K8memphis

You are so right, Divala, there just ain't no more magic pills. Jack got that one batch, even he was skeptical, tossed 'em did the beanstalk thing and that's the last for sure recording of magic beans/pills. Green tea will do all of that with benefits unless I just don't want green tea.

Kinda like a prolonged use nicotine patch type idea for sugarholics? Hmm. I'm a sugarholic for sure but the possible side effect bells are ringing, lights are flashing. But still yet I don't know what more the pill could do than going for a cup of green tea would do and I gain good juju with the green tea. I mean I haven't been chosing the green tea lately and my scale is screaming at me too. There's so many things that aren't even sweet that mess you up. I don't think I'd try it. If I have that much control to go for a pill instead of satisfying a craving, then I wouldn't need the pill y'know? Unless it comes in chocolate?

For sure!!!

Tart apples like Granny Smith too for getting it to set up nicely.

Well damn K8Memphis my condolences on your stint with the BOSS FROM HELL; I hope things are much more serene where you are now. This whole topic and your answers just adds to my admiration of bakers, both professional and homespun; I neither have the patience nor the talent to create a cake like that. Now I'm obsessed with exactly how the baker made that friggin' cake. ← Thank you, yes I now live in comtemplative serenity by comparison. I think it is a particular trait for some entrepeneurs to have zero people skills even to run into the six digit negative percentages of utter... never mind ...you know. But anyway I am obsessed with this too. I emailed them. So we'll see... I say Colonel Mustard, by hand in the DowelRoom... (maybe a little too much serenity yah think??)

And while a lovely lovely cake, no the dimples are not perfectly spaced. No one would ever notice, no points off at all. I worked for a person (a screamer) who wanted picture perfect decorating and I trained myself to scorch a cake with a microscopic devil eye. So from that dismal relationship with that employer I can find a flaw if one exists on a cake. It was self preservation--no offense at all. And no my cakes are not perfect never will be. (Eeghads neither will that former employer's stuff be perfect but I'm not bitthhherrr ) But all that to say, it was hand done for sure.

Colonel Mustard in the Dowel Room and he did it by hand. Nancy Drew would love this. Looks like a wooden dowel upon closer examination because one of the craters has a clear circle inside it on the left hand side. And Divala, it could have been baked in a ball pan or in a bowl or carved. Could have used a very tiny thimble but probably not.

I of course, do not know anything about your eating habits, but still I would encourage you to avoid sugar including juices & stuff for a while to help facilitate the change. Try to eat very carefully. Eat protiens first, stick with salads & stuff like that, lean dishes. Just a thought. Make sure you are eating a good breakfast. Drink enough water. Snack but snack wisely like on nuts or lean meat or some veggies. I know you are tired and exercising might be agony but can you do some deep breathing at least? Get some oxygen flowing to dust off some cranial cobwebs??? Are you dreaming? If not you might not be getting the rem sleep and that means it doesn't matter how much time you spend in bed your body is not fully rested, makes your muscles tired. Muscles recover overnight and so you need to be dreaming to ensure the good sleep is happening. In other words, point yourself to good health, eat better, sleep better, breath better if you cannot exercise but you should try to exercise a bit, and drink your water. It can't hurt anything and it will help. Hope you feel better soon. Oh yeah, eliminate stress...

OneToughie, I'm so happy for you what a great opportunity!!! I have no tv experience what with having the perfect face for radio...bu-ut how nervous are yah gonna be? There's this stuff at the health food store that's a spray and it calms you down a touch. I can ask one of my televised cake-buddies what it was if you have an interest. One was on a local news show the other was on a competiton on food tv...I can ask 'em. In fact I just came from the health food store and saw it at the check out too but I don't know the name of it. And I'm very excited for you!! I hope you get the spot!!!

Yeah, a ball tool is cool but a dowel might be a better representation. I just checked a few of my husband's golf balls and one of them doesn't even have the same size indents, it has way differing sizes, all very small. And one of them has like hexagonal indents. But the deal with a golf ball is that the indents create a honeycomb-ish effect. So ultimately it's not the hole it's the connecting ridges that are created that is the point. But shoot a ball tool, a dowel, whatever like that will give a great illusion of a golf ball. Just enough to trick the eye is all you need.

I would bake mine off for 10-12 minutes and then frige it. And I only stretch my pizza dough, I don't roll it, but that's just me.

That could be done with the other end of a small-ish paint brush or a ball tool (used for gum paste) or even just the end of a wooden dowel. Something like that was used to poke little indents in there.

