Evaluation of cake art production processes: The case of Istanbul

Pastry is a field that has been alive and well in the world for a long time. Pastry is divided into various branches within itself and boutique pastry is one of these branches. With the importance given to special days, boutique pastry has become more diversified and developed day by day. Within the scope of the research study, it is aimed to examine the production processes of sugar paste/boutique cakes within the scope of pastry. Within the scope of the research, businesses working on boutique pastry in Istanbul were selected. A qualitative study was provided with semi-structured interview forms by people working in businesses. The data obtained were divided into themes and codes and tabulated with the answers of the participants. As a result of the literature review on the subject, studies related to pastry and boutique pastry were found, but no study was found within the sample accompanied by questions. Although this situation revealed the importance of the study, it prevented the study from being able to discuss with other sources. The first part of the study has been created under the name of "Pastry" and consists of a literature review of various pastry fields such as the history-meaning of pastry and cakes. In the second part, under the name of "Boutique Pastry", the history of boutique pastry and the elements related to sugar paste are emphasized. In the third section, there is the method section about the field research, while the last section includes the conclusion and recommendations section. If we give some of the results obtained, it has been determined that the hardened dough due to the addition of tylose can be softened by heating later, and that the sugar dough made at home dries more quickly and is not suitable for use with figures. The importance of choosing paint on sugar paste while painting was emphasized by the participants, and an exact thawing time for the frozen cake could not be given due to factors such as season, weather or the content of the cake. When asked to the participants to learn about their sugar paste consumption, 10 people stated that they did not consume it, while 8 people stated that they did. To give an example of some of the questions in the field of pastry, the answer to the question of the preservation of sponge cake was almost equally 1 week and 3 days in the refrigerator environment. In another question, they stated that they did not consider the concept of protein in the selection of flour, which is important for pastry. It was also learned through the question that the participants cracked the eggs by hand instead of using liquid ones. Although each question asked contains a result in itself, some results have been selected from among the questions and included. KEYWORDS: Boutique Pastry, Pastry, Production Processes, Cake