Planning and Assembling Specialty Cakes

Appears in
Professional Baking
Professional Baking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2008

  • About

As we have suggested several times in this book, much of a pastry cook’s job is assembly work—that is, starting with basic elements such as creams, fillings, and baked doughs and batters, the pastry cook builds desserts by putting these elements together in different and attractive ways. This is especially true of the construction of European-style cakes.

Although the number of ingredients that can go into a cake is nearly limitless, the most commonly used components are listed below. Following this list is a general procedure for assembling a basic European-style cake. Following that are procedures for making specific desserts, most of which are popular classics. However, once you are familiar with the general procedure, you should be able to go beyond those included here and put together your own cakes. Just make sure the flavors of the cake layers, fillings, icings, and syrups you choose go well together.