skyflyer3
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Posts posted by skyflyer3
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One more blither!
I'm a King Arthur flour person -- and I recently bought two five pound bags of Gold Medal because RLB endorses Gold Medal on her Web site and recommends it for her recipes.
Man, did I not like the Gold Medal! It behaved just fine, everything I made was basically the same, but there was something so missing. Something about the density (and I'm talking a very small difference, but discernable) and the taste. There was a sort of refined, chemically taste to the Gold Medal.
Even in the flour bucket, the Gold Medal seemed anemic, shlumpy.
I keep KA cake flour on hand and when I want a "lighter" flour, I mix the two. Always mix for pie pastry (another RLB tip).
I know what you mean. I love KA flour - it's such a high-quality product. One thing I am trying to find is a lesser protein flour for biscuits, scones, etc., and currently I use Robin Hood (Canadian) pastry flour, but I'm thinking about using Pilsbury bleached, since it's rated pretty high by Cooks Illustrated. Anyone have experience with Pilsbury flour?
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Sweet and Savory in Mount Baker - who's gone? I hear it is fantastic.
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I've been thinking a little bit more about what I might do differently next time I make this cake (pending tonight's tasting). In addition to trying it with all cake flour next time, I think I'm going to go with a hotter oven, particularly now that I've increased the number of eggs. I think it will create an even lighter cake with even better rise. I'm not sure about any other modifications yet. I've got to wait and see.
I'll report back tomorrow.
WhiteTruffleGirl - From your posts I understand that you like the texture of the CI Sour Cream Bundt Cake over the Double Chocolate Cake, but because you prefer the taste of the Double Chocolate Cake, you are trying to tweak the texture of it to become more ideal. May I ask, why not tweak the taste of the CI Sour Cream Bundt Cake? Wouldn't the flavor profile of one cake be easier to tweak over the texture of another cake? Just wondering.
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A Trader Joe's Breakfast:
Swedish pancakes with a dollop of Blueberry Yogurt (in those little cups - they say it's lowfat but it's really not and I don't mind)
Crumpets with organic raspberry preserves and organic crunchy peanut butter
TJ's Applewood Smoked Uncured Bacon
edited to say that the TJ's bacon rocked! I spent at least 5 minutes trying to decide if I should splurge on the Niman Ranch bacon, or try this stuff out. I'll have to do a comparison, next time....
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I love my Epicurean board, too! I have the biggest one, and it's great for kneading bread, chopping up chickens and cauliflower heads, and absolutely fantastic for cutting up chocolate, because it is so easy to clean. And I love that you can throw them into the dishwasher. I plan to get a bunch in different sizes, budget permitting.
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I did the CI Sour Cream Bundt Cake last night, and it is just about perfect. Better than the Double Chocolate Epicurious cake in texture for sure, and with a little tweaking, just as good in flavor, if not more so. It is moist, dense, and substantial in the mouth, which is exactly what I am looking for in a chocolate cake. The only thing I would do is make it sweeter - I used 6 oz bittersweet chocolate, like it asked, but I would definitely use all semisweet next time. Comparing recipes, the CI cake is all butter, has 5 eggs, and no baking powder, and it rose just fine. Filled a bundt cake pan perfectly. I'm going to top this off with a milk chocolate ganache glaze, drizzle on some caramel sauce, and go to town on this puppy for dinner!
Lani
p.s. I did change one thing - I used decaf coffee crystals, 2 tsp. So nice to get the coffee flavor without the caffeine hit. And I did something I'd never done before - I ate 2 or 3 spoonfuls of batter before sliding it into the oven, it was so good.
I'm so glad you liked the cake! What percentage bittersweet did you use? I usually use a 60% cocoa for this cake.
Merstar - Thanks so much for pointing me to this cake! Two days later, and it's still going strong. It's definitely one of those cakes that gets better each day. I used 72% cocoa in my bittersweet, so that could be why I didn't find it sweet enough. I just made sure that the frosting was sugarfied, and that made it just fine.
One thing to note, test bakers, is that this cake needs to be well-wrapped, or completely covered in frosting or ganache at all times, or it can dry out easily. I left out a piece for someone for a few hours, and it was drier upon eating than the rest of the cake that was wrapped. I've considered subbing a little butter with oil next time I bake this, but I don't want to risk ruining a good thing
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I tasted the CI cake with the frosting. Truthfully I don't think I would notice or care about the chocolate flavor not being as strong because the frosting provided such enjoyable/true chocolate flavor.
I am sure in other applications that would be a problem though. I am curious if you all tried the frosting? It is really amazing.
As for myself, I didn't try the frosting.
