WOW! You did an amazing job! I bet everyone at the wedding was blown away by your cake.  That is a gift that will be remembered always

Silke, such an elegant cake.  It is beautiful.

Silke - 27 July 2010 10:53 AM

Jenn: The solid bands are much easier to work with than the swirly ones, they break so easily. And both are much better than smoothing out buttercream into perfect Patricia-shape.

Oh gosh, I can’t imagine how Patricia smooth out the buttercream for her wedding cakes. I usually get frustrated smoothing out just one layer of 7 inch or 9 inch cake!
I’ll have to try this chocolate band sometime - when the weather gets cooler .

Silke, I have a question about your chocolate bands.

  Did you temper your white chocolate to make the bands, if so, was it hard to temper.  ( I have to admit - I am very intimidated by tempering chocolate.  I sounds so complicated.

I would just love to try this technique on my next cake, maybe even with a chocolate transfer sheet.  It would also be so awesome to use the firm tempered chocolate to cut with cookie cutters and apply to sugar cookies.

Thanks Liza and Missyjean!

Liza - I’m intimidated by the tempering as well, and the short answer is: No. The bands looked fine, nice and shiny. (I’m now ducking for the beating from everybody that’ll tell me that white chocolate has to be tempered as well and that I’m a bad baker…..) Perhaps I lucked out and had enough unmelted chocolate in my initial melt, and then kept it at the right temperature….

Love the idea with the cookie cutters!

Hi again Silke,

Sorry to bother you with these questions.  Could you describe the process in which you made the white chocolate ganache?  I have made it twice now using Rose’s recipe and method and each time it has curdled into a complete and hopeless mess.  I am just wondering if it would be better if I gently folded the cooled, melted white chocolate into the whipped cream instead of using the lowest speed on my mixer.  I was using Lindt white chocolate with 35% cocoa butter.  I would really like to master this recipe, or at least not have to throw it away everytime I make it.   It could get quite expensive.

Hi Liza,

I’ve had problems with curdling as well, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a function of the chocolate. Are you somewhere where there is an Aldi around (anywhere in the East of the US, presuming you’re in the US)? If so, I’d try their chocolate. Or just find some other chocolates.

Other than that I follow the instructions in the Cake Bible. I melt the chocolate with the cream, mix it well, let it cool down to room temp (!!!). Then I start whipping the cream till it’s a bit whipped up but not firm yet, dump the chocolate / cream mixture in, and then crank up the mixer to the highest speed. The result (when not curdled) looks and feels much like whipped cream. When I had problems with the curdling it seemed to help to use a bit more cream to melt the chocolate. There was also a lengthy discussion about that somewhere here where both Julie and I contributed, you may want to check.

Yes, he he,  I think your referring to the topic I posted about this ganache the first time I made it (a double batch of course) and it curdled into an ugly unusable mess.  I am in canada and I have never heard of Aldi chocolate before.  Maybe I will look around for another type of white chocolate.  I wonder if it has anything to do with the cocoa butter content.

Ah, I had a feeling it was you. Aldi is this Germany grocery discounter (founded by the same guys that own Trader Joes, but then I don’t know whether they are in Canada, either, ey?) that has since expanded to the East Coast and many European countries.

First I was thinking cocoa butter content, but then I thought about the chemistry a bit more, and I think it’s actually the emulsifier in the chocolate, because that’s really what would help with the curdling. The ingredient list for the white chocolate from Aldi lists: White Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cream powder, lactose, soy lecithin emulsifier, salt, flavor vanillin), whey powder, buttermilk powder. The Guittard doesn’t list ingredients.

The cake is beautiful Silke.  You did an amazing job.

Thanks Linda - luckily that was the only thing I had to do! No decorations or housing 19 people

Silke - 27 July 2010 10:53 AM

Monsieur: You’ll see when the chocolate hardens, the exact time probably depends a bit on the chocolate, and also on the countertop material you have. Just don’t hasten it. As long as you’ll have a cool kitchen and warm hands you’ll be fine.

Thanks, Silke. I’ve never made a chocolate band, but I really want to give it a try.

That is just beautiful! Thanks for sharing the pics!