CanadianBakin'

What a great story! You wouldn't be willing to share Nana's secret tips, would you? I agree the CIA recipe momlovestocook linked to is good. I haven't tried it with blueberries yet but with cranberries and orange it was one of our best sellers during the winter.

This recipe for Blondies submitted by Varmint might fit the bill. I've never had the bars you mention but I believe this is a chewy bar and you could just adapt it by adding sliced almonds and toffee chunks or whatever Starbucks uses.

Thanks Patrick! I'll give that a try. Does the grainyness(sp?) have something to do with why you should use a wet pastry brush to make sure all the sugar is in the bottom of the pot? To follow up on Lorna's recipe... I put it back in a pot and boiled it for about 10 minutes and it thickened up great! The brown sugar gives it an amazing flavour. I could just sit and eat it sraight. I actually tried it on white toast this morning and oh my goodness.....it is sooooooo good! My only concern with it is I wonder if the butter might separate out a bit. Lorna, have you had this happen?

Ok, the results are in... :) Lorna, I just reread your recipe and as I was going by memory at the time (my husband was game-ing) I missed the cooking for 15 minutes part so it turned out runny but the taste is awesome! Tomorrow I'll reheat it and trying getting it to thicken up. In the meantime, I tried JFLinLA's caramel filling with a slight adjustment and it's perfect for what I need. I used the instructions from the recipe in my first post, doubled your ingredients and added 1 oz of butter at the end. Perfect! Once again, egulleters have come through. :) edited to add: this morning JFLinLA's caramel (with the added butter) is a little bit grainy. Any ideas on how this happened or how to fix it?

Thanks Lorna! I was just coming on to ask if you could please post your recipe but see JFLinLA beat me to it. :) I imagine with that much butter and cream it's not too sweet either. I'll give it a try tomorrow.

Thanks Guys! My tired brain was thinking that somehow I'd have to cook it longer or hotter and I couldn't see how that would work. Reducing the liquid makes total sense.

I'm definitely not a chocolate expert but I think I can answer your questions. 1. The bowl should not touch the water. 2. Don't turn the heat off, have it high enough to keep the water just simmering. 3. Yes, the bowl should rest on the rim of the saucepan. You'll burn yourself holding it over. If I'm wrong on any of these points I know someone will help you out better than I can.

I am making individual cakes that are 3 layers high and about 2-3/4" in diameter. I want to put a layer of caramel between 2 layers and figured I'd either pipe caramel buttercream or a heavy ganache around the edges and fill it with the caramel sauce. I made caramel sauce using a recipe from cooksillustrated.com. It turned out well but at room temp I think it's a bit thinner than I would like. How do I make it thicker without ending up with burnt caramel sauce? The ingredients are: 4 oz water 7 oz sugar 8-1/2 oz heavy cream 1/8 tsp salt 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp lemon juice It says to heat it to 350F before adding the cream. It's a good colour and flavour. Can someone please help?

You guys are so lucky!! I so wish I could come this fall too but I can't see how I could get the money together in time. Oh well, you'll have to let us know all about it and I'll live vicariously through you until maybe next fall when hopefully I'll be able to experience it myself. I'm really interested in the baking & pastry courses as well so I'll have to keep my eye on their site.

Thanks so much! This is exactly what I was looking for. I don't have much experience in combining the different components except when following a recipe so I don't know what textures and filling combinations taste best together. I appreciate being able to make use of your experience.

Thanks for all your ideas! Now I just have to figure out which will work best for this situation. The Chocolate Fudge Espresso Cake will definitely be on my "to try" list if I don't use it this time. Chiantiglace - What combinations would you suggest? Like if I use a chocolate mousse, do I need to put it between all the layers, or would I use a buttercream or ganache somewhere in there too? And if I used a layer of meringue, would I use just one in the middle or should I use 2, or should I use less cake layers? I would love to use one or more coffee/espresso flavoured components but I think I'll stay away from any fruit/citrus accents. Anyone is welcome to offer their suggestions.

This is probably a stupid question, but why? I never brush the sides and I've never seen an adverse effect. What am I missing?

Are you sure about that? I've always been lead to believe you should spoon lightly into the cup, then level off. One more reason to start weighing, me thinks.... ← Like you, I was always taught to spoon and level and now I weigh but that still doesn't solve all your flour problems. Some bakers using 4-1/2 oz/cup, some use 5 oz/cup and they don't usually specify.

WOW!! You've done a beautiful job! They're almost too pretty to eat. :)

Is this the one? Chocolate Fudge Espresso Cake

I've been asked to make a b-day cake for a friend's husband who LOVES chocolate so I'd like to do a chocolate cake with all chocolate fillings and frostings. I'm just wondering what would make it, oh my goodness, to die for, chocolate cake. I have a favourite cake recipe (not the Wooley one I'm afraid ;)) that I'll use but I'd like to do something different for the filling than just chocolate IMBC. It will have 4 layers. I haven't done much experimenting with combinations of fillings yet and wondered if you have suggestions or recipes. I imagine a layer of dark chocolate gananche would help but I'm totally open to ideas. edited to add: This cake is quite moist and doesn't require soaking syrups unless you think that would help the flavour.

