JeanneCake

Oh, please do continue to post the apparent pleasures from this shop! Thank you for sharing the photos, they are much appreciated. eta: correct typos

The Albert Uster Imports catalog has all-butter shells sprayed with white or dark chocolate; I've never tried them so I have no idea if they are thin, thick or what the coating is like. I keep their small 2" plain and chocolate shells on hand for those 7 am calls for same day orders. They're pretty good for commercial shells.

I just ordered some Crystal Colors from Avalon (www.avalondeco.com); Dave there is really nice and was very helpful. I can't wait to try this stuff! Because I'm painting on fondant covered cakes, we spoke mainly about mixing them with lemon extract; my guess would be that it could be used in an airbrush as well.

Cost wise, how does it compare with shell eggs or even frozen whites? I'm considering jumping to the dark side and switching from Italian to Swiss for my meringue buttercream. I know my costs will be different, me being in Boston and you being in NYC, but I am going through 30-45 dz eggs a week and half of that is just for buttercream and there is only so many yolks I can use for curd, custard, etc. I can't use the frozen whites with the hot syrup, they deflate. So now I'm intrigued and will look into it.....

Are you asking about a bow that is going to go on the flat side just below the edge or so on the side of the cake? Like a shoelace bow (not a multi-looped bow)? If so, you would make them the same way as you do when a bow would sit flat on top of the cake, just sized appropriately. I have a hard time gauging sizes so I usually make lots of them just in case.

I watched the most recent episode via DVR - I've missed a lot of the inbetween episodes but have vivid memories of Debbie's many stretches of truth - I particularly thought she threw one of the guys under the bus with the dessert thing so I am glad that Debbie is finally off and surprized she lasted that long. What got to me was Melissa's introduction during her dinner presentation. She spoke well, from the heart and to my mind, sincerely. I would probably watch a show she was in. The other guy, not so much. He's nice and likeable enough; just not as compelling. Maybe because the last time I watched I heard him say the same thing about his daughter and cooking on Saturdays - for all I know he's told other stories on all the episodes I haven't watched! It's like when you watch a TV show that you are never around to see when the originals air, but you catch the same stupid re-run any time you DO get to watch it!

Having some leftover chocolate cheesecake batter, I decided to try cheesecake lollipops. I baked off a half sheet, using a pan extender and foil instead of a crust; I refrigerated the baked cake for a little while (probably not nearly enough), then cut them up thinking I would dip squares and decided that round would be better. So I mashed them, shaping them into rounds and stuck the lollipop sticks in and they're in the walkin freezer overnight. What are the chances that when I dip these in the morning the sticks will come out or off?

A plane shaped sugar cookie would be too cute .... and a jar of hot fudge sauce to dip them in.... decadent

thank you for sharing the photos!

Lisa, thanks for the photo of the pietra dura technique - I couldn't tell what the ivory was in the first photo - and it certainly didn't look like an inlaid design but you never know! Jossa, I would love to see a recipe for mud cake; I hear it is the choice for Australian wedding cakes but have never made it, or seen a recipe for it. I know there are a lot of flavor variations on it, as well. I have a very humid walk in cooler; I can hold a fondant covered cake overnight but that's it. It has to be well wrapped - either with a bun bag or in a box and that in a bun bag but it still develops condensation. Were I to leave it uncovered, I'm sure all the fondant would melt away! Home refrigerators may be far less humid, but you can't go far wrong with putting the fondant covered cake into a box, and then wrapping that with plastic wrap. You might even check out Squires Kitchen (www.squires-shop.com) to see if they do ready made fruitcake - maybe even Jane Asher might have something ready made available as well.

Is the white rectangle with the raised white and darker coloring in the lower part of the photo the example of the pietra dura effect? That sounds intriguing....

I think the original poster is STILL looking for a recipe; bad, good or otherwise. I would imagine that there are a lot of handwritten recipes on cards or in community cookbooks. Maybe your local historical society has some cookbooks in their library that might be helpful in your search.

I was looking at pastrychef.com for colored sugar pearls and they have a macaron mix from Patisfrance. It's $80 for an 11 pound bag.

Nicole Kaplan is the other name I recognized

Check it out ... Pastry Scoop Awards List

I think as soon as they gave you a delivery date of June 8, I would have said, we're closed on Mondays but if you give me a window for delivery we'll be here. The aggravation of dealing with them just isn't worth it. They seem to be jerking you around and they know they can get away with treating you poorly because where else can you go? I'm a small (tiny!) business myself and yet the reps from each company I deal with treat me well; as if there is no difference between the small amounts I purchase and the accounts who buy $5K every week so it isn't just that your business is small, it's the integrity of the people you're buying from. What are the chances that X and Y are in cahoots?

