JeanneCake

I think you can "teach yourself" if you have a good foundation. But if you are a novice, or by yourself, the trial and error can be frustrating - why did something work the first time but not the second? If the video goes into detail about why the process/technique works and what can go wrong then that's helpful. Knowing who to trust is the key. Just today, I was looking for recipes for Tres Leches cakes, and one recipe with more than 50 positive reviews that I found online actually wrote to not let the cooling cake get exposed to "outside air" because that would make the cake "too eggy". 🙄

Ok enablers - I went shopping today and bought some very nice tomatoes and some decent (but not all that squishy) bread. All this talk made me remember these heavenly sandwiches that my husband and I made for "picnics" while on vacation in Napa, touring wineries. Nice bread, gorgeous tomatoes, California sunshine, what more could you ask for (don't answer that!). So I am attempting to recapture those memories in the sweltering heat of a Boston summer....

We had a Coffee Connection in town that morphed into a Starbucks; my neighbor and I would go there on a Saturday afternoon and have a great time chatting and catching up (this was in the Dark Ages before cell phones 😉) and the coffee at the time was pretty good and it didn't cost an arm and a leg either. Now they are on Every. Single. Corner. and the coffee isn't all that great (although I do enjoy the iced Burnt Sugar Oatmilk one on a hot summer day). I like some of their drinks, but not the coffee. I too find it bitter. I did have a pumpkin spice latte last fall and I have no clue what the hype is about that. It tasted like cinnamon milk and it was a waste of $. And then they started selling OLIVE OIL in the coffee. 🙄🤦‍♀️

Yes, exactly When you make the syrup for using in the cake, some of the water can be alcohol or vanilla extract. Be careful, too much alcohol can leave a "hot" taste instead of the pleasant taste you want.

We make a gallon every week; equal amounts of water and sugar. Bring to a rolling boil then cover and let cool. I then use equal amounts of the syrup and water to moisten cake layers. You can add vanilla or juice or alcohol for flavoring if you like. Keep the original syrup refrigerated for longer storage.

The cakes look good, but as they say, you don't know until you cut it! I, myself, would have just used the original recipe and made cupcakes with any leftover batter (you were using an 8" pan). There's room for error when calculating from the chart, to be honest. And, as someone who uses these recipes almost daily, I've never had a problem with the baking powder; I just make the batch size I need and be done with it. I'm not making some of the batter and then added the leavening to whatever is left for the next set of pans. I just make the whole thing and scale it out and it has always worked for me. Reasons for a dry cake - oven temp has a role here and your oven could run a little hot. She says the best test for her recipes is to make the downy yellow one and see how long it takes, to get to know your oven and how her recipes will bake in it. At work I have convection ovens so I'm always rotating the pans and allowing for air flow around them; at home I just used to position the pans so I could slide them over halfway through. a few crumbs on the skewer is fine; completely dry could be just a minute too long in the oven. The white cake has only egg whites, not much additional fat so there's the potential for dryness right there. The yellow cake, with the yolks, has less of a dry mouthfeel; regardless, I always use a simple syrup on butter cakes because we are so used to the lighter/chiffon/cake mix style. You used whole milk, correct? I didn't have a scale the first few times I made her recipes and it is easy to add just a little too much flour when you're not weighing. I say this only because your scale is already playing tricks with the parchment paper LOL so maybe an extra few grams of flour found their way into the batter

I use baking strips more for round or square cakes, not so much for loaf pans. Yes, the sides (because they're protected from the heat of the oven) tend to be lighter in color and less "firm" than when baked without the protective strip. I hadn't noticed anything different about the tops of the cakes (I've baked just about everything from TCB. Wait til you get to the cheesecake!!!)

I don't have Wilton brand but some off-name; I love them and don't notice a different texture on the sides. I'm using Magic Line (brand) cake pans, and a convection oven so YMMV but even baking in a home oven I didn't notice a difference.

Have you made anything from the book yet? I haven't had a recipe from this book fail; I'm on my third copy because I wore out the first two. She also demonstrates some recipes on YouTube if you want to see what things are to look like. I like her style and approach, i want to know why things work the way they do. I like weighing things. Not everyone appreciates this style so YMMV. Let us know which cake you make first!

