chefpeon

Hey, that sounds really good.....you wouldn't wanna share the recipe or put it in the recipegullet, now would ya???

Ok, is it just me? When I started in the food business about 16 years ago, I rarely heard "food allergy" or "lactose intolerance" or what have you. The only special food requests I got were from diabetics who requested sugar free items. Then I started getting the low-fat and the fat-free requests from people watching their weight. It just seems to me that all this "food allergy" stuff and how COMMON it has become, has kind of popped out of nowhere. What do you all think are the reasons for this? Better diagnoses from doctors from recent nutrition research? Allergies developing from years of eating preprocessed food and extremely unbalanced diets? Genetic mutations in babies from drug and environmental conditions? Bioengineered food? Naturopaths that are convinced that all you need is a special diet to relieve all your symptoms? Insight and opinions......all welcome. Bring it on!

There was also this thread on sticky toffee pudding a while ago. With pics!

I think you're thinking of Fluid Flex! Man I loved that stuff. Made the BEST cakes. Looked just like Vaseline too......YUM. Not available to the consumer......and even bakers have a hard time finding suppliers for it. Now I'm dealing with the new consumer fear about trans-fats. I had to start buying in a special shortening called Fresh Press that has no trans-fats, it's double the price of regular shortening, and you have to chip at it with a bench knife to scale it out. Not fun. Dailey, one would think that a white cake made with oil would be rather dense and heavy. Report back on your trial on the oil based recipe. My clients want white cake to be moist AND light. I can't imagine this would be the case if you used oil. Yes, quite easy for sure. But that "swill" made some incredibly moist people pleasin' cakes as I remember. Where I live now, I'd probably be shot if I used that stuff, but I still think it's cool. <ducks quickly> McDuff "Disremember"?????

Same here, that's why I freeze them too.

Personally, I don't think they are worth it.....they are expensive, for one thing, and for another, they do eventually end up splitting and cracking from the constant temperature changes. However there are some things I would use silicone for......like all the nice molds you can get from JB Prince, and the impression mats and things of that sort. Love silpats too. One wonders. Most likely they were written as Mr. Desaulnier did them himself. Sometimes cookbook authors (and cooks and bakers in general) have been doing something one way for so long they forget there could be a better way to do it. They also forget their audience may or may not have as much kitchen knowledge and experience as they do. I myself, take for granted that a lot of people know what I'm talking about when I explain procedures to them. For example, a few months ago I hired a part time assistant to help me with cookie production. I hired him because he had some baking experience in that he worked in a bagel shop for several years. So when I told him to "cream" the butter and sugars together for the cookie dough, he asked me, "What's "cream" mean?" Yipes. That set me straight right away. Creaming isn't a common procedure in the bagel shop........

No disrespect to Mr. Desaulnier, but I would say that the way he says to do it is: A) not the easiest, and B) a good way to set yourself up for failure Trust your judgement. I know that can be hard when your have specific instructions staring you in the face. You think, "gee, there's gotta be some REASON for that......." But I look at those instructions, trust my instinct and say, "yes, there IS an easier way to do that." Why he says to do it that way.......I just can't reason it out. This is how I'd do it. Ok you know, the end result you are trying to achieve is to sandwich two cheesecakes together with ganache. You want to do it the easiest cleanest way. I always bake my cheesecakes in a regular cake pan (I've never needed a springform), then freeze, then use the propane torch or gas cooktop to quickly heat the bottom of the cake pan to get the cheesecake out. I run a knife around the edge of the pan, invert, a voila! Cheesecake out of pan....cleanly. Then I just flip it back over to get it right side up. Freeze both your cheesecakes. Unpan the chocolate one first, and place it on the serving platter you wish to use. Or cardboard, or whatever you wish. Then, unpan your pumpkin cheesecake. Pour warm ganache over the chocolate cheesecake, then quickly place your frozen pumpkin cheesecake on top before the ganache has a chance to completely set up. The fact that your cheesecakes are cold is a good thing, because it won't take long for the coldness to set the ganache up and keep the cakes in place. Then, voila! You're done. Easy, easy.

If it's just the lactose thing they are worried about, couldn't you use Lact-Aid milk if the recipe required milk? Lact-Aid is sold virtually everywhere......I think it would make a great sub.

