K8memphis

You can get 40 to 56 servings per 12" cake. If these are two layer cakes you'll be fine with that size. My all time favorite chocolate frosting is the one on the Hershey's cocoa can. It does crust some but not like a rock or anything. I mix it a little different where I combine the sugar and cocoa then cream in the butter and then add the liquid. But you can make it exactly as written too. No worries. It's incredibly wonderful. Will refrigerate with no problems. Ganache will work too. It comes to room temp just fine. I like your plan of having them finished the night before. Make sure you have room in the frige.

Oh come on. Nobody else digs into the frozen orange juice concentrate and eats it like ice cream? The lemonade concentrate is so tangy you can hardly form words after a spoonful or two.

I have an old table, it's supposed to be an antique and I polyurethaned it. Previously one of the pizza carry-out boxes slid off the towel and left an awful white spot on the wood that would not budge. So I refinished the whole table top and polyurethaned it so it would be durable & never happen again. Then stumbled across the easy peasy get-the-white-out stuff at the store. However, my story has to do with some very chi-chi people whose very fancy house was being used by a relative for a wedding reception. The cake was small but deadly heavy and it was a long winding way from the car to the table through a narrow passageway around a lot of milling people. I'm hovering with a $600 cake, very ready to set it down before I drop the thing, and we get into a 'discussion' about what I later realized was a really beautiful table inlaid and gorgeous. Dude wants me to guarantee that the masonite cake board will not scratch their precious tabletop. Agh, before I built the cake might have been a more opportune time to discuss this. At this point my eyes are watering bulging out of their sockets, cahhn't breathe must set cake down...It probably won't scratch it but I'm under some duress here and I'll be damned if I make some ridiculous guarantee so they can continue to show off a stupid table. Agh no, no guarantees. I mean you can't really hug a cake to keep it off the floor, to undo some of the stress on your arms. You can't really grimace or squeal and be unprofessional and say, I'm gonna drop this on your fricken floor so long as it's not inlaid too of course. But they found a towel eventually and I got to set it down. And they did not cover up that ego laden table. I mean the table had a paper doily on it to set the cake on. An expensive work of art on a paper doily. So God forbid we cover the table with a cloth and none of the guests can partake of it's beauty. They get a kitchen towel and fold it up to make a worthy barrier for the sweet traditon run amuck amongst their finery. A sweet bull in a sour china shop. They showcase a masterpiece cake on a terry cloth towel. I like my polyurethane. I can set anything I want on there. No worries. So shoot me.

Wow. We've been praying for you, our whole church too. And our son, little Tomato-boy himself aka Chef-boy will be there today actually to take his turn at whatever you need done for a few days. (He's a little taller now.) Blessed be the LORD God... who only doeth wondrous things. That's all we ask of Him for you. Much Love & Many Prayers, Kate & Dennis

Yeah I hear yah. But for moi. I cannot eat beloved white sugar, corn syrup and white flour on the most casual basis without fricking weight gain. So for me personally it is addictive. Obviously, my genes, my background as a baker, that I'm over 50 blablabla all contribute to this tragedy. The good news is there's lots of things I can eat. The bad news is I want cookies. Not eveyone that tilts the wineglass is an alcoholic. Lots of folks can handle their sugar. Most unfotunately I'm not one of them. Although I've been valiant in my attempts to test test and retest. Mmmnope it ain't working for me. Try reading Sugar Blues by Duffy I think it is. More propoganda. The bad news is I want cookies. sniff

Sarah's got yah covered. Go here: http://www.baking911.com/pantry/eggs.htm#SIZE Then scroll down one screen full (one & a half pages) to that lovely and genius and helpful little chart on the left: "To Make One Cup"

You can also dip completely dried gum paste flowers into a solution of alcohol and food color. So they can be purchased or made white and then dipped & dried. Sorry if we've attained 'too much information' status. There's a lot to it all. Just y'know there's no one way. You just make your choices and go for it. But I am glad you are testing testing testing. How many people will you be serving?

