Cake Decorators Do you know how safe are food additives?

Hi:

I like to thank you all for the emails sent during the holiday season, and for all those questions and comments about the food colors information.

Today, I will present you the new sweetener in the market. A product that according to Pure Circle, the largest supplier of Reb A (RebaudiosideA), derived from stevia plant is bake-stable.

Researching about stevia plant, I found that this plant has being historically used in South America to sweeten the tea. There is a lot of information about the controversial history of the sweet food additives that we use in our kitchen.

 In the web site www.foodeducate.com/blog/2008/12/18/the-unnatural-history-of sweet-from sugar to stevia, you will find a very well done historical account of sweet food additives that had been approved by FDA and then banned some years after being determined to be dangerous to human. Stevia was banned in 1991 or considered unsafe for the use of humans. Although unresolved questions remain concerning whether metabolic processes can produce a mutagen from stevia in animals, the early studies prompted the European Commission to ban stevia’s use in food in the European Union, pending further research: Singapore and Hong Kong have banned it also. However, more recent data compiled in the safety evaluation released by the World Health Organization in 2006 suggest that policies may be obsolete. On December 2008, 18 years after the FDA deemed it unsafe, stevia is granted GRAS status (Generally Regarded as safe).

 The Center for Science in the Public Interest, in their web site, under food safety/food additives link, you will find alphabetically listed additives today in the market.   It will tell you, which are safe, which to cut back and the reason to do so, which avoid, and which not to use. Scroll down to stevia. I invite you to visit:    www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm or www.cspinet.org/foodsafety/additives_stevia.html  

One of the basic ingredients of our trade is sugar. It is our responsibility as bakers and cake decorators to be informed of the quality of the products we place in our cakes and cookies. I suggest you to search for the pros and cons of additives like saccharin, aspartame, sucralose and stevia and how they can affect the health of our customers and family.

I invite you to read carefully today information and visit the links, for you to be able to make the best decision of what type of additives to place in your food.

In the mean time, I will use sugar anytime. Happy Cake Decorating.

Marivi Bassabe

Cake Decorators and crafters:  Conceptual awareness in a design.

In any cake design, the most important consideration is conceptual awareness.  All cake compositions begin with an artist’s conceptual awareness—“the idea” for the presentation of the specific occasion request.

Technically, conceptual awareness is “visual literacy.”  Visual literacy is a competence in visual expression and communication.  It involves insights and skill no less disciplined than those required for proficiency in engineering and construction.

A decorated cake is a composition, a structure composed of various materials.  The manner in which the artist presents these materials creates a visual communication.  Therefore, a decorated cake is a visual structure which communicates to the viewer.

Acquiring the professional skills to communicate through cake design is no different from learning how to communicate verbally.  Cake decorating as a method of communication requires an artist to learn all the technical essentials of professional design. With this knowledge we develop and express our unique creative talents.

The creative foundation for every cake design is conceptual awareness. It is expressed in composition.  Understanding composition and mastering the skill to present a persuasive creation is the mark of a professional cake decorator artist.  If a cake design is not persuasive, it is no more than an obscure grouping of ingredients.  A compelling composition is essential for a cake decorator to be distinctive, pleasing and remembered.

Simply stated, composition is the specific order in which an artist present all the visual components in a design.  Composition includes the elements and principles of a design as well as the techniques used in deploying these ingredients.

In this times of uncertainty, when the global economic situation makes us wonder what is next.  This is the time to make use of your conceptual awareness and get the materials needed for your creation that are available in the cake decorating market.  Out there are very good sugar artist and suppliers of the sugar ornaments and flowers needed to suit your specific artistic need.   It is the time to work together, and help each other to overcome these difficult times.

I am convinced that a cake decorator can function effectively in a commercial atmosphere if he respect and supports the creativity of others.  I endorse the Gestalt theory of creativity which states that the whole is more that the sum of the parts.  Collaborative design enables us to combine the talents of the finest artist for a product that is far better than any one artist could create on his own.

Best regards,

Marivi
www.marivis.com