K8memphis

Tweety, it's beauuutiful!! Ling, the sugar in the which part?? Overall??

Wanna know what I do?? I short the cup if it's supposed to be sifted before it's measured. I use maybe 7/8-ish cup of flour, give or take, toss it in a strainer or sifter and away I go. I'm only gonna measure once~~I just don't have the patience to measure and sift and measure and diddle around. Some recipes have a texture detail that is enhanced by sifting I think. Unless I loose count and have to measure again to see where I'm at. But that only happened once

Or another idea is to bake all of them and give half away. If you had a bigger oven that is. Just a muffin moment.

Wow, too cool, Anthony. Thanks for the (ongoing) strenuous effort you put into this for all of us (me). I love seeing & reading all that. Excellence with enthusiasm is your trademark!!

Which recipe?

I like it so much with the lemon, I can hardly bring myself to try the orange. But umm, here's my question, when I do the lemon I cannot taste the lemon or the vanilla distinctly in the finshed product y'know? It just tastes great but I cannot necessarily detect any specific flavor except 'good'. When you do the orange, I'm wondering if you get the orange flavor pulled through or does it just taste 'good' or 'real good' or does it taste 'orangey and real good'?? Which, for sure, cream cheese + orange would be wonderful but... I could make some but then I'd have to eat it and y'know with my metabolism, it just adheres to my thighs blablabla... So help me out So if it is orangey tasting, I think I would like it for carrot cake filling.

Two little details that will make a big difference and a third that is a maybe. One is use saigon cinnamon (I'm an addict, see K8 chop with the razor blade and roll the dollar bill...) Two is use lemon juice in your cream cheese stuff. Three is if you're trying stuff, use some coffee in your liquids for the cake--even flavored coffee--it twists the taste to another level. And what I've figured out for myself for flavored coffees is that if they list more than one flavor, avoid it. Like chocolate vanilla hazelnut. If they list one flavor that's good. Like Apricot, that's cool. Or if it's a seasonal blend for some reason after having thrown out lots of flavored coffee like if it's named Breakfast blend or Christmas blend--those work out better for me anyway. Target has a line of coffee that probably is not whoopee gourmet or something but it's real dang good and clear, not a cloudly brew kwim? Archer Farms apricot creme tastes to me like it would be perfect for a nice spice cake. It will all blend. I'd try like a quarter cup coffee in it substitued for equal amount of liquid. If you're testing stuff that is. I wouldn't want enough to make it a mocha, just enough to put a happy question mark in your mouth--'ooh that's good, wonder what that flavor is'. Y'know what else would be good? A dash of baby applesauce would really mellow it all out too. Just some spice cake musings.

hosinmigs, I wish you the heartfelt enthusiastic best. I don't know how your schoarship thing is going to be played out there--in what kind of forum. Like make it at home & bring it or what. I mean my son was in a two day cook-off for a scholarship when he was in school. And if it is that type of setting where you are 'on the spot' then let me say that what he learned is watch out for the 'what ifs'. Like what if it's too warm for the chocolate to set up, what would you do? What if this, what if that. Run your interference just as intensely as you are running your primary battle. In other words, make it as controlled as possible. Kwim? Insulate yourself. You can't count on just one set of variables when you make this. What if it's humid, what if it's dry, cold, hot, what if someone changes the temp on your oven. What if it's a convection oven instead of a regular and vice versa. That type of thing. Best of the best to you.

I like mine with salt. But they MUST be crisp. Crunchy crisp. Otherwise there's no point at all in consuming limp languid ones just to have to work off all the ensuing cellulite. Hello-oh. I apparently lead a sheltered life and I want to thank everyone for enlightening me about sriracha (and all the creative spellings thereof ) I love chocolate, I love fries but I can't do 'em together. Oh yeah, and I love sweet potato fries too. And on white potato fries, the skinnier the better.

