K8memphis

Impossible Pecan Pie from The Post-Tribune 1982 Mom gave me this article written by Janet Burton located on page one of section C, from The Post-Tribune, a Northwest Indiana newspaper, dated August 25, 1982. In the article Janet states that it's been almost 20 years since the recipe for Impossible Coconut Pie surfaced. Although placed on the bottom of the pan, the pecans will rise to the top hence the name Impossible Pie. "Ideas come and go and after waning for a few years impossible pies are back, adaptable to every course from entrees to dessert. The secret of the pie is the use of prepared biscuit mix which is added to the pie ingredients and forms it's own crust. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3." 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans Place in greased 9 inch pie pan. Beat remainin ingredients until smooth 15 seconds in a blender or 1 minute with hand blender 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 3/4 cup milk 3/4 cup dark or light corn syrup 1/2 cup prepared baking mix* or Bisquik 1/4 cup soft butter 4 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Pour onto pecan sprinkled pie plate. Bake until knife in center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Master Mix* 9 cups sifted flour 1/3 cup double acting baking powder 1 tablespoon salt 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon cream of tartar 2 cups shortening (that does not require refrigeration) Stir all the powders together, sift three times into a large mixing bowl. Cut in shortening until it resembles cornmeal. Store in covered container at room temperature. To measure master mix for use in recipes, pile lightly into a cup and level off with a spatula. Makes 13 cups. Keywords: Easy, Dessert, Pie ( RG1926 )

I love quantity cooking. Love it! Looks like the best fun.

Yes! There's the sound bite I was looking for. Albeit a sorely misaligned one. The results of using a mix or using a scratch recipe are virtually indistinguishable to most of the world. If the guests were polled at any wedding, no group would get it right whether it was a mix or from scratch. I know that big name people use mixes. The water is so muddy, it's a class-less class issue. It's become an Emperor's New Clothes thing that all of us have perpetuated. Who's on 1st?

I think Claire's assessment is valid. I also think there is a vast ocean of misinformation and hysteria and myth concerning baking in general and cake baking in particular. And the following is my editorial comment. No bakers were harmed as a result of this broadcast, the names have not been changed, the innocent are laid bare, and go ahead, try it at home even though this is written by a professional. Baking is such a science, so unlike cooking. One baker's 'never ever do' is the next baker's 'I swear by this'. And as I was recently reminded by Sweetside, even within each baker's method of operation are unique and opposing skill sets and tools for the slightest change in any ingredient or oven or mixing method or whatever. The humidity can destroy you if you're not careful, aware and etc. How about the joys of altitude. It is simply not true that cakes made from cake mix taste metallic. Anymore than saying scratch cakes are rubbery. Some are some are not. Often, the metallic flavor can come from the cake reacting with the cake pan or from the beater scraping the mixer bowl etc.. Other factors are improper formulas, bad emulsions, uneven heating and other skill and technical factors. Sometimes the cake planets are not aligned properly and it doesn't freaking matter what you do it ain't happening. So going forward, I'm operating under this conclusion. I know that much more important than specific ingredients, whether pre-measured as in using mixes, or stirring up your own measured amounts, the single most important factor in cake baking is who is doing it. And I would sure like to start with you, yes you who are reading this today to consider having a change of heart and mind about cake mixes and cakes mixed from scratch et al. Let's consider ratcheting it down a notch. Very very good cake can be made with those million dollar babies, cake mixes. As well as very very good cake can be made from mixing up a recipe if it's done right. Consider saying, "in my experience" rather than the slash and burn condemnation of entire methods that endorse misinformation. Including the hugely erroneous assumptions made constantly that if it tastes good (to you) it's then the best [scratch or mix] cake ever depending on in which camp you reside. Don't ask, don't tell and please let's start clearing this up and pass out good information. I now return you to your regularly scheduled message board.