I did try the CI bundt cake a while back too, but as I recall I used all dark brown sugar and a very bitter chocolate and ended up thinking it wasn't sweet enough for me (I might have used unsweetened by accident). I'll try it again at some point.
I did the CI Sour Cream Bundt Cake last night, and it is just about perfect. Better than the Double Chocolate Epicurious cake in texture for sure, and with a little tweaking, just as good in flavor, if not more so. It is moist, dense, and substantial in the mouth, which is exactly what I am looking for in a chocolate cake. The only thing I would do is make it sweeter - I used 6 oz bittersweet chocolate, like it asked, but I would definitely use all semisweet next time. Comparing recipes, the CI cake is all butter, has 5 eggs, and no baking powder, and it rose just fine. Filled a bundt cake pan perfectly. I'm going to top this off with a milk chocolate ganache glaze, drizzle on some caramel sauce, and go to town on this puppy for dinner!
Lani
p.s. I did change one thing - I used decaf coffee crystals, 2 tsp. So nice to get the coffee flavor without the caffeine hit. And I did something I'd never done before - I ate 2 or 3 spoonfuls of batter before sliding it into the oven, it was so good.
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More goodies I've discovered and love:
Sugo di Pomodoro Canned Tomato Sauce - excellent for quick lasagna
Mango and Ginger Go Nuts Trail Mix (dried mangoes, crystallized ginger, almonds and cashews)
Ritter Marzipan and Dark Chocolate Bars
Red Aussie Licorice
Good, inexpensive Jean-Marie Champagne ($19.99 a bottle)
Blood Orange Soda
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Dear all,
I'll be making the Double chocolate cake recipe. I want to use a Bundt mold and am trying to figure out the best way to finish the cake. I have a really good chocolate butter-cream frosting, but I think that the cake might look better with a glaze of some sort.
Would you say that this cake is flavorful and moist enough that a simple vanilla glaze would work well, or would you recommend something else to finish the cake? I've never done a ganache for a cake, would that be sufficiently pourable so as to coat the bundt cake well? If so, would one of the ganache recipes in Recchiuti/Gage's Chocolate Obsession book work? That's the only book I have that has ganache recipes.
Thanks for any feedback.
Alan
I think either finish would work well. You can pour any ganache on the cake while its warm, the question is how firm to you want it to become at room temperature. If you want a softer, more glaze-like glaze, I would use about 1C cream to 8ozs chocolate (you can still add butter or liquer too).
When I baked the Double Chocolate cake last Friday as a bundt cake, I did a ganache glaze with measurements pretty close to what Patrick gave (9 oz choc/8 oz cream). I wanted there to be a good amount of glaze on there, though, so I poured it over once, let it set for a little in the fridge, then poured it over once more, and it was perfect. The cake still tastes great, five days later.
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I especially hate the one closest too my house in Seattle. They opened it up <b>1 block</b> from the local established co-op. (For Seattleites, this is the new Capitol Hill Branch, it's one block away from the Madison Market, which is probably one of the most respected markets in all of Seattle).
I find this too be strangely competitive and not at all sportsman-like. People in this neighborhood of Seattle tend not to own cars, and shop at whatever market is closest, but there is plenty of Seattle for all kinds of grocery stores and I don't understand why they had to open the TJs right next to the co-op. The co-op has been hurt severely by this, and isn't TJs talking the talk about the food and community and whatnot? Hurting the co-op is not good for my community.
I am a member of the co-op, and the only time I went into the TJs I was kind of creeped out. People have raved about the warm service and everything- I got the same kind of greeting that I do at Safeway (granted, the Safeway employees at my local one are very nice). I didn't see how this store was oh-so much better than the co-op.
I wish everyone who lived in suburbia could have as good access to wonderful foodstuffs as I do in the city, but I for one wish that Trader Joes never stepped foot in my neighborhood.
I'm right down the street from you, Arianna, and I really love the fact that Trader Joe's is in our area. I used to have to drive to the UDistrict to get my TJ's fix, and now only have to go a few blocks. I love Trader Joe's because I can spend about $50 to fed my family of three each week, and get some great quality items. Now, I don't buy fruit or vegetables there very often, nor cereal or cheese, but that's what the Safeway down the street is for, or the Madison Market across the street. And I would think that the Safeway down the street is more there to take business from the co-op since it was there before TJ's decided to come into that spot. But I digress....
There are certainly items that I cannot stand at TJ's, like the glass jarred soups that apear tasty but are so not. But I love the sparkling cider, the inexpensive Pound Plus chocolate, the trail mixes, the Soycutash frozen veggie mix, the cereal bars, and the great prices on good quality yogurt, milk, eggs and even doggie food. I also love Madison Market, but they don't have the selection or value that I need on a regular basis. I do think the neighborhood is better for both markets - and with the summer Farmer's market, it's just about perfect.
