chefpeon
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Posts posted by chefpeon
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Souffles definitely have that "wow" factor when delivered to the table, but considering the fact that they just don't taste as great as they look, I honestly don't think they're worth the trouble. Even with a great sauce.
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From what you say, it seems you share the same vision and work ethic which is a good start.
But again, in the future, who knows when and why you may butt heads.
I think it can work, but you need to sit down together and draw out details, figure your mission statement, make a contract, and consult an attorney or business consultant.
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gfron, I think you're right.....when you're at altitude, the air pressure is so much less that differences in leavening vs. size of the cake probably DO make all the difference. I can totally see what you're talking about, and that's a good thing to keep in mind for people who ARE at altitude!
We who are at sea level have enough air pressure that differences in leavening vs. size of cake makes no discernible difference. I'm glad you brought up the altitude issue, because certainly, not all of us live at sea level!!!!
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Hey Cali......here's a metric calculator just for us 'Mericans!
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Hee.....glad I'm good for a laugh or two!
But, back to business.....have you looked at JB Prince?
It LOOKS like some of the molds there may be what you're looking for, but the stupid product descriptions tell you the size of the entire pan instead of the dimensions of the molds themselves.
There's some cool neato shapes though.......
I bet you'll have fun cruising around that site......there's so much of that stuff I want!!!!!
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Recipe's finally up! Happy baking!
Thanks 'snob!
Here's a linky for the rest of ya.....White Butter Cake
Just looking at the picture of the cake that you took makes me want to bake it!
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Yes, baking time and (sometimes temp) are different if you are baking a smaller or larger cake than the recipe is written for.
Obviously smaller cakes and especially cupcakes take much less time. Larger cakes take much more time. If you have a recipe that's written for a 9 inch cake and you've scaled it up to make something like a half sheet, then it will bake longer, but you also want to turn the oven down a bit for really large cakes, like half sheets, quarter sheets, 12 inch rounds on up. If the oven temp for a 9 inch cake states for you to bake it at 375, go for 350 for the larger cakes; otherwise the outer edges of the larger cakes will dry out too much before the center is baked. Too high an oven temp can also lead to too much doming in larger cakes.
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I'd just like to say that if he's that fussy, HE should source the pan, not you!!!
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As a pro, I have to scale cake recipes up and down all the time.
I'm nowhere near the math and science Tino offered up!
It doesn't have to be that complicated though.
I've also found that it really isn't necessary to adjust leavenings as Sugarella suggested.
I mix anywhere from 20 qt to 60 qt bowls of batter and I have to get several sized cakes
out of each batch. I can't be adding the leavenings separately to each cake....that would
take me forever. The suggestion of leavening adjustment comes from Rose Levy Beranbaum,
and honestly I can't see her reasoning behind this. I've successfully scaled cakes up and
down proportionately for 18 years with no leavening adjustment, and everything has been
just peachy.
My "professional" time-saving non scientific method of scaling is uber-simple.
Let's say you have a recipe, as you say, for a 9 inch 3 layer cake, and you just have a KitchenAid mixer. I'm assuming you're a home baker. Let me know if I'm wrong. I think you can successfully double it and it would still fit inside a 5 qt KA bowl. If you tripled it, maybe not. It depends on the size of your mixer and how much batter the recipe is allowing for each layer.
So, if it were me, and I wanted to make a 12 inch cake, I'd double the recipe proportionately,
and fill each 12 inch pan just a little over halfway. Chances are you won't get three separate layers out of this and you'll have to mix up another batch. Any leftover batter gets made into cupcakes.
By proportionate doubling I mean this:
Original recipe:
2 cups flour
Doubled recipe:
4 cups flour
Can't get much easier than that. Works too.
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If you want me to share the recipe on recipegullet, just say the word.
Uh, word?
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I have "Sweet Miniatures" and have used several recipes out of it. Every one has been great, I must say. Glad you recommended the butter cake. After ALL THESE years, I still haven't found one I really like. Gotta try it!
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You could also use acetate.
Just tape the strips together to make little cylinders and place them in your existing muffin pans and voila, you have straight sides!
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What is it that you are trying to accomplish?
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I think this is a difficult subject to handle. I'm not a pastry chef, and know little about this. But if my faith required certain dietary restrictions, and someone knowingly violated them when making something for me, I'd be pretty upset. I wouldn't, but some people might be inclined to sue.
