JeanneCake

there was a thread about this some time ago (last year?) - and one of the suggestions was that too much water in the pans inihibited the cooking process and the suggestion was to use less water in the water bath. I can try to look for the thread later (I really should be leaving for work!), but it might have been a suggestion from nightscotsman or wendy debord.

← OK, really people - on what TV show has anyone (host or otherwise) NOT made some positive comment about the food they're tasting? Other than Alton Brown on that motorcycle show, or Tony Bourdain perhaps (the travel show, which unfortunately I have not seen) I can't think of someone who tastes the food they've just ordered/prepared and doesn't start to make some kind of mmm-good noises! What do you expect them to do?! Spit it out and say "you've just wasted the last half hour watching me make garbage? Don't do this at home?!"

In school, our german chef instructor told us to never refrigerate fondant covered cakes (I still hear her admonishments when I do it now); but as Annie (chefpeon) pointed out, how can you get multiple cakes done for a particular day if you can't refrigerate them? So, on her encouragement, I've been refrigerating my fondant covered cakes and haven't had any problems. I try to build my cakes on Thursday during the day or evening and then on Friday (usually late in the day due to the schedule), cover the individual tiers and stack them. Then into the cooler they go. On Saturday, I take them out and start working on them. Sometimes condensation has been an issue when the weather is warm, the fondant becomes "dewy" and shiny and you need to take care with decorating it. If I'm doing a design that requires painting or elaborate piping, I'll schedule that cake for covering with fondant/finishing it for the day of rather than the day before. So, it works and it makes my life easier. If you have time, you could do a small test cake in fondant to see how your fondant will behave (with condensation and all) in your particular refrigerator or cooler.

Eewww! Way too realistic, so I guess they accomplished their goal. Lenabo needs to translate for us and tell us what the captions say!

You might have better luck using melted white chocolate to attach the flowers to the sides - the chocolate will set faster than the royal icing, especially if your fondant cake is chilled first; how big are the flowers? Full-blown roses are heavier than something like a hydrangea so you might need to support the flower with a toothpick. When I use purchased gum paste flowers that come on wires, sometimes I wrap the wire around a toothpick, or I wind the wires from two or three flowers together and put the wires into a coffee stir-stick "straw" because the sticks are longer and protect the cake from direct contact with the wires.

The wife is never going to leave; she is always going to second guess you and make your life miserable while you are there. Sounds to me as if she's threatened by your skill and ability and needs to restore the pecking order every so often with something stupid like throwing out a perfectly good batch of cookies. Take your recipes and get outta there!

It does look a lot better (price-wise!) than the other things we've seen. Kathyf, let us know how well it works out. I have two small clay guns - the silver one with the plunger and the red/black one that Beryl's sells. Both leave my hands feeling as if I have arthritis after a day of using them! Let us know what you think in terms of use, how much it holds, etc. Thanks for the info!!

There are definite favorites in the different regions of the United States. In the South (although I am not from the southern US), a layer cake called Red Velvet is popular - it is a plain cake with a very little bit of chocolate powder and a lot of liquid red food coloring. Here in the Northeast (Boston area), I get a lot of requests for "marble" cake - it's vanilla and chocolate cake batter swirled together in the pan before it is baked. But because I don't have a good scratch recipe for marble cake, I use two layers of choc or vanilla cake and one layer of the opposite (for example - two choc one vanilla) in my bakeshop. Friends of ours have recently adopted a child from St Petersburg. I would love to make some things for her now that she is here in the US (she is a little over 3 years old). Can you share some recipes for things that children love over there? I know I can't exactly replicate it but I could try to come close.... Thanks, Lenabo!

what a great idea - the play doh thing! Lots less $ than these cookie presses that I seem to be burning through, and with the bigger lever thing, probably a whole lot easier to use. After all, if a child can do it...! Very brillant idea, thank you! That clay extruder looks promising, though pricey. The advantage there is the amount of fondant it can have in the barrel so you can get a really long rope. Considering the amount of $ I've spent in cookie presses, I'd be a third of the way there already!

I need help finding a tool that will help me extrude fondant ropes. I've been using the Wilton Ultra Pro cookie press because it was recommended by Earlene Moore (Earlene's Cakes) to use with a wooden stand she makes specifically to support it so you can make long ropes, etc. But I've been through three cookie presses in the last year, and I'm tired of buying them and having them stop working after a few tries. What happens is that the mechanism stops clicking and I end up having to press down on the plunger with a cake pan (it works, but my shoulders and arms take quite a beating...) Fondant is stiffer than cookie dough, I know; I'm softening it up with some piping gel but still am having to replace them every few months. Any one have a particular favorite brand that they think can hold up to the abuse? Is there such a thing as a manual professional-grade cookie press?

My favorite apple cake/bread recipe is from Payard - and the recipe is online here although you may have to sign in with an email address. It's from his book Simply Sensational Desserts. It is excellent and lasts a while if you don't scarf it down all at once

what a great story (first chapter of your book, maybe? So... where's the picture?!!

What was this author's point? Did his article mention a problem or what his issue was? Any chance there's a link to this madness? I'm fascinated by how people are applying the standards and norms we learned at PBS (how to cook by pros like Jacques Pepin, Lydia Bastianiach, Julia, etc) to the Entertainment Food Network. I was talking last week to a past contestant of a Food Network challenge and she said, it's all about TV, not the cakes. Just like there are tons of TV channels now, people aren't just watching PBS anymore to learn to cook. They're watching the Food Network as well, and some of the shows do take the viewer by the hand and make cooking seem less intimidating to young adults who didn't learn at their grandmother's house how to cook. What PBS cooking shows did (and do) was teach - not entertain; and some Food Network shows do some teaching, but virtually all of them are about entertainment. There are hundreds of TV channels and TV stars - all the stars ride out their popularity as long as they can. This network just happens to feature food in all their programming. Would that article's author have taken to task the writing team that produces all those copycat crime shows (is it Law and Order? Or CSI? One of them is on almost every night featuring a different city.) Maybe he's just trying to make some publicity for himself by picking on an easy target?

