K8memphis

C. I just wanna work for me. I'm tired of working for all the A's, B's and D through Z's out there. I just got a nice cake order, bride's & groom's so I'm just gonna quietly get some more of those.

Well. I only peeked in here to say, "Oh Patrick" (because he is like science-boy) Because your average trinary phasic equations are not my cup of tea, ugh, er, cup of diet coke. My eyes crossed permanently but I got a b in college algebra and I happily quietly forgot it all as soon as possible kinda sorta. So all that to say, this is not only pretty cool and not at all what I expected, it's a pretty tall order. Go for it.

You missed my post then, Sugarella. I guess I didn't say it out right but no I don't like them. I use parchment. After all the washing of (so-called) disposable bags and other traumatic instances I went through on a previous job, it would not be hard for me to say I hate them. grr I like parchment because it conducts heat less than the disposable ones I've tried and because I can make them any size I want. So that's two of us at least. Just say no to slippery nasty blankety blank plastic.

When they first came out, and I squeezed on it they made tumors & blobs pop out the sides rather than push the icing out the tip--they morphed into mutants--they had weak spots I guess and would morph or burst, the icing went yonder instead of where I wanted it to go. So I've stuck with parchment. Love parchment. I'll tell yah the hugest pain in the arse ever. Is working for someone who insists on WASHING THE DISPOSABLE (%$#@&) BAGS. oh my gaw-d . edited to say--I've almost ruined my morning just thinking about it. eaghh

I have a friend who is staging right this minute for a famous four star place. This is just a two day applying for a paying job type stage. You can totally put staging on your resume and list the places you've staged/worked for. It has to be good for something beyond the obvious. FFB--so sorry about your sweet puppie-dog Josie. sniff

You can add shortening to it to remoisturize it but it will not necessarily completely restore the stretch and flex you might need. "Creme Fondant" hmm, is that for rolling out or for heating & pouring over stuff??? You need starch and glycerine, gum trag and stuff like that in it also for it to be rollable.

Ling, I had never seen that one before--it's beautiful. Violets are my favorites, thanks.

Those are awesome.

Oh, oh cool. I heard Alton Brown say why this beating of eggs is good for some fomulas and I thought, "Oh cool, so that's why that works" but I don't remember what he said.

Well wait no it's different for cake than for brownies. I don't do this for cake necessarily.

I don't know what happened. Umm, my brownies I use 4 oz chocolate to one cup of butter and 1 cup flour and 4 eggs and 2 cups sugar so mine are much looser than yours. Was your batter thick??? Umm, also, I beat my eggs first until they are pretty pretty yellow, then add my flour stuff & mix then add the melted choco stuff. There's a good reason for beating the eggs first, I don't what it is scientifically but it makes great brownies. So mine's got 3 oz extra butter, quarter cup extra flour, one cup extra sugar and an extra egg. Umm, and I never use cold eggs. You don't want to beat brownies too much--oh did you beat them too much??? That will do that!!!

Did you leave out the oil or butter or something??? It sounds like they glopped together rather than baked off. Nothing to relax it out into the pan & they just bound up kinda??? They domed on the bottom?? What's the formula??

Softy, er I mean Sentimental Steve is right--that's a good choice bu-ut, what's so scary about this one??

Very cool. Thanks for the pictorial.

I was toying with a Cinqo de Mayo type formula for my son-in-law's May fifth birthday. I always feel more freedom with cakes for family and I didn't want to go to the store or spend any money & just use what I had in the house too. Well I was working with this recipe & that recipe & then I didn't really have the right ingredients for any one particular one so...I have made this twice. The crumb is not as open as it could be but man is it good. The cayenne does not shock or overtake--it glows in the throat and the back of the mouth after you swallow--really really nice. If your kidlette digs chocolate I think she will like this. It balances wonderfully with the icing but it's not bombastic at all. I used regular buttercream of 10x sugar, cream & butter, flavor & salt then I either filled with cream cheese stuff or added cream cheese to that. This is a double batch. And it's exactly what I used. K8's Hot Fudge Cake 3 ounces of unsweetened Baker's chocolate Hershey's Extra Dark 60% cacao 3.52 ounce bar (got it at Walgreen's) 2 ounces of German Chocolate ^^^melt & set aside^^^ 4 cups sugar 3 cups sifted all purpose flour--less one heaping spoonful (sugar spoon size) 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 - 3 generous teaspoons saigon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder 1 heaping spoonful (sugar spoon size) Valrhona cocoa powder ^^^ whisk all together in a mixing bowl & set aside ^^^ 2 cups strong hot coffee 1 cup sour cream (room temp-ish) 1 cup oil 1 tablespoon vanilla ^^^Blend coffee, sr crm, vanilla & oil together with a whisk ^^^ Then add to powder mixture & combine well. 4 eggs, room temp ^^^lightly beat eggs & add to mixture combining well^^^ then add chocolate & mix well. Makes nice half sheet or 4 eight inch layers. Bake 350 for like 40 ish minutes until toothpick comes out clean. I filled the cake with a cream cheese and swiss meringue buttercream combo. Then iced it with regular buttercream in order to cover with fondant. It's more or less one of those Texas sheet cakes kinda sorta. I mix it by hand with a whip--bakes nice. Very fudgey. I'm gonna use self-rising flour next time see if it changes the crumb. I use a baking core to bake. Many thanks to Cheryl, SweetSide for the heads up on the right amount of cayenne. I used 3/4 of a teaspoon for my husband's to zing it a teensy bit. A half teaspoon is sufficient--3/4 is pleasantly zingy. More than that I think will take it off the chart.

