JeanneCake

When I am training someone new to using a piping bag, I tell them to think of writing a cursive lowercase "e' and that helps give them the idea of how to "cut" the finish and not have a point. Other times I've heard people say "swish and flick" from the Harry Potter franchise in describing the motion but honestly, *that* I don't get at all!

LOL, I said no last year after we did them; I told the Chef I wasn't doing them this year. Clearly I was wrong I found these adorable tiny sugar cones, filled them with flavored marshmallow, dipped them in chocolate and sprinkles and they liked them but they weren't big enough. So I did them again with the Mini Joy cones and they liked the size but apparently someone wants the beach ball pops and so they are done and boxed and waiting to go out for delivery tomorrow.... Que Emily from The Devil Wears Prada .... I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.....

Oh my goodness, we need to send you something to eat rather than these "meals"! Do they surprise you with this pretend food or do you order from a menu? Let's send take out to Anna's room; what is near you that you'd like? Hope you are better soon and out of there.

Update: the truffle shells were far too small to be useful or believable as a cake pop. I suggested we paint the truffles as beach balls anyway and perch them atop a blue marshmallow in a tiny ice cream cone but the client wants the cake pops. And is paying for them. I figure I'll sleep on Sunday after they are delivered..... In terms of lessons learned: 1) paint with colored cocoa butter or luster dust or apply colored chocolate with a cornet (not a brush) and 2) don't buy these, they are a PITA to get out of the plastic and lastly, I am really good at some things but not cake pops. I'm sure having the right materials helps a lot with this (the only coating chocolate I have is Felchlin's Ultra rondos and the white is very very thin when melted. Perfect for cheesecake pops and cookies but not for cake pops!) Thank you all for your help and encouragement!

I like the idea of painting colored cocoa butter or even colored choc for the stripes. The sugar gets messy during transport (some of it gets on the white, even though we pack them in cupcake papers); at least the painted stripes would stay put!

EXACTLY! 🤣

This is what they want them to look like:

I have an order for 300 beach ball cake pops this week; I'm looking for ways to make them less expensive for the client, and less aggravation for the staff. There's a picture on the Internet of them; they are basically white cake pops with four colored stripes of sugar (red, blue, yellow, green). The method the original creator uses is to dip the cake balls into white candy melts, paint a stripe of clear piping gel and then apply colored sugar to the stripe. They are time consuming, to say the least. And time=money and I'd have to charge something like $3.50/stick to even break even. So, I am looking for ways to reduce the amount of time, and cost - if possible. we've made them two years in a row, and the staff HATES these because the cake balls crack when dipped (when we made cake balls from our scraps); then we bought a cake pop waffle-iron wanna be thing, which meant they didn't crack but one side of the sphere browns more than the other and you can tell even after dipping in white... and now we are at Year Three. I can buy pre-made white round truffle shells from AUI; I was thinking to fill them with some flavored ganache (the flavor doesn't matter, I just want to pipe it in) then put a stick in, and let them set up. I'm not convinced I'd have to cap them because they need to be on sticks and they are presented to the guests with the sticks in a base of sugar "sand". Then I was thinking to paint some piping gel and then dip that into the colored non-pareils. That's the time consuming part I can't reduce. Can any of you think of why this would not work?

In your mind, do you have a date by which you say to yourself "if this hasn't happened, then I need to gracefully quit?" ... see what measurable objectives are reasonable to achieve within X time and then you will know if they are truly serious about changing. I'm not saying it has to be a big change, but you need to see some forward momentum to know this is going to work, long-term. Don't be the frog in the full pot of water slowly coming to the boil.

You are the second person this week who has mentioned "shrub" when talking about alcoholic drinks. What is a "shrub"? (My tired brain is only thinking landscaping... so ...._

I have nothing really to add except my experience as a user on social media - I'm *always* looking at the background, especially when I see other bakeshops featuring a picture. You'll be surprised at what you learn about the operations in another place when they post a picture that isn't a tight shot of the product....

If it's any consolation, I have no clue what movie you are all talking about ..... and it would be a really safe bet to say I've never seen it either!

It feels like you just got there... that first post - I was thinking how great it's such a long trip! and now it's nearly over. Your working "vacation" has been mine, as well. Especially this week; I have two people on vacation (they were new hires with existing vacation plans) and we have 20 weddings this weekend. I am so beyond tired; your trip is keeping me going and I'm happy to be along!

If you cannot find frozen cranberries (and you might, just depends on how large your supermarket is); you can use the Trappist brand cranberry jam, or you can possibly use a low sugar, all natural cranberry juice to make a curd with. Yes to @pastrygirl's suggestion for lime curd for the margarita shooter.... just how many yolks are we talking about? For a frame of reference, we shelled a 15 dz case of extra large eggs today just for all the buttercream we need tomorrow; there was enough yolks for a triple batch of lemon curd (each batch uses 24 oz of yolks)......

I thought to myself as I looked at that lunch picture "what is that? chocolate sauce? ON BREAD? touching way overcooked carrots? Is someone pranking them?" I went back and then I saw that little beef puck peeking out between the bread slices. Sorry you had that, but at least now you're "home" and the Clipper Ship has let the memory - or a least the taste! - of that slide into oblivion...

Do you call in the order or order and wait for it - perhaps if a guy places an order they automatically think 'big eater' and toss in more stuff?

I don't remember seeing the Smores Oreos or the Moon ones (but I wasn't looking either); but today I bought two packages of the Mint Chocolate Chip ones (one for me, one for the husband/kid). They're good. Kind of like the mint ones but not as in-your-face-minty. Kind of like the peppermint ones in December with the little minty bits in the cream part. I'm not swooning like I was with the Dark Chocolate Oreos (oh, those were SO. GOOD!) but I'm not about to turn these down. truth be told, I can walk away from an open package of these but I was unable to walk away from an open pack of the Dark Choc ones if that says something....

Hellbent for leather, such a great phrase! First time I've heard it; and will be using it first chance I get!

I'd say to go for summer pudding!

so what exactly is SPAM? I've never had it and I'm not going to the grocery store in the next few days. Where do you find it in the grocery store? (I once searched for a solid 10 minutes in the *refrigerated* dairy for Velveeta for that Rotel dip for a Superbowl party before admitting defeat and asking a clerk and feeling chagrined when he pointed to the endcap where it was stacked. At room temp! 😲)

It's also going to depend on how you want to frost it - with a smooth finish or a more rustic/rough one; I think @pastrygirl is right you are going to need to at least double it. If you're going for a smooth finish, I think you'd be better off to use fondant instead of royal icing

Drain some or all of the liquid out of the filling, and use a bit of sugar and some cornstarch to thicken the juices, then add the thickened juices back to the fruit.

Long day, just got home, looking forward to this thread - and I read your post entirely too quickly and stopped short because I thought I'd read cheeseCAKE 🤣

At some point, the butter left out overnight will be too soft for what she needs to use it for; she'll figure it out the first time it happens. When I make cookie dough for rolled cookies, I let the finished dough sit for half an hour in the mixer bowl, then I roll it between sheets of parchment, put it on a sheet pan, date it and then store it in the cooler You have to tell us what she does with it today - did it bake ok? Inquiring minds want to know

Other than the cringe-inducing why would you do that to begin with, I agree with Teo that leaving butter out for a day or two doesn't harm much. But there is the issue of salmonella present in flour (there's been a few recalls in the last few months here) and the water in the butter could be sufficient to support bacterial growth. Cooking it in the oven would kill them, I know, but why invite trouble? It's the quality that I'd be worried about. And the spread of the cookies will be more than if they are baked cold....