JeanneCake

My first and only attack happened about 20 years ago in the big toe in my right foot. I couldn't walk and was told to stay off of it (but not advised about diet or anything else). I do remember drinking a lot of water and it cleared up within a week.

I am having trouble with the visual, sorry! But I can describe how I build a mad hatter cake and maybe that will help? For virtually all of my cakes, I use bubble tea straws (thanks to Annie) for support. For larger or especially heavy tiers, I use the plastic dowels that can be cut with a knife - they are a little larger than the bubble tea straws. As for topsy-turvy cakes, I started out doing the "cut a flat part in the bottom cake for the next one to fit in straight". That takes too long for me to do now that I have a lot more experience with this sort of design. (But if I were doing an especially large cake like that, I might do the bottom two tiers that way.) But again thanks to Annie, I have a more efficient way to assemble these, and I'm doing one a weekend now that we're in the throes of wedding season. This weekend I am doing one for a July 4 birthday. The bottom tier is a 10 and 11" round; the 10" is torted in half, the 11" is split at an angle. I will build them just like Annie does in the Baby Shower cake demo (larger one on the bottom, smaller on top, then flip them). The middle is an 8" and 9", the top is a 6" and 5". Once the cakes are assembled (before the crumb coat) I will carve it so the bottom is more narrow and smooth out the angle between the two cakes. I think with a topsy-turvy design, the bottom of the cake needs to be more narrow than the top, all the way around. Then, I crumb coat, and cover with fondant as usual. Then I put the straws in, and use melted chocolate in the middle and put the next tier on top; the chocolate sets up almost immediately and holds everything in place. Then I use three bamboo skewers through the two tiers. The top tier goes on just like the middle one. Some bakers use styro wedges to get the topsy turvy look, and this is pretty stable; they cover the wedge with flowers or make it the bottom of the cake and cover both the cake and the wedge with the fondant. But I'm not nearly so organized as that to have styro wedges made in advance

After this was on last night, Ace of Cakes was showing two new episodes. Guy Fieri was on one of them, the Charm City crew made a huge hamburger cake for his arrival. Guy says while pulling the cake toward him "hey, it's bigger than my head" Duff replies, with a laugh that seemed a little forced to me, "Nothing's bigger than your head!" How true, how true!! Guy is the only person still on FN from a past NFNS and he's a parody of a celebrity with the shows he's on. This whole premise is a gimmick, we all realize that. No one is going to go on to a successful career in food TV after this BS. These people give up a large part of their lives (how long does filming last?) to be ridiculed and then sent home. The first winners aren't around, but there's all these new shows that would have been more than suitable for some of the past contestants. Given the "success rate" of past winners, why do they think they would be different? I wish they'd show some of the people from past years, and we could learn that they've gone way beyond what they ever imagined the FN could do for them in their lives. I can't figure out why my son likes this show, but he does. I don't care for it at all, it's just beyond foolish what they have them do (and the premise of this year is so vastly different than previous years where they spent more time learning how to do a cooking show rather than prattle on describing food they didn't prepare.) At least now I know what Cat Cora is up to. How did she get the Bon Appetite gig?! Has she ever won in Iron Chef?

I've tried writing with ganache; it works - don't use it as soon as you've made it. When it is fluid (warm-ish), it works great to cover/drip down the sides of a buttercream covered cake, but that fluidity will also make the letters run as you are writing. So wait until it is cool if you use it. I also second the melt some choc and use that to write with.....

I'm going to have to see that part again... I thought she said something along the lines of she didn't care that she'd ruined the blouse but was more embarrassed that she's in front of all those people looking like a drowned rat, er, Romulan. I was really surprized by her talking about her brother serving in the armed forces in Iraq; she's never before talked about family, friends, life... I missed the part about how the order that they chose their ingredients with was decided. I wonder what else they do with their week after these challenges are taped. Are they allowed out of the asylum? I remember from last year that they weren't allowed to talk to their families for very long, if at all so what else are they doing?

But not if the company thinks the problem in the container you tried was an error; they want you to try it again so you can either confirm your original complaint or realize that the one you had was off for some unknown reason.