In TN, the merchant must pay tax on the tips. I totally grieve for my kid who is just out of culinary school (read: paying off big school loans) and works his a$$ off in the back of the house and the people in the front of the house take their money home in buckets. large overflowing buckets by comparison. Not to worry though, he is wisely building his career brick by brick. But I am a Mom after all.

I second the motion ~~ All opposed?? None And it's carried!! More more

And Laurie, I enjoyed your article very much. Good stuff.

Ouch. Love him, hate him, he doesn't deserve that name. Food tv producers are orgasmic when things go awry in those shows. They are totally pieced together and edited and not always what they seem.

Mary Alice said they were sweaty. Musta been hot outside? The would-be customers asked how long it takes to make a cake and Mary Alice said, several weeks, the guy wbc said to the girl wbc, "high quality" That's what they all (Duff & co.) laughed about. I am uber sensitive to people being made fun of. I didn't get that sense. I got it tivo'd. I'm gonna go watch it again... Edited to say: Yeah Charm City Cakes is a by appointment only bakery. Says so right on the door. It's not a Mom & Pop bakery with danish & doughnuts & stuff. Duff is hiding behind the filing cabinets & some people came in to try to see him without an appointment. They laughed about the guy's "high quality" comment. Yeah, it might twinge my feelings if it had been me and I watched the show later. But it says right on the door 'by appointment only'. Sorry you don't like the show. As a decorator it is the real deal. They were not being rude there though in my opinion. The wbc were interlopers who happened to have arrived on a hot day, needing some refreshment that was not available. Maybe they were sweating because they knew they didn't have an appointment?

Duff is way way cool, as are his co-workers. His bakery is too awesome, blue walls, green walls, wood floor, awesome windows, built of those cool old bricks. OH, that's COOL!!! So funny to see him hiding behind the file cabinets when those unexpected wanna-be customers came by. Wonder how hard it would be to commute to Baltimore from Memphis if I could get a job there. Shoot, too bad gas is so high right now. I especially love how generous he is with the limelight. Rare wonderful quality that increases his stature.

Duff airbrushes everything* from a white base. *Everything that I've seen him do on tv.

I only read page three of this thread, but I really like Sylvia Weinstock's yellow/white cake recipe and I stopped looking for anything better so that's the ultimate for moi. Maybe that will help until Alana can respond. I use two whites and two whole eggs, toss them in one by one but not with whites & yellows separated for white cake. It's the bombashabomb. Stays moist for days. Then I sub some brown sugar & add pecan flavor to do butter pecan --very versatile very nice recipe.

You can use the microwave too. In a cold oven or in the cold microwave I put hot water in a pan under my dough. I refresh the water as necessary. Works for me. So I guess any box would work kinda sorta, but I've always managed with those two 'boxes'.

All bird livers aside, yes Chicago is on another planet from the rest of Ilinois and definitely from all of Indiana. ← Keep in mind that a pate can be made of goose liver, and not contain a gram of foie gras. Long as we're getting uppity on this woman's review, we could keep our own jargon straight -- "foie" and "foie gras" are two different items. ← Huh? I'm not referencing the liver or the greasy liver or the pate which can be made of chocolate* for all that matter, hence, 'the aside'. Speak for yourself please, about being uppity, not moi. Chicago is an island all to itself as far at the rest of it's own state goes and certainly another planet in relation to Indianapolis. *dessert at Cielo, Memphis

All bird livers aside, yes Chicago is on another planet from the rest of Ilinois and definitely from all of Indiana.

My experience is that I tried it in scratch cakes and my personal conclusion was that the texture and moisture that I gained from using babyfood applesauce was nicer than that gained from xanthan. Also the less xanthan that was used the better. A very small amount was all that was necessary. It heads toward gummy quick. The extra feature of the added flavor of applesauce was another plus for applesauce. However I currently use neither in my cakes. That's just my personal experience when I was testing testing testing. That reminds me, I should try a dollop of babyfood applesauce in my current offerings. But I would not bother with the xanthan anymore for baked goods like unless someone needed a gluten free and I felt like diddling with that. Which I don't feel like diddling with.

