The Difference Between Fondant and Buttercream and how much your guest REALLY get on their cake slice.

I thought it would be helpful to blog about fondant covered cakes and the difference between the two finished product.

Here is the first picture.

This Is a buttercream finished red velvet cake yes it is pretty smooth.

This is a fondant en-robed buttercream covered cake like above but better now because all that yummy buttercream is now staying moist and the cake is protected from air. 

This is the size of the top of your cake this is how much fondant we are talking about for most guests.The only guests that would receive more would be those that get end pieces. In 120 people wedding that might be about 30 people. 

This is the thickness we strive to roll to. We DO NOT believe your cake should have a SLAB of 1/4 inch wide fondant on it. That IS just nasty and really unacceptable today.

Here is another look at the thickness we roll to.

Now some questions which one looks better to you? Does it help to see how big the fondant slice really is for your guests? Did you know that 99% of all the cakes you see in the magazines are fondant en-robed cakes? Did you know that most bakers cannot make buttercream look like fondant because buttercream is buttercream and fondant is fondant period. If you can make it look like fondant you better REALLY like Italian meringue or Swiss meringue buttercream to me it tastes a little like a stick of butter not icing and it will cost you a lot more because we are going to make that icing in small batches. That is the only way we could make a super smooth finish happen without it cracking or showing many imperfection.  Or we must use a all shortening based icing and to me this is not my favorite. I like American Buttercream.

Fondant look with Swiss dots

Buttercream look with Swiss dots

Which finish looks better to you?