amyd

Thanks for your support WestOrangeFrank! To everyone else, Greenwich House can use all of the donations possible. We've sold about 200 tickets so far, but are looking to sell a lot more! Please consider coming; twenty great NYC (and one fabulous NJ restaurant, Fascino) are participating. Drinks, food, dancing, and - oh yeah - a little donating, all add up to a great time! Just a reminder: When: Monday, February 7, 2005 from 6:30pm until 10:00pm Where: The New Era Building @ 495 Broadway, 2nd floor, off Broome Street Tickets: $75 in advance $85 at the door Contact: To purchase tickets or make a donation, please contact Aileen Parker at (212) 242-4140 ext.229 or aparker@greenwichhouse.org. www.greenwichhouse.org

I just wanted to bump this back up near the top of the list. Some of you have already said you are coming - please don't forget to make a reservation ahead of time! While you can purchase tickets at the door, last year people were turned away because the event was so popular. When: Monday, February 7, 2005 from 6:30pm until 10:00pm Where: The New Era Building @ 495 Broadway, 2nd floor, off Broome Street Tickets: $75 in advance $85 at the door Contact: To purchase tickets or make a donation, please contact Aileen Parker at (212) 242-4140 ext.229 or aparker@greenwichhouse.org. www.greenwichhouse.org

boulak I just wanted to say thank you for posting all of this wonderful information. My husband and I are going to visit Paris in April, so I've taken copious notes based on your experiences. Please post about the patisseries you went to - we plan on making many, many stops for treats along our way and would love some recommendations!

My husband (adegiulio) and I are working on a charitable event called "A Taste of Greenwich House" in NYC. Since New Jersey's own Fascino will be participating, we wanted to let everyone on the NJ board know about the event. Here's the link to the initial post on the New York Board: A Taste of Greenwich House Feel free to contact us with questions!

I made the Linzer tart for Christmas eve - it was a HUGE hit!!! I've made jam before, but I never put raspberries in the food processor before cooking, as directions in this book suggest. It really helped the jam come together; I think I'll do that from now on. I also made the chocolate mousse, the texture and flavor of which is "absolutely to die for," as my mother-in-law exclaimed after tasting it. I couldn't believe how easy it was, having never made mousse before. PS - A big thanks to all of you who are posting pictures. It really helps a non-pro get ideas on presentation.

Santa brought me a cake decorating book and a Salton digital scale. I think of all goodies I received this year (including the non-baking-related), I am most excited about having a TARE button!!!

I did exactly that. Put a few drops of food coloring and swirl with a toothpick as you are putting the marshmallows into the sheet pan. For an extra effect, I added coloring to the starch/sugar mixture. It made the swirls a little bit softer and filled in any swirls that I didn't really like.

My husband and I got married last year and went to a bunch of tastings before deciding who would do our wedding cake. The pastry shop that was included in our catering fees gave us small cups of cut up cakes and then more with different icings and finally ones with fillings. I personally thought that this was a horrible way to select an entire cake. I think you need to taste the entire thing to see how the flavors will blend together (e.g., a certain filling and icing might be overly sweet when tasted together, but fine apart). The patisserie we really liked took the time to prepare four different cake samples for us to try. My husband and I each got our own plate with a four inch cake that had been cut into quarters (three of the quarters were chocolate cake and the other was white, just in case we didn't want chocolate). Each quarter was filled with different mousselines (orange, strawberry, chocolate, and hazlenut). She topped each one with buttercream icing, since I specifically did not want fondant (love the look, hate the taste). All of the selections were based on my conversations with the baker, asking about favorite foods and desserts without concentrating too much on cakes. It was amazing how she was able to ask the right questions to figure out what we'd like together. As it turned out, we loved everything she presented to us, so we choose chocolate cake with orange mousseline for the largest tier, chocolate cake with hazelnut mousseline for the next two tiers, and white cake with strawberry filling for the smallest tier. All were served at the wedding to rave reviews. The moral of the story is that you should take the time to find out what the bride is looking for and prepare a tasting based on that. You can certainly coax her toward items that you feel you make well (can can put together without much trouble), but she will be much more interested in doing business with you after showing that you've invested time and energy specifically into her.

