JeanneCake

I'd always wondered about the difference between Swiss and Italian meringue buttercream. I've heard that Cheryl Kleinman and Ron Ben-Israel use Swiss exclusively (because she didn't like the little specs that sometimes appear in the IM). I've always used IM - it was what I learned in classes, and I love the taste and how it handles. But what drives me nuts is the egg whites. Last year when everyone was on the low-carb binge, egg prices skyrocketed and I experimented with commercial whites. No matter what, the commercial ones would collapse when I added the sugar syrup - I tried Syso and Papetti and it happened with both. I have been able to use about a third of the weight in whites with them (10 oz out of 30 for the 20 qt mixer) , though but any more than that, forget it. Eggs have come down a lot (back to 4-6 cents each) so it's comparable to what I'd be paying for commercial whites. Has anyone else had this problem with commercial whites and Italian Meringue Buttercream?

Thanks for all the info and for taking the time to experiment. Sounds like it's worth having a bag around. Thanks Annie

I havesome left over batter from yesterday's batch of cheesecake (plain, just cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, whole eggs, vanilla) stored in a bowl. It wasn't enough for a larger whole cake, but I'm thinking it would be enough to fill a dozen or two mini sweet dough tartlets. How long can you store cheesecake batter before baking?

If you're short on time, or prefer the taste of buttercream over fondant, you can use a large tip (Ateco 7 or 8) and pipe lines of honey-colored buttercream around the sculpted cake (you could stack a round cake and sculpt the edges to resemble the slope of the hive). For the marzipan bees, if you have sheet gelatine, cut the wing shapes from that and paint them with watered down yellow color so they're a little more visible

I think the glucose or corn syrup helps to keep the icing supple, but not pliable in the way that the sugarveil stuff looks like it can be draped, etc. I'd heard of that "unbreakable gel" and wondered if this was something similar. Like Annie, I'm not about to invest big bucks in this dispenser (it's as much as an airbrush for cryin' out loud!!), but I was curious to see if anyone had used it and does it work they way they say it does. I thought that open "weave" thing draped around a cake would be pretty cool, especially studded with a few glistening fondant pearls or the infamous outlawed dragees.

Looks intriguing; wondering if anyone has used this and can share their experiences. For more details, check out Sugarveil web page

My mom got this recipe from the Boston Globe (newspaper) reader's forum called "The Confidential Chat" about thirty years ago, and it was called Texas Sheet Cake in the recipe. It was a favorite of ours for years, and made an appearance at every family party, baseball party, scout meetings, bake sales etc. When my father made it for the first time, he dubbed it "Louisiana Rock Pile" because he did something wrong (!) and it very definitely looked ... like rocks. To this day, he's never attempted it again. I haven't had the cake in years, but remember it to be dense, fudgy and the icing smooth and shiny.

The cake leveler, as a tool, is pretty reliable and very useful when I have help from someone who is a non-English speaker. But I'm faster with a knife so I don't use it much anymore. I dust it off for sheet cakes mostly - that's when I tend to "drift" and end up cutting a slant. I didn't know they had a two-level version; I think that's overkill, but I guess that saves all the time of readjusting the blade. Remember to check that the turntable/table, etc is level first. My first month in this particular rented kitchen resulted in all these not-on-purpose whimsy cakes!

I used to be intimidated by the eyeball method and at the time, bought an Agbay cake leveling knife - it is a one cool gadget and comes in handy at times. What gave me the confidence was lots of practice with the knife - it did take me a while to find a knife that I liked, which everyone knows not to touch (it's about the ONLY thing no one else "borrows"). I ended up with a 14" serrated knife. At the time, the Agbay thing was pretty cheap, but now it isn't. I ended up volunteering to torte all the cakes we were making one day in class, and that was just the practice I needed. But if you want to learn more about the Agbay thing, check this Agbay Cake Leveler

I'm about to place an order from PCB for the tube set; I'm wavering on should I get two sets? Wendy, what's the average yield from one tube? Do you feel as if the tubes will last a long time with normal use or have any crazed or cracked since you got them?