If you do go to TJ's, pick up some of the Banana Crisps (not chips). They are fantastic! And you can eat a bag of them and not get too fat! They were also sold out of them for about four months, so I am very very happy to report they have returned.
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My vote's for Zoe's, too. I also liked market Street Grill's.
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How much did you whip the eggs before adding the other ingredients? I find that if you under whip them - just enough to start disolving the sugar, but nowhere near ribbon stage - the texture is firmer and less crumbly.
Ah - this may be it. I beat the eggs for about 3 mins - the recipe says to go for about that long, until they are lemon colored - but I'll try and beat less. Would you say 30 seconds would do - just enough to come together?
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Has anyone tried the double chocolate cake in a bundt pan? I do not have round cake pans
Any ideas on the size of the pan and how long to bake it?
I baked it last night in a standard bundt pan, about 2/3 full, and I could have gone a little less than that, it rose so much. I had enough leftover batter for about 7 cupcakes. This time, I made it from the original recipe, except that I used sour cream in place of the buttermilk, King Arthur AP flour for extra protein, 2 tsp of vanilla, subbed some unsweetened for semisweet chocolate, used hot water instead of coffee, and replaced 4 oz. of butter for 1/4 of the oil. I added the cocoa to the boiling water to let it "bloom", instead of sifting it with the flour, and I added the butter to the chocolate/cocoa mixture afterward. The cupcakes came out after 30 minutes, and the bundt cake came out at 1 hour exactly. This time, everything seemed to work well and I finally can see what people are talking about! Moist, well-rounded chocolate flavor, light in texture but rich and melting at the same time. It was a hit at dinner tonight. Fortunately, I found some decaf coffee crystals at Whole Foods, so I can use that in place of the hot water, to further deepen the chocolate flavor. I love this cake! It will easily do three layers, and I'm already dreaming of raspberry whipped cream combinations. The only improvement that I would wish upon this cake is that I wish it were denser. Not chewier, but firmer, as even with the protein from AP flour it is still pretty delicate. Other than that, I'm a convert.
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I wouldn't ordinarily go to a restaurant like this, but we had a great meal at Fish Club during the last promotion. Quantity and quality both!
I'd be interested in your recommendations for cheap but good sushi in Vancouver if that's not illegally off-topic.
Sakae on Thurlow, right off Robson. Everyone I send there raves about it. Make sure to sit at the bar, if you can - the chefs are very entertaining. They know how much I love toro, and made an entire meal out of different kids of toro. It was a very memorable night.
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My creme caramel calls for superfine sugar. I found something called Instant disolving fruit powdered sugar, but nothing called superfine. Can I use the fruit powdered sugar?
Can you tell us what the brand name is on the package? From your text alone, it sounds like you have superfine fructose. Since fructose, or fruit sugar is sweeter than sucrose, or table sugar, I don't think you can use it for the same application without some taste or texture differences. However, if you're pressed for time and have a little table sugar handy, try tasting each one and see if the fruit sugar is sweeter.
By the way, Wendy, I use C&H's Baker's Sugar almost exclusively for baking, and it produces consistently good, even-textured results. It gets a little wonky when I use golden castor sugar, though - my baked goods taste great, but are denser and flatter.
skyflyer
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Ok, I'm going to try the tweaked Double Chocolate Cake again tonight. I'm really concerned about how delicate it is - are people finding that it holds together better with AP than with cake flour? If so, would a high-protein AP like King Arthur Flour be ok, or should I go with Pillsbury bleached AP? One last thing, I love using instant espresso for flavor, but cannot deal with the caffeine at all. Is decaf instant espresso as tasty, and if so, where does one find it? Thank you....
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I think smaller pans are key. Mine tasted great, were very moist, but the 1/2 I put in the large loaf pan sunk, while the ones I split over three loaf pans did better. Although, I'm wondering if my baking powder is kaput. Could that be a factor in a sinking center, or would it be more like overcooking?
Edited to day: This recipe is much better than the Perfect Pound Cake recipe in the Cake Bible. I think the heavy cream is key.
Tried the recipe again this week. Sifted (well, took the ingredients for a spin in the food processor, a la Alton Brown) three times, used C&H Baker's Sugar, Robin Hood Pastry Flour (it was the lowest protein flour I had on hand), beat extra and poured into a Bundt pan. This time it turned out exactly like everyone's pictures - light and lovely, pale, even crumb, crunchy good crust, moist. But not as moist or dense as the version I did with KA Flour and Golden Castor Sugar. It was a nice experiment that proves that good stuff can be made from non-specialty ingredients.
