K8memphis

Oh, Kkkkk88888.... K8 has, in various incarnations.... ← You rang??? This cake is my cake that I copied from the design of a brilliant however nameless decorator (oops, my bad) at the ICES 2002. And it is marshmallow fondant~~~viola la la. Hat, eyelashes, antennae, spots, everything, little spindly striped legs. Hey, see the feet look like circus peanuts??? I made those too because the ones I bought were all squished. But that's kinda what this tastes like--circus peanuts, flattened circus peanuts. Here's a butt shot...of the cake, silly!!

...Just as long as you agree that it's only for the money. That's a principle that I can respect. ← You can flavor fondant in as many different ways as possible, the earth and the sky are the limit. Fondant is for much much more than money or taste. It's not only a palette for art work it's a skin for building culinary masterpieces. It's a medium that can transform sugar into anything in the right hands, part of a tool box. Umm, cake especially artsy cake mimicks life. Here today gone tomorrow. Was it pretty, was it memorable or regretable? For what is your life (cake) a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. I mean check the avatar for example. Fondant made that possible. This cake made lots of people happy in a variety of ways. Not to mention, it's filled with peanut butter mousse. C'mon, what are Chuckie Taylors usually filled with, huh?

I just spread a generous thick layer of melted or real soft butter onto the rolled out potato roll dough, fill that up with a generous layer of brown sugar, evenly sprinkle with flour--so like an eighth to a quarter inch of butter/brown sugar--nothing timid. So the filling part is sweet but overall it balances all out because of the yeast bread there. Bake it off nice & brown. Drizzle glaze and adorn with cherries and pretty walnuts halves. Nostalgic holiday favorite. Very simple. ETA~not germaine to pudc iron chef at all-- but edited to say I do add walnut meal these days on top of the brown sugar--we pig on this stuff for days during the holidays and then exercise like crazy.

I agree that the cherry was only for looks--the lonely naked hole inside of the pineapple begged for something. The cherry was not a flavor component--it was just a visual. As if it needed a sweet bit of anything added but anyway. And umm, Ling. you said crunch something praline crunch or something --yes yes yes it needs some bit of that. When I made mine the carmelization went to light crunch stage in a good way. A streusal topping might be too stuffy? You'd get the crunch and the brown sugar. Oops, I never got Mom's jelly roll recipe. Nick says use genoise. Mom's had to be loaded with egg yolks 'cause they were very yellow and red creatures all coiled around like two sweet snakes cuddling. I make tea rings every Christmas and all I use for filling is butter and brown sugar and some flour to keep it from running out. That flavor is key to p-i-n-e-a-p-p-l-e u-p-s-i-d-e-d-o-w-n c-a-k-e. Spelled out especially for FistFullaRoux^^^^ edited to say: you said ground brittle not praline--yes but little chunks would even be cool. What about a sprinkle of spiced walnuts? The nut protein helps balance out all that sweetness ~~ just a thought.

I was just reading Nick Maglieri's book Perfect Cakes and he said, don't over bake and be confident when rolling. Mom always made us jelly rolls and she used to roll hers up in a clean towel while it was still warm. The cake was real spongy and thin. Then when it cooled she unrolled it to spread the jelly and viola. Your ideas sound awesome. People I know use walnuts or pecans in their pudc. Umm, and we sold them in one of the bakeries where I worked here in Memphis and I've seen them in bakeries in Chicago area & Northern Indiana growing up--just fyi.

Substitute a little wheat germ for flour anywhere and that ramps it up a bit right there. I prefer the sweetened kind but the unsweetened is better for you (read: tastes like poo). But once you mix it in something you don't notice. Like in the cheesecake crust I would use sweetened. In the muffins either kind. It's sold in jars in the cereal section & is kept in the frige after opening. An equally germy/healthy idea for you.

My first and best answer is, "All of them" But don't forget the fun you can have with mini muffin pans--metal for muffins, silicone for mini tart shells. Whatever cake pans you get be sure they have straight up sides, not angled at all. I bought great cake pans from Ultimate Baker, also called Cook's Dream in Washington state. I gotta get one of these. Be still my heart. And I make lotta roses too. I think the rose pans are essential for a new baker, new homemaker ~~ I got one for each kid infact ~~ they glorify your muffins or cupcakes instantly. We want our baked goods to be beautiful. Instant gratification. Use a mix of equal parts oil, shortening and flour to grease the pan with. And use a bit heavier type batter, not a light cake recipe has been my experience. Slap on some glaze, sprinkle on some edible glitter from the cake store. You have a beautiful yummy baked good.