I was going to mention the "grease trap" too......it may be expensive, but in my opinion, essential. The grease trap will definitely keep your pipes clear......but the only downfall with a grease trap, is cleaning it. It is probably the most disgusting job on the planet. The smell coming from that thing is probably the only smell I've ever encountered that made me gag. Usually that job is relegated to the dishwasher, but everytime I make one do it, they either, A) quit B) ask me, "I'm not going to have to do that again, am I?" or C) ask for a raise......... Actually, in some areas, rendering plants will send a truck in to pump out the grease trap on a monthly basis. That's kind of a better deal, and you don't have to keep hiring dishwashers.....

What would I make the stencil out of? Another silpat? I like to use plastic lids from coffee cans and sour cream containers to make stencils for tulip paste, but I don't think those plastics would withstand that kind of heat. Where does one usually find quail eggs? Does the yolk of a quail egg taste dramatically different than a chicken egg? Does the yolk want to break when you torch the sugar to it, or does it happen so quickly there's no time for the yolk to break? Most people I know are far too "food paranoid" to ever want to try eating a raw yolk. But I want to try it. One last question..... Do you have to make the caramel that way, or can you just make a regular caramel from dry sugar, pour it onto a silpat, let it harden, pulverize it, and continue with the process?

The recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini can set anyone up who hasn't had experience with pate a choux up for failure. You might have luck with it, but the way the instructions are written you might not get the desired result because of a lot of variables. If you do have trouble with that choux recipe, check out this thread.

As a radical left-wing tree hugger, I'm all for things that can re-used rather than thrown away, and I'm all for disposables being recyclable.....problem is, your customers may not be in the habit of using recycling bins. Perhaps a customer who got to take home a cute porcelain plate with their pastry may just put it in their dishwasher and re-use it. But I can't see how you could possibly produce such a thing for a lower cost than paper.

^^^^I don't suppose any of y'all bothered to read my post, did you?

Ah, but I NEVER use FAKE fondant.....only the real stuff.....

Both of the above accomplish the same thing. Cream of Tartar, which is the solid salt of the tartaric acid mixed with cornstarch, and vinegar in combination with the cornstarch, help stabilize the egg foam by decreasing the pH level in the albumen, making the foam less apt to collapse. Vinegar and Cream of Tartar are both acids. When you add Cream of Tartar, you are not adding additional liquid to the whites to destabilize them.....when you use vinegar or perhaps citric acid, you need to add a little of something dry to offset the liquid you have added. If you don't totally understand the properties of meringues, they can be a bit mysterious, yes. But if you work with meringues a lot, these "mysteries" aren't quite so baffling any more. The basic key, is sugar. How much you add. How you add it......whether it's a sugar syrup or just granulated. Different meringues serve different purposes. If you want a nice light meringue that dries in the oven, the you need to go a bit lighter in the sugar department. Generally, baked hard meringues have a sugar to egg white ratio of two to one. Soft meringues, which you would find as toppings for tarts and pies can be made with equal quantities of sugar and egg whites by weight. This is all variable and tweakable of course, to make it as you like it.

Personally, I think anything that is 60% cacao or over is too bitter for me....just to eat plain, anyway. I would use your bitter bar in anything that you would normally use unsweetened chocolate in. A lot of brownie recipes use unsweetened chocolate, so there's something. It's also great to melt and add to plain buttercream.....that way you have a chocolate buttercream that isn't terribly sweet.

Gosh, that's the first time I've ever heard of a pastry being any good at Starbucks. There seems to be a consensus among a lot of Seattleites that frequently Starbucks pastries LOOK a lot better than they taste. Good to know that's not always the case.

Right you are. None of the above ways that people choose to lube their pans is "wrong". It's all a matter of preference.

Yes, they are the same thing, but I just didn't know what you called it in your part of the world. Well, as they say, if you can't get one recipe to work after multiple tries, maybe it's time to try a new recipe...... My "diagnosis" of overbeaten eggs is my best educated guess. I could be, as I frequently am, wrong. I must admit I am obsessed with troubleshooting. Baking is so scientific, I feel I should be able to figure out any problem. In fact, I'm so obsessed with this particular cake thing, I'm going to give the Maida recipe a shot myself and see what happens.

Valuable info! Leads me to believe that the eggs were overbeaten and contained an insane amount of air and steam. The cake lacked the structure from flour and protein to maintain the shape, and it fell. I guess the best analogy would be to compare it to overinflating a balloon to the point where it pops......you see? Too much sugar causes a cake to fall also, even though, by my calculations you converted the measurement correctly. But I look at that dark thick crust, and "sugar" is all I can think of. Were you using "superfine" or "castor" sugar?

