K8memphis

Is $16.00 for a pound seem like a good price??? This is where I get mine. They also have 4 oz for $6. Clicky here for 4 oz. I didn't really shop around. I thought this was an ok enough price. Could be better deals out there.

What's in a name? That which we call a brontosaurus by any other name would smell as sweet. Hmm, I'm not positive but don't think so. Chocolate yes. Like lemon curd or something, never tried it.

Yes it is. It's a published recipe. It's French Buttercream. It is a classic recipe. It is not classic French as far as I know. There's a difference. It is French Buttercream

Ding ding ding we have a winner Chefcyn is correct. The confused posts that followed yours, Chefcyn, is why I did not name my recipe at the time I posted it. But I mentioned it and used this recipe in the wedding cake demo I did. I know that Wilton published this recipe as French Buttercream a million years ago. Check a yearbook from the 70's. Folks, it truly is called French Buttercream and it has no eggs. It is also very good. I think a 'true buttercream' would be something different to each of us.

It tastes kinda like a smb but made with flour instead of egg whites y'know? It melts as fast any other icing made with butter. I mean chicken gravy would not stick to the cake. I don't think it is all that popular as in well known, but it is a reasonable alternative to 'sweet' powdered sugar non-cooked buttercreams. I mentioned it in the wedding cake demo I did about my kids wedding cake. You cook a paste and add butter. In a swiss mb you cook egg whites, beat to a meringue and add butter. It tastes like ice cream, very rich. edited to add: Like the smbc would be a 'clear' texture and mouth feel the flour based bc would be a 'cloudy' texture and mouth feel, both very light.

Bwoo ahahahahaha Except I do not use a double boiler I just use a heavy pan. My measurements are in cups. I've made this stuff for decades. Then I finally switched to Margaret Braun's Vanilla buttercream which is swiss meringue buttercream. Mine is one & a third cup granulated sugar one half cup a.p. flour combine well in heavy saucepan & add one and a half cup of milk half teaspoon salt cook stirring constantly until it bubbles like lava when it is completely cold add, four sticks room temp butter and a good two teaspoons of vanilla beat well --try it try it!! Yah gonna love it!

Now I make one with a cooked mixure of granulated sugar, milk and flour, let it cool completely then add the butter and vanilla and salt. Kinda sorta like yours. And it would be death and hell for an outside wedding. Umm the only substance I know of to beef up icing for high humidity or something like that is cornstarch or flour like Wondra. It doesn't change the mouthfeel, but it changes the way it slides down your throat. But really it is un-noticeable when you are swallowing the cake with it. When you just get a dollop of icing and eat it, it's a little 'firm' going down y'know? So yeah, have no reservations shooting straight with the bride. I think being clueless is prerequisite to wedding planning

Hey Moopeus, is the title of your avatar, Busted! ?? Who is that helping him/herself???

I made one and baked off the brownie completely then baked the cheesecake part. I used regular cake pans and I lined them with cardboard so I would encounter zero issues removing them from the pans. I would line that with parchment too. I was putting a cake layer on top of that so I used a heating core too. Having a pretty top was not a goal. Even if I was not layering with cake I would still use a heating core because I decorate the top & cover up the marks left behind. But I sure didn't want to fry the brownie y'know? I used a fudge brownie recipe and made it nice & thick. So then on the cheesecake part I used a quick read thermometer to test for doneness--169 degrees is done for cheesecake. I think I heard that from Alton Brown. That way I didn't have to guess & it was easier for me. It's of course easy to trim the edges too if they do bake off more than you wanted. Overall it was easier than I figured. Oh yeah, I froze it before I removed it from the pan. Refrigeration makes it easier too. I prefer freezing it though--again less chance for error.

I can almost smell it through the computer screen, the pictures look so good. Thanks for posting this!

So sorry to hear of such a tragic loss. Please give my sympathy to your daughter and those involved. A few days before my daughter turned 16, her classmate was tragically killed in a head on car crash. He had just turned 16 and was driving his new car following another friend home to spend the night. The friend doubled back looking for him when he did not appear at his house. Came upon the fiery crash. Changed lives forever. Very sorry for your loss. Give yourself some time too. God bless you all very much. Love & Prayers, Kate

Thank you, Mette!!! Great pictures and wonderful demo. I've seen Jacques Torres do a similar balloon thing on tv and it seemed so easy. But he makes everything he does seem so easy, y'know?? Your demo makes a believer out of me that the balloon thing is indeed do-able by mortals such as I. I have zillions of molds specifically for chocolates, now I will branch out into the container world. I just needed that little nudge your demo provided. Way cool thanks so much--I will share your demo with my cake buddies

Don't open the oven door early Good luck!

Well I made a copy of a caterpillar cake that I loved and I have kept his little head for months & months--I thought sure the annual march of army ants through my house would zero in on him & prompt his immediate departure from the premises but no he's still sitting on the shelf. His eyelashes have drooped a bit, but he is altogether adorable. He is fondant covered. But I would not put iced cake in a 200 degree oven to dry. M.X., I'm thinking you were refering to just the cake part. Your Mom is adorable. On the shelf cake does preserve itself to a point--just keep an eye out for discoloration, and/or bugs--it will get dusty and need to be discarded someday. But it really can last quite a while. If it makes someone happy why not. Then again you could put it in the oven as was suggested...