Patrick or anyone else who's used PH's Lemon Cream... do you think I could use it to make lemon squares on a shortbread crust and then freeze till needed?

Thanks everyone for your input! I think I'll give it a try and just use it in an application where lots of flavour is added.

Great tutorial! You are absolutely right, I seldom take my whipping cream past soft peaks. I've never used it to frost or fill because I didn't think I could safely get it past that point. I've got some whipping cream in the fridge so I'll have to think of something to make so I can try it. Thanks!

Our local grocery stores often have a white fish called Basa on sale and I'd never heard of it. Is it mild like sole? Anyone tried it?

This takes a bit of time but if you buy a copy of MasterCook 7 you can easily price out recipes and it will help you figure out what's cheapest to make. The time consuming part is getting and entering prices for every item you use. I don't have many of my own recipes entered but MasateCook has a cookbook for groups of 50 that I'll take a look at later and let you know if they have anything interesting that's cheap. Cupcakes are pretty cheap and of course you can do a million combinations of cakes and icings. Might be good for the cafe. Using the paper liners and having icing on top helps them to keep quite awhile. I don't know where you live but if you have access to lots of fruit in season you could make up just plain yellow cake cut into squares, dust with icing sugar and top with fruit and whipping cream. As Ruth suggested, meringues are cheap as well as individual Pavlovas which again you could serve with fruit and whipped cream and they are wonderfully delicious and not hard to make. Another thing for the cafe might be banana loaf. It is VERY cheap to make. Here in BC bananas are usually about $.54/pound and a whole 11"loaf only costs about $2.50 for ingredients. That can easily be cut into 12 slices. Add a few chocolate chips for another popular variation.

Maid of Honor Bars - these were inspired by the Maid of Honor Tarts my grandma used to make when I was a little girl. Start with a basic shortbread crust. 4 oz butter 10 oz AP flour 1-3/4 oz sugar 1/2 tsp salt Press into a parchment-lined 9x13 pan. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 350F or till lightly coloured. Spread with 1-1/2 cups raspberry jam. (Homemade if you have it) I cheat on the next layer but it depends on your time. I use 2/3's of a 2 layer white or yellow cake mix that uses 3 eggs. Just prepare as per the directions adjusting everything accordingly or make it all but use only 2/3's and make some cupcakes with the rest. (I hope that makes sense) Bake 15 - 20 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely. Icing: 8 oz icing sugar 2 oz butter 1 tsp vanilla 1 oz water a couple drops of lemon oil (optional) Whip together and spread evenly over cooled cake. Lightly toast about 1 cup of shredded coconut and sprinkle over top. Cuts best if frozen first. Everyone who tries this loves it but it's not as visually pleasing as some of the others. If anyone has ideas on how to use these components in a different way to improve the look I'm open for suggestions.

Someone PM'd me for a couple of the recipes I used so I thought I would post them here. Notting Hill Brownies from betterbaking.com 2 cups white sugar 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 2 cups unsalted butter - melted and cooled 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla 6 eggs - lightly beaten 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/3 cups cocoa (sifted) 1 cup walnuts - chopped (optional) 3/8 teaspoon baking soda (a little less than 1/2 tsp.) 1/2 teaspoon salt Whisk together dry ingredients in large bowl. Add butter and eggs. Stir till smooth and glossy. Pour into 9x13 pan lined with parchment and sprayed. Bake 35 - 40 minutes at 325F or till done. *I usually bake longer so they stay thicker and don't sink as much. Simply for looks. It's really hard to over cook these since there's so much butter. Cool in pan. Glossy Glaze also from betterbaking.com 4 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate 2 tablespoons corn syrup 2 ounces or 4 tablespoons unsalted butter Simply melt chocolate and stir in butter and corn syrup. Pour over warm brownies. It will set as the brownies cool. Freeze before cutting off edges and making into squares. I used the White Chocolate Gananche recipe on baking911.com. Whipped it and piped a small daisy on each square with a coffee bean in the center. These keep really well and are a good base for a number of variations. I've used them for Rocky Road brownies and I just noticed today on betterbaking.com that Marcy sometimes tops the dough with scoops of Dulce de Leche and swirls it in a bit before baking. They are by no means the fudgiest or most chocolatey but a good basic brownie.

Thanks for taking the time to share your week with us, I'm really enjoying it. I'm amazed at your energy and drive!

Ling - Thanks for your review with revisions. I really liked the Southern Living one, with and without the buttermilk glaze but since you liked the Commisionary one better I'll give it a try. So many people mentioned how sweet it is which is why I haven't tried it but I'll follow your instructions and see how it goes. Might be a couple weeks but I'll let you know what I think.