chefpeon

Yeah, Patrick, you have another career in the food photography/styling biz. Love your pics!

Generally, ice cream bases that are uncooked have no eggs, so are less rich. If you have a recipe that does not call for cooking, yet still has eggs in it, then there is the risk of eating uncooked eggs, which in all reality, is not that big a risk. But still. I prefer cooking my ice cream bases, because I like to use egg yolks...especially in vanilla ice cream.......deee-lish! Also, the process of cooking your base with the yolks thickens it a little, which makes an even creamier ice cream.

This is EXACTLY what I was talking about in my previous posts!!! Those cake people should have had their names in LIGHTS for God's sake! Of COURSE they'd get passed over for more attention to Sylvia....it doesn't surprise me a bit. Not one bit. But geez, it peeves me!!!

Argh! How does one GRADUATE from culinary school as a CHEF?? You don't. You graduate as a pastry cook, at best. It takes years to be able to call oneself a chef. The mis-use of the word "chef" and the casual way in which it's used is really a pet peeve of mine. That's a title you must earn.....it's just not given to you. Also, kind of hard to believe with all the training she supposedly has had, that she'd never had to opportunity to make a cake? Puzzling.

Ummmm, make that OVERPRICED crap. Ok, I like the featherweight bags too. There are other brands like it though.....like Gossamer Wing...they're good. The other Wilton stuff I like is their plate/pillar systems....they're ok......but I think it's all too pricey. Pastry bags in particular. No matter who makes them, it just seems they are way too expensive.

Swiss meringue BC can be stored as long as Italian. However, Italian is a little bit more stable at room temp than Swiss....that's what I've discovered anyway. I sort of don't understand what you wrote about switching from Italian to Swiss so you could use frozen whites. If you're not able to use frozen whites for Italian, why would you be able to use them for Swiss?

MICE???????? You mean they can't just be running willy nilly all over the floor scavenging up cookie crumbs? They have to be in place? That's a lot to ask, you know. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist......that's the funniest spelling error I've ever seen, and I had to take advantage of it...... I'm quite sure you meant, Mise en Place........

I figure if the cream of tartar adds the extra stability, why not? Not really sure whether it makes a big diff or not, but I add it.......doesn't hurt anything.

On pastrysampler.com, I found the Ateco 825.... I really wouldn't stress out about tip numbers. Just use the tip you want. Use what you already have, or use what you prefer. Just because someone says you should, or they used a #5 Wilton tip, doesn't mean you have to. You can make your pastry look however you want. If you don't own any pastry tips, buy a little sampler of them......get some open and closed star tips, both large and small......get some plain tips in differing sizes, and some rose tips in different sizes too. Maybe a couple leaf tips and a couple drop flower tips.....and don't forget a large and a small basketweave tip. Be creative......make your own art.....do whatever you want! Don't let too many instructions cloud your imagination!!!

My salesguy pronounced it Ah-TEEK-o, so that's how I pronounce it too. Don't know if that's right or not.......

Oh, don't get me wrong, I get a 50% deposit up front. The other 50% is the part that's due the week before the wedding. But like I said, a week before really isn't enough time. I'm going to move it to four weeks.

I sure do. I get "feelings" about all of them, and still, to some point I ignore my intuition and figure I must be wrong.....but I never am. You'd think I'd learn. I think perhaps requiring the full amount one week before is probably too lenient and not to mention risky. I think I'll take your advice and make it three or four weeks before. Thanks for the tip.

AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH!!! I swear, every bride that I've had problems with regarding ponying up the cash on the due date was quite wealthy. It always seems the ones that were struggling with a budget, always always paid on time.....or early. What's up with that? This August I almost thought I wasn't going to get paid for one of the cakes I did. I do a lot of long distance consulting because my town is a "destination" wedding type of place....a lot like Hawaii. Most brides don't live here.....they just come to get married in a pretty place. My rule is that the cake must be paid for NO LATER than a week before the wedding.....or no cakey. I sent an email to the bride reminding her of the due date. She say's OK, it's in the mail tomorrow. So I wait three days. No check. So now it's four days before the wedding. Send her an email.......where's the check? OH! she says, I wrote it but didn't mail it. It's in the mail tomorrow. So now it's Friday before the wedding. Still no check. I send her an email....try to call.....no response. I figure it's because she's here now, and can't check her email, and I have no cell number. Don't know where she's staying......try to call her mother....no response. So, if I follow my own rules, I shouldn't deliver the cake on Saturday.....I mean, I have no money. But, man.....I can't DO that....that would be truly awful.......especially if the check actually was in the mail and got held up somehow. So I make the decision to deliver the cake and hope for the best. Made me nervous. So now it's Monday after the wedding. No check. No response to calls or emails because bride is now on her honeymoon. Week passes.......Friday....no check. Ok, now I'm MAD. I fire off an email saying that I delivered the cake in good faith, and I really should have had the check the week before the wedding as we'd discussed CLEARLY. If I didn't receive the check soon....I would have to take "further action"......I was polite but let it be known I was pretty annoyed by being blown off like that. So Saturday comes. I get the check along with a sweet note saying the cake was everything and more than she expected and thank you so much!!! Shit. I felt like crap for sending the annoyed email, but what was I supposed to do? I really thought I wasn't getting paid. So I fired off an email right away thanking her for the payment and the note, but I probably looked like a jackass anyway. I really hate it when I'm put in that position!!!!

Man, if you're gonna end up freezing something.....I would think it would be better to just bake the batter off and freeze the cake. Less hassle.

Hey, as far as I know, tip sizes are standard. I don't think there's any difference between, say, an Ateco number 1 plain tip and a Wilton number 1 plain tip. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Besides, I rarely look at the number on the tip anyway. I just look at the hole and know if it's the one I want.

All righty......here it is......my version of Ling's (Epicurious/Nightscotsmans) Double chocolate layer cake. I cut a little square from the 2 10 inch rounds I baked off to show the crumb and color. I like it pretty well....it's a keeper for sure. I'll be able to more accurately judge it when I split and fill and ice it up, and I will know how it tastes as a completed cake. Of course, since I can't help myself, I had to throw in my own tweaks, because I just can't leave well enough alone. Here's what I did: 1/2 cup (4 oz=1 stick) melted butter 1.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped 1.5 ounces 70% Scharffenberger semi sweet, chopped 1 1/2 cups cocoa powder (I think it was Hershey's-not sure since it was in a nondescript container) 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee with one Tbsp Madaglia D'oro espresso powder mixed in Pour the hot coffee with the Madaglia D'oro over the chocolate and cocoa powder....whisk in melted butter.....whisk til smooth. 3 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups cake flour (I used cake instead of AP) 2 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp baking powder 1 1/4 tsp salt Sift/mix these together in a bowl. 1 1/2 cups well shaken buttermilk 2 tsp. vanilla 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola-it's all I had) Combine these. 4 large eggs. Break eggs into mixer bowl......beat til light and somewhat thickened on med-hi speed, about 3 minutes. Add the oil/buttermilk/vanilla mixture slowly while beating at low speed. Add the chocolate/coffee/butter mixture. Add the flour/sugar mixture. Mix til combined. Bake at 300 til done. It only took a half hour for mine to bake. The original instructions say 1 hour to an hour and 10 minutes.......so watch your cakes carefully......I really think an hour is quite a lot of time....don't know where that came from! I really like my chocolate cake to be super chocolatey and not so sweet, which is why I used half semi-sweet and half unsweetened chocolate, instead of all semi-sweet. I added the Madaglia D'oro to give a little more "oomph" to the coffee and hopefully bring out more chocolate flavor. I followed Neil's tweak with the butter and extra vanilla. Also mixed the cocoa into the chocolate and coffee per his suggestion. I used cake flour, because I always use cake flour for cakes. My rating: I like it better than the Woolley cake for sure. The crumb is fairly wide open, but the cake is nice and crumbly-ish due to the cake flour. Moist enough. Definitely chocolatey, and not too sweet. I rate this cake an 8 on a scale of 1-10. I consider my husband's ex-wife's cake to be a 10. This cake isn't quite as good as hers........&*^%!!!!! Someday, maybe she'll share the recipe with me. Maybe at Xmas......I'll keep her wine glass filled and perhaps manipulate it out of her!!!!

