JeanneCake

Do you have any other options available to you? Home equity line perhaps? Another bank or financial group to approach for a student loan? What does the school say about this sort of thing - maybe they can be some help in giving you the names of other companies to approach. Is there a chance they can get you a paid internship while you're enrolled? This way there's a source of income a lender can see some $ coming in (and going right back out to them! ) Good luck. You'll get there!

in a past thread, someone was asking about the percentages of sugar/whites/butter in meringue buttercreams and owing to my inability to do this sort of grade school math someone else figured out that you can add more sugar and more butter to the formula I was using for basic Italian meringue buttercream and it still works. I have no recollection of what the topic was, otherwise I'd reference it here, sorry. For what its worth....: My formula is (for a large size batch that fits comfortably in a 20 qt) is 30.5 oz whites and 10.5 oz sugar for the whites added later on. Then 1# 4 oz or so water in a pot, with 1# 15.5 oz sugar. Turn on the mixer at speed 2 when the sugar gets to about 225 or so (one of my whips does a better/faster job than the other one) and at soft peak add the sugar (the temp of the sugar is about 235 or so). Bring the syrup to 246 and add it to the beaten whites at speed 3 then back to speed 2 and when cooled, add 6# butter in pieces as usual.

RLB on her blog got asked this question about a month ago, and her answer was that overbaking causes the paper to peel away. I have the same problem when I fill all 5 shelves. I get better results using only four of the shelves. Can you refrigerate the filled pans while the cupcakes bake? I think when my shelves are fully loaded, the air doesn't circulate as well. Are all of the butter-based cupcakes peeling or just some of them? It could be the ones on the edges overbaking...

I add the juices together first, then to the milk and cream and (knock on wood) haven't had it curdle..... of course, now that I've said that watch what happens next time I make it!

I've used this type of buttercream to pipe basketweave around a cake, it was soft as I remember (even with the addition of hazelnut paste so it would look like a natural wicker basket) but handled well and tasted equally fantastic. With the additional fat from the milk and yolks in the creme pat, the buttercream will smooth well, it will be more susceptible to warm weather if you happen to have an unusual day on the wedding day! Most people associate the confectioner's sugar, white fat or butter, and milk to be the typical "American" frosting. Meringue buttercreams offer a wider variety of options in terms of flavoring (it is easier to add fruit purees, fruit curds or nut pastes) to a meringue buttercream. I don't use Swiss meringue bcrm, but from photos I've seen of bakers who do use it, I think it smooths a little bit easier (? or better?) than Italian meringue. Every so often, I think I should switch because then I could use frozen whites to make the meringue... but that's beside the point!

GR has the recipe for passion fruit brulee in his dessert book, which of course I cannot find at the moment. But, this is a variation of Sherry Yard's brulee Mix 2 cups milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup passion puree, 2 TBL orange juice, 1 TBL lemon juice on the stovetop, bring to a gentle simmer then take it off the heat and cover. Whisk 8 yolks to mix and then add the cream gently to the yolks then strain it. Fill ramekins to the rim, bake at 300 in a water bath about 40 mins until they jiggle (they're set but not brown, and not puffed). You don't want the cream to be too hot, (she mentions 165 degrees as the optimal temp to add to the yolks when she discusses creme brulee in general terms). Chill, then brulee to order.

Thank you for letting us spend the week with you! I've loved it - your kitchen is terrific and many years of happy cooking await you there! You'll have to update us with a picture when your tart on the packaging arrives in stores! Thanks again...

Most wedding clients don't come in with a serving chart and ask "how much will you charge for this size in this design?" To open that proverbial can of worms, I can tell a client that a round 13/10/7 configuration will serve 100 people (serving the entire cake) - another baker may say it will serve more people, say 110; while a third will say it serves another number. And if we're charging by the number of servings, the cost can vary across all three bakers because of that number. And how many it serves depends on who is doing the cutting My first kitchen was part of a banquet facility and the woman who ran things could cut a 12/9/6 to serve 150 - the fact that you could read the newspaper through the slices notwithstanding! People are always going to ask "how many does this serve?" so it seems easier to quote by the serving size. If someone wants more or a larger serving size, they can move up to the next size. What gets me is the whole "let's taste a lot of free cake" during a consultation and "let's have the top tier free too. " It's the expectation that it should be free that gets to me. I don't see caterers or restaurants giving a free meal on your anniversary as a matter of course!

Is she (the bride) willing to have the boxed up goodies put out an hour before the party ends? This way, they're refrigerated almost up to the point of departure and then the guests can consume them on the way out or wait until they are home and refrigerate them. The other thing I'm surprized she's unwilling to consider is that by the time the guests eat these little delights - the eclairs/puffs and cannolis may have softened so they're not as good as they were when freshly made. Maybe you should give her a few to try so she can see what happens to an eclair or puff after 4 hours? Ahh, the little joys of weddings are without number, right?!

