how do you make the bubbles?

By momoreg on Monday, January 10, 2000 - 12:35 pm: Edit

I've never seen it. Is there a picture online?

By Panini (Panini) on Monday, January 10, 2000 - 06:35 pm: Edit

If its the Martha cake your refering to, they are blown sugar.

By toots on Tuesday, January 11, 2000 - 02:50 pm: Edit

If you have never done any blown sugar, then I would pretty much nix the idea of doing this cake. Unlike gumpaste/fondant ect.. this is not a technique you can "teach yourself". Martha ( oh I hate that woman! )makes it all look easy, but I would REALLY suggest you take a course.

P.S the pic is at the following link:


http://www.marthastewart.com/weddings/cakes/wck05_000_0005.asp?category=cakes

Amy
Owner of Amy's gift cakes

By toots on Tuesday, January 11, 2000 - 02:53 pm: Edit

If you have never done any blown sugar, then I would pretty much nix the idea of doing this cake. Unlike gumpaste/fondant ect.. this is not a technique you can "teach yourself". Martha ( oh I hate that woman! )makes it all look easy, but I would REALLY suggest you take a course.

P.S the pic is at the following link:


http://www.marthastewart.com/weddings/cakes/wck05_000_0005.asp?category=cakes

Amy
Owner of Amy's gift cakes

By Claudia (Claudia) on Tuesday, January 11, 2000 - 03:37 pm: Edit

Martha doesn't really do all that herself, does she? I like how it begins "a simple cake"!!

This is another example of what one chinese cookbook author calls "ear food" - you hear the oohs and ahs so you don't care how it tastes. I find Martha's recipes usually have something missing.

Why not come up with a nice idea yourself - use something real like fresh flowers, leaves or herb branches. Brides prefer to be the center of attention anyway and not to compete with the cake.

Claudia

By jeee on Tuesday, March 14, 2000 - 01:33 pm: Edit

Boy what a peice of junk that cake is, Stewart should stick to designing living rooms.
I can't believe anyone would be influenced by Martha, she hasn't a clue.

By Seawitch (Seawitch) on Tuesday, March 14, 2000 - 11:11 pm: Edit

Oh, brother...what a waste of time. This is not "a good thing"!

By W.DeBord on Wednesday, March 15, 2000 - 08:45 pm: Edit

That may be a more male point of view. You both under estimate Stewarts influence. You don't really think she personally designs cakes today do you?

I don't think she's a goddess but she's not clueless when it comes to selling ideas and products. If you don't realize this then it is you two that don't own a clue. She's laughing all the way to the bank.

By momoreg on Wednesday, March 15, 2000 - 09:46 pm: Edit

I'll second that.

By Panini (Panini) on Wednesday, March 15, 2000 - 09:50 pm: Edit

I agree! She negotiates all her own deals, k-mart, magazine, and her latest IPO. Business Genius!!!!!! From a male point of view.

We have at least 1 bride come in at every tasting with one of her Marthas cakes.

By Kathyf (Kathyf) on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 02:29 am: Edit

Did any of you see her latest concoction for a wedding cake on TV earlier this week? She ( more likely her staff ) used a large leaf tip to do basketweave on the sides, no borders and very tall dowels (with a tacky putty on top of them) to support the tiers. She piled fruit between the dowels and all the way to the edge of each tier.
The fruit was several inches high, so guess what happened! At one point you could see where the edge of the cake was collapsing due to the weight of the fruit. There was a change of camera angle and suprise, the collapsing area disappeared! The entire cake looked like a mess. And I'm sure some unsuspecting person out there will try this and have a disaster on their hands.
I'm not male and I don't underestimate her influence on gullible young brides! Most of her ideas do not work in the real world.

By Mikeh (Mikeh) on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 08:26 am: Edit

I think Martha is a lot like Vince McMahon of WWF fame-- they're both master marketers with a dubious product. Sure, my wife subscribes to Martha Steward Living and I flip through it when it arrives, but I don't trust half of what I read. I saw her TV show where she was baking biscuits with someone and they came out of the oven a very dark brown (read: burnt) on the bottom. Martha said something like "Oh, these are perfectly browned", and on another occasion she had to do some piping and I realized she can't pipe. Her rosettes weren't level and they had big tails coming off them. That she isn't a professional baker doesn't bother me, but the fact that she pretends to be one does.

By W. DeBord on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 08:30 am: Edit

The reason she works... is she the FIRST WELL KNOWN (to the public) cake decorator who isn't doing that old world stuff that none of the younger generation would dream of having (ie. wilton, which is seen in every bakery).

