CanadianBakin'

What did you think? Did you like it? I've never tried red velvet before either. I like CHOCOLATE cake so I'm not sure I'd be ok with a slightly chocolatey tasting cake. When I looked at your picture before reading the post I thought you'd made beet cake.

I think you need a quick interview with the birthday girl. You'll want to know her skill level. She wanted a baking class so she might be quite skilled already and you could pick something a bit more difficult, or just a passing interest and then it will be quite simple. Also, flavours she likes and are they all dieting? I think it sounds exciting! I wish I'd been aware of this idea when I was 16. What a cool birthday!

Great job! I was wondering about the high hats too. Did you use an Italian meringue?

I have made a few of the chocolate cakes on that thread, although not the one you mention. I think you'll find that the Dutch processed you have in your cupboard will work just fine for the time being, especially if the recipe has both baking soda and baking powder in it. I believe the Double Chocolate Cake on that thread specifies natural cocoa but many have made it with Dutch processed.

If you do a search there are several great threads on this already.

I'm not sure I'd double it for 2 9x13's. I'd be tempted to either use: 4 ounces semisweet chocolate 17 fluid ounces water 1 1/3 tablespoons instant coffee powder 28 ounces sugar 15 ounces all-purpose flour 6 1/2 ounces cocoa, not Dutch process 2 2/3 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 2/3 teaspoons salt 7 2/3 fluid ounces vegetable oil 17 fluid ounces buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla 4 large eggs OR 5 ounces semisweet chocolate 21 1/4 fluid ounces water 1 2/3 tablespoons instant coffee powder 35 ounces sugar 18 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour 8 1/8 ounces cocoa, not Dutch process 3 1/3 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 2 1/16 teaspoons salt 9 5/8 fluid ounces vegetable oil 21 1/4 fluid ounces buttermilk 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla 5 large eggs I use the first ingredient list (4 egg) to bake off two half-size sheet pans which are about 17 x 11. I think if you double the original recipe you're going to have batter everywhere. I've never baked it in 9x13's but I imagine it would work fine. Like RodneyCk mentioned, I'd be tempted to use magi-strips for even baking. Also, I think I would raise the temperature to 325F and start checking around 40 minutes.

I think you would find The Whimsical Bakehouse very helpful. It has very simple instructions on constructing a tiered cake. It also has pan volumes and how much filling, etc you'll need for various sizes of cakes. It also has a chart on mixing icing colours and a variety of simple decorating techniques. It's definitely worth a look. A girlfriend and I use it for the first tiered cake we'd built and it turned out very well.

I'm sorry Sarah, I guess I didn't explain very well. I've actually had no success with your recipe. It was actually Tippy's recipe that was working for me in a 9" round. I've only tried your recipe in a 9x13 and it was dense and had the greasy, no crumb streaks in it. However when I made Tippy's recipe in a 9x13 I had the same greasy streak problem as I did with yours. I'm not sure what the problem is but in the next couple weeks I'll probaby try her recipe again and beat it less.

I seem to have a problem making butter cakes in a 9x13 format. When I cut them open they have greasy looking streaks or patches that have almost no crumb. My other thread was on helping me bake a 9x13 butter cake. The last suggestion made is that maybe I'm over beating. I'm going to have to try again because I don't like not being able to bake something. Sponges mystify me a bit too, but that's a whole other discussion. The directions for your cake are very specific. I followed them to a tee and it turned out as I mentioned above. Another thought I have is that I use a 700W Bosch mixer and I'm wondering if it maybe beats faster than a standard KA and so my mixing times are too long. I don't know, it's just a thought.

I've never frozen cakes, and am wondering how you handle the cake after it's been frozen. Simply take it out for a couple of hours to thaw at room temp?And will the texture be as good as it would be if it hadn't been frozen? Hi CanadianBakin" Thanks for trying my cake recipe! Just a quick tip! Don't thaw the cake in the refrigerator -- rather thaw this cake at room temperature in its wrappers. I noticed on another thread that you thawed another cake in the refrigerator and ended up with "no crumb". It's not the cake that causes it, but rather the "home refrigerator" environment that you are putting the cake into..... ← Thanks for the clarification Sarah! I didn't realize there was different thawing methods for different cakes. On a thread awhile ago, one of the professionals among us had said that cakes needed to be thawed in the fridge, but maybe we were talking about a particular type of cake. My cake actually had no crumb before and after refrigeration. I think I'm over beating but I'll have to keep experimenting to figure it out. I've now got tons of butter cake in my freezer. I'll figure it out one day.

I did cupcakes for a wedding last year and had some samples for her to try before hand. I was going over the options with my husband and he said I really needed to have just a regular icing sugar+butter buttercream as well. Wouldn't you know it, she didn't like real buttercream and opted for the icing sugar variety instead. Perhaps your bride would prefer it as well.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 2 cups oatmeal, any type 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup very cold, unsalted butter, cut into chunks 2 eggs 1/2 cup fresh orange juice 1/4 teaspoon Boyajian orange or tangerine oil (optional) or extract 1 cup raisins, plumped and well dried I haven't tried this recipe but it's Marcy Goldman's version of Starbucks Orange Oatmeal scones. I was thinking you could use this as a place to start. I'd be tempted to sub out at least half (maybe all) of the white sugar with brown, buttermilk for the orange juice, pecans for the raisins and 1/2 - 1 tsp maple extract for the orange oil. Then I'd make a maple glaze which Marcy suggests on the orange scones as well. Use icing sugar, maple syrup, a bit of maple extract and a bit of water if you need it.