I take fresh or frozen fruit and add a peeled cored granny smith apple cause it has lots of juju (maybe pectin) to make the fruit stay put. I cook it all down, no water at all, and add some lemon and a minimum of sugar so it's nice & tart & contrasts with the sweet icing. Then I toss in food processor and then strain. To friggin die for good. Easy peasy to make. I have a better formula written somewhere... Here it is: Raspberry filling from K8 I made one by putting a 10 oz bag of thawing frozen raspberries (from the grocery store freezer section) or use fresh into a heavy sauce pan with a peeled diced granny smith apple and one third cup of sugar and a squirt of lemon juice and brought to boil stirring often while cooking gently for about 15-20 mins. Optional: in a little cup mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water, then pour into bubbling fruit stuff stirring constantly for another two minutes. Cool, puree in food processor and then strain out the seeds. Add almond extract if you want. Be sure to securely seal the edges of the filling with buttercream. You can actually use any combination of berries. This is not difficult and the fresh bursting taste is well worth the little bit extra effort. Enough for a quarter sheet. Yum Yum NB--you do not have to use the cornstarch, I usually do not. Only if I talk myself into being a wus. Just a safety valve there.

For "classic eruo-style pastries" I could not more highly recommend The Complete Book of Pastry Sweet and Savory by Bernard Clayton Jr. I got mine out of the library eons ago then purchesed one on halfdot or amazon or somewhere like that. I did a little pictorial of making strudel dough solely from his book. He's got lots of great nitty gritty stuff, puff pastry, danish pastry, pizza, pies, dumplings, tarts, quiches, strudel, pate a chou, turnovers, kipfel, cannoli including many many variations of each. He makes the difficult doable. Great book.

Hmm, it just seems so incongrous that it doesn't work for me at all. It just looks like random stuff no connection too disjointed to have an impact for me. Hair? Dirt? No. I saw a cake last week that was beautiful but it had peacock feathers on it. No, that's wrong too. It'd be like having a plumber's wrench or an auto mechanic's greasy oily tools on a chef's nice smooth glossy glistening white ceramic plate of food. Agh, just wrong. I guess I'm too close to it (cakedom) to see the creative flow in the links. Art must be in the eye of the beholder and apparently he's not home right now.

I would showcase my work and explain all that is needed but I would not make that other vendor the center of my universe. Who cares what someone else does. Just show your stuff and market it with it's best attributes and to it's best audience. I want to do better than I did before. Doing better than xyz person is too confining makes them the standard bearer. I want a greater universe to conquer. But if the other vendor has the market cornered there you may need to find greener pastures. Your stuff may cost more?

Too bad about the taboo on raisins because ground raisins put the chew in chewy oatmeal cookies. I plump mine in rum and then put them in the food processor with an egg and then mix that into the creamed sugar & butter. Or how about using some other dried fruit? Cherries or cranberries make outstanding chewy oatmeal cookies. You just can't beat the Quaker Oatmeal recipe.

I think you could easily get away with a 25% substitution of oats for flour. I sub old fashioned rolled oats for nuts all the time. You can toast the oats first too if you want. I stir them in a dry skillet until they brown. I wouldn't sub more than 25% of the flour for another substance or it might mess things up. Unless it's another flour. I also sub almond meal for flour too to add nutrition again like about 25% to be safe.

I just saw him for the first time last week. He was awesome.

The reason I use one medium over another is purely dependant on what I have on hand. Even gum paste will soften due to a myriad of reasons mostly refrigeration issues if it's made and dried properly in the first place. But I mean the only reason I would not use pastillage is because I rarely use it. I'm more familiar with how the other sugar doughs handle in whatever circumstances I need to put them through. Pastillage would probably work fine. I made this dynamite stuff once--the gum paste/fondant/candy clay mixture. I loved it! I made six inch high letters out of it that stood 3-d above a cake. I even crossed a 't' in mid air and it held beautifully. In all honesty, I did use a little wire in the biggest letters though. So I know my other concoctions work great so I would not venture into pastillage for a butterfly unless it was like a twelve inch wingspan or something. That's just me though. Wafer paper, you can just get it printed whatever way you want at that link Steve posted. Go to the spot there that says FINISHING INSTRUCTIONS HERE. PRINTED FOR YOU.... make an impression! IDEAS USING BUTTERFLIES FINISHING INSTRUCTIONS HERE .HOME-MENU | Cake Gallery But plan A for me would be to make them out of all edible and flavor them so people will want to eat them. That makes it more fun I think. PS. Oh yeah and I would put them on at the last possible moment to avoid as much potential drama as possible.

I love the $3 gyro from the street vendor --what a deal!

Me, I think it was ok to leave but you mighta shoulda spoken to the manager first. That was certainly not a good situation. We had a similar one recently. The manager made nice and we went back on another evening to check it out from a fresh perspective. It is officially off our list of places to go. I mean two 30 minute periods of silence borders on permanently unforgivable. I think y'all got screwed. I can NOT believe she charged you for the Cokes!

I love Hershey's chocolate. And I'll take a pair in a size ten.

Oh I can't wait!

That is for very sure. Umm, so basically, if one were being completely perfect, one would use the fda approved stuff on the cake itself and the non-toxic on the removable decor. But if the Wilton is any indicator, that fda approved stuff sucks. Has anyone tried the other brands of fda approved stuff?? edit for spelling