JeanneCake

It's kind of like watching all three Stooges rolled into one guy who's cooking..... My husband and son love it; I'm not as into it. I was on the fence about it - some of the episodes I liked, but it was when they bowled with turkeys that I realized I couldn't get past all the wasted food in the name of entertainment. I'm (foolishly) holding out hope that they donated an amount of food equal or greater than what they're playing with ....

Can you put the sliced strawberries on the cake layer, with a buttercream dam around the edge, and then layer the custard in? You'd get a berry in each slice that way. For my cakes, I use pastry cream for my "custard" and have it a little on the thick side so I can add a little whipped cream to lighten it up. I make the pastry cream cakes the day before they are to be served, (I chop the berries, they're not sliced) and haven't had any comments about watering out....

After reading through the posts, I started to wonder.... how is pastry and baking education handled in similar schools in foreign countries? How does Le Cordon Bleu do P&B? Does anyone know what their program is like? What about other countries? It would be a powerful statement to cite an example of what you're looking is something that already exists in a foreign curriculum.

When you mentioned the tall, narrow vessel for sugar, I immediately thought of using some type of immersion blender but outfitted with a whisk-type attachment. I've never made the marshmallows myself, so this could be completely off base, but perhaps you could use a handheld cordless drill with a whisk "bit" originally from a handheld mixer attachment? Or a dentist's drill - but I have no clue where you'd find a tiny enough whisk to use as a beater!

I've been hired to provide desserts next weekend for a local music chamber group evening event. They're showcasing a pianist from Argentina, so the music and menu is honoring their featured guest. The caterer is working up a tapas menu, and I'd like to include some regional dessert choices and maybe some of the usual mini pastry suspects (I haven't decided anything yet).... it's probably going to be for about 200 people, so I'm thinking 3 pieces per person. I can't do any cooking there (so no more playing with the torch on those champagne creme brulees!!!) so one-bite things would be ideal IMHO. So, any ideas? I'd love to do a dessert tapas menu, but I need some inspiration from all of you (long week with lots of weddings this weekend, I'm pretty fried already). I tried to google "argentinian desserts" in a few different variants, but I didn't come up with much past dulce de leche! thanks, jeanne

Do you have time to get any banana compound to add to your standard pastry cream recipe? Or add mashed banana with some allspice or dark rum if alcohol is ok to your pastry cream recipe. Sherry Yard has a recipe for "banana schmutz" in her baking book - I've never tried it, but it might be a good starting place for inspiration. Maida Heatter has a banana terrine recipe in her New(est) book of Great Desserts (it's the one without her photo on the cover, all her other books have her pictured with all the desserts). Now, if I could find my copies of these books, I could be more helpful. Dorie Greenspan, in Paris Sweets, talks about a chocolate banana tart - sauteed sliced bananas (in butter on high heat - melt some butter and sugar first, then throw in the banana slices, until they are caramelized. Remove with slotted spoon, blot excess butter and layer into a prebaked tart shell, cover with ganache and use some for garnish). So maybe you could ask if you could substitute a truffle filling with these sauteed bananas and a little cinnamon (or candied ginger)?

is it sweetened or unsweetened? The Cake Bible has some chestnut cake recipes - the cake calls for chestnut flour, but the filling calls for chestnut puree. You could make a mousse filling for a chocolate cake (or tart crust) and if you find any candied chestnuts at this time of year, you could add those. Or maybe some candied ginger bits. I used to have a recipe for a white choc chestnut pave (terrine) but it's lost to eternity now. Too bad because it was nice to eat - marbled blobs of white choc chestnut and dark choc mousse in a plastic-lined terrine or loaf mold, then glazed with more dark choc.

wow, thanks Sebastian, that was great. I learn so much from everyone here, and not just about pastry either!!!

try looking for a rhubarb financier and see what happens.... or look for another fruit financier and see if you can replace the fruit with rhubarb...

I've been seeing all types of silicone molds (shaped ice cube styles) in retail stores lately and have managed to talk myself out of buying them every time, but ... this ice block dipping technique could be a great way to get some new chocolate "cup" shapes on the mini pastry table!

could you use a white chocolate ganache? Test it first, only because in my experience, ganache doesn't have the "sticky" factor that helps to hold the fondant on. When I use it, I put a thin coat on just before I put the fondant on and that helps.

I've had the best luck with lavenders by using the Grape Violet paste color from Sugarflair (I get it from Creativecutters.com or from beryls.com). It reminds me of a funny story... I did a three tier square lavender cake, dropped it off at 10 am (it was a last minute order... the restaurant called on Tuesday for the same week and of course doesn't have time to send me a swatch) and at 4, the function manager is calling me saying the cake is pink, not lavender. I promptly took a picture of the left over lavender fondant, which was still lavender, btw, a piece of pink fondant that I'd been working with and a lavender gum paste rose, all together on a white cake board, emailed it to her and never heard a peep from her again about it. For pale colors, I usually wait until just before I'm working on the cake to color the fondant - for deeper colors I do it the day before.

