JeanneCake

Sigh. Since our computer crashed a month ago, we've been trying to get it fixed to no avail. So all I have is the one from the website: Coffee and Heath Bar Pops The most popular flavors are the heath bar, oreo, and bailey's irish cream; I'm trying to do some "summer" flavors like pina colada, lemonade (pink lemonade maybe?) and summer drink types. Amoretti just sent me some flavor compounds to try out, we'll see how that goes.

I'm in search of vermicelli in different flavors; I already use the white, milk, dark and coffee versions; I'd love to be able to find different colors/flavors. I use this on mini pastries but mostly for the garnish on our cheesecake lollipops (after they're dipped in chocolate, I dip them in vermicelli, chopped nuts, chopped candy so they look better). I don't like the waxy taste that regular sprinkles (aka jimmies) give you with the lollipops (it completely overwhelms the cheesecake) and want to use something that compliments the lollipop. I found a company in Vietnam that makes pink strawberry, green (mint, and tea) and mixed colors but I can't tell if they are chocolate or not; and can't find a source in the US or North America. I'm doing a strawberry-champagne version for Valentine's Day and hoped to use pink vermicelli, but I'm going to use the strawberry curls from Albert Uster Imports. Would just like to have a variety of this to use for Easter.... Do you know of a source?

Ever since our cheesecake lollipops became popular, I started using the pate a glace from Schokinag because it's faster and easier. We have no trouble with the milk and the semisweet versions; I'm having trouble with the white. We are careful to control the heat of the bain marie (the water never boils) and always dry off the pail when finished. But two of the last few buckets of white we've used have caramelized on the bottom, leaving streaks of caramel color in the white (which when it happened the first time, I thought it was rust) and making it unsuitable for anything other than our heath bar crunch and caramel lollipops. So it's not a complete loss but I have other flavors that need white and to only be able to use a half pail is not cost effective. So I wonder if I'm doing something wrong, or if this is just typical of this product and I should plan to make more caramel and heath bar pops and live with it Is anyone else having the same problem with this product?

Hmmm. What haven't I made from this book is probably a better place to start! As the book is in work and I am home, I can tell from the top of my head that the Linzer Torte (tart) is excellent, and I've substituted best quality apricot jam for the seedless raspberry with good results. The pecan tart is hands down the best I've had, it is on the menu at several of my restaurant clients. Use the Lyle's syrup if you can get it; but it works with dark corn syrup too. At first I had trouble with the baking time for this recipe (the top was very spongy looking) but it turned out I needed to bake a while longer. The tarts are as beautiful as they are tasty. The Chocolate Oblivion tart is very nice, but I usually end up just pouring a good ganache into the chocolate pate sucree crust and call it a day. The Boulders Tart and the Tart Nadege is quite good. I also got good reviews on the peanut butter mousse tart. I make the apple walnut tart at the holidays but I prefer almond cream to the walnut cream if truth be told. That's all I can remember without the book in front of me!

Years ago, an eGulleteer, MelMck, posted about her experiences in setting up a new bakery, Criollo. Do a search for her topic, which I think was "Mel's New Bakery" or something like that. It's a journey worth going on. The thread was mentioned in an issue of Bon Appetit, I think.

Does that mean this latest job opportunity is one in a series of similar episodes? Where you are talking to people over the telephone, or email; and when they meet you in person, you see the light in their eyes dim and the excitement wane? Did you feel comfortable enough with anyone you interviewed with - or a former boss, for example - who can give you some honest feedback about how you are coming across? What leaped out at me was the phrase you wrote and I put in bold above. Yes, age discrimination exists at all levels (against the younger employee as well as the older employee). People often make snap judgements on first impressions and this could be what's happening with you. When I was leaving one job for another as a technical trainer (where there were few women in the field, and being 25 and single, one of my mentors took me to lunch and told me very plainly that I needed to wear my glasses when I was teaching because it made me look a little older, and people took me more seriously when I wore my glasses instead of contacts. I tried it out during a class I was teaching - and he was right.) So perhaps something in your demeanor or appearance makes you look younger than your years and that did not inspire this group to let you take care of their million dollars. You need to find someone who will be honest with you and tell you if that's the case.

It will be easier for you to use modeling chocolate for this particular project - it won't distort and you can let it firm up over time at rm temp or chill until firm and then apply. Chefpeon first gave me this advice years ago, and it's spot on. Modeling chocolate rules!!

I have to tell the dishwasher at work to let the pans soak overnight and do them in the morning; she doesn't always listen but I tell her all the time. My mother used to put dish soap and water in a frying pan after a particularly messy dinner; bring the water to the boil, let it boil for a few minutes, turn it off and then let it sit for a little while. It was a breeze to clean after that.

No clue on how it works with chocolate! But it very probably is the same principle - using cocoa butter to make the pattern on the acetate and then applying the tempered chocolate. Or it could be a stencil with an airbrush. Maybe Kerry (Beal) would know. Or Ilyana (Lior) or John DePaula.

I think you would want to use cocoa butter on an acetate sheet; I think the edible inks are water based and would smear on acetate if you tried to put that through the printer. (I have an epson printer and those ink cartridges - I buy the frosting sheets from Pfeil and Holing because they're the same price and no shipping charges). When I make "logo" petit fours for clients, I use the sheets, and resize the client's image to something very small (an inch square usually) then put it on a (rolled) fondant square so I can make these the day before (I also like to paint the edges and make it look like a frame). I use dipping chocolate for my petit fours (less sweet than the poured fondant which is traditional) so it is possible to adhere the image directly to the chocolate (timing is everything, too soon and the image may bleed, too late and it doesn't stick.) but the fondant tiles work well.

