JeanneCake

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!

We have four (about 10-15 years old maybe?) Blodgett convections; two fan speeds. When I was looking to buy an oven (I didn't); I was looking into Doyon brand in Canada. One of the things to consider is whether he is renting his current space; what would happen if he moved; gas is cheaper than electric to run, but electric doesn't require an overhead hood system I'm told. Your (his) mileage may vary. I would suggest that he call around to repair places and ask what NOT to buy; I did that years ago and the tech said his opinion was to stay away from Baker's Aid because he was always getting calls to fix that brand.

I love the midget pecans from Sunnyland Farms - they're perfect! I've also bought other nuts from them and have been pleased with the quality. In fact, come to think of it, everything I've gotten from them has been excellent and my mother in law now uses them for holiday presents (love their nut brittles!). Shipping is included in the price. They have a website - www.sunnylandfarms.com -

I agree that if she were not getting something out of the experience she would not return each week - but on the other hand she might be hoping that this is the week she does something a little more involved. Does she ask you questions or do you tell her about what you're doing and why as you are working? She may be able to absorb a lot just in conversation (I'm guessing she doesn't have time to take notes while she's polishing molds and whatnot). Have you asked her directly whether she is getting out of this what she wanted? She may not know what to do next or how to do it and perhaps doesn't know enough to ask so if she is not particularly helpful, it may be because she is unable to approach you in a way that doesn't interrupt you or interfere with the work flow. It's hard to fit in when you're only there one day a week and being left handed in a right handed set up probably makes it just as hard for her as for you. I would not expect an unpaid intern to do more than watch and learn and some grunt work; but if she was expecting to apprentice (learn more actively), it doesn't sound like that's what she is doing by cleaning molds and putting away chocolates. I think it would be a really nice gesture to acknowledge the help; a gift card would be a thoughtful thing to do.

I have all of her books, except for Romantic and Classic Cakes (her first). The Cake Bible is an excellent reference; the Christmas Cookie book contains the best recipe for Gingerbread cookies that I've ever used and lots of others that are different enough from what's out there to make a great cookie basket gift; the Pie and Pastry Bible is also equally as good for the fruit/sugar chart and the savoury recipes (I second that chicken pot pie!) I don't use the Bread Bible as much, and agree that the topic is covered by others more informatively. I have Heavenly Cakes, but haven't made anything from it yet. This seems to be a more personal collection of recipes not an update of the Cake Bible. There are people on her blog/forums that are actively baking their way through the book and having good success. ETA correct typos

Jeanne - is it this place? Thank you Kim and Baroness! It's not the original place I was thinking of (still haven't found it), but now I can use the Skor bits and not the Heath bar crumbles - it makes a big difference in cheesecake, for what it's worth

I can usually find Skor bars at CVS; the Heath bars at a supermarket - but while you can buy Heath bar crumbles (smashed up candy bars) in the bakery aisle (so you can add them to cheesecake batter, or cookie dough, or buttercream) you cannot buy Skor bits. And the Skor bits are much, much better! Who remembers the name of the online store that sells "old time" candy - the stuff we grew up on and can't really find easily - if at all? I checked it once and I think they had a 3# bag of Skor bits that I kept meaning to buy and then forgot until this thread!

I have four books that are always on the nightstand. My Enemy the Queen by Victoria Holt A Woman of Independant Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey and both Laurie Colwin Home Cooking/More Home Cooking books. I vividly remember the day I received the Gourmet issue that told of her death, and that she had submitted all her essays for the coming year in advance. It was always the first thing I turned to in the magazine and when the columns stopped, the magazine lost a little luster for me. I may not touch the novels for months, years even; but I am always able to pick up and read a few essays before turning off the light and feeling like I have had a conversation with an old, dear friend. I've used so many of her recipes/ideas.... Funny thing that I've never read her other works, though. Maybe I should ...

For what it's worth, the Perfect Puree is a concentrate not a juice; and any time I've used a concentrate in place of juice (pomegranate comes immediately to mind, as well as the blood orange) I have trouble with things not setting up. My personal favorite for passion juice is Albert Uster's; they are now using Caraman brand which isn't as great as their old label but still really good. If you decide to ditch the whole baking thing, you can do a stove top version from Roland Mesnier's Dessert University book. It's basically a variation of pastry cream (cornstarch and sugar, which is not typical for creme brulee) and you would add the concentrate at the end with the butter; I think this method is fine for making a creme brulee tart (where you put the filling in a tart shell not a ramekin) but it is not the same as a baked custard. It's good, nonetheless.

I tried making a pomegranate curd earlier this year, using the concentrate from Perfect Puree. Disaster. It wouldn't set up. I got some Pom juice from the supermarket and tried it again; using RLB's passion curd recipe as the base (all yolks, sugar, butter, trace of salt and juice), took it off the heat at 186 and it worked fine. I have a thinner curd when I use pasteurized yolks; thick enough to stand a spoon in when I use shelled yolks. The juice gave me a better color at the end as well, nice dark red; and it worked great to pour over a vanilla cheesecake and panna cotta and....

can you soften it over barely simmering water until it's loosened up a bit and then put it into the cases? You could pipe the firmed ganache (how firm is it?) into the cases, but the chopped walnuts may make it hard to use a star or other decorative tip unless it is a wide one. It will set up again and may lose some shine (it shouldn't if reheated gently and slowly, but usually this is not the case for me as I am hurrying it along) and you could always dust the tops with cocoa if needed.

You may like the descriptions in The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum; it's not a comprehensive cross reference regarding how which fats perform in cake recipes because virtually all of them rely on butter as the main fat; there are a few with oil, and one with mayonnaise but for the most part it's a good reference to have.

I want to suggest Ambassador Foods in NJ as a distributor for Hero/Felchlin, and I know that if you were to ask at Sweet Karma pastry shop, their pastry chef-owner, Brian has a local Swiss Chalet rep who might be able to help.

I was sad to learn of the death of Sheila Lukins, co-owner and chef at the now-defunct Silver Palate store, whose cookbooks have sold more than 7 million copies (as reported by the NY Times). I have a copy of the first Silver Palate cookbook, with lots of notes in the margins and stains all over it. My brother gave me the anniversary copy for Christmas a few years back but I still have my old, well-used and well loved book. Here's a link to the obit notice in the NY Times:Sheila Lukins Obituary Notice