Hello, hope you have enjoyed the first night and that you're able to get some well deserved rest! I know I have the recipes saved somewhere around here, I copied them from last year because I thought I might use them to do the Sisterhood cooking presentation but there wasn't time. I do have someone who called today asking for a cake for a 4 yr old's birthday for Saturday - I would like to do the brownie as a sort of layered cake approximation, with layers of brownie baked in a round pan with frosting (or nondairy type frosting) in between the layers and not on the outside (think the inside out german choc cake on epicurious.com). The brownies I ended up doing for today were the Katharine Hepburn brownies - 4 oz butter or margarine, 2 oz unsweetened choc, melted; then stir in 7 oz sugar, pinch salt, 1 tsp vanilla and 2 eggs (do the eggs separately for best results). Then stir in 1/4 cup cake meal, chopped nuts if you want, pour into 8" square pan (line it with foil or make a foil sling and spray to make it easier to get out of the pan) and bake at 325 for about 35-40 mins. They are fudgy with the classic thin crusty top. and the recipe scales up nicely (multiply by 3 for a 9x13 pan). But they wouldn't be great for this birthday cake, I don't think. It should be something with a cakier texture, but they don't want sponge cake, they like this brownie idea. Happy Passover! Any ideas? edited to add pan prep

When clients ask me to use a family recipe, or something out of the ordinary where they are providing me the recipe, I tell them that I will be charging a small fee for the tasting/consultation. They understand that, it's because I'm doing something outside what I usually do and no one has ever had a problem with it. (I explain that I don't charge for consultations - which is a one hour time and includes tasting my house recipes, but they choose, obviously, what they want to taste.) At the meeting, I get feedback from them - is this what it is supposed to taste like? (etc). And because I've made the recipe a few days in advance, I can also adjust my recipes to see if I can come close to what they're asking for but with a known formula that I'm comfortable with. Then I can suggest to them what kind of configuration will work - maybe this won't do for a traditional stacked cake, but will work for individual cakes on stands (or cupcakes as K8 mentioned). This gives them an option to consider, and allows me to price accordingly. It might help you in this case.

Hi Pam! I just found your blog this year! You're a wonderful blogger and I love reading about your adventures and wish you lots of success in the new space. And hope that you are able to rest after the holiday. Anyway, last year you shared two brownie recipes with us - one had choc chips, butter, cake meal and potato starch; the other had oil and cocoa powder. I've had some people ask me this year to make brownies for them (they know I'm not a kosher baker, I share space and they are aware of that. Mostly I make macaroons for my Passover clients). Which recipe is your favorite or maybe the question is which version sells out faster!? I would leave out the nuts either way. Thanks again for taking the time to share with us this year. It's a big effort, and I most definitely appreciate it. Jeanne

I've never seen them in my local supermarket, but there's supposed to be "irradiated" (I don't think I spelled that right) eggs in the shell - maybe they're labeled pasteurized? - that could work for this recipe. I can get pasteurized liquid eggs from my distributor, but that's not something available in the local supermarket.

A very, very long time ago, before I went to school, I used The Cake Bible to make my own wedding cake. I followed her instructions to the letter and used the start/stop technique (and the pyrex cup!). It was 15 years later that I went to school and learned that you don't have to beat the butter before hand, you add the syrup in a steady stream; if your sugar is ready before the whites are, you add more water to slow it down and buy yourself more time. Plus, you don't have to add any liquor to the buttercream when it's done, it's fine the way it is. The part that's missing from these Cake Bible instructions is that you're supposed to be working quickly. With this method, there shouldn't be any lag time in adding the syrup, turning on the mixer etc. It should take about 30 seconds to add the syrup. Sarah, maybe you could put a "baker's note" or "Sarah's Suggestion" in about this instead of removing the recipe from your site....

