JeanneCake

chocolate mendiants are similar to chocolate bark, but they're usually made with nuts and dried fruits and are round; that could be some inspiration for you. Check into no-bake cookies - the one that comes to mind is something like rice krispie treats but made with cornflakes into a wreath shape with cinnamon candies for decoration. So a variation on RKT could be an option; even dipped into chocolate. And that makes me think of dipped pretzels. And peanut butter balls (buckeyes). Andiesenjie posted a recipe for sugar plums in the Dried Fruit and Nuts thread that looks like it could be a great source of inspiration....

Growing up, we had the whipped cream cakes from the local Italian bakery down the street; when we moved to the suburbs, we'd make our own. My little sister got very elaborately decorated cakes that I would make for her (the most memorable one was Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall), when the only thing you could get was Wilton stuff for decorating supplies.

Yes! Me too!

Oh! Maida's California Fruit and Nut bars are my favorite! I always load it up with more fruit (like the recipe note says). My favorite candy growing up was the Chunky bar; and while I'm not a big fan of raisins, put them in chocolate and I'll eat them ! While I am not a fan of dried cherries (out of hand, they taste like tobacco to me, but again, put them in chocolate and I'm ok with it!) I love that recipe with hazelnuts and cherries tossed in with the other fruits. I love to experiment with biscotti and different fruits/nuts. I've learned I don't care for walnuts in biscotti (they get too bitter) and macadamias were a pain to chop so I gave up on that Idea but I love apricot/almond, craisin/pecan, apricot/pistachio, cherry/hazelnut.. Those sugar plums look wonderful, Andiesenji!

Yep, that original carrot recipe is huge, and I think it made more than 3 12" rounds IMHO. I've quickly looked at dividing it into thirds and come up with this: 1 1/2 cups oil (use vegetable oil) 1 1/4 cups whole eggs 5 cups shredded carrots (if you can grate the carrots yourself so much the better. The ones that are pre-grated are very very dry, but convenient. If you have a food processor, use the shredder disk if you have it. Peel the carrots first. I know it sounds pedantic, but I once made a carrot cake without peeling the carrots first to see if it made a difference. And it did; I hated the way it tasted so now I always peel the carrots) 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup crushed pineapple (I'm wondering if it should be drained first. It adds a lot of moisture, even when well-drained. So I'd probably drain it first. Add the leftover juice to something 1 cup raisins (I like to plump up raisins and other dried fruit before using it in a recipe. If it's hard when you use it, it's not going to soften up when baked.) 3 1/3 cups flour (use all purpose, not cake flour) 3 1/3 cups sugar 1 TBL baking soda 1 TBL cinnamon 2 tsp salt I'd go for the two 9" pans and you might have a little bit of batter left for a cupcake or two.... Definitely line the baking pans with parchment, the cake will release better even though it has all that oil in it...

Are you willing to post the recipes? I think you can get away with cutting the carrot cake recipe in half; the recipe I use, in its original form, called for 2 9" rounds. This original amount will fill one 12" round pan. So, you could extrapolate that and divide your original recipe into thirds and go for 2 9" rounds, but I'd rather see the quantities your recipe calls for in order to give you a little more guidance. It could also be that those chefs baked in cake rings and those cake rings might not have been very high. As for the Apple Nut Cake, go for the 10" round tube pan. Good luck!

Kerry, where'd you find those speed racks? I have four standard size ones and 11 of those 3/4 pans so I'd love to get one. Did you have to special order them? I never thought to ask at my local restaurant supply, but can keep a look out for one.

To Lisa's point about sheet pans/speed racks - you can get a three-quarters sheet pan; it will fit a home oven but this size does not fit a standard speed rack. You might want to investigate a half-height aluminum speed rack; it holds 11 full sheet pans but again those three quarter size pans won't fit on it - unless you have a full size sheet pan on it. I second the motion for a pie press; it will make your life easier and you'll want one eventually anyway so get one now

Industry event for local wedding planners means that the planners show up for the free food and drink and never remember who or what was there. You want to be there as a guest NOT as a supplier. As a guest you will get to mingle and if you carry a big purse, you can give out individual chocolates to people who give you their business card. So, my opinion is don't do it and go as a guest. And yes, most brides get the cake or dessert from the caterer; or from whomever the caterer or venue contracts with for their cakes; you would be better off bringing samples to caterers and venues with a card and a price list and meeting the catering sales director at various high end venues. The other "gotcha" is some venues get a brochure printed free of charge (to them) because the publisher gets the preferred vendors to BUY advertising in the brochure. They'll tell you if you don't pay up, you won't get in the brochure and if you're not in the brochure, people won't buy from you....

When the friend asked you, what did they say you would be getting out of it? Contacts and exposure don't mean much, frankly; guests at an event are there to mingle or celebrate or shell out money (if it's a fundraiser). They're not critiquing the food and looking for a new supplier and asking for business cards; but if something is wonderful, they may take note.to remember to get in touch later. In my experience, with a fundraiser (sort of like a taste of the town event), it helps to get your name out there, and can be useful for reaching a large group of potential customers. Doing it to get contacts rarely turns up anything useful for you; it's helpful for the friend because they get free stuff. A lot of people think their event will help promote you, but typically the return on the investment is very very low. A free advertisement in the event brochure doesn't count. If they know that a restaurant chef is going to be there, then ask them to set up a meeting with that chef outside of the event (at the event, too much is going on and they won't spend more than a minute chatting with you, if that); make sure the friend knows the value of what you are providing (the retail value) so they can't just dismiss it as "a few chocolates". Do they know someone at a magazine or social media covering the event? Make sure they feature you - photos, a few words, something more than "Pastrygirl with chocolate was here". If they start to back away from making this sort of thing happen, you know not to expect too much.