Ok, so how did you make this watermelon cheesecake?

I've been asked by a chef to help with a dessert to be prepared in a kosher kitchen. He doesn't have a pastry chef on staff but needs to prepare a strawberry shortcake dessert for 130 people for this weekend. We're going to be at the temple kitchen on Friday afternoon to prep. My preferred recipes for biscuits for strawberry shortcake contain dairy in some form (butter, light cream, heavy cream or buttermilk) or another. I can replace the butter with margarine, but what can I replace the fluid dairy with? The chef is suggesting soy milk, and I'm thinking that I'd need to increase the fat in the recipe somehow in order to get it to work. Has anyone tried this? He's ordered some non-dairy stuff that you just whip in a mixer for the whipped cream; I don't know what brand he got, but maybe that's an alternative? (I've never used that so I don't know.) Any ideas, helpful hints or recipes (please!)?

It looks like there's a thin disc of white chocolate at the bottom. From the first glass in the front, it looks to me like three different layers - the chocolate (or something white, and it looks like it smudged a little going in), then the raspberry panna cotta and then an opaque gellee type of topping.

It drives me CRAZY when someone comes into my part of the kitchen and sticks a finger into a bowl of buttercream (or cheesecake batter or whatever I'm making - especially something that isn't going to be cooked again). I have one person who helps with deliveries who does this all the time and if I say something (or raise an eyebrow), it stops for a little bit, but the next time she comes in, it happens again. She's an experienced culinary person and just finished a ServSafe class but it doesn't stop! I'm going to have to whack her hand with a ruler the next time. Get your fingers out of my food!

I have clients taste cake when we meet for a consultation, but sometimes I make cupcakes for them to pick up if they are from out of town and have a limited amount of time on a weekend and we can't meet because of that schedule. What works for me is to have the client choose from a list of flavors or provide some ideas for things they want to try that aren't on the menu. I used to assemble square cakes, cut them into individual pieces and freeze the slices so they'd be ready at a moment's notice but it got to a point where I couldn't have one of everything available and if someone didn't want a particular flavor it might go to waste. So now I do it more like Annie's; I have the client choose what they want to taste, and like Sylvia Weinstock, I give them a plate with scoops of flavored buttercreams and circles of cake so they can mix and match and put together a flavor they like and will work as their dessert. I have a sheet that gets filled out at the meeting with date/ceremony start/reception start/guest count/venue name & contact/florist name $ contact as well as the photographer. There's space for me to write notes about colors, style, etc and on the back of the sheet I sketch the design ideas we come up with. I make a copy of the front sheet for the client which includes a description of what we've come up with (e.g., 3 tier round, white fondant, embroidery design, fresh flower top), an estimated price, delivery charge and utility cake price. There's a paragraph describing the policy (dates are held at no obligation for 30 days but no date is secure without a deposit, payment must be received 5 days in advance, when to confirm count/flavor/details, etc.) and the reason I don't give them a copy of the sketch is because I've had clients take my sketch to a competitor and there's always someone who will do it cheaper. Once I get a deposit, I make a copy of the entire sheet and send it to them as confirmation.

She talks about Madame Brassartin the book (My Life in France) and the hard time M Brassart gave her during her education; I'm kind of surprized she didn't deck her in that scene, she would have deserved it!

I got a more intimate sense of Julia Child's personality after reading My Life in France; and some of that spark and spunk that came out of the book I can see in the movie clips. Sometimes I worry about seeing a movie adaptation of a favorite book - will it change how much I enjoy the book? I didn't read the Julie/Julia book so I have nothing to compare it to and I don't think it will diminish my respect and admiration of Julia Child. It's not meant to be a documentary so I will enjoy it as entertainment. And wouldn't it be nice if Meryl Streep gets another Oscar nod for the role!

In my last ServSafe class, the schedule of classes showed a specific HACCP course offered to help people write plans that pass muster. Our instructor mentioned in the course of the day that she consults with companies who want to be HACCP certified. You might not need the official certification but the plan would be the same. Maybe your local ServSafe instructor can answer your question, and certainly your local BOH could.

I usually crumb and final coat the same day; I find that the second buttercream coat doesn't adhere as well when I chill the crumb coat overnight. I notice that it "smears" (for want of a better word) as I'm applying it; it happens more when the final coat is thinner than usual. I also use Italian Meringue but I'm not using lemon juice or salt in mine. I build the cake, wrap in plastic and let it sit overnight; then the next day apply the crumb coat and final coat. Usually about an hour apart, depends on the work load. If it were happening to all of your cakes, all the time, this might be the culprit.