There also are examples of simple beautiful cakes she's dreamed up too. Collette has come up with far more outragous unrealistic cakes than Martha. There are many others too, who are changing the style, who occasionally step too far out that we can laugh at.

They're changing the style!!!!!! That's what I love! Wedding cakes all looked the same until the eighties.

By W.DeBord on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 08:39 am: Edit

P.S. aprox. twenty years ago when Martha first started getting published her style changed catering like an earth quake. If you asked me about her than I would have told you yeah but her recipes stink, they don't work 50% of the time.

Today her recipes are very good! Solid as can be, plus most of them taste as good as the top cooking and baking authors recipes.

When you are exploring ideas and designs there are always duds' along the way, but....that dud make spark an idea in you to do something in a new way.

Every cooking show I've ever see I could find funny problems that magicly dissapear in the next camera shot. Julia isn't so perfect...

By W.DeBord on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 08:39 am: Edit

P.S. aprox. twenty years ago when Martha first started getting published her style changed catering like an earth quake. If you asked me about her than I would have told you yeah but her recipes stink, they don't work 50% of the time.

Today her recipes are very good! Solid as can be, plus most of them taste as good as the top cooking and baking authors recipes.

When you are exploring ideas and designs there are always duds' along the way, but....that dud make spark an idea in you to do something in a new way.

Every cooking show I've ever seen I could find funny problems that magicly dissapear in the next camera shot. Julia isn't so perfect...

By jeee on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 08:57 am: Edit

<<! Wedding cakes all looked the same <<

but they are all looking the same again only diferently and not too good either.
I've seen 2 of Stewarts cake and both looked like parking garages, except one has blown sugar balls plonked around tha bottom, something wrong with that style for me. The other one she did on TV, pretending to invent an almond cake that was nothing but frangipane filling baked in cake molds, she hasn't a bag to put a clue into.
Thats TV land for ya.

Cheers, Gerard

By Claudia (Claudia) on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 09:34 am: Edit

On the plus side, Martha has made food and entertaining more accessible to the average person. On the minus side (which is larger) her recipes and ideas are not her own, yet she claims they are. I know one of the food stylists who worked with her when she was starting out and many of the ideas, presentations etc come from her and not from Martha. If presentation is the main goal with MS, it is the food stylists glory and not hers! I look at her books for presentation ideas only and as far as the TV show, gag! I have to turn it off every time she says HHerb - since when do New Jerseyites speak like that?

By jeee on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 09:47 am: Edit

Let me guess, Martha Stewart had a husband walk out on her for a younger women. ?
That would explain what I see as an obsession to make all women neurotic. I've only watched her once but something struck me not quite right about her manner.
Most of the TV chefs are phoney except the guest chefs who run real kitchens.
Julia Child never pretended to be a real chef although there are those who would say she is but she wouldn't. They're mostly personalities with no training with nothing of any interest to me.

By Ramodeo (Ramodeo) on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 03:47 pm: Edit

The difference between Julia and Martha is that Julia is real and Martha is fake. Period. Julia is a human being who is not perfect and readily admits it, even celebrates it! Martha is no more than a false storefront on an old western movie set.

Martha stewart is a brand name, and I agree that she has a special genius for building her name into a hugely successful brand. But her name is not her. Her name is now an organization of thousands of people, most of whom have a whole lot more to do with the details of her magazine and books and tv show than she does. Her "style" is no longer individually created by her, her recipes are no longer created (or stolen) by her, and that's probably why more of them work now than before.

The main reason I don't like her is her constant appropriation of the skills and talent of others as her own. (Hmmm this sounds familiar, see judymontreal's thread on leaving her job!)She's been doing that from the beginning and she hasn't stopped. There are many other reasons to dislike her having to do with how she treats others, but I better stop now before I get further off topic!

By Panini (Panini) on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 07:52 pm: Edit

Don't trash Julia.
In her true years she acually went into the kitchens and picked up all the little tricks. Pull some of her earlier shows. There is tips in these that go over the heads of most viewers but took me years to come across. You should not put these two women in the same sentance.

By W.DeBord on Thursday, March 16, 2000 - 09:08 pm: Edit

Panini I was the one who entered Julias' name into this thread. It is now off track as is most of this conversation. I find it amusing so many people here dislike Martha so much. That's fine. I thought we were talking about contributions. There have been alot of great leaders/inovators/inventors that when inspected are just as wacky and imperfect as Martha Stewart. I never noticed the label on each product that said it was exclusively created/designed/made/marketed by Martha personally. Come on do you think all the clothes labeled Calvin were designed by him alone? Do you believe Kathy Lee designs clothing all night in her attic?

