JeanneCake

I love the sweet potato salad from Thrill of the Grill (Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby). You make a dressing from dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, a little ketchup, olive oil, cider vinegar, lime juice, minced garlic and chunk up some peeled sweet potatoes and boil or steam until just tender, chop up some red and yellow bell peppers, some red onion and mix it together and pour the dressing over it while it's still a little warm. I make a huge amount of the dressing so I can keep it in the fridge and make this whenever I want

If you make individuals, use an ice cream scoop (disher) to form them and hollow the centers with a spoon; they should take about 30ish minutes depending on the size. I always leave them in the oven overnight anyway so hopefully your MX oven will cooperate!

When you pipe the chocolate (if you don't want to temper it, you could use coating chocolate or melting wafers meant to coat things. People talk about almond bark but I have no clue what that is, I've never used it) as it sets up (firms up) it will begin to contract, and if the acetate/transparency sheet/parchment isn't taped down to the cardboard or other firm flat surface, it will begin to curl. If you use non-melting sugar, it won't move during transit. You might want to put a parchment round on top of it then wrap the cake in plastic wrap. (the sugar would cling to the plastic if you don't use parchment). there's no harm in freezing it, put the decoration on just before you pack it. Meaning, don't freeze it with the decoration You might want to consider putting the cake in a very close fitting box and then putting that into a larger box with packing materials to cushion it. are you anywhere near Boston? I have boxes I could give you.... The chocolate mayonnaise cake will be great, it was a popular recipe in the 50s/60s and is moist and delicious!

coconut macaroons and to add to the earlier recommendation on meringue - pavlova. You can make the shells and store airtight for at least a month. there are marshmallow recipes that use egg whites, but I haven't made that type yet

If the transparency sheet is somewhat thick, you will be fine. You want it to lay as flat as possible when you are putting the sugar (you could use cocoa, too) on so the powder doesn't get underneath and "smudge" (why I asked about the surface of the cake). Another (more complicated, admittedly) option would be to use some melted chocolate and trace the spiderman/cobweb design on the transparency sheet and let it set up (tape it to a cardboard so it doesnt curl as it sets up). Then when the cake is cooling you can flip it over onto the top of the cake and if the cake is a little bit warm, it will melt ever so slightly and flatten itself on/into the cake. Or if you are a better artist than I am, you could just pipe a web freehand with melted chocolate. are you sending the cake in the tin you are baking it in or putting it on a cake board?

Thanks, Jo. I did consider the Ankarsrum - what was hard for me is that we have about a dozen KA mixer bowls (all of which will fit an 8 qt) and buying multiple Ankarsrum bowls isn't something I want to do right now. But, I will buy one for home! The misbehaving KA was originally at my house so I am without a mixer at home (to be honest, by the time I get home cooking is the last thing I want to do LOL). When I need a mixer for home, that's the one I'm buying

I got a delivery today - extra large eggs from a local (MA-based) distributor were $3.98/dz and the large eggs were $3.89/dz. Heavy cream, on the other hand is $65/case of 12 quarts (Hood brand for any of the locals who want to know). another distributor wants $110 for the same case! On a local Bakery Owners FB page, someone was asking if EggBeaters could be used in baking recipes and I don't know what EggBeaters are to know why they'd be any cheaper than shell eggs?

I had a client order 100 stollen for early December and I bought a lot of candied lemon and orange peel in preparation and then they halved the order. I got it from nuts.com and I'm never going to use what's left. Want it? ETA: I bought it in November and have probably 3 or 4# of each that are still in the unopened bags....

You can buy non-melting sugar from Albert Uster Imports (auiff.com) Are you sending a cake to a friend or are you doing this as a business/side gig? (Because I have a bakery and I think of transporting cakes differently from the average person....) how smooth is the surface of this cake, and how intricate is the stencil? How are you shipping this (insulated with cooler packs?)

Last week, one of my distributors told me their price on 30 dz extra large eggs is $181.00 So it's $6/dz at the wholesale level. I am sure the buying power of grocery chains makes it possible for them to get better pricing so they are selling eggs at $6/dz retail. Even my staff is buying eggs from me now LOL.

Sometimes I feel as if I collect table top mixers. I've had at least 6 different Kitchen Aids over the last 20 years; my original 5 qt is still going strong (I gifted it to a friend when KA started selling 6 qt mixers) after 35 years and sometimes I wish I never let it go. But anyway, I've had more 6 qt and 7 qt mixers than any sane person or bakery owner should have and now AGAIN the latest 7 qt is starting to complain and not turn on when asked nicely. So, time for the commercial 8qt. I searched online and this place I've never heard of, Plant Based Pros, has a competitive price, plus a holiday deal of 3% off, free shipping and no sales tax (January promotion). I don't really like buying from Webstaurantstore (they seem to nickle and dime) and I would absolutely be paying quite a bit more if I bought from a local restaurant supply house. What could go wrong? Has anyone ever bought from this place? What was your experience?

