JeanneCake

I don't do anything with chocolate, but I want this!

I'm glad you're posting this, it gives me inspiration. Please don't stop. I love all types of cuisines, although my favorite dish is chicken tikka masala (with brown rice). Looking forward to the next installment!

I love the holiday hallejuah brioche in the Cake Bible; others I've tried are a little "heavy" for my taste, but that one is light and delicious. I was trying for a chocolate brioche bread pudding years ago and wasn't impressed with the Charlie Trotter or Sherry Yard recipes - they were good, but not what I was looking for.

The wowie cake (aka wacky cake) doesn't crumble; I've used it as layers in a wedding cake (vegan wedding); actually you could make him a layer cake with this recipe and the type of frosting that has confectioners sugar, butter and use almond or rice milk for the usual milk that is used to make it creamy. (for the vegan wedding I did the whimsical bakehouse frosting with all shortening). And it would work for a layer in the entremet; you can slice it (torte it), but it's a coarse cake when made with the GF flour so you can't get the usual thin layer you'd want for an entremet. the ingredients for a 9x13 single layer would be: 3 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup Hershey's, (mix this in a bowl); then I put 2 cups water, 2/3 cup veg oil, 2 TBL white vinegar and 2 tsp vanilla in a pitcher, then mix it all together; some pleaces say you can use a mixer and I did, when I needed the wedding cake, but usually just by hand until it all comes together. Then in the sprayed pan, bake at 350 til a toothpick comes out clean. I have subbed out almond flour and hazelnut flour for the Hershey's in equal measure for when I needed a non-chocolate version. I also used the Bob's Red Mill flour replacer in the chocolate version and it worked. That Cup4Cup client used the Hershey's chocolate cake recipe but that won't work for you because it has eggs.

I also second the Wacky cake idea (I know it as Wowie Cake); you need Hershey's for it to work (well, in my experience Hershey's works better than a more expensive cocoa); you can use the GF flour subsititute and it works. There's one from Keller, called Cup4Cup, that a client asked me to use specifically for her cake, but I don't know offhand if it fits the requirements for your guest. But try it; the cake works and he'll be thrilled to have it with some of the sorbet or whipped "cream" that others have suggested.... And you know we all want to see the smile on the little boy's face when he takes a bite of whatever you make! And you can give the parents the recipe for it so they can have it at home

You mean sheet pans? Or cookie sheets? All our sheet pans have rims that are an inch high, and as long as I am careful to hold the end of the parchment that has the piped shells on it with my right thumb, I can slide the template sheet out from under it with my left hand and it doesn't disturb the piped shells... ETA: for clarity. I hope.

What shape are you trying to make? When we have a lot of 2.5" round individual pavlovas to make, we make 10-15 full sheets of parchment paper marked with circles using a black sharpie marker. We slide that under a plain sheet of parchment and use it as a piping guide. After an entire sheet pan is piped, you can then just slide the template out from under and use it again and again and again.....maybe this would work for you? You could even mark one side of a silpat (keep in mind that you wouldn't want to put food on the side that is marked, and it could wash off over time).

You can, I'd go with cream because it's more flavorful than coconut milk; as Lisa suggests you can also add a coconut flavor in the form of a compound (I like Amoretti's Toasted Coconut) or an extract (I've used the one from Albert Uster, it's ok but I like the Amoretti one a lot more). Have no idea if you can find coconut extract in the spice section of a supermarket but my experience with those kind of extracts is that they can be bitter if too much is used. Maybe even consider doing a coconut marshmallow; or a coconut dacquoise if the other ideas don't work as well as you'd hoped.

He has two books; Bachour and Bachour Simply Beautiful; both should be available from Amazon....or you can contact him on his Facebook page for more information....

I am a glutton for punishment, but I think I'll stick to pastry !

Or filling with flavored marshmallow? and then sealing it so it's still a half egg, but at least filled with something? Is it hard to seal the bottom with chocolate when it's a marshmallow filling? (I don't know anything about chocolates, just pastries

The link worked for me as well, and I saw this in the description: Egg Molds Each mold produces half eggs. These molds are designed to work in pairs. They work best when they are used to make hollow whole eggs. Please note: The nubs, holes, and guiding lips around the edges of the cavity, (these ensure that the molds line up) may make it difficult to scrape the chocolate when using the molds to make half egg shapes. So I am not sure it is worth going through all the aggravation, instead, would you consider buying a different type of mold?

Andie, could you get your neighbor to give us her notes? I've been making meringue shells for pavlova and this past weekend I was disappointed in the results (the meringues wept a bit). I know that we just moved into our new kitchen and I was baking them in the range oven (not the convection) and attributed it to the oven temp. The recipe comes from an Australian women's magazine and has worked well for me in the past (4 whites, 1 cup bakers special sugar, 1/2 tbl cornstarch, 1 tsp vinegar, 1/2 tsp vanilla and it scales up nicely) but I'd like something well tested if you know what I mean!

I agree with all of pastrygirl's recommendations (even the same opinion of Iuzzini's book) and that you can't go wrong with Lebovitz and Luchetti's books (her first book, Stars Desserts can also be hard to find).Pichet Ong's recipe for pate a choux is the best one I've ever tried. Bachour's books are very beautiful and have great inspiration, but I haven't made anything from them yet. His verrines are gorgeous. I've found that Maida Heatter's books have been good for inspiration although they are written for home cooks. She made desserts for her husband's restaurant for many years and a lot of the recipes in her first two books were ones she made frequently for the restaurant. I have also used The Cake Bible for components (cake, pastry cream, bavarian, blini, curd).