Hi there! Thanks for the link re the PCB sheets; I hadn't read that thread at all. Now I see what you mean. I had been thinking along the lines of how I do my individual buche de noel ... I use my regular biscuit, cut strips out of it about 3-4 inches wide. Then use a #8 Ateco tip with ganache or buttercream and pipe a long length of filling (I use this on half-sheet sizes, because it is easier for me to handle - the full sheet size flops around and is a hassle) and then roll the biscuit around the filling (trimming the biscuit if necessary) and wrap it in parchment and tape it. The short size also helps with no flexing when I move it. Then when well chilled, I cut them into logs about 4-5 inches long, cover with ganache or buttercream depending on what I filled it with and make a plate of Christmas goodies out of it: the buche, a square little "present" petit four, a half dipped shortbread cookie angel and a meringue kiss. No pictures because I just made the components, the restaurant plated them. They didn't do it this year because of the expense. So now I can't wait to put an order in for those tubes! This type of mini will be perfect for that chef - she specifically says no cut sheet cakes (because she doesn't want them in liner cups, she thinks it spoils the look of the presentation). Do the cookies ever come apart from the rest of it? Love the chocolate wrapped wedding cake! Did you use modeling choc for the outer wrapping? Fantastic job on the MS cake.... Report that grocery store to the BBB (they'll have to answer the complaint), or at least tell your story to the local consumer news reporter! I don't want this to end! Thanks for letting us be the angels watching over your shoulder during your day!!

wow.. my 9yr old got up in the middle of the night (kids never wake up DAD, do they!!! ) and as I was lying in bed, thinking I'd drift back to sleep, I suddenly remember I hadn't caught up on your blog, and I'm addicted! I don't want your blog to end! Please, please teach me/us to do those joconde cookie minis - they will blow away my restaurant client for Mother's Day. I usually have leftover flavored meringue buttercreams from building my cakes, so could that work for the centers? Or do you use a neutral mousse base so it is freeze stable? I'm ok on making joconde - I have a biscuit recipe that is the base of all my individual cheesecakes, but it is too thick for this; I know I have joconde formulas from classes I took years ago and this is the perfect excuse to buy one of those silicone forms that have the patterns on the back - but the reality is that I will probably just do a two tone pattern with a comb due to time constraints. Gisslen's book has a few photos I could use for reference. Enjoy your day off, you've earned it! Cue music: "you're unbelieveable" (I have no idea who sings that, it just came to mind)

You go, girl! I'm having so much fun reading your blog, thank you so much for taking the time to add this to your already-busy day. It feels like reading my favorite book; I stay up way past bedtime to read and read and read!! And, I'd love to have more details - in the P&B forum - on the tart shells and choux paste. Are you using Annie's (chefpeon) formula for the choux? I never get such beautifully round puffs, mine look more rustic and craggy. And I'm still having trouble finding a better recipe for pate sucree. And defintely I'd love to hear more details on the minis - my biggest restaurant client wants 75 dz minis for Mother's Day brunch and they really want one-bite things that don't have to be presented in cups (they want stuff in tart shells or eclairs or cream puffs, this chef doesn't want cuts of lemon bars but I think they'd love the joconde/cookie) Your work is marvelous - stunning - creative. Thanks for sharing!

I wasn't thrilled with the Hero paste and don't use it anymore.... mostly because the chemical smell when I opened the jar was pretty vile. In four years, I've had just one request for pistachio buttercream, so I haven't needed to replace it. But just in case, I got a small can of paste from American Almond, but haven't used it yet (I don't like American Almond's hazelnut paste - too gritty. For hazelnut paste, I only use the Albert Uster stuff, it's fantastic!). Good to know there's other options out there, the AUI prices are pretty steep.