Sugarella was right! Cool for her.

Check with a local bakery, chances are they'll sell you a block. ← Thank you, Scott123. But sadly it is not available in my area at all anywhere. Bakeries do not use it here. My fingers have done the walking It can't be got. Done. Fini. Unfortunately because.... Thank you CookieBoy. You can substitute of course. But it does make a difference in the final product to me. Subtle but sure difference. And geez the sweet yeasty intoxicating buzz from the ssmmellll!!!! Umm, someday maybe for Christmas I will pop to get the fresh shipped in. But the kids are grown, no grandbabies yet...I need serious inspiration to get motivated for all that. Thanks guys. Maybe when I visit Chef-boy in Virginia I can get a block and freeze it??? Hopefully Virginia is North enough. I know Pennslyvania & upwards can get it. It does freeze doesn't it?? Or does it? Besides, any dang thing I make will go straight to the thunder thighs. 6 of one half dozen of another.

Save me one And hooray for your success!!!

I have Rosie's and Nick's. There are few repeats that I can see between those two. I don't have Tish's. I sat and read some of Nick's stuff just this week. Really awesome stuff. Meringue layer cakes. Yule logs~~for real yule logs. I saw someone making one once and they sculpted the log from a stack of cake instead of rolling it up--agh!!! Several flourless chocolate cakes, tunnel of fudge cake, nut flour nut cakes, pound cake, coffeecakes, cheesecakes etc etc. Special recipes from friends and famous people and locations worldwide. There might be some overlap with Tish's and Nick's but there's enough unique in Nick's to make it worthwhile I'll bet. Now I worry about his layer cake picture because there is no dam of icing encircling the fruit filling page 187, 188, 195, 203. I cannot get away with that. But more power to Nick. His are "perfect" cakes after all! It is an easy to use compendium of international cake making. You would not regret owning a copy if one came along. It's all recipes. Loaded. The pictures are droolisious. But while they are perfect they are homemade looking. Not uber professional decor or anything like that.

Oh wow "in the oven'. Be still my heart. I'm in the middle of loosing that hiccoughing ten pounds, take it off put it on take it off put it on <sigh> ) Talking about baking and getting cyber whiffs from your oven is great therapy. Fresh yeast, yes it sounds like an old recipe. I cannot even get it in my area unless I fedex it in. $2 for a pound block of fresh yeast, $40 for the shipping.

Wow that's interesting. I do not know. All I can think of is the obvious. That the yeast can activate in 15 mins sitting there and the butter can get more mixable and keeping the salt away from the yeast so it can feed & get going. It sounds pretty though, all arranged like that. Kind of a showpiece mis en place-ish in progress??? Think it's just a mild temperature thing and a kind of a 'happening' with the display?? And the butter salt I think should go around the flour/bowl perimeter so the salt doesn't inhibit the yeast. Is this an old book??? What kind of yeast is recommended??? I'm eager to hear more.

Ilene's Lovely Lavender Shortbread Cookies I started with a recipe from Ursula Argyropoulos, a pastry chef at Raphael Bar-Bistro in Providence and owner of Art of the Cake which I found online. She might shudder at my process, but this ingredient list started with her, right after the lavender. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will have a choice of three different ways to finish the cookies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mix by hand, hand mixer or in a stand mixer. 3 teaspoons dried lavender 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar.........Place in blender with lavender and take it for a whirl, set aside ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a bowl or mixer bowl combine: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3/4 cup softened butter 1/4 cup powdered sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla .....mix well with sugar & butter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ then 4 egg yolks.....add and combine well ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ then Add the lavender sugar mixture and combine well ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt.....add with flour and mix just till combined ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now I roll mine out 3/8's of an inch thick and cut out little mini stars with a 1.25 inch star cookie cutter. You can of course use any shape cutter. Sprinkle and press sugar on the tops before baking if you are using choice one of the three choices for finishing the cookies. I do refrigerate the dough before baking. They spread not at all on the ungreased baking sheet. 375 degrees 12 to 14 mins just until the ones on the outside of the pan are slightly getting brown. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three choices for finishing the cookies: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Choice #1) Before baking sprinkle cookie tops with sugar crystals and press gently. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Choice #2) Sprinkle cookies immediately out of the oven with edible glitter. After cooling dip the bottoms in a thin layer of white chocolate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Choice #3) Make a glaze of confectioner's sugar and water, place in a decorating bag with a small tip (I use parchment and cut the tip) and immediately out of the oven I zig zag them with glaze then hit 'em with edible glitter right away before the glaze sets up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I love these cookies. An egullet buddy sent me the lavendar and that makes them all the more special. I had never heard of such a thing before. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Notes: You can cut the lavendar to two teaspoons. This 2 tsp. formulation means you eat the cookie then the lavender flavor comes up in your mouth as a pleasant after taste almost. Using three teaspoons makes the lavendar a bit more pronounced. These are gentle flavors which is why the white chocolate should not be too thick. Adding too much lavendar will result in the product tasting soapy I'm told. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will have little lavender tid bits in the stars--way cool! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enjoy!! Keywords: Easy, Snack, Cookie, Blender ( RG1801 )

