JeanneCake

I think every business has a model they will use in pricing; some people are looking for a specific margin and some are looking for a markup. When the customer can articulate what they want (e.g., each of their 260 locations gets a package of 6 or 12 cupcakes), chocera could use that to begin to calculate expenses and price (for production and packaging). Shipping should be a separate line item and then together they can figure out whether the venture is profitable for them both (for chocera to do the work and for the customer to get all the goodwill that those delicious cupcakes will bring them!)

About the containers: you can buy the clear plastic clam-box cupcake holder (your supermarket probably has them) with compartments for various quantities (12 mini, 6 regular size or large size, etc). This is what I'm thinking of: cupcake box Would you be responsible simply for dropping them off to their shipping department or to a carrier (like FedEx or UPS)? It might be worth investigating that angle first - because the shipper is the best person to tell you about what will work and what won't as you start down this path. It's one thing to bake all these cupcakes and package them; it's another to deal with shipping. Your expertise is baking and what you learn from the shipper may give you pause, or at least give you the info you need to say here's the flavors (and whether you do American buttercreme or a meringue buttercream may well be a factor of how these are shipped). Or give you a chance to go in a different direction - like cookies shaped like cupcakes and decorate to look like cupcakes... At great expense to yourself, no doubt, you could get yourself a box of sample cupcakes from Perfect Endings in Napa Valley and see how they do things....

You could do home made pretzels (chocolate ones! they won't melt because the choc is in the batter) and dust with cinnamon sugar and maybe experiment to see if chopped walnuts would stick to them...? I know that Maida Heatter's New Book of Great Desserts has a recipe for sweet pretzels (I made them one year as Christmas tree decorations) so that's a possibility... and there's another recipe in that book called Joe Froggers which are huge gingersnap-ish kind of cookies (they're marvelous) - they are meant to be shipped. When my friend's brother was stationed in the area, I made her California fruit bars and California Pecan Bars - basically a blondie with dried fruits (apricots and walnuts were my favorites in that recipe, it is the only time I like walnuts; which brings me to the very addictive version called Pecan Bars.) PM me to let me know if you need the recipes, if you do not have the books.

I'd not heard of Josh Ozersky before this thread. I thought the piece was a little show-offy in the sense that he is bashing caterers as a whole and crowing about how wonderful the food was at his wedding because it was prepared by restaurant chefs. He could have taken the approach that he and his bride were very lucky to have such loving and generous friends who made their wedding day that much more special but the article doesn't come off that way at all. That was his choice when he wrote it. He didn't anticipate the flames that the article has generated, or maybe he would have clarified the point that his wedding was a lot cheaper than most because of the gifts provided. I thought the same thing - that his wedding day is a little sullied from the backlash of the article but he chose the topic and how to write it; he put it out there so it's fair game. From what I've read, he doesn't strike me as the kind of person who is going to let this bother him the future, though. Having said that, it was a pretty eclectic menu. Lasagne at a wedding is a first for me but then again, I've never had *that* lasagne!

I wonder if this would work in a muffin tin? You may not want cupcakes but the batter may bake better in the small cups instead of one larger pan..

I have lately been using the refrigerated/frozen purees from Ponthier - they are, quite simply, excellent. Some of the flavors I've tried are so clearly superior to what I've been using that I gave all my perfect puree and some of my caramanfruit stuff to the caterers I share with. The Ponthier mango is outstanding. The coconut has no grit. And blueberry! Wow, the blueberry. I got a taste of it when the rep came in, and while I do not have blueberry anything on our menu, I bought it anyway. I have never made sorbet before, but this blueberry has sorbet written all over it! When I use the strawberry or raspberry in our buttercreams, people swoon even more than they used to. They arrive in a pouch with a flip top (which is unfortunately easy to snap off) and can be frozen for 2 years or kept refrigerated for one year. Once opened, the standard 7-10 days thing applies but when I know I am not going to use all of something, I will just freeze it after I've opened it. OK, I will stop sounding like a walking advertisement for them. But seriously, Ponthier is just fantastic. I did not think I would find anything better than the caramanfruit coins or purees, but this is.