With all due respect, not my frozen cheesecakes. I do package very carefully and vacuum seal. I have had mealy cheesecake and I think it is the formula more than the freezing to be at fault. Freezing is essential to handling cheesecakes that are built into tier cakes, or that need to portioned into a hundred pretty servings quickly and efficiently. Freezing is a tool, used properly it is a very good tool. ← K8memphis, the chemistry is basic. The fat is emulsified by milk protein (casein) into tiny globules. When the water in the cheesecake freezes, it expands, rupturing these globules/breaking the emulsion. This alters the texture. The salt and sugar in cheesecake act as freezing point depressors and the cheese particles/proteins (and in a fluffy cheese cake, air) encourage small ice crystal development, so the damage is minimal, but, it's still ever so slightly impaired. Anything that's dairy based will be impaired by freezing. Cheesecake is no exception. Your cheesecakes, when frozen, are slightly impaired texturally. If you want to argue that this impairment is indetectable, that's your perogative. I can taste the difference, though. If I had to place the textural impairment of freezing on a scale of 0 to 10, I'd probably place it around .5. Overcooking cheesecake, though, is about a 10. Overcooked cheesecakes are exceptionally mealy. ← I think one of the single greatest misconceptions about baking is that anything about it is absolute. Those types of statements do a genuine disservice to all bakers. Nonetheless, my friend, there is no argument because you've never had my cheesecake...and at this rate...

With all due respect, not my frozen cheesecakes. I do package very carefully and vacuum seal. I have had mealy cheesecake and I think it is the formula more than the freezing to be at fault. Freezing is essential to handling cheesecakes that are built into tier cakes, or that need to portioned into a hundred pretty servings quickly and efficiently. Freezing is a tool, used properly it is a very good tool.

Zero experience with this. Freezing baked cheesecake on the other hand is widely acceptable but you probably already know that. Freezing the batter concerns me, I just feel like it would weep and separate. Like I said I've nver done it but, I would never do it either. I'd freeze the cakes.

Two small sidenotes umm, my friend, Nancy here in Tennessee who's had a liver transplant, cannot consume grapefruit and hope to peacefully co-exist with her new liver similar to our lovely Rebecca in New York's issue. Livers don't absorb grapefruit or something. Kroger, our local big grocery chain, had a huge white grapefruit display today. So to answer your question of 'what ever happened to white grapefruit', they sent 'em to Tennessee but Nancy still can't have any.

Ironic that this thread should start, I recently came across a yellowed newspaper clipping almost 25 years old with Master mix and six impossible pie variations. Mom gave it to me and it's from the Post Tribune in NW Indiana from August 25, 1982. Has The Master Mix and six variations of impossible pies including a pecan, seafood, bacon, coconut, chicken tamale, and a brunch pie. If Kerry doesn't have one of these variations let me know, I'll be glad to send it. I had actually thought about offering it to Randi for her cooking for 50 seniors but I thought it might not be just right for that. Steve, that's a great site.

I am the lucky maker of sink hole cakes, scratch and mix (doctored). If only there were a market for them!! So yes there is the element of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. So bad cake is not unique to scratch or mix, but generally mixes get blamed. Think it's just industrialization? Naw, it's too explosive a subject. It can be a genuine Pandora's box if not handled carefully. Get out your magnifying glasses & figure this out. Just a Hatfield & McCoy type feud of the ages type thing? Bet it started somewhere with an in-law!!!! What do y'all think???

Aww, how sweet. If you don't find one, I can hook you up with a great recipe no matter what your skill level. There's no better cake than a 'loving hands at home' one.

My name is Kate and I'm a sugar junkie. Our numbers are legion so sweeter reds & pinks sell better than their paler cousins.