When there's a power failure, sometimes it's a blip - the lights flash off then on and then it's the sudden stop of all the motors (cooler, freezer, ovens, display case, mixer) when the power goes out that makes my heart fall to the floor. I hate that sound.

Passion fruit. I was learning the ropes in a bakery in San Diego and there was passion fruit buttercream in one of the cakes being made. I'd never had it before. The plain juice was nothing special but made into passion curd? Swoon! Passion butterecream! And then I couldn't get enough of the stuff - passion mousse, passion bavarian, a ricotta pound cake with passion syrup..... when I returned and opened my own place, passion fruit was one of the first flavors listed on my cake menu. At the time I was the only place who offered it; no one in this area had much experience with it. I had to buy whole cases of the frozen puree (they wouldn't break cases back then) and I offered it to every couple who came in for tastings. Converted a lot of people that way! And then one of the juice companies started making a passion juice blend and now people are much more familiar with it. Twenty years later, it's still my favorite and I'm not tired of it.

This year, I did a boneless rib roast; and it came out perfectly, I am so thrilled especially given the outrageous cost of it. My father ultimately decided to stay home (we usually go pick him up and bring him home) so I will go to see him tomorrow and bring him meals for the week. Given his age, I worry that each holiday will be the last we are able to share with him so this has been an emotional day for me. It ended up just being three of us, which is fine for me - I am pretty tired and wrung out from this year's wedding season. Thinking of all of you and hoping your happy memories and moments bring a smile to you today.

I'm wishing this "bible" was organized that way - similar to her other books, where there are categories of recipes as opposed to just random collections in a chapter. Yes, there are recipes for roll/chill/slice but they aren't all together in a single chapter. Maida Heatter's cookie books are organized that way and there's a chapter devoted to refrigerator cookies in her first cookie book.....

OMG I'm not the owner, I'm the dogsbody 😄😆🤣

Wow, this has been a fantastic trip; thank you for taking us along. I loved every minute, and I am not someone who enjoys any form of camping/glamping/whatever you want to call it. I loved the photos of the area, I had a real sense of the (cold) weather, rain for days! and the beautiful blue sky when it finally cleared. I've never been to Scotland but now I feel as though I have. Thanks!

yes, you can adapt that method to your recipe. and yes, that blueberry filling is wonderful! I like RLB's cream cheese crust myself. If you use disposable pie tins, you can also bake the shell upside down. Make a sort of crust "sandwich" - line one tin with the dough, chill and when you want to bake it, then put a second tin on top of the dough. Bake the shell upside for the first part of the baking, then (carefully) flip it over and remove the tin on top of the dough to finish baking. You might want to spray the (outside of the) top tin so the dough doesn't stick. We do this with the 3" pie shells we make.

Excellent news!

We use just flour when we make our individual galettes; Rose Levy Beranbaum suggests using arrowroot or cornstarch on the bottom crust to help juicy fruits from making a soggy crust. She also bakes pies directly on the oven floor, which I don't do . (At work, we use the disposable pie tins and bake on perforated sheet pans).

Some chefs do, it's not uncommon. Roland Mesnier served a stovetop creme brulee at the White House. It likely comes down to preference (flavor, method, oven space even). I enjoy both types.

I love mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot; ever since I learned this was possible, I've done them this way all the time. It frees up space on the stovetop, keeps them warm as you've noted and is just so much easier! We have the bigger version so there's plenty of mashed for all - my husband and son have been known to get through the better part of a 5# bag just between the two of them....

@liamsaunt I am so sorry to hear about your mom. 💔 thinking of you and your family and sending virtual hugs

I think it should be fine; you'll get a little more spread with butter so if you can chill the cut out cookies that will help. The recipe has you rest the dough overnight to help hydrate the flour; we do this with our gingerbread cookie dough (which is from Rose's Christmas Cookies, we routinely scale this up to a 9x batch size and mix in our 30 qt Hobart) and it's an all butter recipe. If you find this recipe online, it's easy to make, and the taste is not too spicy so it's fine for kids and adults. Edited to add: you will likely have to remake the hole when you take them out of the oven; do this before the cookies cool

I would have to wait until I retire to have the time to cook through any of my cookbooks; however, I have made more than half of the recipes from The Cake Bible (admittedly I use these at work so....), from The Way to Cook, and the Silver Palate cookbooks. My roommate at the time and I impressed a lot of dates with dinners cooked from those first two Silver Palate books!