This one (from Modern Pastry) is pretty much the same thing as the one from Vacarro's; the Modern Pastry slice looks like it's from a sheet cake, rather than a round. I know that at the bakery my parents used, they didn't have almonds on the sides, just more frosting but the cake looked exactly like the picture. In fact, even when my parents went elsewhere for the cake because Patsy's didn't have it, it was the same so if you are looking to make your own, the Recipezaar will give you that result.

I remember these rum cakes; we had them for every occasion (and sometimes just because) when I was growing up and I didn't care for them at all because of the overwhelming rum soak the bakery used to give it. The pastry creams were really good, though so I always polished off the filling part and left the cake behind! The picture and recipe that John posted above will give you that result and yes, do follow the instructions carefully.

Well, then. Let's get the protest started! Where do we write? Or do we know if there's someone who is still at Bay Bread who can say whether they are still manufacturing it for TJ?

IMHO, the best rugelach dough has cream cheese in it; most recipes have you roll into a circle and put the filling (usually some combination of nuts, sugar and dried fruits) and then you cut it into wedges and roll it. My guess is that in a commercial setting, it makes more sense for them to do it like croissant (cutting the dough into triangles). Whatever they are using for chocolate has to be able to survive the time in the oven without leaking and making a mess... but the article does mention they are oily? Did you find them oily? What is/are chalot? Is it the name of a specific type of pastry?

The author of the blog is an eGulleteer - and a lovely blog it is, thanks for the introduction! Usually I don't click on links in signatures so I would have missed this for a long time, no doubt.

And that Fresh Ginger Cake is wonderful! I love it and have been trying to persuade my favorite restaurant to put it on their menu but so far, no luck. Anyway, as much as I love this Fresh Ginger Cake, I wouldn't call it gingerbread .... I like the recipe in the Cake Bible from Rose Levy Beranbaum for a more rounded gingerbread.

Hmmm. This is much harder than I thought it would be. When I am looking for inspiration for a dessert menu, I reach for whatever I've just bought - Johnny Iuzzini's book, Claudia Fleming, Ann Amernick ... But cooking from..... I had to think back on what I did when I was newly married and cooking on a daily basis. My favorite book was The Way To Cook by Julia Child. Whenever we'd have a dinner party or a larger party, I'd reach for the Silver Palate cookbooks for appetizer ideas. My mother and husband started in on me at Thanksgiving with when was I going to make the Sausage Bread (it's a ring, actually) from Silver Palate (it's been a holiday favorite for 20 years)/ But what I read on a regular basis (over and over again!) is Laurie Colwin's essays, which do contain recipes (and they work!). So while I don't cook from it the way I do Julia or the Silver Palate girls, it's (two) the book I don't want to be without!

It would be wonderful if someone could call him on it! You can still buy these wholesale but not at the consumer level. It's all about the liability - if something happens to someone who eats one or many; they go after who supplied them.... Time and expense are probably too high for the average person or distributor to take him on; once again it is easier to settle than to fight. We need a dragees lobbyist to bring them back! But I'd love it if you sent him that info and asked him to clarify his position!

When I've bought them (wholesale) the only caveats are not for sale in California (they won't even ship to CA); and they have "for decoration only" all over them. About 5 or 6 years ago, when my health inspector showed up for an inspection, there was a jar of them on my bench and he picked them up and said "you know you're not supposed to use these!"

ask whoever services your machine about something you can add to the soap (maybe you need to buy a different type and replace the regular soap for one or two runs) or the rinse solution. I share space and one time, the dish machine soap hadn't come in when expected and we were waiting for someone to arrive with a container and one of the guys thought buying the soap cakes for home dishwashers might work in a pinch - the Ecolab guy arrived just in time to tell them that was not a good idea. So give the service tech a call and see what they say.

Well, now you've done it. I've never heard of this cake before, but now based on recommendations from Andiesenji and John, I am going to have to make this. I can get the Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and won't my husband be pleased that he can drink what I don't use to bake with

I'm not as much a fan of chocolate and bacon as I am peanut butter and bacon - as in peanut butter buttercream (a meringue buttercream so it is more mousselike) swirled on a cupcake and crisp bacon pieces sprinkled on the top. I also like the bacon hors d'oeuvres recipe from the first Silver Palate book - you coat the bacon with honey mustard (I think) and then press brown sugar on it, and broil it. It makes an unholy mess but as the book says, you can't get enough. This I would eat all the time and would be perfect for dessert!

I love the Trudeau spatulas! I have dozens of them (yes, at least three dozen of the larger orange ones and lots of the medium red ones and just a few of the small yellow ones) - since I share space with a catering company, no one can mistake them for one of theirs, the dishwasher knows that they are mine, and I can use them for scraping batter, making curd, or caramel .... They will break, however, if you don't load it in the dishwasher properly - it got bent under a pan or mixer bowl or something and while I tried to straighten it, it eventually broke anyway. I buy them whenever I see them at Home Goods. I wonder if there's an online source for them; I know my restaurant supply place doesn't have them....

I make a triple chocolate mousse cake that calls for melting milk chocolate in cream over a bain marie. I've had the same thing happen when I use chocolate that is close to or just beyond the "expiration date" - I've only ever used Callebaut for this because it is all I can get for milk chocolate. The unmelted bits are like peanut butter - if I use a spatula to flatten them, they'll flatten, but they'll never melt. When I use "fresh" chocolate (for want of a better word), it melts completely and evenly. I actually haven't made this in a while, which means my milk chocolate is going to have that problem because I last bought some for the holiday season last year!

At the very least, he should have given you a gift certificate or something to acknowledge the shoddy treatment. Was there no other table he could have moved you to? I don't blame you a bit for reporting on your experience, the next clients to sit at that table may well be treated the same!