Does a cook use frozen phyllo? Sure, I have not the time nor the skill to make it at home and packaged ones are quiet good. powdered hollandaise? Hell no crackers from a box? Usually yes, because they taste good although I've made pretty good saltines a couple of times Raisins? Perfectly good raisins are available at the store in bulk, and making them at home is not feasible or efficient Pre-milled flour? Same as raisins. I do not use boxed cake mixes for the same reasons Ludja listed. I basically see no reason to use them. Please however do not take my comment as an attack on anyone who does. I was just answering for myself. ← No no no no no. No worries. I mean countless cake buddies, myself included, from sea to shining sea recognize this stygma about cake mix. We all share it. I think it was beautifully illumined in your response. We are each entitled to our love or not of the lowly cake mix but there's a much bigger question here. And there's some kind of larger social statement I can't put my finger on. So my conundrum is not at all that anyone is passionate about their choice of scratch or mix but my conundrum is that the scratch or mix issue fuels sucha fire. Why? Follow me for a minute, please. And it's as difficult to make a mix taste above average as it is to make a scratch cake with a wonderful pleasing texture as a mix, honestly. 'In the master's hands' & all that good stuff. They each can get a bad rap but one can honestly make a great and foolproof product either way. But think about it, I have made as well as been served dog poo scratch cake but it doesn't raise the blood pressure across the board like an unassuming box of cake mix. But therein lies the rub, it's neither unassuming nor does the mystery conclude with that little lonely maligned box alone. There is some kind of underlying assumption that cake mix is socially unacceptable, personally offensive and mildly toxic (just taking it to an extreme) to some of us. If I use Bisquick to make biscuits, the hue and cry is not near the same level. But maybe it's because biscuits are not marketed like cake. We don't light the candles on the birthday biscuit. Bride & groom's do not share a bite of biscuit while we ogle to see if gets rubbed on the face. A biscuit rub is not as exciting as buttercream on the cheek & up the beak anyway. I hate hamburgers made from frozen patties. But this aversion of mine is not unique to me and it no where near reaches the levels of hysteria like the cake cliques. I know many bakers who buy mixes and wish to god they made mission impossible packaging that would self destruct in 30 seconds. They carefully quickly bind up the trash and hold their breath until the guilty evidance is safely in the dumpster. Turn the boxes inside out lest the bag get a hole in it exposing thier personal shame, yea, damage their reputation and impact their bottom line. More than once a lackey got an upbraiding for not keeping the boxes of radioctivity under wraps lest the glow in the dark catch the vigilant eye of a cake clique-r. The ignornace is further confusing. A majority of the public will only subscribe to the texture of a box mix but will attribute it to scratch beginnings and vice versa. It's amazing. I wish psychologists would chime in. I wish the origins of this could be discovered. And FoodMan, your brilliant synopsis of this controversy set the stage so I could launch this burning question. (Would to God I could be so succinct. ) It's not whether you prefer a mix or scratch it's why does it matter SO MUCH more than it should and why is there such diehard terminal confusion surrounding it. A baker can absolutely throw half the baby out with the bathwater by simply declaring mix or scratch and loose half their clientelle when the truth is declared either way. Add to that that great portions of the departed will be gone for the wrong reason. They either think what they like is scratch when it's mix or vice versa. But if they never know they'll be happy customers for life. But I just want to roll back the hands of time and discover the triggering incident if there was one. What set this off. (Never mind how to fix it.) Can she bake a cherry pie charming Billy?

Cool, I was wondering how you were doing.

Do you do tier cakes? ← I am no professional baker, just a home baker and I do a lot of layered cakes but not tier cakes. I think I've done only one tiered cake for my son's B-day and it worked out pretty good. ← Do you do tier cakes? ← I can't reply for FoodMan, but I do tier cakes and don't use cake mixes. I modified a few well-known recipes and get cakes with a texture that is great for tiered cakes (at least in my opinion). They don't get hard upon refrigeration and taste good. I use a combo of butter and oil for the fats. I can't stand the chemical taste of most boxed mixes. FWIW, I have a sensitivity to anything metallic, so I don't even use regular baking powder. I often wonder if it is because my mouth is so full of metal fillings (I've always had a sweet tooth) ← It's all good. I just find it ever intriguing to see such strong feelings towards something that resides on the same shelf as the other ingredients in the store. Does a cook use frozen phyllo? powdered hollandaise? crackers from a box? Raisins? Hell no, I dry my own! Pre-milled flour? No, I mill my own flour! One would hardly receive such a passionate response from the latter questions. Interesting.

Do you do tier cakes?

699.99 mile one way delivery of an 80th birthday cake to the Windy City from Baltimore! See Duff curled up with the cake in the back of the van pulled over catching some z's on the way. Not to mention the cake is the spitting image of Wrigley frickin' Field. A head arrived in a box, a deer was carried out in a box. Put the cakes in a box? mmm no. Watch as Katherine balances a four tier $1500 cake wrapped in plastic wrap on one knee while negotiating the door at the top of some steep stairs. No but that Wrigley's cake was tremendous. <insert clapping smilie face> And not to knock the cake that Katherine juggled to deliver, but it was not uber bombastically decorated. I hope all the brides who read all the hot tips on how to save money on their cake got the whole $1500 part. It was a stunning custom designed cake. It was not a large cake although it was four tiers, it was probably maybe a 12" on the bottom, coulda been 14 but the deal is, the $1500 is a fair albeit bombastic price point. Fresh, delicious, servable art ain't cheap. That's worth repeating, "Fresh, delicious, servable art ain't cheap." What did you think of the show?