Normally I would agree with this. But in the case of using a high proof alcohol to paint with, there is no alcohol left once it's evaporated. I'm not violating dietary restrictions because they won't be consuming alcohol......it's gone....into thin air. Besides if Mormons cook with extracts, then how is it a violation of their dietary restrictions to use it to paint with?
I don't want to make this thread into an argument about ethics. Like I said, I'm all for full disclosure. If this were my client and they were wanting metallic embellishments, I'd tell them how I would go about it. If they objected, I'd say to them it would cost more for an alternative (such as using 24k gold leaf) or they can just leave the metallic stuff out.
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As for extracts, personally I can't stand using them because they contain oil which does not evaporate, and then you end up with a colour that smears whenever someone touches it, and it (the silver) comes off on people's faces as they're eating too. Worse, the extracts taste just as bad on the cake as they do right out of the bottle.
So if you use vegetable oil to paint, then you would have the same problems as if you use extracts, but worse, right?
I've never used oil, just for that reason. You really want to stick with something that evaporates as fully as possible. I love Everclear but I can't get it here in Washington, so I just use the highest proof clear alcohol that I can find. That's why I use Vodka......it's pretty odorless.
Sometimes I follow the "What they don't know what hurt 'em" philosophy.
Personally, I'd use the alcohol to get the job done, and I wouldn't say anything.
But that's just me. I'm all for full disclosure, but really the alcohol isn't there in any type of amount that's even objectionable once it dries.
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I don't think Mormons would have a problem with flavor extracts such as lemon, etc. I mean, they cook with them. Half my family is Mormon, so I know.
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Wouldn't someone with ten years in banquet and large functions with an excellent resume and references be qualified for this job as well? What does the culinary degree that he/she earned a decade earlier have anything to do with current performance?
You said what I was going to say, although much more succinctly!
They'd be fools to ignore a candidate so well qualified just because he didn't have that little "gold star" degree on his resume!
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There are multiple reasons for cookies that spread too much.
One of the primary reasons is overcreaming.
I have found that many recipes state that you cream the butter and sugars til light and fluffy.
If you do that, you have assured yourself a cookie that will spread to it's maximum potential.
The simple step of just creaming to the point where the butter and sugars are smooth but
not fluffy is usually enough to stop an overspreading problem.
Chilling the dough is a wise idea too, but it doesn't prevent overspreading due to overcreaming.
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When I make praline, I do a couple of things:
1) I grind some up in a food processor to make a fine powder to flavor buttercream
2) I break it up into chunks and save it for garnish on appropriate desserts. I store both the praline chunks and powder in an airtight container with dessicant so it doesn't get sticky and melty.
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For fried pies, I have always used my regular pie dough, fruit filling that is pre-cooked (pre-thickened), and built them like turnovers/empanadas and glazed with powdered sugar, water, and lemon juice.
You do want to pre cook the filling because the pies don't stay in the fryer long enough to cook raw fruit. Also, SEAL the pastry well, or you'll have leakage, and you don't want that!!! No vent holes either (duh).
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Was the part of the chocolate that was dull actually touching the acetate, or had it "bubbled" up and created an air pocket between the surface of the chocolate and the acetate? If this is NOT the case, then it was probably your temper.
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I was just able to now do a google (having to dash out to get child from camp really messes the day up - LOL!) and generally results said that sour cream seperates during defrosting so not a good choice for a to-be-frozen cake. Total bummer.
This is true when you are talking about plain ol' sour cream. But if the sour cream is IN something, the rules change.
Tell me what the ingredients are in your sour cream frosting, and I can tell you if it's freezable.
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Yes, after having made the Lime Meltaways today, I would have to say that making them either lemon (or kumquat) would work really well.
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That shelf liner you referenced is probably what she's talking about. You could get that, or just
use acetate strips designed just for that purpose.......
You can get them here.....in lots of sizes!
Challenging items
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Breadsticks?
Reminds me.....when I was on the breakfast line, we had a lot of trouble making toast (every time we pushed the toaster unit down, it was enough to blow the breaker).
Seriously though.....perfect pate choux can be tricky......even after 18 years I still know how to make a crappy batch of them.....but they're mostly good most of the time. Knowing exactly how many eggs to add is always the challenge!!!