I noticed that the curd recipes in the Pie book are different from the ones in the Cake bible. The curd recipe in the cake bible has less sugar - 3.5 oz in the original recipe compared to 4.5 oz for passion, lime, and orange curds. You could either add two sheets of bloomed gelatin to the warm-ish curd; or use an extra yolk or two in the recipe to make it firmer.

the fact that I'm not making them. I gave up making the PB cheesecake years ago because peanut allergies are more life threatening than other nut allergies. and I can confidently say to my clients that there are no peanut products in our kitchen but there are other nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and walnuts. Many of my customers who remember this cheesecake want me to make it again but I don't. I use two containers of white (one for the heath bar pops and the other for the rest), and two containers of the dark and milk so there is no chance of cross contamination.

Admittedly, I am dipping cheesecake lollipops and not fine chocolates - but I have a separate bowl for flavors that have nuts in them (e.g., almonds, pecans) and only use that container for those flavors so I can assure people that there is no cross contamination with nut products. I have a killer peanutbutter cheesecake that I haven't made in years and people are clamoring for it to return as a cheesecake lollipop but because of the whole nut allergy thing and peanut allergies being so much more serious than just breaking out into hives, I'd need yet a third bowl just for that flavor ....

the pizza maker would probably rather have cash....

too bad you can't put a tip jar out for the pizza maker! I know, I know, it's tacky. Makes me think of all those coffee places with a jar out for tips but how else can you draw attention to the fact that you have no wait staff (presumably) but someone's making the food and getting it to the tables...

do you want to keep this pizza maker or not? If you do, then sharing tips is a good way to do it. If you don't want to keep this person, and are willing to be in a position where you are filling the pizza maker job on a regular basis then don't. It's all about how you want to take care of your staff. If this guy is good, or has potential to be groomed for another position in your organization; if he's reliable and trustworthy, those are valuable attributes in an employee. I don't know that pizza maker is the kind of job you're going to get someone to stay in for years and years so whatever policy you put in place now is one that has to stay no matter who is making the pizza.

Well, at least I'll be in good company with the rest of you, picking up all the lettuce, cucumbers, parsley and poultry carcasses down there in Hell with my eyelashes and wearing that coconut hairshirt ... I have done all of these, and more.

when I am especially tired, I pour Barilla Green Olive sauce over them and bake (I know, I know, it's sauce from a jar. My grandmother thought jarred sauce was never as good as "real gravy" and I never argued with her.) When I'm not tired, I like to do what everyone else does with them: stir fries, rolled around a sauteed veggie filling....

We've made snacky-desserts using tortillas spread with melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and then chocolate shreds. Roll them up, spreading the underside with melted butter, sugar and cinnamon. Anchor with a toothpick. Into the oven for a few minutes. Yum. Now that sounds good! Like cinnamon toast but with chocolate!!! Thanks for the idea, definitely going to do this one!

Hmm... dessert nachos! Cinnamon pita chips, dulce de leche or nutella, some soft creamy cheese, chocolate chips maybe a few dried cranberries... fudge drizzles... now I have to see if this theory pans out!

Can you show us what it looks like? I don't have the book .... but perhaps the author sliced the fruit paper-thin on a mandoline and candied it?

You could mash the cheese so you can use a tiny (ice cream) scoop or even a melon baller (you'd need to spray it with pan spray so it releases - the scoop is easier); or just use two spoons to shape small balls rather than try for slicing into coins. I love goat cheese with honey so it wouldn't matter to me if the cheese was misshapen The squeeze bottle is ideal for scribbling on the plate.

Exactly what I was going to chime in with; I have fond memories of drinking my morning tea from a wide bowl in France. Definitely a beverage I'd be curious about how people handle the remaining milk in the bowl after the cereal is gone - drink it or add more cereal til it's gone?