Right you are, Chromey! A pastry brush is a must for square, rectangle, and most especially, those fancy bundt pans that have those fancy indentations in them!

Actually, by weight or volume, either one works. I've done both. Some places I have worked used no scales (can ya believe?) so I resorted to measuring by volume, and it worked just the same. I swear by the stuff. All the other methods mentioned by others in this thread, like lining the bottoms of the pans with parchment, or spraying the sides, or not spraying the sides, all work equally well. Mostly, it's what one considers easier and more convenient for them. Not to mention cost-effective. I like using "baker's grease" because: A) it always works B) it's cheap and easy to make C) it's a cinch to spread around easily in your pans D) you avoid spending extra money on parchment papers. (I'm very cost-conscious and have determined it's not worth the extra cost to buy pre-cut parchment rounds, and too time consuming to cut out rounds out of parchment sheet pan liners).

Ok, read the whole thread. Reviewed the recipe. I bake hundreds of dozens of cookies every week at my day job. (the cakes are just "on the side") So, I think I can say......I KNOW cookies. First, NO BAKING SODA! If you want your cookies to spread even more, use baking soda! If you don't , and that's what I'm reading here, DO NOT ADD BAKING SODA. Another property of baking soda: browning. Your cookies would probably get too brown also. Also, ditto....no cake flour either. Use the all purpose. The low protein content of the cake flour will contribute to spread also. I think Sugarnspice is right on with the overcreaming thing. Forget about light and fluffy. Just beat your butter and sugar til smooth and well combined....no more than that. I make a lot of butter cookies....there's no reason you should have to resort to shortening. All my butter cookie recipes specify to cream the butter and sugars til smooth, not fluffy. I'll bet that will solve your problem. When you have a cookie that is high in fat, as this one is, you don't need to lubricate pans at all....if you do, you just invite more spreading. Yes, it's definitely true, but you have to be careful about how high, or you end up with cookies with crispy overbrowned edges and nearly raw middles. Let us know how your future attempts come out!

I would just like to say, that, as with all recipes, times given are generally guidelines for those who are unfamiliar in what to look for when preparing ingredients for baking. Authors do try to cover all their bases, so the book will be effective for both novices and pros. They also have to account for differences in grades of flour, sizes of eggs, altitude, equipment the baker may or may not own, etc. As hard as an author tries they can't cover everything. When one writes a recipe they have to be careful not to make assumptions.....like not everyone has a Professional Series 6 QT Kitchenaid. They may be using a hand mixer, or even beating by hand. So although Maida says to beat for 25 minutes, she's probably using that timeline as "insurance" for those novices that may be trying her recipe. Some people don't know what it means for a batter to "ribbon". The thing to remember, is that 25 minutes is a guideline, and the more important part is to know what to look for. If it takes less than 25 minutes for your batter to fall off the beater in a nice smooth ribbon, then stop there. Don't keep beating it, just because the recipe says 25 minutes. Remember too, that overbeating your eggs can be a prime cause for the extreme sinking that LittleIsland experienced. On another note, after reviewing every bit of info on this thread, and checking measurement conversions, I can't honestly say exactly WHAT caused LittleIsland's cake to fall so terribly. There are so MANY causes to fallen cakes, unless you're right there, standing over LittleIsland's shoulder, we can all only guess. That dark crusty outside that the cake had, makes me wonder about a sugar problem. My gut tells me that the eggs may have been overbeaten and there wasn't enough flour to hold the structure, once the cake was out of the oven. LittleIsland's eggs were definitely whipped enough, if not overly so. What holds the structure aloft once the cake is out of the oven is partially the action of the flour and also the coagulation of the egg proteins. It could have had something to do with the protein content of LittleIsland's flour in her part of the world. She may have not added enough flour. It could have had something to do with the size of the eggs in her area. I have personally seen what I would call a jumbo egg in one region, labeled as large in another. All these variables make this particular problem hard to troubleshoot. Regarding oven temp, always always have an oven thermometer in your oven, then you'll always be able to rule out the "oven too hot/oven too cold" factor. This is a good point to consider. But I think only in the case of a severe change in pan size. I don't think the difference between a 9 inch and a 10 pan (especially a tube pan), would have caused that much of a fall.

Pichet Ong's choux recipe is my favorite of ALL choux recipes I have tried, and I have tried a LOT of them! Bread flour does provide greater structure in your shell, but can also make it tougher. I actually prefer to use AP flour for a more delicate shell.