My grandma always used bacon fat for making white bread. It gave it an amazing flavour!

You're right! I haven't seen them yet but my mother-in-law says she saw a few of the roadside stalls open this weekend. I have 3-1/2-year old twins so over the past few years I haven't had time for u-pick. I have been buying my berries already picked at a place called Neufeld Farms in Abbotsford. They always seem to have very good quality berries and the price is comparable to other farms.

I live in Mission and work in Abbotsford and I haven't seen any U-pick strawberry signs up anywhere. The roadside stalls that are common during berry season are not up yet either. My guess would be that it's a bit too early. If I notice them in the next while, I'll post.

That cake looks spectacular! I just checked the ingredient amounts to a cake I make in a sheet pan and it's about the same. I'm pretty sure you'll get the thickness they suggest.

I'm glad you got the list finalized! It looks like a good variety. Scones are really not as good baked the day before. However, you can make them a few days before, form them and freeze them on parchment in an airtight container. Then bake them right out of the freezer the morning of. It will probably take a couple minutes longer. Best wishes!

I happen to have a picture of a genoise/mousse/glaze cake like Desiderio is talking about. I made it at a pastry class I was taking. It's not perfect but gives you an actual example. I have to admit the glazed one is not mine but the chef's. The cakes weren't chilled enough to glaze at school so we took them home to glaze. To get the mousse perfectly flat on top he assembled it in a cake ring and filled the mousse right to the top so he could scrap the top off with a spatula. We didn't have quite enough mousse to fill our rings that's why the top isn't smooth. If memory serves correct, the glaze was thick enough to still give a fairly smooth finish on top.

Great story! Thanks.

I agree with the alfajores. I've had great success when I made them tiny, but less so with medium size. Question: Do you mean to triple dip them (white-milk-dark)? They weren't too thick? ← Yes, milk, white & dark. I dipped the cookie to cover half of the top, then after it's dried rotated a quarter turn and dipped to cover half in the next colour, etc. So when it's done, a quarter looks white, a quarter looks milk, a quarter looks dark and a quarter is just plain. It wasn't too thick.

A disappointment for sure! I think you'll find most of us have had something similar happen at one time or another. I dropped a completed lemon meringue pie at about 10pm one night and had to start again right away as I needed it for the next day.

I actually did this one for free since it was for the Ladies group at my church and I asked if I could do it just so they had something really nice for our last meeting before summer break. For larger desserts, I usually multiply my ingredients by 4. I subtract the cost of ingredients from that total and divide it by the amount of money I want to make per hour and see if I think I can do it in that time. For miniature sweets you may even have to multiply your cost by 5 or more depending on how time consuming they are. I do like Sweet Miniatures. I think all of the recipes I've tried so far have worked well. Oh, one pecan pastry that I wasn't too happy with but otherwise they're great. I agree with Trishiad that your cookie count is too high. I'd be inclined to only do one or two or leave them out altogether. Or if you do a shortbread or butter cookie, use it as a base for something. Like pipe a rosette of marshmallow on top (in Sweet Miniatures) or do small sandwich cookies with a heart or flower shape cut out so the jam shows through and dust them with icing sugar. Each mini dessert should look enticing and want to jump off onto your plate. It's taken me a bit to learn this and figure out how to improve. Something can taste amazing but presentation is what gets it on someone's plate. edited to say: I was just looking at your list again...a presentation example would be the alfajores. The first time I made those, the recipe said to just dust them with icing sugar, so I did. Now you and I both know they taste great but hardly anyone took one. After a bit of research I decided to dip them in 3 different types of chocolate so a bit of each colour showed. The presentation on these was way better and everyone enjoyed them. I've done the raspberry squares and same thing, they really didn't move. I haven't yet figured out a way to dress them up enough to make them jump on someone's plate. But the tiny meringue cups filled with cream and one raspberry just fly off the plate. It's really a bit of trial and error.

I just did a Ladies Tea this wednesday. It was mid-morning and there were no sandwiches. I did 5 different miniature sweets and 2 types of scones and even at that the ladies thought there were too many options since they wanted to try them all so you may want to scale back a bit. The sweets were... - Coconut Macaroon Pyramids with the bottoms dipped in dark chocolate (Baking Illustrated) - Pistachio Petit Fours (Sweet Miniatures by Flo Braker) - Miniature Lemon Tarts glazed with Apple Jelly & 1 blueberry each (Pierre Herme inspired) - Brownies but into 1-1/4" squares and individually covered in chocolate glaze and garnished with a tiny bit of edible gold - Tiny Meringue cups filled with a bit of slightly sweetened whipped cream and each topped with one fresh raspberry. (Gale Gand) The combination of colours, textures and shapes made for a gorgeous plate. Everyone was WOW'd! I always try to include an item or two that don't contain flour for people with dietary concerns. The scones were cranberry lemon and pear ginger. The group was about 30 women aged 22 to 65 or so.

Thanks K8memphis! That's what I was thinking. I need some for a mousse but I think I'll just make up a fresh batch and like you say, feed the rest to my family.