Ahh yes the birth of the divorce cake "for a sweet beginning, baby". <clapping>

Berclair area. Are you around here?? Nobody knows the truffles I've seen.

Go Tennessee! Hmm, maybe I should go dig around the trees in the backyard!!

I've made groom's cakes in Chicago area and here in the South but it is generally considered a Southern thing, or at least of Southern origin. The bride's cake is the traditional wedding cake, the groom's cake can be anything. It is often chocolate on chocolate with tuxedo strawberries or a monogram or both. It can just as easily be a sports theme, or a sculpture. It's often a 'this is your life' type cake. Maybe a lighter theme than the grand bridal cake. Sometimes they are multitiered as well. Sometimes they are served at the rehearsal dinner which is the evening before the wedding. The servings from the groom's cake plus the bride's cake can be combined to make the total for servings needed or sometimes they order enough so each guest gets a serving of both. Cheesecakes are popular for groom's cakes and can be tiered. But that's why I suggested a napoleaon 'cake' for the groom's cake. It's great for the decorator because that's more cake that gets ordered. We need to start a trend for 'divorce cakes'. Job security!

Even though you've probably heard enough (too much ) from me, I'd like to offer a coupla thoughts anyway. Umm, a friend of a friend runs a Kosher cookie business. She charges a genuine fortune for the stuff. She does well. The kosher bread/pastry bakeries around here go out of business routinely. I mean I am so not being a downer. But there's not enough money in bread & pastry for the time invested even when one corners the market. Bakers do not live by bread alone. For me to feel good about me doing Kosher breads and surviving, I would want a full scale wholesale outfit, employees, trucks, etc. And I'd market into the immediate area, Toronto and New York too. Shoot, Memphis is between kosher bakers right now, truck some over here. Pennies are the profit on bread. Think about the gas, insurance, salaries, licenses just for the trucks, then think about the payload there all bread. Then tack on the time it takes to make it. There's just not enough profit margin in bread. People are backed away from breads anyway with the carb thing. Now decorated stuff for bar mitzvahs & bat mitzvahs and weddings, you can recoup some of that time (that's not making you money while you're making challah). Charge a lot. You can only raise prices in small increments later. Have you considered a breakfast lunch thing? That idea has proven mileage to be able to sustain one's passion for baking, pastry and all things sugary and stay afloat. Does this compromise your principles to have a cafe-ish bakery? Don't hate me. I'd be ecstatic if I was and please prove me wrong but the bridge is out up ahead.

That's it, except the picture I saw was at least 4, possible 6 layers, and the filling wasn't as thick in between. Easy enough to do if the client insisted on more layers, don't you think?? ← Just looking at it from a traditional wedding cake perspective, I think it would be a nightmare. I mean unless it's a very small reception or if it's completely untraditional and they just want dessert. But I didn't see this in the magazine. Maybe it's the next trend. Or maybe I need to get out more.

Truffle Guy, outstanding post. Thanks, Dude!

I would just think the arangement would need to be similar to a cupcake arangement where the portions are already sliced. Then y'know have a pretty stand and decorate it accordingly, like a cupcake wedding cake display would be decorated. I think I would want to get creative with the slices so they arrange better. Like triangle shape for a round stand and squares as opposed to the usual rectangle cuts for a square stand. I also think I would recommend a dessert table or groom's cake for that and a real cake for the wedding. Even a small one, just for looks, just for pictures and memories. Napoleons just aren't very bridal or feminine which is what the cake generally is all about. Napoleons are hard enough to eat by yourself. Can you just see them feeding each other a bite? The picture would make for a great laugh. If they go through with this, provide them with two bite size pieces in a mini muffin wrapper (like for candy) so they don't screw it up. My plan A would be to talk them out of it.