My favorite bran muffin recipe comes from Maida Heatter's New Book of Great Desserts; it makes an exceptional muffin - moist with raisins, crunchy from walnuts (the only time I like walnuts in any kind of baked good) and no grit from using bran (it uses All Bran cereal, not dry bran). It calls for a combination of white and whole wheat flour, molasses and honey, whole milk, butter (although I have substituted margarine when someone asked and it worked out ok). usually I keep a bag of the dry ingredients handy and can keep the wet ingredients mixed overnight in the fridge so I can make them fresh in the morning. It does not qualify as a make-ahead and keep batter that you can have in the fridge, but depending on the size of the muffins you make and the quantities, it might work for you. The recipe as written makes 18 standard size muffins, but I usually fill them a little bit more and get 12. You would get 6 or 8 bigger size muffins; and if this is all you need to make, it might work.... PM me if you want the recipe.

I'm not going to get into the ethical side of should you or shouldn't you. But if you do, it's all about whether you get caught; you run the risk of paying a fine or whatever the penalty is and whether you can afford to pay it. I don't know what the chances are of getting caught and being prosecuted; while the copyright infringement attorneys are busy, I can only guess they're looking at big fish and not little cake decorators or mom-and-pop bakeries. When Debbie Brown (in the UK) published popular children's character books, she has several disclaimers about having permission to recreate the characters in cake, and if you make these cakes they are for personal use only. So I guess if you were to put pictures of cakes you've done with licensed characters, you should show that they were "not for sale". But I'm not sure that's a lot of protection, especially if you have a whole portfolio of things like that and not a big family If you do decide to replicate a character, you could try to make it resemble the popular character and leave off some feature or other so that it is not an exact replica. I know that years ago, Earlene Moore warned a friend of mine to remove her picture of a Tabasco bottle done in cake; evidently Earlene knew of someone who was caught and warned by the company to cease and desist. I have no idea how many decorators who copy baseball caps or hockey bags, football helmets, etc with the logos of their favorite team are caught. But there are lot of places doing it!

I've noticed when I use pasteurized yolks, curds are looser than when I use shelled yolks. I have several curd recipes; some I use for tarts (because they are based on whole eggs and yolks) and some for buttercreams and toppings/sauces where I want a more intense flavor (just yolks). In both methods, I bring the curd to 186 and strain afterwards to get rid of any hardened bits. If I need the curd to be a little firmer, I'll use some gelatin sheets but normally for a tart, I don't have to - the curd holds it's shape when cut because it's relatively thin.

Maida Heatter has several excellent fruit mousse recipes (lemon, grapefruit, tangerine, orange, strawberry, lime) in her New Book of Best Desserts that would suit; they can be served in a mold or in individual glasses; you could also use Sherry Yard's Bavarian recipe and just sub out the passion puree for your favorite fruit flavor.

You want to get as much of the syrup into the meringue as possible; you will get more buttercream if you don't have a lot of the syrup left in the pan (or measuring cup. But it is possible to pour the hot syrup directly from the pan into the meringue with the mixer on high.) I don't bother scraping the pan, I just pour until it's all added and there's a coating on the pan. If you are using a non-stick pan, you'll be able to get practically all of it into the meringue. A few degrees over is not a problem but 10 degrees more is probably not ok. There's a range of what will work with this type of meringue buttercream; I can pull the syrup off the heat at 239 and get a beautiful buttercream; I can also pull it at 248 and get a slightly firmer buttercream.

Yeah, I fell victim to the neighborhood kid selling them to get scholarship money a few years ago. I have a nice collection of various knives so I didn't need anything but ended up buying the steak knives, which have been fine. As far as steak knives go, these are very good. I think I also "qualified" for a cheese planer, or maybe it was a peeler which I cannot tell you where that went to so it must not have been as good as the steak knives. Kind of like a home party thing but it's just you and the poor hapless child, showing you how their knives can cut a penny .....