I'm wondering if it has more to do with home-based businesses using almond bark or other coating chocolate (or couveture, I'm not saying people don't temper at home) and dipping who knows what in it, not being mindful of allergens, etc. Some of the things I read online in the hot cocoa bomb craze made me 🤢. Easier for them to just not allow it than to understand the process!

Today I had a Popeye's chicken sandwich (a friend brought it to me because we're busy, I'm bored with the food at the pizza place next door and she was getting one anyway). It was very crispy, which surprized me, I don't know what I was expecting. And, normally I am not a pickle fan (except for bread and butter pickles on a homemade cheeseburger) but there were pickles in the sandwich! And I liked it! 😆 I don't go to fast food places like McDonalds, BK or Wendys so I don't have a frame of reference for where Popeye's falls on this spectrum, and I haven't had anything else from there to know if this sandwich was an anomaly and I'll never get a nice crispy chicken sandwich ever again or if this is how they always are. (I'm not planning on going out of my way for another one so we may never know. The last time I was in a fast food place was in San Diego, at El Pollo Loco at the turn of the century.)

LOL that means you can say it's "vintage" and get a lot more money for it!!

If I squint, it kind of reminds me of a tronco mold, but those usually have the dividers up to the top of the mold. Maybe a ladyfingers mold for making tiramisu or charlotte russe or molded bavarian? At 8x7 you could cut it in half and have a strip that goes all the way around an entremet mold....

You should go and tour the schools that you are most interested in attending. You will get different opinions from everyone you ask about the quality of the school/education; look carefully at their placement numbers and where the graduates are going. If you are on social media, ask the student groups (if you are able to join the group, that is, some are restricted to current students/graduates) what they think, where they have been placed. Your technical school is giving you the basics, going to a culinary school will teach you the "why" behind the methods. there is a difference between a school like JWU and CIA and the culinary programs at community colleges, programs that teach recreational and semi-pro classes. You want a serious education, you go to a school serious about their program, that has longevity in the field and lifelong placement opportunities. Use this time to research scholarships - one of my voke students got enough scholarships so that she paid only $10k for her CIA education. As someone in a position to hire, I know that a culinary education is no guarantee of skills/proficiency - but I know the curriculum at CIA and JWU and know that JWU grads have an edge in the pastry program, while CIA grads have an edge in baking. I also know that those students know how to make a pastry cream, they know how to make choux, they know how to assemble an entremet - by working for me, they will hone those skills, learn new tips and trucs and be able to take the next step in building a career.

I was thinking it was just color, not colored cooca butter. is that even possible? (I stopped trying to understand chocolate after your tempering lessons, which were very successful - because I can do it! - but it makes me feel like the chocolate is in charge and that's not something I'm used to so I'm sticking to buttercream LOL!) It (the technique/result) reminds me of the learning curve when doing palette knife flowers in buttercream and how to color it and how to apply it....

I've seen very small foam-tip tools, I wonder if that's it? To my very untrained eye, it could also be dabs of color and then a brief puff of compressed air(?) blown on it to "push" it around.

Are you home now? (hopefully!)

I remember having beans and hot dogs (cut up and put into the beans) when I was a kid; usually when my parents were going out on a Saturday night. It was that, or the old standby, pastina, that was a giveaway that we were getting a babysitter and they were going out! I love lentil soup and now that Margaret has mentioned Senate Bean Soup, I want some !

The only table top sheeter I'm familiar with is Somerset (i have a fondant sheeter from them). Expensive but solidly built. Edited to add: if you are in the New England region, you can pick up a unit. Or see if they are s trade show in your area, they could be persuaded to not ship it back to Massachusetts