And I do not know about the to chill or not to chill the icing. However, Sarah has a similar formula on her site and it says the iced cake can be kept at room temp for several days. And I could be wrong but I think it's (leaving out a glass of cream as opposed to leaving out an iced cake) different because of the process the ingredients go through changes everything up. I've never heard of anyone getting sick from old icing. Mostly because once icing goes bad, you can't even stay in the same room with it if your nose is in proper working condition. I'd say between Sarah and Rosie it's as they say. Fine at room temp. Greater minds than mine will reply though.

Daily, how is it without vanilla?? Did you add any??? I don't think I could resist.

My best guess is that I would want the marshmellow to come to room temperature first if I was making it. But I've never made marshmellows, on purpose anyhow. You will have to try it and let us all know unless someone else knows.

Wow, I don't know. Greater minds than mine will respond but I know they will want to know: What kind of mix was it?? The brand and the flavor.

You are a genius cake decorator!!

Candy clay is chocolate + corn syryp = 'candy clay', also called 'chocolate plastic' So for the chocolate you can also use candy melts or summer coating (it has many names). You can use chocolate that is made with vegetable oil or you can use genuine chocolate that is made with cocoa butter. I use the vegetable oil type most of the time. 400 grams (14 -16 ounces) of chocolate 108 grams (1/3 cup) corn syrup Gently melt chocolate. Add the corn syrup. Stir gently till all combined. Most people turn the clay out onto waxed paper or plastic wrap at this point, cover, and allow to cool. I allow mine to stay in the same container that I stirred it in. Candy clay can separate as it cools. If candy clay is smoothed out and kept level on the top in the container, it does not separate for me. However it is not as easy to remove from the container this way, but that is how I do it. No worries if it does separate, just knead it back in. Recipe

Just plain mmf will not perform like regular fondant for loops. It's a bit different. It is softer and takes much longer to set up. It doesn't exactly crust like fondant. When I add the candy clay it sets up much better. But still it is some different. But I have totally made all kindsa stuff with it. But then, it sure looks like Lenabo makes all kindsa stuff with hers if indeed her gorgeous lilies are mmf. She said she added shortening to model if I am remembering correctly. I would also add corn starch.

You are right. It is the occupational hazard of being a cake. That is easily fixed. Use an upside down rose nail or a heating core or a piece of aluminum foil stuck in there. Fold it flat like 4"x1", cut one end making two 'feet' than can be folded in opposite directions & plant that securely into the middle of the cake batter. To remove after baking, slide a butter knife down each leg to 'unfold' and remove. Did you clarify your butter??? What is the formula??

Did you do that in that order??? It's kinda backwards. Wouldn't your egg whites be deflated after all that extra curricular activity? We had a whole big deal going about egg whites & cakes in this other thread. Melting the butter strikes me as a problem too for some reason.

Ok, that's it~~I can't resist any longer. There's no such thing as a dumb muffin, just dumb questions. or A dumb muffin wouldn't be asking a question. or Muffin's big brother might say, "Step outside them's fighting words." I mean, think about it, what would be the quintessential dumbest muffin question? "Why is it so hot in here???" "But does the light go out if you close the door?"

But Ling wait wait wait much more importantly--yah got my address???