K8memphis

Well honestly I hate to tackle this uber sensitive subject of buttercreams (Who's on 1st & all that) but put it this way, TO ME American buttercream is butter, cream or milk, confectioner's sugar, salt and umm flavoring--just combine--whip if you want.

Oh cool recipe though! Yeah, but no not that.

I've found that since I started doing this - no more blow outs. I just assemble with filling, crumb coat and let sit overnight. So even if there are a few bulges or bubbles, I can prick them with a pin and smooth out the crumb coated icing without any problems. ← Yeah, cool, but you're still getting them, you've just built a better mouse trap. You have a great way to get rid of any that will still come. Because I keep those (cakes) chilled and the cold butter is a stronger icing??? But it doesn't blow out later either at room temp but by then it's probably been sliced. See there's two me's, there's the me that has worked in many bakeries. And there's the me that works from home. So, the wfh me, has had maybe two or three blow outs in my whole life maybe. The wmb me has seen lots of them. Ok--working from home, I chill everything. And I bake to order and store my cakes filled and uniced in the freezer. So umm, methinks the chilling helps stabilize the structure and the no icing helps cake farts to dissipate before they can cause damage. How does that sound? But why when they defrost do they not blow the big one through the icing. I usually ice them frozen, I just do it quickly before the icing chills itself out from the frozen cake. Sometimes I have to stop & wait 15 minutes or so until it all defrosts enough so I can continue smoothing. Have I just chillily numbed them into submission??? What do you think?

I've never had it happen to me with Swiss meringue buttercream or French buttercream. Anyone else??? But why?????

We do actually cushion our cakes in transport. Not quite the lady and the pea type of thing you describe but...it ain't easy, man!!! Yeah I wield a wicked hat pin. Shades of Zorro. >>>Well I have some bad news. While I love Jsolomon's (initial) reply, it seems that there are some amongst us who've gotten a blow out when icing a dummy (cake). That is a styrofoam cake, used for display etc. So I guess you can trap enough air into your spatula stroke to cause you troubles down the line?? I mean you can get a cake fart/blow out while icing a cake too. I mean in the process of icing like in real time. Blphhfffffttttt. Actually they are silent, just a little poetic license there. Unfortunatley, crumb coating & allowing the cakes to settle are not fixes by any means. Some people let them sit just to give the cake time enough to fart or blowout if it is going to so they can fix it. Pin pricks are the only 'cure' I know of and I can remember at least one time that didn't work either. While it's not as pressing a dilema as world peace & stuff or the price of foie gras in Chicago it is a big deal. What say you foodies and scientists???

Well yeah, for sure the fork is plan A--but as caker's we get to travel with our cakes, stress abundantly, feel every pebble under the tires, and carry our little high maintenance treasures around, gently up stairs, more gently down stairs, across vahhhst lobbies, past the masses, into alleys, up to rooftops, by the lake --give them better treatment than we ever got at the nicest of resorts. And then...they fart on you! Great explanation--thanks so much!!!

Maybe you didn't know but iced cakes can develop air tumors aka cake farts under the icing that push the icing up and can even make an ugly blow hole where it might break through the icing in rare cases. I have not personally seen it with Swiss meringue buttercream or French buttercream iced cakes, but with American buttercream and fondant this is a sad but not smelly possibility. Oh, you scientific ones, what causes this?? Is there any way to prevent it beyond a tiny pin prick in each layer through the icing into the cake to create a blow hole clevery hidden within the delicate decor (ie. cakapuncture like acupuncture) Thar she blows... No, no but I'm serious about getting answers to my questions.

Strawberries pee less if you use a very sharp knife.

But not if you have electric starters If the bottom of the pot is rounded it will spin. But not otherwise that I ever noticed. If there's moisture under there the pans will dance across the cooktop though.

Yeah their husbands were cravin' some supper No but really, I could not get enough Tango tamales when I was pregnant. No other brand would do. They were available at Eagle grocery stores 27 years ago But also I could not abide the smell of peanut butter ~ran screaming. Then that kidlette did not like it either for most of her life.--Lately she will eat it.

Congratulations! It sounds like it looked & tasted great.

Well, I'm reminded of the chocolate cherry bread they made at the artisan bread bakery that went out of business. I mean how do you and are you really gonna toast that stuff??? I mean you really gonna boil dough with chocolate chips in it--glory that sounds gross. Having them only seasonally is a good idea--they have to do (make) those last I'm sure or replace that water. It just doesn't sound right though does it. Cream cheese would work though. Hold the lox (where's the I'm barfing smilie face) They get points for trying something new, but you can't dance to it. And edited to ask for someone to explain Mike's joke, Mike???? Maybe the language barrier there or something...

Yeah, I've walked passed this product several times at the store. I think the Blak rhymes with blek as was mentioned is a real turn off. Jarring and annoying as alacarte said. Yes it is. Jason, I love your avatar. It's a TEN! And Bergerka gets a 10 for the funniest reply.

I am not a cyclist but my kid was semi-pro and my husband still rides all the time. Yeah the whole bonk thing must be really complicated with diabetes. My husband loves the endorphin popping (like champagne bubbles popping) long ass rides--I like him better when he rides too. Yah think?! They would do 12 hour races 24 hour races --like a team of 3 or 4 riders similar to a relay race for runners. Food--geez oh pete the amount of food consumed between laps is more than I would eat in several days. And the hydration is crucial too. Some riders are out there eating a fig bar for breakfast & riding all day taking no water along crazy crazy crazy. We always have energy bars in the house.