But, you see, those cake designers are NOT working "for Martha". They are independent folks with their own businesses. When her mag features their work, it's great for them and gives them exposure, to be sure. But believe me, the cakes featured in the magazine, do get labeled as a "Martha" cake. I've been in the biz over 15 years, I've seen it. This is different than your GE analogy. When I was working at Great Cakes and Edible Monuments in Redmond, my cakes were "Great Cakes" cakes. I knew that and accepted that. Anything I created for them was their property. Just like your GE explanation. But now that I'm in business for myself, my cakes are MY cakes. I would not want one of my own creations to be featured in a Martha mag, and forever hence be labeled a "Martha" cake. I've worked too long and hard for that to happen. And so have those other cake designers.

That's another reason I hate Martha.....her mags are filled with designs from talented, hard working cake artists, but the credits for the cakes are in very small print. What always ends up happening is that any cake featured in her magazines inevitably gets called a "Martha Stewart Cake". If I were one of the cake artists contributing my talents to the magazine, I'd certainly be upset that my design was being misconstrued as a "Martha" cake rather than an "Anne Welch Cake".

Thanks for noting those changes Neil. I am planning on trying that recipe today and will probably do it with your tweaks first. I love it when people do my R&D for me. As I posted in the "Gingerbread Disasters" thread, you will find no sticking problems at all if you use baker's grease. I promise, if you make some and use it, you'll be very HAPPY CAMPERS! You'll probably use it for everything and keep a stash in the fridge at all times. It's better than pan spray. It's better than anything. It's cheap and easy to make. C'mon.....try some today! All you have to do is: Take equal parts flour, oil, and shortening (not butter) (this can be by volume or weight....really doesn't matter...I use volume most of the time..easier) Dump 'em all in a bowl, and whip til fluffy. Store in fridge, and use pastry brush or your hands to grease your pans. It's truly great. I really promise. Edited to add: parchment works great too.....but since I'm lazy, I like to use baker's grease, so I don't have to spend time cutting circles out of parchment sheets. Oh yeah, I know that there are parchment circles (carried by bakery suppliers) but I'm cheap too. Baker's grease is cheap. Parchment circles are not. Relatively.

Oooooh, now wouldn't that be fun???? However, anything having to do with Martha Stewart, or trying to watch people construct wedding cakes, is far far too painful for me to watch. I hate Martha. But not for reasons most people hate Martha. I hate her because I have this wonderful portfolio of original cake designs and my own ideas, but I always get brides at my consultations with her magazines in hand, asking me to copy whatever it is MARTHA has decided deserves to be fashionable and trendy. To be honest, I find a lot of cakes in her publications are plain just NO FUN to do. Ok, so call me the "Jan Brady" of cake artists....... It's always MARTHA MARTHA MARTHA!!!!!!!! Ok, make that Jan Brady with a lisp......

Yep. Straight from the fridge. It doesn't really take that much longer either. Maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I feel I have much more control when my buttercream is as cool as it can be. Also, I work in hot commercial kitchens....everything gets "out of control warm" pretty quickly. But even then, at home, I still use cold butter. Always works fine.

You know, I've always added cold butter to all my buttercreams. The action of the mixer warms the butter up soon enough anyway and it always whips up nice. Not only that, I never have to worry about the butter or the buttercream being too warm and hard to work with.

Regarding using fresh vs. canned pumpkin: Definitely go with the canned. It's easier and not really all that different from fresh. In fact, if you use fresh pumpkin, make sure you drain the mash overnight.....otherwise you end up with watery pumpkin stuff. The flavor isn't as concentrated and you end up with less pumpkin taste.

Yeah, you're right! That's a lot of work! Doesn't seem too practical. Your pie looks beautiful though!

I was just telling Abra that I don't quite know the answer to that.....yet. I can see why a convection would be good, in that it provides a great initial blast of sudden heat to get those babies to rise. But then, if you think about it, the fan just might set the surface of them before they reach their full potential. There's only one thing to do........a test is in order! I know how the recipe worked in my home oven (a non-convection). I will make a batch at work (hopefully tomorrow) and use my convection on them and see if there's a difference. I'm really curious too.