I think maybe that's next week. The clip was shown again at the end of this week's episode. They're on a ship cooking for the Coast Guard, I think My son is really into this show. It occurred to me yesterday while watching it (on demand) that I think it's not named correctly. This has nothing to do with being a Food Network Star. I think it should be renamed Survivor: Food Network. I think Kelsey is natural - I think she's by nature a happy go lucky person and that's probably due to her youth. She hasn't been around long enough to get burned and become cynical Same with Shane. I hated The Romulan (god, that is so apt!!) the first time I saw the show but after last night's episode, I can see how she's loosening up and is starting to show her cooking chops. Thank goodness she dropped that food philosophy thing cause I sure didn't get it either.

If the real issue for you is you didin't think the level of service matched the charge, why did you not take the lead at the time you paid? You didn't give her the bill and your cash and say, "we're not happy about the gratuity being added to the bill without prior notice. The gratuity is short 87 cents, and we're not inclined to make it up since we didn't feel the service tonight warranted 20%." Instead, you waited for her to figure it out and then you're telling us you kept your composure as you responded to her? Sounds like you were spoiling for a fight... Did you really not expect her to say anything to you?

white corn syrup is fine. be sure to pay attention to how long to beat the yolks and the temp of the butter; if your buttercream is thin it could be the butter was too soft or the yolks not beaten sufficiently.

I have all the books you listed, and then some by RLB. I've tried at least a third of the cake recipes from The Cake Bible, and all of them worked for me. I use her buttercream recipes almost but not quite exclusively (scaled up a lot, though!). I've' tried most of the tart recipes (but not the tart dough, I have my own favorite, thanks to Chefpeon!) and had no problems either. I haven't made anything from the bread book, though. If you are used to baking by weight rather than measure, her books are a joy (no converting); you cannot mix the measure method with weight (you weigh the flour but measure out the sugar, for example) because that can cause a problem (a cup of all purpose flour can weigh 4.5 or 5 ounces depending on whether you dip into the container or sift it or spoon it in. Multiply that by 3 cups of flour and you've got either an overage of 1.5 ounces or are short 1.5 ounces. This could be a contributing factor if a recipe doesn't work.) Having said that, if you are off just a little, the recipe will most likely work but may be a little dry or too moist or whatever. It won't be an utter failure unless you really mess things up! She has a baking blog that maintains a list of all the errors in all the books. Rose's Baking Blog If you are precise, you will like the way it is written; if you are very casual about measuring/baking, it may not be a good fit for your style. maybe you can borrow one from the library and see how it works for you. BTW, there's a new version of the Cake Bible coming out next year.

Chefpeon had a recipe from Epicurious for Stout cake (the same one probably as the one Danielle Lauer mentions above); I've made it and also found it to be not too chocolatey but very sturdy and excellent for scupting cake into various shapes and forms. I use my favorite Felchlin's cocoa powder, though; which tends to be intense (much more than Hershey's, Droste and the other one that Williams Sonoma sells whose name I can't remember exactly. Not Valhrona though.) so even though I didn't think of it as very chocolatey, it was probably more so than with another brand of cocoa. To my taste, the beer highlighted some bitter notes (not unpleasant).

Wow. THUMP.... (That was me swooning after all the wonderful produce and excellent food, and falling off the chair). I used to live near Gramercy Park and Irving Place, thanks for the pix!

I start by rubbing the pot with a cut lemon before I start (don't leave any of the membranes in, those will burn); usually I do it dry - no water, no corn syrup, just the lemon and the sugar. Just as Tri2Cook says, it will burn underneath in spots and still be dry in others if you pile in all the sugar at once. Maida Heatter suggested in one of her books to start with just some of the sugar, and sprinkle in the rest as it began to liquefy, and that works well.

Square cake pans - the corners. The FLOOR. I hate mopping the floor. I so hate mopping the floor that the last two places I rented (shared with) I had them build it into the rent so I didn't have to worry about it. But now I don't have that luxury anymore I'm usually the last one to leave so I have to do it.

