JeanneCake

Molasses or gingerbread cookies would be good. You could underbake them slightly to make them softer if you think they would be too hard for the senior citizens. My favorite recipe comes from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Christmas Cookie book - it calls for mixing 6.25 oz brown sugar with 6 oz butter til smooth; then add 1 egg and 5.5 oz molasses (don't use the blackstrap, it's too bitter for this cookie); then mix together 15 oz all purpose flour, 2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt and add to the rest of the stuff. Roll into sheets between parchment or flatten into a disk and chill for a few hours (then roll and cut). Bake at 350 for 12-15 mins depending on what you've made. Another good cookie I remember making as a child is Snickerdoodles. Shortbread would be wonderful too.

Carrot cake can probably survive pretty well for the time it would take to arrive there. Bake the cake, remove it from the pan, wrap it well in plastic wrap; put it back in the pan (if you can find a cardboard round that fits the pan, so much the better. Put the round on top of the pan and wrap the whole thing in plastic) and put it in your luggage or carry on. ETA: you can ice/assemble it there once you arrive.

The champagne creme brulee from Roland Mesnier's book is good - it's basically a stovetop creme pat you put it in a mixer to finish and add the butter and champagne. He presents it with grapes in it (a la the fresh raspberries in creme brulee) and then sugared grapes on the side. I always make a big batch so it takes a while to cool down; it might not be enough time for your competition But I like the idea of the toffee pudding cake in the pressure cooker....

How many can you make at a time, Jennifer? What are your molds shaped like? Sort of half cylindrical? Personally I think mousse in a mold with sponge on the bottom sounds far tastier than the ganache filled, rum soaked sponge roll that I use......! I also love that look of the velvety sprayed cocoa butter! You don't happen to know where your bakery purchased their molds, do you? ← I thought I saw some in the PBC Catalogue - it's pretty far to go to get, though. Seems as if Delmarle/flexipan would have something similar.

First time so the parchment sticks to the pan, second time so the cake releases from the parchment Anyplace you don't spray the parchment, the cake is sure to stay there!

I used to have problems with sponge rolls before I realized I didn't have to follow the instructions that usually come with the recipes - I use a strainer to add the flour to the beaten eggs (to prevent lumps of flour) and use a large spatula to fold everything together (whites, eggs, flour). I don't use the towel over the baked cake, I just throw some sugar on the top and wrap in cling film when it's cool. Here's what works for me. It makes two half sheets or one full sheet. You want to spray the pan well with a release spray, line with a sheet of parchment then spray liberally again. I use large eggs. 5 egg whites in a mixer bowl - whip with 75 grams of granulated sugar (added slowly once the beaters leave a trace) - beat to firm but not dry peaks 5 whole eggs and 5 yolks in a second mixer bowl (if you beat the whites first, you can use the same beater); add 250 grams of sugar, beat to a ribbon. Use a strainer to add 125 grams of all purpose flour (you can add an additional 50 grams of cocoa if you want a chocolate sponge) to the whole eggs, then plop the whites in and use a spatula to fold until there are no streaks left. Usually the flour wants to sink to the bottom. Pour/spoon out onto pan(s); bake at 375 for 13-15 minutes (use 300 in a commercial convection oven). Watch for low spots, those will overbake. When you pull it out, throw a tablespoon or so of sugar over the top and when cool wrap in plastic. You don't have to refrigerate this but use it in a day or so. I've never kept it longer than a day before I used it to be honest.

Normally, a Key Lime pie is a pale yellowish color. I once had the GM of a restaurant ask me to add green food coloring to it so it would be green; the chef refused to even consider it so we didn't. But I always thought it would be one of those "St Patrick's Day" things where everything gets food coloring added to it whether it looks good or not. But, it's an idea. I wouldn't do it with a lemon curd tart with blueberries (too close in texture) but if you are doing an Earl Grey tea cake - or Earl Grey truffles that would work. Or make the truffle filling and use that to fill the tart shell and do something entirely different for the green. Not knowing you were were allergic to pistachios, I was going to suggest the pistachio marzipan truffle roll cookies from RLB's Christmas Cookie book. They're the perfect color!

Hee hee! A few years ago, I had a client order an elaborate cake for the centerpiece of their T-day table (this is a long standing client who always goes over the top for the holidays, I love the things she comes up with!) So, I knew I couldn't finish her cake, deliver it and be home in time to get the turkey in the oven. So, the chef where I worked offered to cook it with the other orders they were doing and I'm going to deliver the cake and pick up the turkey on the way back. My father (who made all the side dishes) arrives at our house expecting to smell roasting turkey while I'm off delivering the cake. Something my son says to him makes him think we're about to have a problem so he calls my cell phone and says ... "dear, where is the turkey? I can't find one in the fridge to put in the oven - how could you forget to get a turkey for Thanksgiving?"

No, it was just as painful to watch a few brief minutes of that show back in 2005!!!

