Confectionary Vocabulary

So, you’re getting ready to choose your wedding cake or cupcakes. What could be easier? If it looks good and tastes good, it is good – right? Well, right. But here are a few pointers to help you navigate the world of confectionary vocabulary and get the most out of your tasting.

For this entry, I’ll focus on what goes on top of the cake. The most common term you’ll run into is buttercream. This can mean different things. What I call an “American buttercream” is generally made up of powdered sugar, butter, milk and flavoring. This is the super sweet stuff. Other buttercreams include Swiss meringue and Italian meringue. There are slight technical differences in the way they are each made, but they both consist of a meringue base (beaten egg whites and sugar) that is then combined with butter and flavorings such as fruit purees, vanilla extract, and chocolate. The result is something that is silky in texture and slightly sweet in taste. If you’re someone who doesn’t usually like frosting, try this.


The second most common term you’ll run into is fondant. This is basically a sugar dough that can be colored, rolled out, and then applied to cover a cake (and even a cupcake). The cake is coated with a thin layer (usually buttercream), and the fondant is then smoothed over to create a pristine surface. It can also be used to make decorations, or ‘toppers’ as I like to call them, for cupcakes. After years of watching me roll and cut fondant, my four year old describes playdough as “fondant you can’t eat” (a terrible waste, in her opinion).

Now that you’re armed with the basics, jump in and enjoy your tastings! Go with what you like and don’t hesitate to ask your baker questions.


Photos by: Burk Jackson

This Post copyright 2007 Allison Kelleher for Cupcake Mama

Being Green

On a recent trip to Arizona, like any girl, I found a pair of shoes I wanted to bring home, minus the box of course. I asked the sales clerk if she could recycle the box for me. She stared blankly at me, and then turned to ask another sales person if they recycle. I was shocked to find that Phoenix does not recycle in any way - no cardboard, cans, bottles, newspaper - nothing.

Here in Oregon we are a pretty green state. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is a way of life for most north-westerners. I started thinking what being green means in the floral industry. What more than recycling can we be doing to be more eco-friendly?

In 2007, for Valentine’s Day alone, Americans imported more than 120 million roses. Most of them from South American farms where standard procedures call for fumigating greenhouses with a range of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides before submerging the flowers in preservatives to keep them from rotting during shipment.

Here in Oregon we’re lucky to have Peterkort Roses, a local grower, whose goal is to grow as organic a product as humanly possible. That means less chemical spraying. They use Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a technique using biological controls and strategic spraying of milder solutions to control pests and disease. Also to maximize the growing potential in the greenhouse, they are increasingly using extra light for better flower production. This enables them to produce more and better flowers in less space for the same amount of heat. They recycle all packaging materials too; one example: they pack with newspaper, which they purchase from a local charity.

At Studio del Fiore, there are several practices I follow to be environmentally friendly. I purchase as many flowers as possible from local growers. I recently cut down my packaging usage with the help of another local company, Blume Box, which makes colorful cardboard vases. They are made from 100% recycled post consumer waste and have a water based varnish coating on them and can be recycled at curbside.


If having organically grown flowers is important to you, there are many ways to ensure you are getting organic flowers:

1. Grow Your Own. Buy organic bulbs or seeds and start an organic flower garden. Seeds of Change offers organic and heirloom seeds and bulbs that you can order online to help you get started.

2. Buy Local and Organic. Invest in your community, and save shipping costs and energy, by purchasing chemical-free organic flowers from a local farmers market. Find the farmer's market near you here: http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/map.htm

3. Find out if your local florist can purchase organic and local flowers. If they currently do not, request that they do so. U.S. sales of organic flowers grew to $8 million in 2003, an estimated 52 percent growth spurt from the previous year. Organic flower sales are expected to grow 13 percent annually through 2008. While not yet the industry standard, organic flowers are fast becoming the choice for both consumers and florists.

4. Buy Organic Online too. Online retailers Organic Bouquet and Diamond Organics offer USDA-certified organic flowers that you can ship to loved ones all over the country. While Diamond Organics buys its flowers only from American family farmers, Organic Bouquet sells a mix of both domestic blooms and imports from farms that adhere to certified organic standards.

Protecting the environment and improving farm worker safety by eliminating millions of pounds of toxic pesticides from agricultural usage is a topic that the flower industry is talking about, and while it is a slow process, it is expected that this will be the industry standard in the years to come. Meanwhile, as an environmentally conscious mother and business woman, I continue to make choices that help, not hurt the earth.

Flowers by:
Studio del Fiore

Photos by:
Jasmine Photography

Resources:
www.coopamerica.org
www.peterkortroses.com
www.blumebox.com

This Post © 2007 Lisa Martin for Studio del Fiore