Cake_masters_08_2016

30

Elevenses

Advice ~ Competitions ~ Cake Hacks ~ Reviews

Ask the Expert

Cake Conundrums and Decorating Dilemmas!

James Rosselle, a Los Angeles native, is

passionate about cake and where it has

taken him. After graduating from Le Cordon

Bleu in Pasadena, CA, James worked with

master cake designer, Ron Ben-Israel,

acclaimed pastry chef, Gale Gand, and

Champion Sugar Artist and Chocolatier,

Ewald Notter. James has appeared on Food

Network multiple times and is now Cake

Designer at Bottega Louie, in downtown

Los Angeles. James was brought on to

Bottega Louie to develop and start the cake

program. Since starting with Bottega Louie

in 2015, James continues to leave quite the

impression on the City of Angels, making 40-

70 cakes a week!

Wire Selection

Q: How should you select the correct wire

thickness for flowers?

A: The Standard Wire Gauge is based on a

numbering system that relates to the diameter

thickness of the wire. Within this numbering

system, the higher the number gauge, the

thinner the wire. The lower the number, the

thicker the wire. For example, an 18 gauge wire

is thick but still bendable by hand, while a 32

gauge is thin and fine enough to be used as

thread. The most commonly used wire gauges

are between 18 gauge and 30 gauge. Floral

wire comes in three coatings: paper covered,

cloth covered and bare. Paper covered and

cloth covered wires are what I recommend

for sugar work. The coating allows the wire to

stick properly to the flower paste. And lastly,

floral wire can come in a variety of colours,

white and green being the most common.

Follow three simple guidelines:

1. When wiring larger petals (like peonies,
   magnolias and large foliage), use thicker gauge
   wire to support the weight of the flower petal.
   For larger petals, I like to use a 22 gauge wire.


2. For medium sized petals/blooms (orchids,
   roses and poppies), select a wire to support the
   petals. 24 gauge works well for this.


3. For smaller, delicate petals/blooms
   (hydrangea, jasmine, berries and hyacinth), I
   would recommend using 26-30 gauge wire.

One thing to consider is to not overdo the

strength of the wire. If the flower is supported

properly, you get the advantage of a slim and

elegant stem. It’s a surprising experience, if

the wire gauge is overdone, how thick the stem

becomes when the wires are assembled and

taped together.

Rose Cones

Q: What is the best way to attach a rose cone

to a wire?

A: In my opinion, the best way to attach a

rose cone to wire is with hot glue. I realise

I may be crucified by this statement, but I

personally haven’t found a better, more secure

way of attaching a rose centre to wire. I have

experimented with food safe options such as

isomalt. During my experiments, when using

isomalt as glue, I found that sugar will always

want to revert to its natural state - syrup. This

doesn’t fare well with structure and stability.

Fresh Flowers

Q: How do you attach fresh flowers to a cake?

A: I highly recommend using flower picks,

because they require water to maintain their

freshly picked state. There’s a variety of sizes

that you can match to the size of the blooms.

Half fill the flower picks with water and insert

the stem into the pick. What I often do is

make smaller bunches inside a larger flower

pick. I combine filler flowers and leaves into

one flower pick and use those as groupings

or fillers within my cake design. Reducing

the amount of picks and holes in your cake is

always a plus. This works well for cascades,

groupings and toppers. For floral separators, I

would recommend using florist foam.

Heavy Sprays

Q: How do you attach a large, heavy flower

spray to a cake safely?

A: This can be tricky. When designing cakes,

I always keep structure in mind. If I were

designing a cake with large flowers or sprays

as groupings, I would use longer stems to add

more support. With this design in mind, when

making my sugar flowers, I would use longer

wires. The farther the stem can be inserted

into the cake, the more stable it will be. If a

shorter wire is used, you run the risk of the

flower moving around and even falling out in

transit because it is top heavy.

A trick of the trade is using straws. Cut the

straws to fit the length of the wires. Pipe royal

icing or melted coating chocolate into the

straw and insert the flower stem. Allow to set.

Now your stems are prepped for food safety,

you can insert your blooms into the cake.

Realistic Centres

Q: My petals look realistic, but I struggle with

centres. What can I do to improve them?

A: First off, I find having a colour photo of

the flower to be extremely helpful to refer to.

The real thing is best, but a colour photo does

the trick.

I find tweezers to be the key factor. Pinching

and forming the textures and designs can

be accomplished very easily with a pair of

tweezers. For example, for a tulip centre, roll

a ball of yellow sugarpaste to the size of a

10mm dragee. Elongate it and shape it into

a teardrop. Insert the wire (that has been

dipped in gum glue) through the tapered end

of the centre. With the tweezers, pinch three

notches on the top (the rounded end) of the

centre. Make sure the pinches are centred and

equal pressure is used to create a lifelike tulip

centre. Easier said than done, right! Practice

makes perfect.

Final Flourishes

Q: What are the best finishing touches to add

to flowers?

A: I like to add a darker element on the edges

of petals/flowers. For example, on a white

peony, I love adding a touch of green, yellow

or even light brown to the edge of the petals.

If you look at a real peony, there are always

small notes of these colour tones on the edges

of the petals. Small additions like these bring

the sugar flower to life.

James Rosselle