JeanneCake

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.....

Cal Java, also known as Sweet Inspirations (or CalJavaOnline) is now carrying an FDA approved pearlized metallic dust. Check it out here http://caljavaonline.com/platinumdust1.html

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?)

If you can buy or borrow The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, there is a recipe for Neoclassic buttercream. You boil corn syrup and sugar until it comes to a hard boil and add it to beaten egg yolks. Some people do not like using a recipe with yolks because the syrup is not hot enough to bring the yolks to a safe temp but you could use pasteurized yolks if you can get them. Back to the mousseline buttercream, though: When pouring the syrup in, you want to hit the "sweet spot" just between the whip and the side of the bowl. If you hit the bowl too much/too often, you'll get a little sugar syrup dam eventually and have less buttercream at the end. If you hit the whip, it spins the sugar around the bowl and you could get those hard threads you mentioned earlier. When you add the syrup, you want the mixer at speed 6 (on a KA) or 8 depending on what you used to beat the whites with to begin. Check out your local Home Goods or discount shop for a probe-type thermometer. I see them every so often for about $16 and buy them when I see them (that price is about what I pay from the restaurant supply) because if you let the probe thread come into contact with a flame, it fries it, thus rendering the probe useless.

The lack of digestive system in the Jolly Red Fat Man makes me think of my son's current favorite movie, Santa Clause 2; when the real Santa has to find a wife, someone makes a "clone" Santa who can't eat/drink so no one realizes Santa is on a field trip. But I can't remember anything about pork pies and sherry in that movie!!

I've had good luck with my local supermarket bringing in special orders from KA for me; try asking and see what happens. You might have to agree to a huge amount, though (50# or more) but give it a shot.....

I use my Atlas pasta maker to roll out fondant, chocolate plastique, and gum paste. I've had it for almost a year, and I probably use it once or twice a month (it has a motor). To clean it, I usually run a damp paper towel through it (although the first time I wasn't paying attention and was wiping it with a dish towel, which promptly got stuck in the rollers! I had to cut it away and then it worked like a champ.) Now, it doesn't "grab" the dough, no matter what setting it is on. The rollers move toward each other when it is on; they also slide wider or narrower depending on which setting is chosen. The fondant (think dough) doesn't catch automatically, so I try to guide it, but it doesn't grab even then. Any clues? Is it hopeless? This is the first sign of trouble, it's been fine up to now. The motor still works, maybe I should just get another pasta machine...?

Maybe that person gave them the display dome (not that I am suggesting you do the same!) How much do you want this client? Brian's right - some places are always going to do things this way and they might not make it worth your while. Did you ask them to try your stuff? If they were open to that, maybe they'd be open to more suggestions? I don't know of any "how to" book on marketing desserts, but there's a monthly restaurant magazine I've seen on occasion (Restaurant Today? something like that) - and maybe that's a good place to start. Or the Modern Baking magazine - I think that web site is www.modern-baking.com but I'm not at all sure, sorry. Right on about the tent cards!

It may be that they've "always done things this way" so they didn't know to do something different. They slice and pack the cakes so it's easy to handle at the point of sale. It takes time to cut a piece and pack it up for a customer to go (I'm guessing this is to go - otherwise, it doesn't make any sense!! Why waste the plastic container if the client eats in? Had you been a customer or maybe watched the customer flow in the shop before you started to sell to them? This will tell you a lot about what the staff is able to do . A restaurant I sold to didn't want me to mark the tops of the cakes but the wait staff couldn't cut straight, or evenly and there was a lot of waste. Eventually they agreed to let me mark the tops of the cakes. Maybe it's the same here. If they want to show slices, then offer to create "tent cards" to place alongside the neatly lined up containers; garnish the case with some silk leaves or flowers to add some color and polish to the display to make it look more enticing in general. Why are they buying from you to begin with? To offer something new to their clients? Replace the in-house baker? Increase sales? Approach it from that angle and see if they are responsive ("I know you wanted to increase the amount of dessert sales with the product you're buying from me. Could I suggest that next time I bring two of each? You can pre-slice one cake and show the other whole and see if that increases the sales of that item?") Or "other clients of mine have found that people can't resist seeing the entire mousse cake displayed - would you like to give that a try?" Or suggest they slice just half of the cake, leaving the other half whole so it can display well. Pull the slices just a little bit out from the cake to make it easier to handle.

I've done a pear buttercream for a past client, using the Perfect Puree pear - but it is a pale yellow/gold, not at all green so I'd go for tinting it if you do it. Pear is such an elusive flavor to capture - I used practically the entire bottle of puree and wished I'd had some compound.

Hi Pam.... Have you ever subbed out different nuts and fruits in the biscotti? I'm thinking about pistachios or hazelnuts and apricots; as well as a hazelnut and dried cherry (with lemon zest instead of the orange) version. I didn't know if you'd already tried this and did it work or not work....

You could dip vanilla marshmallows in white chocolate that's been tinted a pale green; or dip the lime ones into plain white chocolate and then into tinted coconut...

there have to be other factors in your decision. Is your prospective retail location going to cut into your wholesale accounts (are you selling to restaurants? gourmet stores? other retailers?)? In its former life as a supermarket (if I read that right), parking is easy, the location is accessible from major thoroughfares in town and it has been known as a food location previously. So those are helpful plusses (compared to being out of the way and limited parking. People don't want to carry boxes of pastries or heavy cakes any great distance.) Have you been operating as retail to the public from your current location (if so, why bother moving?) Does this location give you the opportunity to offer eat in meals? Are you at all interested in that or is your hope that it is take out only? Would you need to add that or if you had to, could you? Can you hire to handle that load? Do you want to offer breads and savoury baked goods in addition to your sweet line (just like Gayle's did in Capitola, CA)? All food for thought.... you'll either decide to do it and be happy with the decision or if something comes up and it doesn't happen, it doesn't mean the end of your business.

Yes! The remake. Congrats! My favorite part of the movie is when the housekeeper, Chessie, waves goodbye to the Dad, twins and fiancee and says "I would pay big money to see that woman climb a mountain!!"