is good. not a chef, per se, but he's excellent at conveying basic cooking principles, and the how's and why's to home cooks.

and for the people who dont like bobby flay, but hate throwdown - you totally missed the point of that show. bobby flay is a cocky bastard, this show was all about taking him down a notch or two.

i still like iron chef, although i must admit i prefer the old japanses version. wish they still showed that late night. getting baked and watching them braise baby octopus eyes was always good fun at 2 in the morning.

Originally posted by bikerchickdc:

Originally posted by distance:


as far as ace of cakes go, i guess some of the cakes look interesting and all that, but let's see them make a cake without using fondant? it just looks like they're making cakes with playdough. let's actually see some interesting plain old cake / icing structures. i know that's possible.

I think for the show at least, they use fondant and not a buttercream icing or similar, because the lighting makes it warmer in the kitchen or wherever they are making and serving the cake, causing the buttercream to melt. Fondant is less fragile and looks prettier when it gets warm.

you cant do any real designs with a buttercream icing cake. you have to have a clean, smooth platform to work on (like a blank canvas to a painter.)

the problem with those novelty cakes is i often wonder, what the fuck is going on beneath the 2 inch later of fondant. ive heard from a few people that had a cake from there, that it was "utterly tasteless and dry."

if you want a cake to eat, go to a real bakery. if you want an artistic cake, with a custom design, go to charm city cakes. just be prepared to spend at least $500 (minimum.)

buttercream icing sucks, btw. i prefer a nice creamy dark chocolate ganache