I've tried the Hero brand - in the jar it is this neon green color, but the buttercream becomes barely colored, a very delicate celadon green. If you want more of a pistachio hit, I'd use the pistachio marzipan recipe from RLB's Cake bible - layering it on a cake layer as she describes. That marzipan is fun to work with!

Does anyone have the coconut cake recipe from The Montecito Cafe in CA? I have a client who wants to use this as her wedding cake....

ok... we're counting down to Saturday. My Paris Sweets book finally arrived this weekend and the description of the Parisian Flan with the sauteed apples is exactly what I think they're after, thank you Wendy! I'm making them on Friday for delivery on Saturday (Dorie says an overnight rest in the fridge makes it wonderfully light and especially delicious). For anyone unfamiliar with the recipe, it is a cornstarch pudding (whole milk, water, eggs, sugar, cornstarch), sieved, cooled a bit and spread over sauteed apples then baked at 350 for an hour. From someone else's suggestion, I found 11" pre-fabbed tart shells from Hafner to use. Not my first choice, but necessary for this order due to volume and time constraints. The gas ovens at work are not level so I'm seriously considering using the convection oven for this. But I don't typically use the convection for anything other than biscuit, cookies and blind baking tart shells. Is it a bad idea to use it for this tart? I've never baked a pastry cream or pudding filling like this so please excuse the novice question - do I need to worry about the pudding spilling over if I'm using ovens that are not level? Am I better off with the convection because it is faster and there's no chance of anything spilling? I'm guessing that with the convection, it would be about 20 minutes at 300... Your thoughts/advice... many thanks!

I don't know about whether it absorbs more easily, I did notice that it takes longer to dry (especially the non-edible gold ultra dust, that stuff drives me crazy when I use it for the edges of ribbons, etc.). Plus I always have lots of extract around, but not always the high-proof (86?) clear alcohol. I save that for when I need to remove color from something! Like a drop of color that lands right where it shouldn't on a fondant covered cake....

I've been buying flowers from CalJava, in white mostly, and using an airbrush to color them. Dan tells me that I can airbrush these flowers, but I've never had the courage to use luster dust in my airbrush because I don't want to damage it (I just bought it and I'm still learning how to use it, I'm not very good at it). He has started selling dust for airbrushes but I haven't tried it, I think it is only available in specific pearlized colors. So I use the regular airbrush colors and mix my own colors for whatever hue I need. Before I had the airbrush, I did a purple tulip cake last summer; I painted white tulips with purple luster and petal dust and they came out spotty and not as nice as I wanted. I don't like how long it takes things to dry when I use vodka, I always use lemon extract to mix the dusts with when I'm painting flowers. I like to make "fantasy wildflowers" from the white hydrangeas by painting them with pastel luster dusts, and I especially love the agapanthus and stephanotis from Wholesale Sugar Flowers. Anyway, one of my instructors was Ursula Argyopolous from Art of the Cake. She used to paint her flowers straight and then steam them - she had a huge collection of paste colors mostly from the UK and would mix them herself. She always made flowers white and painted them later; she would make a huge bunch of the hooked wires so they were ready when she wanted them (usually when she was on the phone!). Then on another day, she'd made the little cones for the inside of the roses or the middle of the calla lilies and roll them in yellow granulated gelatin. Another day, she'd do the first row of petals. She did things in stages. When you walked into her office, you'd see all these foam blocks with roses or other flower petals in various stages, or the pasta dryer with the calla lilies hanging on them. She would make leaves out of colored gum paste, though; and she had different colors for the different times of the year (paler green in the spring, darker in the summer). The class I took with her was 4 years ago so my memory is a little sketchy on the other flowers, some of them she did use colored gum paste for. I'm hoping someone posts the how-to on the alcohol dip method!