Jennifer - I am SO enjoying your blog so far - we've missed you over in P&B and I am looking forward to the rest of your week. Thank you for sharing with us. Congrats on the promotion at work! Remember when you first started there?! I don't suppose you make Princess Cakes and could take a few photos?

How many times are you reheating it? I can get away with once maybe twice over hot water. After that, it gets thick and gloppy - it separates if I heat it too much. At that point, if I still have some left, I have better luck adding some of the "older" ganache to a small fresh batch and stirring slowly.

Hi all.. they were fine. I am baking for a new account and wanted them to be perfect. We have very limited freezer space at work so I can't put my sheet pans in the freezer when I'm done rolling out the dough so unfortunately freezing stuff is not an option for me (I share space with a caterer). Makes for a tough production schedule.

Hey, how many points for my paintbrush theory!!! Nice of you to check it out, and even nicer of her to call you back on a Saturday morning.

Congratulations! Is this your first TV spot? Can you go in ahead of time and look around? When I've been on "talk shows" - the local cable company productions, nothing close to the big time!!! it took a few minutes to get used to where to look - where NOT to look, the lights, etc. Plus add some nervous energy, and ...

If you look at the center of some of the indents on the cake, you can make out a round impression like what a straw or dowel might leave behind. The indent looks flared (the crater isn't straight) so I'm less likely to think it is a straw or dowel. Maybe the round end of a paintbrush?

Trouble is if it isn't tempered it might be streaky and less attractive looking. If you want that nice soft melty chocolate, add 2 to 4 % clarified butter to your chocolate before tempering. ← That's exactly what can happen over time. My first experience dipping gingerbread cookies, I used my regular Schokinag bittersweet, and it looked great for the first 24 hours. The next day, it was very streaky and very unattractive; a chef I'd sold some to sent a few of the worst looking ones back and they looked pretty awful. Your mileage will vary. Use what works for you and holds up best over time.

Some people will prefer the taste of your product, some will prefer the other vendor's. It's not a personal commentary - it's just a taste preference. If someone asks why does yours taste different, you can explain that there are lots of chocolate varieties and it is very much like wine - where you will taste certain things at times. You don't want to get into a comparison of yours vs theirs because this person will already be feeling that you're moving in on her territory! In my neck of the woods, there are four "cake people" in a 5 mile radius - we all have various strengths and I feel we are competing for different customers. Some buy on taste, some buy on price - I can't be all things to all people so I appeal to people who buy on taste and the "art of the cake". You'll find your niche. How exciting for you! Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

Thanks everyone - I have been using the recipe from epicurious for the inside-out german choc cake which calls for boiling the sweetened condensed milk to caramelize it. I looked around and found a recipe that calls for heavy cream, and used that - it was good - different because the boiled milk has a more assertive caramel taste - but it worked and that's what I was after! Thanks again -

I don't think you were wrong to leave.... I think you could have let someone in charge know what happened as you left. Maybe write them a note to let them know so it doesn't happen to anyone else - or at least they'll be more aware of it and can handle it far better the next time "they're busy".

Jan Kish from La Petite Fleur did a similar design - white square cakes covered with a cascade of orange/yellow/coppery painted butterflies. They looked as if they were made from gum paste or fondant, their wings were shaped like the letter "V". CalJavaOnline sells pre-made white gum paste butterflies in two sizes, on wires. You could just as easily get a butterfly cutter and make your own as K8 said.....

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I need to make a german choc cake for tomorrow - and tonight I need to make the filling. I have a few cans of dulche de leche from another project and wondered whether or not I can use those in place of having to boil sweetened condensed milk for hours. I need to fill an 11x15 cake (double layer of filling) so I'm going to need a lot of this!! Any thoughts?

Once it is sold, can you remove it? I know, I know, probably not. But can you at least make it easier to work with from the perspective of adding ingredients (without it running along the cage edge and out?) with the mixer running?

I made cookie dough a week ago Thursday (9 days ago); I never got to bake it due to revising work schedules. Usually I make cookies the day after I make the dough, but it's still sitting in the cooler. It's just the usual: creamed butter and sugar, a little salt, flour, vanilla, eggs and a few TBL of milk. I've never kept unbaked dough this long and I'm wondering if I should go in tomorrow (it's been a long week and I want tomorrow off!!) and bake or just forget it and - well, I don't really want to toss this. But I also don't want to bake off batches of cookies (which I will be decorating with colored chocolate rather than royal icing) and have them be awful either. I roll it out between sheets of full size parchment and put two or three on a full size sheet pan; I covered the sheet pan entirely with plastic wrap. Whadda think?

Now this opens up a whole new world of possibilities!! Take us along on your adventures with pictures! This sounds like so much fun and perfect for Easter (homemade "cadbury cream eggs" anyone?)