aidensnd2

Kakes

You need a high pressure press and a mixture that will stay together when compacted. I believe that pretty much any sugar based powder mix should work.

Well if it really is that bad then I don't think there is any point in using it unless you want to spend some more time making something that ends up still tasting like crap... Crap in, crap out.

Have any of you tried freezing a cake with ganache in it? I have a layer cake with ganache as the filling and it would be heloful if I could assemble and crumb coat the cake, freeze it, and then when I need it just let it defrost overnight in the walk in before I glaze and finish it. Any thoughts on the practicality of this? Thanks

Just wondering how well frozen ganache defrosts, anyone?

For any of you who think that the amount of salt in salted butter doesn't have an impact then try making 2 batches of buttercream, 1 with salted butter and 1 with unsalted. Then try to tell me that the salt content doesn't matter...

Kind of hard to answer without knowing what is already in there. It could be that you have enough flavorings but not enough salt. Or perhaps there aren't enough flavors. Chili powder, or some variety like ancho, pasilla, chipotle, and cumin are a nice way to add some easy flavor.

Looking for an inexpensive turntable for cake work. Anyone know of a good source? Thanks Dan

Harrison just opened downtown...

I've never been a big fan of Valrhona's milk chocolate. Their dark and white are fantastic but the taste of the milk isn't that impressive. All of them are really nice to work with though, easily my favorites out of all I have tried. For milk chocolate taste I too like E Guittard. A lot of times I'll add in about 10% of their dark in with the milk and that seems to beef up the flavor also.

Harrison in Portland. We open tonight...

I have to disagree. I make a mean apple pie at work...

I believe an equal weight of Equal can be substituted for sugar in recipes...

I would just stick with the basic setup. The broad tip might be handy if you were going to do burn a lot of big items but for the occasional brulee the pinpoint is just fine. Even though they are called 'pinpoint' they still put out a decent diamater flame.

If you are aiming for the raw in the middle thing then make sure you let the tuna come up to room temp before you cook it or it will be cold in the middle...

Cool, thanks for the replies, I never would have guessed they would keep for that long. You are all storing the pears in the poaching liquid though right?

How long can you keep pears once they are poached? They need to stay firm as they will be baked at service. Normally I cool the poaching liquid (simple syrup) in an ice bath and then store the pears in the liquid, typically I finish them the next day, but what's the max number of days they would stay good for without the quality deteriorating? Also, how many times would you reuse the poaching liquid? Can I basically just keep the same batch and just add to it as needed? Thanks in advance.

For those of you who have frozen this cake, did you let it completely cool to room temp before freezing?

Interesting. I lived there for some time and was never aware that vanilla was grown locally...

I think this hits it on the head. Most cracking in cheesecake is caused by the mixture not being able to rise and fall smoothly without sticking to the sides of the pan. If you grease the sides of the pan really good you shouldn't have any problems but I agree that running a knife around the edge before cooling would probably help.

These are the temps I use: 260 for the honey 295 for the glucose, sugar, water It sets up quite firm, that's what I like. You can also dust it with cornflour and then cover with silicon paper.

I believe that the main difference in nougat variations/recipes is the temperature of the honey/sugar which determines the final consistency of the nougat.

Are you letting the meat come up to room temp before cooking? That will help the middle part to cook faster.

Any recommendations? I don't want to spend too much, thinking around $200 hopefully. Thanks

Vegemite or marmite and butter