I have to agree that the maple syrup is causing it to slide. I think most recipes use some extract for flavoring. Any kind of maple or corn syrup would cause it to run. Here is the icing recipe from the Commissary Carrot Cake: Cream Cheese Frosting: 8 oz. soft unsalted butter 8 oz. soft cream cheese 1 box (1 lb.) powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract Here's the link to the cake, if you are interested in that recipe http://foodgeeks.com/recipes/recipe.phtml?recipe_id=752

My favorite bakery-type cookies are my homemade black & whites. They have just the right balance of sweetness. My husband's favorite cookies are Mallomars. I've attempted to make something similar at home using nightscotsman's marshmallow recipe. I cut small circles of marshmallow, place them on a Nilla wafer and top the whole thing with tempered chocolate. I have to admit that they are really close to the real thing. Other cookies we enjoy are classic chocolate chip, but I like to make them really oversized with chunks of chocolate. This way I can say that I've only had one! My other favorite is the Fantastic Fudgewich from Nancy Baggett's All American Cookie Book. I also make her Iced Cranberry-White Chocolate Drop Cookies. They are perhaps the easiest cookies I've ever made and are perfect for Thanksgiving. There are probably a zillion other cookies that I love, but can't think of them right now. There is almost nothing better than a home baked cookie!

I think that the fondant would not look as nice over a cream cheese icing. Fondant shows whatever lumps and bumps are underneath it. If you use cream cheese icing, you would have to work REALLY hard to get it to smooth out first. It's a lot easier smoothing buttercream or some kind of preserves before putting the fondant on.

I just made a tart recently that said to cool down the chocolate to 104 degrees before SLOWLY adding room temperature egg yolks. I'm not sure if that's standard procedure, but you might want to try playing with how hot or cold your ingredients are.

I have to second the fall theme ideas already mentioned. You can easily pipe fern leaves and maybe adorn it with marzipan acorns or even do real sugared leaves (there are some great colors outside right now). Also think about shape - guys might prefer a square cake to round.

But do you have any idea what is right for that recipe? I know all recipes are different, but perhaps there is a gerenal rule of thumb based on the other ingredients. Should I have used 200 grams or 7 Tbls? I'm leaning toward the 7 Tbls, since 200 grams seemed like way too much. There's obviously a typo somewhere; I'm just curious if anyone has the correct recipe or can offer an opinion as to which measurement to use.

albiston - I tried making the tart you linked to, but the recipe was a little confusing. It called for 200 grams of butter and had a conversion to 7 Tbls of butter. Now, I know those measurements are not equivalent. Any idea what the correct amount is? I did everything by weight, but there was just TOO much butter. (As I baked it, I poured some of the excess off.) We'll see how it tastes after it's cooled! Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

I have a great recipe for apple crumb cake. I made it for my husband to take to work last week and now I have to make another one!! I'm not sure if it's exactly what you are describing as an apple cake, but it's real tasty. I used Cortland and McIntosh apples, but you could probably use whatever your favorite variety is. PM me if you'd like the recipe.

I am making a birthday cake for a one year old next week. His party is also Halloween themed. It will be a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting in the shape of a 3-D pumpkin. I am going to make two small cakes using a bundt pan, turn one upside down for the base and place the other on top to form the pumpkin. I am going to color the frosting orange and decorate as a jack-o-lantern. I got the idea looking at a couple internet sites:here and here. I don't think a Halloween redux party would be complete without a hot pink pumpkin! This is something that could easily be done with a chocolate cake and pink icing. You could even add wings made from sugar. As for a recipe for chocolate cake that everyone will like, I like a chocolate genoise.

The buttercream recipe I use has powdered sugar in the recipe. If I am trying to get the right consistency, I adjust with sugar to thicken or some kind of liquid (water, milk or corn syrup depending on the recipe) to thin. I think you could add a little sugar to even things out.

Honestly, I'm not sure. It was just the mother's request to make sure they were very finely grated so her son could eat the cake. This is a friend's son who might have food issues. I also can't put any nuts in the cake.

I am making a carrot cake for my nephew's 1st birthday. Does anyone have a suggestion about shredding the carrots REALLY fine? I've read of people (not on this board) using baby food carrots, but I would think other parts of the recipe would have to be tinkered with; any thoughts (good or bad)?

I'm a fan of Martha's recipe, mostly because it's very easy and I can make it with what I usually have on hand at home. It always comes out moist and tasty. I'd love to know about other easy recipes from the pros!

We usually use Granny Smiths, but just went apple picking this past weekend and picked up Macintosh and Cortlands that are likely to make their way into a ton of desserts, including a pie.

I let cakes completely cool before slicing them open. Having few knife skills as compared to a professional pastry chef, I use a cake leveler. It's a wire with a handle to cut the cake evenly every time. I don't know if that will help your crumbling cake situation. One suggestion might be to try to get some cardboard (wrap in wax paper or something) to slip under the top layer before trying to move it anywhere - the more support the better!

The All American Cookie Book recipe (which, BTW, is written by Nancy Baggett, not Carole Walters as I previously posted under a temporary brain freeze) calls for marshmallow creme, shortening and butter. PM me and I can expand on the quantities.