Did she sign her name? This year I did do the Thermapens (no engraving/laser printing because I was cautioned that it might possibly crack the case and I didn't have a lot of time to find the right company for that job) and they were much appreciated. Not that I've gotten to see them actually in use but I know the chefs were really happy and they will be reminded of their favorite pastry chef every time they use it !

when I make individual pavlovas, I trace circles onto parchment to use as a piping guide. You could do the same with the heart shapes and after tracing, flip the parchment over so the meringue does not touch the ink. If you are very very good (I am not!) you can put a blank parchment over the marked one and then slide the marked parchment out from under after you pipe the meringue.

welcome! looking forward to seeing your creations!

I also think you need to include what you've brought to the table (literally). Were they one of the best restaurants when you started? But they are now. What were the annual sales before you arrived and what are they now? How much of that is a result of your efforts in creating new menus, etc. You have to be able to tell them you were responsible for bringing in that additional revenue, or for the cost savings that is helping their bottom line. If you can quantify that to the bean counters, they will either agree and give you some $ or they will not agree and you have to decide do you stay or do you go. Get the title at least, because it will travel well, as gfweb says.

Sorry, can we go back a bit to the Katherine Hepburn brownies, please? Maida Heatter has a recipe in her All American Desserts book where she takes said brownie recipe (without the nuts) and pours half of it into the prepared pan then freezes it (unbaked). When frozen, she spreads a layer of seedless raspberry jam on it, then pours the remaining batter on top, lets it come to room temp, then bakes it. It. Is. Amazing. Moreso than the original recipe. If you serve them chilled, they are divine. When this comes back in the rotation, you should try this! She mentions that you can sub out other types of jam/preserves; even peanut butter and jelly (mixed up) but I think she cautions that the bars might come apart when cut with this combination. It could also have been just plain peanut butter that causes the bars to separate when cut. In any case, this is a wonderful recipe!

anyone know how often Thermoworks has an open box sale? I need to buy six and every little bit helps. their cyber Monday sale is $85/each mix and match....

This is our large batch caramel sauce: 3# heavy cream, warmed In a large braiser: 1# 8 oz water 9 oz corn syrup 5# 4 oz sugar 12 oz unsalted butter, chopped mix it gently (because I never wash the sides down with a wet brush but you don't want to leave a giant mound of sugar in the center either) Moderate heat til it starts to color then watch it carefully. When it's the color you want, turn off the heat, add the cream in a slow stream, starting and stopping as the bubbles rise and subside; when the cream is added, add the butter and 4 tbl vanilla and stir with a whisk. If what you were looking for is straight caramel (for dipping or making a cage) then what Drewman said. I like to rub the pot with a cut lemon first. ETA: forgot the butter quantity

Here in my part of the US, caterers can specialize with regard to the type of event (e.g., weddings) or in a type/style of food (clam bake or barbecue, for example). Others are full service and do all types of events at the client's premises or an event venue (some exclusive venues have a limited list of preferred vendors and you want to figure out how to get on that list). If you want to work with companies who want catering brought in-house (to their location, as you are doing now with breakfast), then provide lunch/dinner menu options for them to try; perhaps arrange a meeting where you bring in some of your house specialties and let the decision makers sample the food. Or provide a coupon for a lunch or dinner that they can redeem to sample your other menus. In my previous career in high-tech, our company hosted two company-wide luncheons (spring and fall) with a theme and the caterers we used set it up with a tent in the parking lot, tables, chairs, etc and the food. As we also did in-house training classes, this caterer also provided the lunch for the classes so if some of your clients do training perhaps that's another market (lunch) that you can add. They sent regular menus (I can't remember if it was weekly or every other week or even monthly) and we ordered from that. Make sure you have a paper trail to keep track of inquiries and orders; mistakes happen and there's no worse feeling than scrambling to accommodate an order they forgot or you forgot.

What's a laser engraver? I would love to get their names on these so they can't be lost/stolen I hadn't thought of the possibility of a sticker-type thing; am going to google laser engraver and see what's in my neck of the woods....

OK, this is the year, I'm going to do thermopens for chef gifts. I talked to a very very nice person there today who says they don't do any type of engraving or personalization in house, but they have seen, on occasion, some returned which have been personalized. He went on to say that depending on the type of thing used to cut the name into the cover, that it could potentially crack, or it could render it no longer water resistant; and if that were to happen, the cover could easily be replaced for nominal cost. Anyone here ever done such a thing? The other option is that I just ask them what their favorite color is and get them in different colors.

Inspired by this post, I made several casseroles today (it was wet, windy, snowy and COLD here!) and this was one (we love having breakfast for dinner on occasion!). As I speak, three quarters of the pan is gone and that was just my husband and teenager plowing through it. I was hoping it would last for at least a few days but I am sure when I awake, the empty pan will be soaking in the sink! I made a double batch of Havana Moon Chili (from epicurious.com, without the almonds and with golden raisins instead of dark); a pan of chicken/broccoli/ziti and a lasagne.