Here's some other options too.

Could you do any parties there? (I'm just brainstorming--nothing you probably haven't already thought of) Ummm, Give some lessons in something foodie. Teach people how to do a chocolate tasting Give chocolate tastings to groups!!! Teach people how to make something on the menu. Charge people to come behind the scenes & try their hand at making something for their group of friends who are out there gonna buy it?? Make it a gift opportunity. Make companies buy "you're a good employee' coupons for their employess to come to your place. Got any ceo buddies in business that could use this employee perk?? Just to get the word around. Umm, do you cater?? Could you cater goodes for an employee appreciation day? Advertise a two for one special. (Sure give it away--where's the thump on the head smilie face?) After school Kid parties? Get yourself on a tour schedule--contact churches & see if they can bring a bus load over. Seniors love to do stuff like that--visit a museum or something & go get dessert somewhere. In my little place for that little time, I sold many many more desserts when I cut them by thirds & offered 'a bite' of dessert. Assortments (of minis) go over big. Geez that movie is expensive! edited to say: Can you trade your goodies for radio time?? Or something?? If they answer the trivia question of the day they get a free whatever ??? Do you do b-day cakes??? Give a (mini) b-day cake away to the 5 th person that day with a photo id and the birthday for that date??? edited again---Y'know pate choux is just the sh*t (as my son would say) Umm, y'know how you make swans? Think Interactive Desserts. Well something like swans where people could pipe them or something and then while they have dessert you can bake them and make their swans to take home? Have them make chocolate boxes--poured chcoclate into a box mold and fix it up again while they eat dessert & take home the box full of something. Now remember this is Brainstorming--just throwing stuff out there to see what sticks on the wall. Umm, dude, weddings. Use weddings & romance somehow. The average wedding is TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. Get some kick ass cool whatever for the guy to put the ring in so he can propose--like a chocolate box. Grab for celebrations--people allocate more money exponentially when they celebrate---finish this sentence in twenty five words or less--"when people celebrate they want to do it at City Sweets because..."

The very same. Not to mention, Elaine and I attended the same grade school where we diligently applied the Palmer method. OOOOOOOOOOO0000000000ooooooooooo lllllllllllllllll|||||||||\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////

Parchment for making bags. Collect turntables--all kinds. A nice cookie sheet with the lip on one side only so you can use it to torte cakes with (to lift the cake with) and bake cookies too. Brushes for applying dusts and painting stuff. Lots of bowls for mixing colors, lots of spoons. Liquid food color with those cool drop at a time lids. I despise using toothpicks in those screw top jars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Invest in good pans. Get the odd sized pans too, 3", 5", 7", 9", 11", 13", 15". Consider piping from your shoulder down rather than from your wrist, hand or elbow. Practice making overlapping circles and lines*. Hold your breath when you write. (ElaineT, *the Palmer Method!!! Works for me ) edited to add: pipe by rhythm, count or sing (mentally) or just be rhythmic at it.

Becky I am devastated for you all but I'm glad you have some more time with your Mom. I pray that it be a beautiful comfortable time. And don't forget, the doctors are not always right either. An Old Irish Blessing May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand. L&P

I have a file for you I got from the Department of Agriculture--pm me your email address if you want a copy. I'd love to ram this through Shelby County here & go toe to toe with the zoning board but I have a cat. I'm probably gonna fly under the radar--try to stay cloaked under the idea of the new regulations. We'll see.

Brian, sorry to hear that. I love to see your name and the Sweet Karma stuff when you post on egullet. I always think, man that's cool. At least somebody can do it. Go with your gut. Ain't no shame in saying, whoops I goofed. But I hope you can pull it out of the fire. Take Care!

Here's some of the irony of these regulations. My friend had her own place, did lunch & stuff too. She only baked at a certain time of the day to be sure to always avoid the inspector showing up & nailing her about her lack of a suppression system, the hood & fire equipment & all. I guess he was predictable that way. She could cook top of stove no problem-o. She was off one day and sure enough somebody baked something at the wrong time. She got snafooed to the tune of installing an eight thousand dollar system. Me on the other hand, my fire marshall said I could bake all day every day withhout a hood and suppression system in my commercially zoned tearoom. However I could not even boil eggs or water or anything on top of the stove --could do nothing on stove top without the system. Zip nada. Go figure. It's different everywhere. Oh wait, how about some more irony Might as well laugh.. Umm, the state of Tennessee is in process of making home bakers legal--you will have to attend sanitation class at the university. However you cannot do anything highly perishable like cheesecake . You can have no pets in the structure. In Ohio you can be a home baker if you have a home & can bake. Your pets need to be in the other room while you're cooking.If you want to do highly perishables you attend the sanitation class & get certified for that. Oh yeah, the regulations TN is putting together may not be enough because of the uber tight zoning laws here in my county. sigh But anyway--my best advice is do not ask a salesman. Ask your local code, fire & health people if you want the bottom line. This is a big big big big big deal to me. If I lived in Kentucky I'd be golden. sigh again

That's true but the regulations are very different in each location. Trust me. Call the Fire Marshall for your area. He will shoot straight.

It's totally dependent on your particular area's regulations. Because the rules contradict from place to place. Best of the best to you!!! Where are you & what do you wanna bake by the way???