Easier still here's the links though... http://www.nicholaslodge.com/gumpaste.htm and http://www.cakesbydesign.cc/GumPasteRecipe.html

Hi, We would appreciate a reliable recipe for gumpaste. We would also like to know how to color gumpaste. My wife took a class that included some gumpaste work. She was taught to color her gumpaste by adding 1 tsp. of colored fondant to 1 cup of gumaste. The resulting gumpaste did not harden even after baking in a convection oven. It may have been the gumpaste which was purchased from those really friendly folks at New York Cake. Surprise, their customer service department has not returned our calls. Thank you for your advice, Tim ← Tim, I unashamedly use CK's gum paste mix--you just add water. It's a fast drying gum paste mix. Scott and Nic have great formulas I can send by pm. Nic's is slower drying I think. In that you have a bit more time to work. It is a very nice formula. Umm, lots of people add tylose powder to fondant to get gum paste. I often add cornstarch to fondant for a great product I use to make lots & lots of stuff including rose petals & cut out flowers. But for roses & real full blown flowers I use CK's. Can be purchased online & at cake stores. Gum paste is colored by using gel food color or by applying dusts. The dusts can be used as powders or be mixed with an alcohol such as lemon extract or everlcear to make a paint. The alcohol evaporates and viola. Then if desired the item can be steamed for a couple seconds to set the color. Maybe pearl dusted too before steaming. So many options.

I just wanna succinctly point out the shoot myself in the foot timeline here. Understanding that I shot myself in the foot already in doing my kid's cake. First of all for the cake I am thinking that you mean a white type cake of some kind. No chocolate no dacquoise no genoise no pound cake, but a butter type cake. If you insist on a scratch cake you have to bake it within mere days of the wedding. Within days of your kid's wedding is almighty high tension time before you add any frills. Then doing a cake totally last minute for any usual amount of servings in a tier cake is high noon high drama high tension wire over Niagra falls stress. This leaves no time for possible reversals which can be legion. When is your wedding date? I'll be watching if you need assistance. Umm, I always wondered what a white chocolate oblivion cake would be like out of Rose LB's Cake Bible. I mean since you're into so much experimenting here. Or what about cheesecake? Cheesecake for sure has a different learning curve but you can handle it frozen. You can stack it like a layer cake. You can fill it too. But of course it has to be refrigerated. Y'know pound cake is a good idea though. Serve it with a nice punch of berry coulis. Both pound cake and cheesecake buys you some time is my point. Scratch butter cake is uber last minute or it automatically sucks. Now all you have to do is tell me the reception is being held outdoors and I'm totally gonna flip out.

I made my daughter's wedding cake. I had decades' wedding cake experience to prepare for this endeavor and I squeezed every ounce of everything I ever thought or hoped to know to accomplish this. She had a big wedding, coupla/several hundred people. I started the cake a month in advance at least. It had been planned to the minutest detail for months. So long as you understand that you will miss some irreplacable wedding moments in exchange for the joy of this labor of love. Are we profiling cake mix again? Don't be afraid of cake mix. It's a wonderful ingredient/tool to use in wedding cake baking/making. I daresay there's easily a hundred fold more scratch wedding cakes that bomb to one fine cake made from a mix. Just like you know/said, it ain't easy to make scratch cake. If you use butter, you can count on it being deemed 'dry' if you refrigerate the cake at all, because the butter does not relax at room temp enough to be as pleasant to eat. So your planning is key. You want non-refrigerated fillings or use oil based recipes. This is just one aspect. There's myriads of things you need to know. Finding a decent recipe is the least of your worries. Because in order to have a nice scratch cake the shelf life is so brief fleeting even. I would bake no more than two days in advance for this to fly. Your wife's cake is very pretty. But the stress and pressure ramps up beyond nuclear levels doing stuff like this. Just being father of the bride alone can cause this before you light the oven once. It's the nature of the beast. Mix in a cake, excuse me, I mean add in the drama and trauma of a cake and it can be a recipe for disaster. The responsibility is huge. Egos are involved. Everyone will see it and everyone will taste it. Everything can go very wrong. It's the focal point at the reception. Y'all don't sound like y'all are probably professionals at this. I hope it's a small wedding. Like your daughter & her fiance, you and your wife kinda small. Umm, Rob might have linked to this, but this is my experience, http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=68445. My personal favorite formula is Sylvia Weinstock's yellow sour cream cake. I do not separate the eggs and I toss in a few of the yolks too. It comes out white. But again it does not restore to great texture if it's chilled at all. But it's a dynamite formula you can google to get it. Read my accounting of my daughter's wedding cake. There's a great formula in there too using (shh don't tell anyone) cake mix I mean for sure a cake that's baked where ingredients that sat on a shelf next to the cake mix and were measured onto a scale or into little cups and mixed together are far far far better than simply opening that box and adding only eggs, water and oil. But just try & make a better scratch cake than Duncan & Betty's and whip it into a wedding masterpiece. Shouldn't we plant the wheat and mill it into flour? How could we buy flour in the box from the store? Maybe get some chickens... Although I sound a little crabby, I'll keep posted here and help out if you want. This is obviously one of my pet peeves, the scratch versus mix thing. Cake mixes are not inferior products, they are million dollar babies. So is the flour and sugar (btw-get extra fine granulated) and all the other stuff you'll use. It's all highly refined and user friendly. You would be amazed to discover how many famous famous people use mixes. And for what it's worth, people do not need to be educated into thinking/feeling scratch cakes are superior to mix cakes. If it tastes better and has a better texture, they'll get it without the crusade. PS. Are those sewing notions on the cake?