You could, it might be a little flexible ... or a cookie sheet that has no sides (or at least no lip on one side)

I only make pumpkin rolls once a year, and it usually takes the first two or three to get back into the swing of it. I use a scaled up version of the Libby's recipe, but I find it heavy and dense. What I'd like is a pumpkin version of a joconde or biscuit that's light. Anyone got any ideas? I know that pumpkin is going to weigh it down, but at Whole Foods last week, I saw something that looked like a pumpkin roll where the cake was an inch thick, filled with a cream and rolled short side (I roll from the long side so I can get two rolls, and then use the end to make a knot in the log...). I also make enough of the cream cheese/whipped cream filling to use for the outside as well as the inside. I've toyed with the idea of adding another egg into the recipe (when I scale it up for a full sheet, it's just doubling the recipe but there's not enough batter to really go out to the edges. Same thing when I double it again for two full sheets.) but I don't know whether that would be sufficient in getting a lighter result.

How long do you want this to last? Just through the holiday season? Or for years? That's when storage will make a difference I would think and all those environmental factors come into play. I have two recipes, one from RLB, with butter, which I use for the cookies and have used for houses with good success; and the other with veg shortening and works pretty well too. And, Rob - for making the wall/roof, etc edges fit tight, I use a microplane to even things out and make sure there are no gaps before I start gluing. For the mortar, I've used white chocolate (Felchlin Ultra Gloss because I use it for cookies); royal icing and hot glue (for the non-edible versions.)

This isn't pie filling, but the cake filling for the Peninsula Grill Coconut Cake always wins rave reviews - it is a cooked filling (in the style of the filling for german chocolate cake) so you could lighten it with the judicious use of whipped cream because it is pretty intense/creamy in it's intended state as a cake filling....

I didn't make a haunted house, but I've been averaging one large gingerbread McMansion a week (for various displays in the gourmet stores)! And, the magazine shoot for which I did the holiday version in place of the Halloween version? They canned it until January. No one buys a gingerbread house in January Did anyone see the Food Network challenge about Haunted Gingerbread Houses? Wish I'd seen that back in Sept! I loved the one from Riveria Bakehouse, and thought the one from Just Cake's assistant was a little too... perfect? I think it was a tough call between the two. And Elizabeth Falkner's cave! I don't know what I enjoyed more - watching the judges struggle to "get it" (they should have read her book first!) or her build it.

In Lowell, try Centro, at 24 Market Street. It's been open since Sept and is terrific.

I really like the one in the Cake Bible - moist, firm but not too dense; I like it better without the nuts, personal preference. It calls for safflower and walnut oil; but I've used all veg oil. It's more flavorful with the the safflower/walnut oils but fine with the veg oil. And, the banana cake from there is pretty good too. Even better with a ganache topping

Home Cooking: A writer in the kitchen and More Home Cooking: a writer returns to the kitchen These have been at the bedside night table for years.

I've held batter for 6 hours chilled in the pan with no ill effects; when I held it overnight there was a slight loss of volume and it took longer to bake (to be expected). I think you are going to have to try it with a batch.

well, the moral of the story is that if you jam a pen into the side where the cage "locks", eventually you will get some sugar stuck in there and it will stay that way. For how long I don't know but for now I'm grateful When that stops, I'm definitely going to clip some of the wires, thanks for the suggestion.

I have no idea... the method for most pound cake recipes is to cream the fats, combine the dry then alternately add the the dry and the liquids (in this case, the eggs and sherry). Then add the nuts. You might have to experiment with this since none of the results I found from googling the recipe included the method. Hold back a little on the sherry and see how fluid or dry the batter is when you finish mixing it. I think it if were soaking the cake with the sherry, it might have listed the sherry as 3/4 cup sherry, divided so you'd use some of that 3/4 cup in the recipe and the rest as the soak after it bakes.

I tried to google "Harvey's Bristol Cream Pound Cake" and most sites just list the ingredients, no method. This seems to be standard, hope it helps: 1 c butter or margarine 2 tsp baking powder 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg 2 c sugar 3/4 c harvey's bristol cream sherry 6 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 c pecans; finely chopped 3 c flour Edited for typos

I have a vague memory of Sarah Bernhardt cookies in a cookbook from Rosie's Bakery (a Boston based company). Unfortunately I don't have the book to check it for you. They don't show the cookies on their website, but if you called, they might be able to tell you if they could ship them to you. Rosie's Bakery

here is a link to another gum paste (flower paste) recipe that might work better for you. It calls for adding an egg white, so maybe you could try the same with your existing paste and see if helps to salvage the situation... Flower Paste Recipe Link

Amoretti is very generous with samples.....

I like the Ungermatic boxes from The Unger Company - they might be too pricey for you but call and see if they can send you a few samples and you can see if they'll work for you. I find that if I tape the sides shut on the regular (kraft inside) boxes, the box is sturdier and lasts a little longer. I can stack them that way, but have the same problems when I don't tape the box shut. Another alternative is to investigate what I call "fish buckets" - you can sometimes find them in larger sizes, but call around to a local seafood company and see if they'll sell you some new fish buckets and see if that works. It works for my regular accounts for the individual desserts like the cheesecakes, key lime pies, etc.