Awesome, your next creation can only be better than the first. Look how much you learned! Do it again, make some notes on your findings. Find some unwitting guinea pi...I mean nice people to feed it too. I like almond extract in peach cobbler too. Try some Saigon cinnamon next time maybe. Put the vanilla in the crust. There's lots of stuff you can make & bake without electrical equipment. Rice Krispie treats are only as limited as your imagination. This time of year coming up, I might use a leaf cookie cutter and cut some out and dip them in different colored choco for a changing fall leaf, mash the cookie cutter into the rkt with a small cutting board or frying pan (if you stand on a step you can use your weight to advantage). Use any cookie cutter you got. You could make a great monster face for Halloween with a cookie cutter and candies. Or a ghost would be cool out of any kind of cookie. Oval cookie, ragged bottom edge, two beady eyes, viola a ghost. Umm, cupcakes are endlessly entertaining and can be whipped up sans electrics, umm, brownies have many variations, shortbread cookies (that reminds me I gotta post a recipe) There's some stuff you can do without electrics, umm, not to mention coffee cakes and quick breads and cinnamon rolls. And candies...truffles, brittles, fudge... Mmmmyeah, no excuses, more more!!

Got word back from Mari... "Hey Kate: Sorry that I haven't answered sooner, but we just moved into a new home and it's been crazy here with all 5 of them home. I cannot wait until next week- when they are back in school! I'd be happy to answer some questions. I belong to E Gullet, but don't have posting priviledges, so you can post for me. Part of the challenge, to my understanding, was high altitude. I did as much research as I could, but until I arrived, it was nothing like what I had read up on -especially coming from Long Island. Here's the deal......Did I think the compettion was fair?? Now knowing what I know- no, I don't. Here's some of the reasons why.... 1. Saptosa Foster (great woman) along with Dionna Hurt, are on the competition circuit. I did not know this until I met these ladies the night before the competition. After hearing that, I wanted to "throw up". I've never entered into ANY contest and was a deer in the headlights. 2. Theresa CAnnavo, has a commerical on FN, which she produced to enter for the "Next FoodNetwork Star)..... I think ( I could be wrong) that she's had some formal training......So her "commerical" was really her entry. She also had a "no bake" cookie- which totally contradicts the "high altitude" challenge. Hey I forgot to set my timer, and got bashed for raw cookie dough, but that's exactly what she had and came in 2nd place. Also, many others have come up to me and stated that "a gingerbread hosue" is not the same as a cookie. Wheter or not I agree with this, one thing is for sure, if it was based soley on "cookies" then Sapotsa should have won with her peach fig newton. IT ROCKED!! And I thought it was a very creative way to make an old favortie new. 3. No matter what happened, it was definitely a "learning experience" and I am grateful for the opportunity. By no means does this mean that I would enter any other competition. I did it to see how my cookies were and if "excuse my language' people were blowing smoke up my ass, or if my cookies were really as good as some say. I wanted an objective point of view. And Mark Bittman, who is a NY Times food critic and cookbook author made me feel that my cookies are, infact, good!!! I hope this answers your questions, and if you have any more, please let me know. I'd be happy to answer them. P.S. Although High Noon is located in Colorado, most of the Challenges are NOT filmed there, but around the country."

Oh my gosh, Kim, Patrick and Milady, y'all are too sweet~~how cool. I'm quotable, who knew?!! >> that's me blushing And yes the Dream Whip does not add moisture--it does add a bit of volume and changes the texture. Kinda densifies it but still retains the softness. Yep I agree with Squirrely, it makes cake easier to serve, slices better, stacks better. Umm, I use flavored simple syrup to add moisture--squirt it onto baked cake before it's filled & iced.

I thought the stadium pan was genius. It's awesome, Steph.