That is way way cool. Yes sweetly Morrocan and Casablancan as well as bright, bridal and happy. Beautiful work. And I mean this in a good way and high praise, the first thought I had was, shades of Margaret Braun! But the expanse of sunlight there on that offset tier is stunning. Just perfect. What kind of couple was this for? Older maybe?

Yes yes go to sleep, pictures will keep--hmm, waiting patiently and can't wait all at the same time

Delivering! The bane of our existence. But it is still absolutely gorgeous. I have a fraction of an idea of the trauma you endured even though all the gorey details are not yet revealed--but I hope you can see it for it's stunning self. The workmanship is award winning. And I hope you post more details on the making of the roses--mine kinda suck and where did you get that nifty leaf veiner???? You're so brave!!!

Suggestions-- I was thinking little miniature boxes piled up on top would be cute--are you using any flowers??? Little flowers sticking out the seams of the boxes would be cute too. It would be easy to do--y'know cut out additional fondant pieces like the ones in your sketch and glue them like with piping gel or something to mini-marshmallows and let them dry a bit--so the mini-marshmallow is inside the 'box' covered on all six sides (4 sides plus top & bottom) by little fondant squares and/or circles. Or cut the correct shape you need out of a regular marshmallow, apply the fondant pieces--let it dry and pile the little fondant boxes up on top. You could also leave the 'lid' off one so stacking them up randomly would be easier. Then you could put the corner of the next box into the open lid so that next box is at an angle. I like to add tylose to fondant to get it to dry crisper for something like this. Probably wanna let the fondant pieces dry before gluing. Kinda far out idea but maybe it will spark another idea for you. One other idea for you--if you add brown, even a dit dot of chocolate icing to your blue color it will smoke-ify it and it will blend better with the warm colors you got going. Actually I would make some brown fondant and use a pinch of that to add to the blue fondant to make it smokey. It's still blue, just a little dusty blue. Love both the sketch & the cake--great stuff!!!

Tweety, man that's pretty--I love the lace how it does exactly flow over the borders & stuff--very elegant--and the ruby red petals peaking out of the tulle--gorgeous setting. That's too funny about me thinking it was your wedding--ha! And isn't photobucket user friendly??!! Diva, thank you again!

Diva, thank you so much--you are very kind. Your flowers look like you just picked them in the backyard!!! Wow you are off to a great start. A coconut cake with passionfruit mousse filling sounds soo good. And for a renew the vows celebration, those are rare--neat that you get to do the cake.

I'm so glad your excursion into cakensanity went well and you emerged relatively unscathed, unscarred and married to boot. Congratulations on all fronts!!! Thank you for letting me know I got to help a bit. And who woulda thought it does take that much preparation??!! Hey, pictures??? Try photobucket.com. Then I resized each photo a bit by clicking on 'resize'. Ideally, I would have wanted to put my pictures here on egullet in my control panel option thing but I never could figure it out though I tried. But once you get them loaded into photobucket, you can just copy the img address from underneath the picture then come over here to where you are posting something and click on the IMG box dealie up above the field you are typing in ^^^^^ up there and that gives you a box to paste the img address into--pretty sure you want to copy & paste the img address--there are three choices under each picture in photobucket and it's one of those. It's really easy. And free to start it. Hey I like the big cheese cake coming up!!! Sounds way cool!!! Hoping to see your pictures soon!!! Thanks, Tweety69bird!!! (Reminds me I need to do the tuxedo strawberries & curls pictures)

I have one of the funnel things with a small enough opening--it'd be a pain in the boo for muffins--you would have to stop & load constantly or if it was a greater capacity you would have to hover over the pan with all that weight--a nice measuring cup would be more practical, easier to load, easier to pour. But the ice cream scoops are even easier I think unless you pipe it in--but then you gotta load the bag. I vote for ice cream scoop. The funnel things are perfect for quick running batter--but muffins are too gloppy I think. If that still is in your plans, look for where concession stand people would purchase funnel cake supplies. (I'm echoing several other folks here)

I sent this link to Chef-boy--he said you have to about murder someone to get kicked out of culinary school and then they'd probably take you back in a couple months. He says the attrition rate is 110% due to not showing up for class, period end of the world. Oh and I was informed that he also currently does pizzas and pasta with the salads--pardon mois

No kidding!!! Too cool!!! Rhodes is right down the street from us. Gorgeous campus. Chef-boy is a cook at Capriccio's, the Peabody's Italian $teakhouse. My husband & I are gonna go down there & share a pizza in a few weeks. The kitchen is kind of open so we can see Chef-boy in action. But wait, I don't want to be misleading, Chef-boy is currently in salads, y'know in the process of learning all the stations. He just got out of school 7/1 just got started there. Small world though, huh?!!

Oh this is cool!!! Very interesting. Thanks for sharing the info!!