Maybe I read something sarcastic and didn't know it was sarcastic. Somebody stating that due to the gras list's previous more relaxed nature, thalidomide could have been placed on there. I don't know. I remember reading it forever ago. I'm not an expert on it. And I have no trouble standing corrected with my thanks. And food coloring is still a scary product to me. I know how it affected my kid and my friend. And that or the ingredients thereof are on the list--and that's scary too.

Where did you hear that? Firstly, as I understand it GRAS exemptions are FDA exemptions for food additives and cosmetics only, and are never granted for pharmaceuticals like thalidomide, which are subject to very different regulatory requirements. Second, the FDA refused to approve sales of the drug in the US because there were no tests for teratogenicity (birth defects). It was FDA's demands for such data in the early 60's that more of less directly led to the discovery that the drug caused birth defects. So not only was the drug not considered GRAS, it was not approved for sale in the US even as a prescription drug. * Ironically, FDA did eventually approve thalidomide in 1998, under a restricted access system (e.g. no pregnant women), after it was found to be effective in treating some cancers. ← It was as a sleep aid. I believe it is true that it made the gras list albeit momentarily--there was a lot of pressure from a lot of different places at that time about the stuff--it was not marketed or sold here but due to all the business pressure it got on the list just as the tragic horrific news of it's real effects broke on the world and became known and grieved and that Mount Vesuvius of pressure from those Doctors pushing back is what started our drug companies having to prove the effectiveness of their products. And prove that the side effects wouldn't harm us too. It was several years after that that they looked over the whole list and made sure everything on it was ok. Before that it was truly generally recognized as safe. Caveat emptor, much much more so then than now. I can't find a list from the 60's but I remember reading that a long time ago. It was only on there a few 'minutes' like--it all kinda was happening at the same time. The extreme pressure to allow it. The extreme pressure to resist it. The tragedy of thalidomide. The new beginning of having to prove drugs safe.

Ok, maybe I used the wrong word when I said allergic. My friend was sick unto death and her skin is in terrible condition, with rashes and itching and redness and swelling and very not cool stuff. She is better now that she is eliminating titanium dioxide from her diet--I mean it's in lots & lots of stuff including toothpaste. Thalidamide was on the gras list. To me the gras list is not indicative of what's good for you. It's a list of what's not currently convincingly known to harm or maim you. Talk to me about the ever changing formula for red food color and tell me that stuff is 'safe'. NOT! Little doses won't kill you outright, but that stuff is scary very scary. What ebay material?

Chop them a bit maybe, make them smaller???? Use currants???

It is deemed safe however I doubt it. I know some folks who are horribly horribly allergic to it. I think a lot of 'safe' substances just didn't have enough of a bad effect to get noticed as un-safe. I'm holding a 9 oz bottle of Kroma Kolor airbrush white. I like to use it to paint my (brown) cake boards white--two coats

If you're seated next to the rest room (and it's obviously a crappy table) it's going to be pretty obvious that you're going "economy" whether prices are posted or not, isn't it? ← Maybe she'll just assume that they've been given a bad table because she looks too dowdy. ← It's a small small world where the restaurant (supposedly) revolves around the attractiveness or not of their patrons. This is a newfound and curious caste system of how close to the john are you?? Who puts their self worth in the hands of a matre-d? Y'all are thinking (and therefore revealing) way way way too much. Are you serious? I mean I think it's funny and lighthearted to think and say that you get a good table 'cause you're 'looking good' tonight as well as true sometimes. But deciding that the opposite is true is sad to pathetic. Umm, ugly fat poor people who can't wear heels can tip as well or better or not than the others. What are you guys even talking about?

Whooo hoooo hoooo !!!!Multiplied Congratulations!!!! Stay tuned for the futher adventures of: "The Sea Gulls Are Crying Themselves To Sleep Tonight!!!" or "The Curse of The Gull...Lifted"

My friend told me that Chefmaster sells the no fade purple but I have never used it. And Caljava sells lavender fondant. But I would not want to do a lavender covered cake either. I would get the no fade stuff & test it. But even in the coupla hours the cake sits out colors can evaporate or change. I mean it's hard enough to talk brides out of setting their cake outside, much less keeping cake tables & stuff from windows & streams of light.

Well, I use my cleaver to cut frozen cheesecake of course. Bones, chickens, what's all this whacking about??? It cuts frozen cheesecake like buttah. No gooey mess on the knife rippin' up your beautiful confection, no stupid dental floss, no hot water I stand on a step, I mean I'm 5'8" but I place the cleaver where I want to cut and just lean on it--my upper body weight does all the work, well the cleaver helps of course and snnnap--beautiful cut, no goo, all clean & pretty.

I hope we get some pictures anyways....

If I still lived up there, I would apply for the job to 'stage' for yah. I'm just gonna make my rice krispie treat birdie nests' and we're gonna have a money filled easter egg hunt. Hey so everybody's over 21! Wha-at??!!! Mostly small change & one twenny dollah bill.