I'm willing to venture that someone in the costume department thought it looked cool and said: wear this! Probably the same person who dresses Sandra....?

Thank you both for the detective work! The only names I know of WRT mixes is Brill, and Henry&Henry because I see them advertising in Modern Baking - but I don't know anything about these companies. (Speaking of Modern Baking, does anyone remember the ad with the baker working on a cake in the middle of the night? Everything is meticulously clean, all the stuff on the shelves is perfectly arranged in line, labels out and nothing is askew or out of place! I always got a laugh out of that ad, but I couldn't tell you what brand it was promoting!! I only look like that in the first 30 mins of work.)

I would not want to run the risk of wearing the Pumas there, and slipping on something unexpectly slick (a spill and someone's gone off to get the mop but you walk that way without realizing it and ....) You mention being a personal chef so you are in different home kitchens where the protocol is not so strict as a restaurant kitchen. Commercial kitchens usually have some sort of tile or cement floor and where I am, even with slip resistant shoes, I worry when the dish pit starts to crank and the floor can get pretty slick over there. A friend of mine wears Dansko clogs all the time - she has her kitchen ones and her "play shoes". So I'd spend the money on the shoes anyway, and see what they say about chef coats, pants, etc. I know that once I bought a nice pair of chef pants, I never looked back. They're cool and comfortable in all seasons.

Milk Duds makes me remember Sugar Babies! Sticky, sticky, sticky! And I loved them

My trusty 6 qt KA died a while back, after making a few batches of marshmallows (it made a few batches of buttercream after that) but now won't turn on or even make a peep. Any ideas on where to take it for repairs? It's about 7 years old, so not under warranty but I'd rather fix it than buy a new one....

It will get spongy, having a lot of air bubbles, and it will not look as smooth (it does this in a storage box, or bowl or whatever you use to store it, including the piping bag); you always see a note to rebeat before using after the buttercream has been standing for a while. So, while you can technically store it in the piping bag, it won't look good if you use it to pipe something.

I *love* Princess Cake and only started offering it on the menu this past year. I'm with Annie on the chiffon cake; I also add a little gelatin to the whipped cream because that will get me a third day if it doesn't sell immediately (I assemble them the night before they are delivered, e.g., I'm putting it together at 4 pm on Friday for Sat 9 am delivery) and the little rest in the freezer is a very good thing before putting on the marzipan (I have people ask for straight fondant because of the whole nut thing but I like it better with the marzipan.) In fact, it was Annie who told me this was a walk in the park to do, and she's right. Easy, easy, easy. Make the dome yourself with a spatula, the bowl would be too much hassle. Green is traditional, but I'm partial to lavender, as Tri2Cook mentions The Village Baker's Wife, who does pink, lavender and green).

Hi Mary! Thank you for the recipe. Does this icing crust? (Does Publix icing crust? The bride in question says it doesn't, it stays fluffy but I wonder how that is if there's confectioners's sugar in it.) This is defintely a deal breaker for this bride

The client is on such a hunt for this that she's considering having someone send some of the stuff up here so I can taste it. Has anyone had a Publix cake? What's the deal with this stuff? Why do so many people want to copy this stuff? (from what I found on the google search!)

Your mom ROCKS! Mine made Italian food, all the time. We never experimented with other cuisines but she's a great cook, and I'm glad she's my mom. Thanks for a great story!

I have a client who just booked her October wedding with me. She has her heart set on Publix buttercream, which I have never had. (she wasn't crazy about the meringue buttercream which is our house buttercream.) I'm told that it is fluffy - not the typical American buttercream with confectioners sugar, butter/shortening, milk and salt - this Publix stuff doesn't crust. The bride called her mom to see if she had the recipe, and the mom said it used Dream Whip but couldn't remember the other ingredients but she was sure it also had confectionery sugar in it. Being a supermarket, I'm sure they don't use butter. Anyone have a recipe for a buttercream that uses Dream Whip? Or have an inside track on what Publix uses for their cakes? I googled Publix buttercream and got several hits but none of them seem appropriate (they all look like crusting buttercream to me). Any ideas?