Albert Uster has a location in Hawaii (in Honolulu), so getting their fondant would be easy for your friend; and that's the only brand I use. Bakels is pretty good too, but I don't like the taste of the white but their chocolate fondant is good! When you're paying shipping for every little thing that comes into the island, your friend is better off with the Massa Grischuna from AUI!

You could try Novacart (www.novacartusa.com) or Unger (ungerco.com) or Perkins (local vendor, www.perkins1.com)

I'm looking for a recipe in response to a request for "apple flan" which after getting a description (apples in a firm but creamy filling in a tart shell) sounds like an apple custard tart or apple custard pie. What they're after is a tart that will hold a clean slice for buffet brunch service (for Easter, and they want 30 of them, plus 30 linzertorte and 20 flourless choc cakes) and they will probably repeat this order for their Mother's Day brunch. The linzertorte is from RLB's pastry book, it's a great recipe and they love it (thankfully it freezes well so I can get a head start on them; they want the 11" size for all of these tarts). I'm not really all that great when it comes to custards to begin with so I could use some help on this one. My first thought is to use sliced sugared apples on the bottom of a tart shell and then pour a custard over it - because I really want to avoid the top looking awful and last fall, my apple-topped cheesecakes developed these ugly-looking "separations" (for want of a better description) where the apple slice met the cheesecake. I suspect that it was probably because I used the wrong apple (granny smith instead of golden delicious) but since the apple cheesecake only had a limited engagement, I never got to try it with a different apple. Anyway, if you have a recipe or a link or help to offer, I'm all ears!

Got the new Pfeil and Holing catalog and they're showing lots of new stuff for fondant work. Among other things, there are these embossed rolling pins that imprint a design onto the fondant and there are 10 or so different designs (each is a different pin) that look intriguing. I think the one that resembles textured fabric/paper would be the one I'd go for, but I can think of a lot of other things I'd indulge in for $40!! At first glance, it looks as if the design would distort once the fondant is on the cake - has anyone tried these? Do they work?

I make a layered chocolate mousse and the white choc layer calls for cream melted with the choc (to which some dark rum is added off heat as well as bloomed gelatine) and then folded into softly beaten whipped cream. Maybe if you melt an ounce or so of the cream with the choc it might help alleviate the grittiness....

The first time I deliver to a "new" place, I bring several copies of the cutting instructions with me and give one to the function manager when I'm going over the cake details with him/her. For the regular places I go to, they're used to it and I don't have to bring it with me anymore. Of course, after I leave I have no idea what happens, but at least I know upfront that I gave them exactly what they need to cut the cake appropriately (and the bride knows that I go over this as well, because I give them the serving chart/instructions too). If something goes wrong, it is because they didn't follow the instructions. The only time I ever had a problem was one of the very first cakes I did was for a client who ordered a three tier square for 100. I'm waiting for the site to change the table linens and I'm noticing there are 15 tables of 10 (150 people) and yet the client told me she had 100 guests, not 150. I tell the function manager this, and her jaw drops - she's got to plate 150 servings of cake. But at least she knows this upfront. When I went back with another delivery the next week, the manager tells me she asked the bride's mother about it and the mother blithely told her that "not everyone eats cake and I didn't want to pay for any wasted cake so I didn't order that much!" The manager explained she still had to present a plated dessert to the guests, regardless of whether they ate it or not. The slices were paper thin, evidently, but she got enough to serve. Had I simply dropped off the cake and not gone over any details, it is very likely that I would have come off badly - as if I'd shorted the customer rather than the other way around. It was a terrific lesson - it made me revise the data sheet I use to collect information from a bride include # of guests and # of servings so I can use that opportunity to find out whether the cake isto be served as a coffee station, plated dessert, part of a larger dessert buffet, etc. But what frustrates me is knowing that for the same size cake, another vendor will charge for more servings (120 vs 100 for example) and the bride has no way of knowing unless they ask for the specific tier sizes in their cake..... so that's another reason why I asked the question!