The frosting on the cake

Appreciating Colette Peters' confections is a matter of taste

STORY SUMMARY »

In the Land of Sugar, between the sticky morass of icing and the brittle rockiness of marzipan, lies the smooth, stable topsoil of fondant. It is the foundation, the canvas, upon which today's cake decorators are expressing their edible muse.

A group of local chefs gathered at Y. Hata's test kitchens last week for a couple of days under the spatula of Colette Peters, cake-maker to the stars. At first glance, early in the process, they all seemed to be smoothing and folding white hotel pillows. But it was all fondant.

Fondant "is pretty European," explained Isaac Tamada, Y. Hata's "corporation pastry chef and janitor."

"We're more used to a soft butter-cream frosting in America, but fondant is more versatile. It gives a clean, shiny look. And you can quilt it and texture it with tools."

Fondant is pretty simple; the word descends from the French "fondre" -- "to melt." Yes, add "fondue" to the root meaning.

Fondant is a sugar syrup with glucose added to nip the sugar's natural tendency to crystallize. Perhaps a dash of oil is added for smoothness. It's cooked to a "softball" stage at 238 degrees and then whipped by hand for more than half an hour. You wind up with a frosting that is the texture of settling Portland cement, but more tasty.

Then it's rolled into shiny, pliable sheets and draped over an already baked cake, smoothed by hand or spatula, and that's when the fun begins.

One chef proudly showed Peters a perfectly smooth fondant pillow. "Well," said Peters, "shall we emboss something on there?" and immediately started scribing patterns in the surface.

A good fondant shell, you see, is just the beginning.

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FULL STORY »

Colette Peters is the Count Spatula of the cake-decorating world, the Miss Confection. No kidding. Her whimsical cakes have been in demand at the Smithsonian Institution, at the weddings of royalty, the celeb-bashes of famous rockers and actors and entertainment moguls and swanky businessfolk. She's made repeat performances at the White House for presidents and first ladies on both sides of the aisle. Peters has been featured on "Oprah Winfrey," the Food Network, the Discovery Channel, CNN, Lifetime and a score of other high-profile chef showcases.

And after all the oohing and aahing is over, the recipient happily takes a knife to the creation and hacks away, because everyone wants a piece. Nothing's left but crumbs. As an ephemeral artform, fancy cakes have the lasting power of soap-bubble sculpture.

Peters was in town last week holding classes for pastry chefs. Participants gladly paid $500 and gave up two full days of their workweek for the opportunity to create either a "fantasy, trompel'oeil or all-white design."

Held in the Y. Hata test kitchens in the industrial wonderland of Sand Island Access Road, the classes featured "work with airbrush and painting techniques, gum paste fantasy flowers and borders, piping and brush embroidery, inlaid fondant and cutouts." But first, the foundation -- a solid base of dense cake and stiffening fondant overlay.

"Her cake stylings and technique are amazing," said pastry chef Isaac Tamada, no slouch himself in the amazing-cake-technique department. "Her cakes are so recognizable -- those crooked things and angles, her funky style. It's unique. Very unique. Sometimes cartoony, like Dr. Seuss. She takes it to another level."

Peters said she's been baking cakes "since I was 8 years old, a kid in Chicago." But celebrity custom-cake chef, as a career choice, didn't exist then and Peters earned a fine arts degree, a masters in painting from Pratt, and then worked as a designer at Tiffany. There, she made cakes for co-workers, then designed cakes for some Tiffany's style guides, and well, it just snowballed into her Colette's Cakes business, headquartered in New York City, as well as several books on the subject.

"It's creative and artistic, but since you're working with customers, your job is to please them," said Peters. "Which means you plan it out in advance -- no, you don't just start stacking them up and cementing them with frosting -- you make sketches that are approved by the client, and you have to figure out in advance what elements are needed."

"My trademark, if you will, is the 'crooked cake,'" Peters said, "one that isn't absolutely symmetrical but is still a balanced piece of design."

Although Peters had little time to sample Hawaii cuisine -- "I'm absolutely fascinated to discover that everyone here likes Spam!" -- she has heard good things about coconut, haupia and macadamia.

"Flavors are flavors, and every bit of the cake should be edible. You never get sick of good cake."

Could these techniques be used, say, on an ice cream cake or something light and custardy, like haupia?

"No," explains Tamada gently. "The base unit needs to be pretty solid and heavy and firm. But some of her shortcuts and decorating tricks can be used on other pastries."

We decide not to ask about log-cabin cakes constructed out of Twinkies. But how big a bite would a special cake like this take out of your wallet? It's not like having HAPPY BIRDY squiggled atop a sheet cake at Dee Lite Bakery.

Two answers -- about the same as a good used car; and the classic: If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

The future seems bright for gaily decorated food.

"Cupcakes are very popular these days. Special cakes are in demand at weddings and birthdays and a lot of particular requests. It's the hottest thing right now," said Tamada.

"It just exploded when it was featured on the Food Network," explained Donna Weiler of Y. Hata.

And Peters is at the forefront. "Colette is like the guru of cakes," Weiler said. "They're the centerpiece of a lot of theme parties. After you've spent a couple of grand on a cake that's really incredible to look at, it's a shame to eat it."

Apparently, you CAN have your cake and eat it too.