CookieBoy, your croquembouche is wonderful! It gives me an idea for what I can do for our local "Taste of the City" event. Last year I did a panna cotta with a red wine berry sauce, but this is far more eye-catching and unique. Can you explain how you attached the macarons and how people were able to remove them? Thanks!

Are the paper liners coming off completely or partially? Are you buying the liners from a distributor or from a craft store? I ask only because the last time I bought cupcake liners from Perkins (paper wholesaler), the size wasn't right, it was a little small. But I had bought a bunch of pans from the local Home Goods store, and these cupcake pans are shallower and just a touch narrower - which means the too small liners fit these pans. The problem is I hate the pans!! I've been tempted to buy new pans from the restaurant supply store but haven't made the effort. Anyway, back to your issue. Do the cupcakes that come out look bad or are in any way mis-shapen? Could you possibly put new liners on and tie them with a pretty ribbon (it's the same amount of time if you have to re-bake them)?

a chocolate marquise is a type of mousse - it has eggs, butter, chocolate and cream....

This is very true. Most people don't associate feeling sick with something they ate more than 24 hours ago. My only knowledge about how this sort of thing happens is anecdotal: About 4-5 years ago, a large well-known baking company in the area was cited for food borne illness. Several guests at various weddings in the city had become ill (including the bride and groom at one of the weddings) - some had gone to hospitals, which is how the city health dept got involved. They began to investigate and eventually narrowed it down to the wedding cakes. It turns out the mixers hadn't been thoroughly cleaned (I can't remember what caused the problem - it wasn't E. coli and am not even going to hazard a guess). But what happened next is that the city's health dept put out an alert to all the other health depts in the area (I am 30 miles north of the city and my health dept got a notice). My city's health agent calls me to tell me about it and even faxed me a copy of the alert notice. The notice didn't say who the company was, but everyone found out eventually. Because they were such a big company, they were able to recover and have done well since. But if it happened to a small business like mine, who's to say the outcome would be the same....

Is this kinda like a game show, where those of us on the sidelines can offer suggestions?! As in - Ling check out the Cake Bible for a great pineapple treatment. I think it has something to do with pink peppercorns but I can't remember and if I could find the book, that would really help things along! But maybe we're supposed to be silent spectators.... The game's afoot! This is gonna be so much fun! Great idea, Kerry!

Hi Sarah - Thank you for commissioning the study - everyone will benefit! It would be useful/interesting to ask the expert how long the frosting can be held at rm temp (measured in hours, or days) when freshly made - not how long it can be held on a cake because you could make the frosting on Wed and not use it until Friday and then ... (e.g., in Colette's books, she routinely suggests that one recipe or another can be held at rm temp for 1-2 days; or RLB's Cake Bible also has storage times listed in the recipe itself).

I loved this! Keep writing! Keep writing!

You also have to consider that Rosie's book is intended for a home baker and her website also is talking about things you're taking home to consume. But, if you are a professional selling to the public, you have to be more than careful. There's a lot of anecdotal information that we take for granted, but if the health dept comes calling, someone has some explaining to do. And what I learned in food safety class regarding the 4 hour time/temp window is that it isn't the 4 hours in your control. It's cumulative. You can't start the clock over again if you put the X (whatever it is) back in the fridge after it has been out for 3.5 hours. So leaving something out when it's just your family that will eat it is one thing. If you are selling a product, it is better to err on the side of caution. Just look at that whole bagged spinach issue last week!

If you visit their website they suggest you can let a cake sit out for up to 24 hours if necessary..... Rosie's Website Look under serving instructions (not all cakes are to be left out for that long, she gives a list of what can be held for how long)

Well, that must mean something is wrong with mine. I can run a batch of buttercream and because I have to turn it on so far in advance just to get the meringue made properly, it slows and stalls when I'm adding the butter (this is about 20 mins continuous running at speed 6 with a min or two at speed 8 when I add the syrup). It doesn't happen every time, but often enough. I turn it off, wait a few seconds and then it goes right back on as if nothing ever happened. But it's 2? 3? years old so I'm sure I'm out of luck as far as it goes.

I'm so glad it worked out for you! The next time you order, buy extra bottom plates - they come in handy. I won't buy anyone else's pans any more. The Magic Line ones are better than anything I've ever used. The worst part? They'll custom make any shape/size/depth you want! What I'd love for them to do is make all those shapes you can only get from Australia (the ovals, comma, emerald, etc....)

I've had the 7 qt mixer for a few years. Originally I bought it because a client was allergic to nuts and wanted carrot cake for her wedding - her allergies were so severe that I didn't want to chance using the regular equipment (well, I guess I just needed the excuse to buy a new toy!). I have a 20 qt Hobart, a 5qt KA and 2 6 qt KAs and this one. I don't like it for a variety of reasons - the stuff at the bottom of the bowl never really incorporates well without a lot of bowl scraping. Now I use it pretty much for buttercream, and it is awful. Despite the power and capacity, it takes longer to whip egg whites in it than my trusted KA 6 qt. In fact, I have to start beating the whites (on speed 6) as soon as I put the sugar on to boil if I want them to be done by the time the sugar is ready. After only 3-4 months, the whip broke while beating egg whites (it was replaced and has since not had a problem). It will stop after 20 or so mins of continuous operation. I bought it because I needed another tabletop mixer and wanted something with a bigger capacity but didn't want to spend the $ for a 10 qt Hobart. It was a mistake and a waste of $.