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I made the Chocolate Chiffon Cake from Spago Chocolate, and I think it is tops of all the recipes I've tried so far. Good chocolate flavor, nice well-developed crumb, excellent structure - I love it. The only thing I would change is that I wish it were a little more dense, as it is more of a spongy cake. But otherwise, it is fantastic. I filled it with a light whipped milk chocolate ganache with chopped almonds, and finished it with a dark chocolate glaze - so tasty!
I tried that back in Jan 05, and also loved it. IIRC, Fernwood loved it too. If you want to make it more dense, maybe you could just leave the whites unbeaten, or use less whites?
Patrick - Do you like it better than the other cakes tested on this thread? Let me know your thoughts on the comparisons.
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For "store brand" chocolate, I use Ghirardelli, but at store levels, volume ends up being pricey. I also like Valrhona Guanaja for 70% chocolate and Cacao Barry Mi Amere 58% semi-sweet and Guittard L'Harmonie 64% chocolate.
For brown sugar, I like Billingtons and India Tree. Not cheap at $5/lb.
For kids and the bake sales, where most people won't notice the difference, I go for the standard fare. For special occasions or where I'm serving people who know good food, I spend the extra $$.
Oh my goodness, Sweetside, you and I could be the same people. My go-to store brand is Guittard L'Harmonie (although I save it mostly for straight eating), and I use Billingtons and India Tree exclusively for my cookies while simultaneously complaining about the $$$.
Ok, I lied. My go-to brand is Trader Joe's Pound Plus Bitterweet. It is supposedly Belgian, and the only thing resembling quality chocolate at $3/lb. With the amount of baking I do, I need to buy good chocolate for cheap.
Is it possible to get better prices for better chocolate, without having to purchase 20 lbs at a time? Actually, I could probably do 20 lbs....Oh, and I've had bad experiences with Ghirardelli, so I don't go there.
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To address one question that came up...flour. The basic difference between flours is the protein content. The more protein in a flour, the more gluten you will develop. Simplistically, you want gluten development in something like bread, you don't want it something like cake. So while you can use AP when cake flour is called for (i.e., substituting a higher protein flour where a low protein is called for), you will end up with a denser, heavier product. But you cannot substitute willy-nilly.
Respectfully, I disagree - sometimes you want a little gluten in your cake, it just depends on what kind of structure you want your cake to have. I've done chiffon cakes with cake flour and gotten fluffy, light cakes, and I've done chiffon cakes with AP flour and gotten firm, dense, moist cakes, and both have turned out great - but they serve different purposes for me.
I gotta ask - do some people have different types of AP flour for different types of baking? For example, I use King Arthur AP for a lot of my stuff, including cakes that ask for AP, but am wondering if I should use a bleached one like Gold Medal for cakes.
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I made the Chocolate Chiffon Cake from Spago Chocolate, and I think it is tops of all the recipes I've tried so far. Good chocolate flavor, nice well-developed crumb, excellent structure - I love it. The only thing I would change is that I wish it were a little more dense, as it is more of a spongy cake. But otherwise, it is fantastic. I filled it with a light whipped milk chocolate ganache with chopped almonds, and finished it with a dark chocolate glaze - so tasty!
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Despite the comments above that Cake and Pastry flour are different all the brands that I have found available here (Vancouver) are called "Cake and Pastry Flour".
I would have to check the protein content as they must be blending to split the difference figuring there is not much of a home market for individual varieties here.
I'll soldier on with my adjusted AP flour as I prefer a slightly denser, moister crumb anyway.
Hey - I have some Robin Hood flour I got in Vancouver that is Cake and Pastry, and I always wondered if I could use it is cake flour. I'll check the protein content too.
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I think smaller pans are key. Mine tasted great, were very moist, but the 1/2 I put in the large loaf pan sunk, while the ones I split over three loaf pans did better. Although, I'm wondering if my baking powder is kaput. Could that be a factor in a sinking center, or would it be more like overcooking?
Edited to day: This recipe is much better than the Perfect Pound Cake recipe in the Cake Bible. I think the heavy cream is key.
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Etta's in the market is open later on the weekends, and was quiet last time I went. Dahlia is also open later, but I don't remember if it was quiet. Oh, try Brasserie Margaux, or Tulios.
Chiffon cakes in non-tube pans?
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
I've also had great success baking chiffon cakes in regular 9" pans. Have tried it with Spago/Baking with Julia Chocolate Chiffon Cake, and the King Arthur Flour Chiffon Cake.