Jeez goodness, you make such harsh judgements from two photos? Would you teach your apprentises to judge that quickly?

By jeee2 on Friday, March 17, 2000 - 07:43 am: Edit

<<? Would you teach your apprentises to judge that quickly?
<<

yes.

By jeee2 on Friday, March 17, 2000 - 07:44 am: Edit

<<? Would you teach your apprentises to judge that quickly?
<<

yes.

By W.DeBord on Friday, March 17, 2000 - 08:07 am: Edit

too bad....

By Ramodeo (Ramodeo) on Friday, March 17, 2000 - 04:07 pm: Edit

W. - I agree that there are lots of others out there who have built their name into a brand, and of course they're not doing it all by themselves. That's fine. The problem with Martha is that she is constantly out in the public claiming everything with her name on it as her own. The most blatant example is using her own house and garden as a set for her TV show. She puts across the impression that everyting she shows or demonstrates, from decorating to cooking to painting to planting is her idea and has been executed by her alone. Don't even get me started on those holiday specials. It drives me nuts!

I don't think very many of the other people whose names have been turned into brands take full credit for the work of their organizations like she does.

By Panini (Panini) on Friday, March 17, 2000 - 07:39 pm: Edit

W.DeBord
Wait a minute. I agreed with you thatMartha is a business genius.I was trying so say that I had alot more respect for Julia, I can tell from her comments that she actually spent time with the chefs she works with.
I haven't made any judgements. I just did'nt want to read the Julia bashing. I would encourage any apprentice to watch all food related shows and let them decide what they like. I get paid to copy Marthas designs all the time.
I think you got me confussed w/someone else.

By W.DeBord on Saturday, March 18, 2000 - 08:49 am: Edit

I don't watch her T.V. show, I'm not home at those times. The only places where I look at her work and judge her from is her magazine and books. I suppose if everyone thinks shes an a know it all/fake then maybe she is. It doesn't read that way on paper. I don't care what her personality is like, I am talking about the fact that she has had a positive influence on our business.

All of her work does not come under the title of "crap", there are some really good ideas in her magazine and books. Liking someone has little to do with the quality of the persons work.

Ramodeo your last sentence...no way. That's how we get new designers...they get pissed off at their bosses (like Calvin) and start their own lines. Tell me who is out there with a "big name" that shares credit?

By Ramodeo (Ramodeo) on Saturday, March 18, 2000 - 04:06 pm: Edit

Ya know, maybe my argument is weak, and I will admit to a strong anti-Martha bias. I don't know in particular about any other "brand names" who share credit. I just don't see them out there, on TV, publishing magazines, etc giving the impression that they personally thought of and did it all themselves like you see Martha.

I do agree that her style has had a major influence on our field, heck, I have used her cake decorating ideas plenty of times. It's the way she presents them that I can't take. If you haven't seen her on TV, you have missed some of her most offensive remarks. My all time favorite is when she had her own mother on demonstrating some soup recipe and Martha said something like "Don't you think it needs some salt?" and her mother said "No, I already put that in" and Martha goes ahead and puts salt in and says "My mother is always under-salting her cooking" or something like that. Her own mother!

I'm afraid I can't completely separate someone's work from their person, and with Martha, there's just too much negative to outweigh the positive for me.

By Panini (Panini) on Saturday, March 18, 2000 - 07:24 pm: Edit

Her show is a hoot! one day she was making a soup with 6-7-8 year olds on the set and she turned to them and asked them if they knew what a bouquet garni is. Aw hell, shes great, they are all great!Except for Jacques daughter who doesn't seem to know the difference between a fork and a knife.

By W.DeBord on Saturday, March 18, 2000 - 07:25 pm: Edit

The only thing I can think of is she comes off as a "rich •••••" (excuse my words but I can't think of how to say that expression any other way). She has this, she has that, she tells us how to do things better and "only the best" attitute comes thru loud and clear as if we should all aspire to be like her... But that has nothing to do with slamming her work (her companies work). That is the point I've defended.


Years ago I saw a tape of her cooking and she put 20 cups of stuffing in a bowl not bigger than 15 cups and said "now let's stir". She's not perfect and neither are any of us.

By Panini (Panini) on Sunday, March 19, 2000 - 11:25 am: Edit

Yes, it just shows how the majority of the US population is not food educated. Thats another reason for tastings, to show the customer what you do, vs what they have seen in a magazine.
Oh panini, don't go there!