LOL cherry poppers! I kind of like that idea. But not being a chocolatier I would probably have to get a preformed shell that I can drop the cherry and rocks into then fill with ganache. Or maybe I would have to use a push pop mold kind of thing. What's aerated chocolate? (aside from being something I should get into because I am not versed in chocolate!)

so I'm looking to insert a little fun and whimsy to a few desserts; and right now my current obsession is with pop rocks (which I found on the Chef Rubber site) and while I was browsing Chef Rubber's site, found "glow in the dark flashy sparkles", http://www.shopchefrubber.com/Flashy-Sparkles-Glow-in-the-Dark-10g-.35oz/ which made me wonder how people are using THAT! The pop rocks are available in plain and chocolate covered (the chocolate covered ones made me think they'd survive in a mousse) and I'm looking for ways to use them. What's your experience with them? How did clients respond? What did you like or not like about using them? And what about the glow in the dark stuff!!! LOL!

I'll also be a willing recipe tester! At sea level over here on the other side of the country. So thrilled for you!

Hello and welcome! I've made silver macaron by using the edible food sprays from either Wilton, Americolor, ChefMaster or PME. I like the PME best because it is a truer silver; the others have a blue cast to them. Make the shells a gray color and the silver spray will add dimension to it. It's easy to arrange the baked shells very close together and just spray the whole pan, let them dry for a few minutes then fill. And that stand you are renting - if it's the one I have (clear plastic, concentric circles that looks a little like a donut or a wreath and the center part of the circle fits to the one above it) the macaron need to be sized to fit. So pipe smallish rounds, maybe about 1.5" at most.

Thank you both; carltonb - did you brush/spray the flexipan or did you use a regular mini cupcake pan (because I have enough pans to make about a thousand mini cupcakes and *that* would be a huge help in production!)

I've been making marshmallows for a few years with the recipe Nightscotsman posted long ago; it's easy, reliable and we usually always make it in slabs to cut. pull the mixture off the heat at 234 and cut back a little on the gelatin; I mix for 6 minutes in the 20 qt hobart and the mix is much easier to spread and get flat. I saw a website advertising marshmallows that looks like they form theirs in mini-muffin silicone pans. I can't imagine piping this though; it seems as if it would set up by the time I got halfway through one flexipan. So with our accounts already asking for holiday menus, I'm thinking I'd like to do the same - formed marshmallows that I can stuff maybe; or put on a stick and dip..... I have five of the flexipan mini cylinder molds so I wanted to get some feedback about whether it's the recipe that makes it easier to pipe or if there's another technique I can use to fill several sheets before the marshmallow sets up too much to pipe. TIA!

Is the cake or tart recipe in a book? If so, which one? (I don't have any of his books. Yet.) We do a chocolate caramel tart (choc pate sucree, layer of caramel, topped with ganache) and it would be nice to have a fun variation on that kind of truffle tart.

Those look wonderful! I think the best part is the burnt part; I use potato starch instead of 10x; and sometimes I mix cornstarch in, but usually I am not that organized. A torch is better too you can have more fun with it!

Can you cross post this in the asian forums? Maybe someone there will know but doesn't frequent this particular forum... and I'd love to see a photo of the can!

Sarah, how are you storing them after baking? When the humidity is high here in New England, I try not to make macaron or at least do it first thing in the morning before the air gets really bad and put the shells away in an airtight container and into the freezer for storage, even if I am going to fill them later on or the next day (my walk in cooler is also somewhat humid). Even an hour or two out on the speed rack on a very humid day makes for some stickiness/softness after baking. I'm using the italian meringue method from Herme's book.

I found the Word document template margins are just the size for the smaller sheets so whatever images the client provides (as long as it is jpeg) I can resize within Word to fit and then print them out. So technically I am not using a ready-made software product to get an edible image to print. It takes a bit of planning to use the pre-formed business card and circles frosting sheets but I do those the same way when doing a corporate order.

My assistant was playing around one day when I was doing swirled buttercream for the top of cupcakes and she took two colors of macaron batter; put each color in a separate bag, then put the two into a larger bag with the tip (it was a little messy because the batter is runny and you have to cut the bags before you put it into the larger one) and she made swirled macs that looked very yin/yang. We use the Herme recipe, and it doubles well, you just divide the batter after you do some initial mixing; add the color and continue the macaronage til it's ready.

I will sneak funsize candy bars from Halloween into the freezer to surreptitiously eat them when no one is looking.....

You could also try Pfeil and Holing (out of NY) at www.cakedeco.com; you'll pay freight when shipping to a residence but they have a lot to choose from.

and to follow up Michaela's suggestion for marshmallows, we cut them into squares, dip one end in chocolate and then roll it in sugared almonds (sliced almonds doused with simple syrup and sugar then baked til crispy and golden and very addictive). And, in one of Maida Heatter's books she has a recipe for chocolate pepper pretzels which are very nice indeed. Made them one year expecting them to be christmas ornaments (along with other sugar and gingerbread cookies) but we ate them instead because they were too good to put on the tree they're a nice change from the typical pretzel....