I can't tell from the first photo whether there's liquid in the bottom left corner or not. When you added the hot syrup, how did you do it (slowly? quickly? what speed was the mixer at?) It may be that your meringue deflated/collapsed and so the butter didn't incorporate. Do you have a blow torch? You could use it to warm up the sides of the bowl while the whip is on (speed 2 or 4) and see what happens. Or take some out and put it in a microwave safe container, and nuke it for 3-5 sec until soft and melt-y (like ice cream). Add this in a steady stream to the cold buttercream and let it go for a few minutes and see if it comes together. You can only do this once or twice before you end up with just butter in the bowl, though. Edited to add: When I'm re-whipping buttercream, I use the paddle and try to have it as close to rm temp as I can (as long as it isn't ice cold)

McDuff, Who is RLB and can you tell us the technique? I have tried reducing Boiron's raspberry and mango purees in the microwave, and while I've been satisified with the results, I always feel as though I am violating the heat restriction and possibly losing some flavor compounds. Sorry if I should know who RLB is, maybe it's too early for me! Jennifer ← RLB is Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of several baking (and one cooking) books. She describes a method to reduce the juice of thawed, drained frozen raspberries and strawberries (as well as regular fresh squeezed OJ for orange curd) in the microwave to concentrate the juices into a thick syrup. It's not the same as what you'd get in a compound (there's no sugar in the syrup, you add some to taste to the entire puree). The berry puree has a fresh, clean flavor, but you would probably use more of the puree than a compound because of the concentration. You might want to consider asking Amoretti if they'd sell you smaller size jars. They have sample sizes that are about a third of a cup and maybe that's all you need. I love the Driedoppel fruit compounds, and their champagne compound; but for others, I like different brands. I use the Amoretti eggnog compound for cheesecake at Christmas.

I'm swooning... thank you for taking us along on your trip to Chocolate Heaven!!

with all the money you've spent on hand held mixers over time, you probably spent the equivalent of a stand mixer! I have a 5 qt model that's been in use for 15 years and still going strong, so maybe that's a good option for you. (In the shop I have a 20 qt Hobart, a 6qt KA and a 5 qt KA with extra bowls, beaters and whips for each. I bought a 7 qt Viking, and brought that one home because it wasn't very useful in the shop). I'm thinking that next I need a 40 qt hobart so I can still use the bowls from the 20 on it if need be. But, I'd second the idea of buying a stand mixer....

The Dummy Place - 860-875-1736. The gentleman's name is Lenny and he's very, very nice. He can send you the catalogue of shapes/sizes and foam boards that are cut to your specs or you could just tell him what you want and he can invoice you if you don't want (or have the time) to wait for the catalogue to arrive.

The colored soy wrappers are mamenori .... you may be able to find them locally through an oriental foods distributor. I had more trouble getting the right texture with the sweet sushi rice, though! I used coconut milk and sugar, and then sprinkled with more coconut milk and sweet rice wine after it was ready. I made these for a charity event a few years ago; the key is to wrap them tightly, use a sharp knife to cut the pieces - the mamenori is about 6 inches in width if I remember correctly. The wet fruits will tear through the wrapper if they get too wet. I made the rolls the day before, and cut them the day of. You definitely want to glaze them (be careful when applying the glaze, otherwise it makes a mess of the wrapper) and use the black sesame seeds! I plated them with choc quills for chopsticks and lime curd for the wasabi.

It won't shrink, it just dries rock hard. Depending on where you get the styrofoam, you may want to fill in any gaps (and uneven spots that can develop if it's not packed well during shipping), with royal icing first. Personally, I find the styrofoam from The Dummy Place in CT to be superior to anything else I've bought, I never have to do anything to it before I cover it with fondant. If you like the look, he'll even round the edges if you like, and this chamfering can be a lot or just barely there (the just barely there is nice for square corners, which sometimes will cause a tear, and that would be bad for a show cake). Keep us posted on things as you get ready for the show, and good luck!

Sheeters are expensive! There's a company somewhere in MA that sells tabletop sheeters and their cheapest one started at $4K. They're a new company so their stuff isn't available used yet; and I wonder about a used sheeter - it could be tough to clean and get all the flour, etc out of it depending on where it was used before. The clay gun is a good tool to have around to make borders with and if you do any figure sculpting, it has little disks to make various effects easier; I'd definitely get one (you can also buy them at a local craft store). I have a cake design that resembles a hand-tied bouquet with lots of stems around the sides of the cake. I used to use the clay gun to make each stem, then I decided to try a cookie press and went through three or four of them. I finally bought the Wilton cookie press and the stand Earlene makes for it (the stand doesn't fit any other cookie press), and it cut down the time it takes to do this design considerably. I would wait on this one, you may not need it just yet. But if you get a cookie press, get the black and silver one from Wilton so if you do eventually get the stand, you will already have the right one. And if you buy the adapter disks from her, you can use the clay gun disks in the big cookie press. The pasta machine is good for making very thin strips of fondant or gum paste; for when you want cut outs or if you are making flower petals or ribbons of fondant for around the base of a cake. You want to make sure you store it in a plastic bag so it doesn't get dusty; and if you can afford it, get the motor that goes with it - it will make using it easier for long strips, especially if you are alone and can't grab someone to help.