Well I'm just popping in to say that I feel at least as guilty as my Mom could make me (she was a pro) that I haven't gotten my pictures posted and my wonderful amazing time at WPF recounted to you all. I am in the midst of launching a bookstore and it's (beyond) the project that ate my brain. And you can only imagine how hungry the project is with that pitiful thing for dinner. But I am working on it. And I apologize in sackcloth and ashes. So viola. Just any minute...

For adding a tiny amount of color like Freddurf's green he mentioned? Mix some green icing and add a dit dot of that. Start with sky blue for sure.

Hmm, hard to equal a legend, to match a cookie in your mind. I suggest that you toast the coconut so it's nice & toasty brown. I would substitute some of the nuts in any recipe for coconut. Or get an oatmeal cookie recipe, sub some of the oats and add the chocolate chips. Also I would suggest that you chop the coconut so it is easier to eat cleanly. Easier still, call & order a coupla dozen and freeze.

Let's cut the little old ladies some slack. They might have grown up in a different world. After all it's only a matter of time y'know... Exactly!!! I then politely look at them and ask if they want to pay for my order. It usually works...they back off. ← Geez, I'd be afraid they'd say, "Yah" Freaking idiots! But that's one I have to remember. Depending on how close they are, I'll chillingly say, "I hope I'm not in your way." Umm, it helps to start getting a little wild with my cane.

It's a ph balance thing.

I love Sweet Baby Ray's! Umm, I keep brownie ingredients on hand at all times.

How many people in the 'we', in the party?

I hate it when they bounce my frickin produce down the counter. Apples or bananas, potatoes, onions whatever. I just wanna break their little fingers.

I'm not exactly following who is who but I would phase in a surcharge for changing the order after a certain certain time. It just costs more. Casually mention it. Let it sink in. Like 'the high cost of doing business, oh my'. Everyone can commiserate/relate of course. Then start writing it on invoices to go into effect September 15st or whatever. To me it doesn't matter who's fault it is if it's costing me more I have to pass it on. No? edited to say: I meant September 1st not the 15st - ha!

If someone dises you like that (seemingly well intentioned of course ) umm, make eye contact with someone else in the immediate vicinity and say, "I hate to be patronized." This is a non-threatening way to get your message across and folks can retain thier egos. Nobody gets stepped on. Too badly. >> yeah this is good too, roll your eyes at them. These ideas are a little bit less extreme than getting so down & dirty & becoming one of the boys. Turn it back around on them and expect them to take out the trash for you or something, whatever. Have fun with it. Make them suffer. Toy with them. Some. Be beyond it because you are not because you stomped them flat or changed who you are.

You really wanna eat it all up because otherwise ice crystals from water can form so much easier. Or you might wanna go ahead and freeze it and then re-mix it. That might help. That might loosen some of them back up to restore a better texture.

Here's an idea for you. Since you have two years for mise en place, why not get your hands on some culinary school books and fine dining cookbooks and stuff your fertile little brain with all the theory and science it can hold. Study potatoes and eggs and beef and fish and things like that. Pronunciation of some terms might be a factor but you'll pick it up eventually. Umm, this is a thought to add the pot of thoughts ^^^ Network network network network Find a master chef in your area and talk to him. Wash dishes & stuff for sure, work boh foh, but then stage at the top places in your area.

My hands of course are the epitome of clean. But yes we get all kinds of schtuff in our salt. We have ours in a pretty sugar bowl that has butterfly wings for handles... and it gets butterfly poop in there I guess. Just when the salt gets low, toss the old, refill and you're all set.

On the pizza thing, if it was left out and you zap it in the microwave, you are upping the ante on possible prayer time in the john. A little hot revival time.