I wasn't much of a bean person before the bean club..... I still remember years ago when @rotuts posted that the Bean Club was opening up, and immediately I went to the site to join - and I also signed my neighbors up so they wouldn't miss out. I've never regretted it and while I've considered cutting back, the next box usually contains something I was missing (domingo roja in this last one!) and then I realize how much I rely on the bean box just showing up and I don't have to think about it. If I start to get too many unused bags, or have something I'm not likely to use, I give them to friends who love to cook or are on the waiting list. I've told my neighbors we're never leaving the bean club

and that distrust is absolutely warranted. I remember thinking, the next chapter is where some health inspector shuts down their event because of all the sternos! I did a taste of the town event about 12? years ago; the health inspector went round to each table before the doors opened, to certify the vendor to participate (this, after making all the vendors go to a mandatory 1 hour presentation, if you didn't go, you couldn't participate at this charity event! All of us were required to have sneeze guards at the tables 🙄). One local grocery/gourmet was doing a turkey "dinner" (they were trying to promote their Thanksgiving menu) and the health inspector told them their turkey had to be some ridiculous temp or they couldn't serve it. The ended up boiling the gravy, pouring it over the turkey and the inspector did a temp check and only then, allowed them to participate. Regulatory mindset indeed. I stopped doing those events after that; not worth the aggravation. (I did chocolate-dipped marshmallows, and I had to have covers on my display plates because I wasn't willing to rent a sneeze guard for a 2 hour event).

For what it's worth, the high-end caterers that I had relationships with were able to stay afloat doing weekly meals, picked up curbside or delivered. That carried many of them through the end of the first pandemic year; even some of the distributors (meat, fish) got into the game and started selling to consumers. Whoever thought of curbside delivery/pick up should be awarded a medal! At least in Boston, the restaurants have continued outdoor seating during the warmer months, although the mayor has severely restricted outdoor restaurant seating in a few neighborhoods and has a different pricing structure because OF COURSE now you have to get a separate permit in order to serve food outside 🤨 One thing I realized is that people who run a restaurant think differently than people who do off-site catering. It's the nature of the business. One chef I know says he doesn't want to be in the logistics/transportation business and that's definitely a consideration. In a restaurant, you worry about your cooler going down, late deliveries or equipment malfunctioning; with off-premise catering, you have to worry about SO MUCH MORE! You learn to anticipate what could possibly go wrong and have a plan for solving it. It's not only the food, it's the logistics. And for caterers and guests, it's about out-doing the last event with some new interactive station (you can't just EAT, you have to be entertained as well 😄) or finding the next new hot menu item. The book touched on that with a few stories, and I absolutely could relate!

I can't get behind the paywall to read the article; I do remember getting a recommendation to read the book a few years ago. I thought it was interesting - and a lot of what they mention was common practice in the two catering kitchens I shared space with. So for me, I thought, yeah this is the way it is, it's not a huge leap of innovation or anything. It was my oncologist who recommended the book, and she was fascinated by it and everything that goes on behind the scenes. I remember thinking if I'd read a book written by a doctor in a similar vein, I'd probably be fascinated to know what happens behind the scenes too!

I made the usual Havana Moon Chili (more olives, golden raisins, no almonds), 7 layer dip, bought some Street Corn dip, and at the last minute I decided I wanted chicken wings so I braved a grocery store (thinking curbside would surely be out of stock) and sure enough, there was a sign saying 'no fresh chicken wings available'. None of the pre-made ones either! The ones at the fresh-food-to-go counter looked too dried up so I went without. I had the TV to myself for part of the game and I, sadly, do not understand football in the least. I did enjoy the commercials, though; and the Dunkin Donuts one was my favorite (I missed the Sarah Mclachlin one, did not understand the Charlie the human lie detector one, and thought the Pepsi acting/not acting was cute and the Breaking Bad one was done well). I had no opinion about who could/should/would win and thought the halftime show was a snooze fest (are they Oompa Loompahs? StayPuft Marshmallow men? HazMat suits? Is WeatherTec making rain gear for people? 😉) I never manage to keep the Rotel/Velveeta dip fluid enough after the initial melt so there's that

they probably are, and then you'd have to clean/shake them to get the skin out of the gloves. Or maybe not; I'm thinking these look like chainmail and there are spaces where the skins would get caught up in? Usually I boil the nuts with a little bit of baking soda and then toss them on a towel and rub the skins off. I admit I have less and less patience with this method the older I get and then I see the price of blanched hazelnuts and think, eh, it's not so bad! Actually the price of any nuts these days! Edited to add: this method was suggested in one of RLB's books and has always worked for me. I toast the nuts after skinning them....