Patrick S

Cake strips could probably help the outside and the inside of the cake rise at the same rate, making the top more level if not perfectly level. Ive seen some round cake made with cake strips that did look almost perfectly flat. Or would you also consider that cheating? I wonder what would happen if you put some kind of weight on the cake as soon as it is done baking, to compress it a little while it cools?

I'm not familiar with kasutera cake, but is there any reason why you couldn't just level your cake with a cake leveler?

M. Lucia, I'd be interested to hear what you think of the deep chocolate cream. I'm thinking of making it, though I might make it with a slightly less bitter chocolate. Do you think it would be good as a filling in eclairs or tarts?

I think you're right M. Lucia. Ive heard from several PCs on this board that they use raw whites all the time. Jacque, I spent a while thinking about 'safe' ways to use whites in recipes where they're normally used raw. I finally came to the conclusion that the risk of salmonellosis is so miniscule that I will just raw whites and not worry about it. In 1997, for instance, there were only like 17 Salmonellosis outbreaks linked to shell eggs in the entire US. But if you would rather go the extra mile and not have any worry, there are ways to heat whites to 140+ but you usually have to mix them with sugar and more liquid so they dont cook. So, I dont know how you'd do that for a royal icing. You can use powdered pasteurized whites ('Just Whites'), but if you dont like meringue powder, you probably wont like that product either. Ive heard of but havent used a liquid pasteurized white product called eggology. This would probably be ideal for you, because you could use it just like regular whites.

That's funny, because I was going to say "A small piece of chocolate cake served with 10 ounces of vodka."

I tried the chocolate sables today. You're right lemoncurd, these things were a pain to pipe! But they did get my right forearm all pumped up, like Popeye. I couldn't find the right tip, so I had to use one with more crenulations. Also mine seem a little darker in color. They are not bad, but not my favorite either. M Lucia, I'd like to try the deep chocolate cream too. So far Ive been happy with all of the 'base recipes' in Herme's book and this is one I think I might like.

Artistry? Thanks, M. Lucia! Here's what you do for that image. When you are looking at the picture in your album you want to post, right-click on the image, select 'properties,' then copy the location or URL. You can do this by double left-clicking on the URL. This will 'select' the URL. The URL will be highlighted. While the URL is highlighted, right click on the URL, and select 'copy.' Then paste the URL into your post using the IMG button. Let me know if you still need help getting images uploaded. LemonCurd - the sables look good. I may get around to trying those soon. I'm trawling through the book tonight thinking about what I might try next. Thank you for the compliments on the mousse photos. Its so much fun taking and sharing them with other dessertophiles -- almost as fun as cooking and eating.

I usually use Medaglia D'oro espresso powder, and I think that works alright. But I think the best coffee flavor by far comes from strong fresh coffee made from freshly-ground coffee beans, though you cant always use coffee in a mousse recipe. In the Herme simple chocolate mousse recipe, you could steep a bag of ground coffee in the boiled milk like a tea-bag. Of course, you'd want to increase the amount of milk in the recipe because some of it will be retained by the tea bag. So, for instance, though the Herme recipe calls for 1/3C milk, you could take 2/3C milk, and steep a filter-bag with about 4 tablespoons of ground beans as you bring hte milk to a boil. Then pour out 1/3C of the coffee milk to use in the mousse. In my humble opinion, the best coffee flavor comes from kenyan and indonesian beans. If you dont already have coffee and a bean grinder at home, its hard to justify getting those things just for desserts. But if you do have them already, you should use that for coffee flavor.

I tried my hand at the chocolate chiffon, using the recipe Neil linked to. Would you believe that I managed to forget to leave the pan ungreased? So I was unable to invert the cake while it cooled. So the middle sank a bit. But then Fern said his cake pulled away at the edges too, even though he left his ungreased, so I dont think it would have mattered. In my defense, by friday night of every week, Ive built up a major sleep deficit and most of my brain has already gone bye-bye till morning. Anyway, the cake is moist and chocolatey with a lighter mouthfeel (than most of the cakes I make), even though the photos make them look dense like brownies. Very good for snacking. Next time I think Ill follow your example Wendy and make this as a roll, with maybe a coffee buttercream filling or something lighter like a mousse. Like Fern, I used a 13x9, and it took 35 min @ 350 to get a clean toothpick.

I found some other interesting information on the different composition of vanilla beans. Apparently Indonesia beans are the most 'potent' in terms of vanillan content, which is by far the major flavor component in vanilla beans, but beans also differ with respect to other flavor/aromatic compounds. Vanilla planifolia

Vanilla planifolia is a Linnean name for a species of vanilla plant. The term planifolia refers to the morphology of the plant leaves -- they are planar, hence planar foliage, hence planifolia. The two other species of Vanilla are V. pompona and V. tahitensis.

I was wrong. The higher dry ingredient/whites ratio doesnt give a stiffer batter. In fact, more whites gave a stiffer batter. I tried the recipe with 4 instead of 3 whites, and the result was so stiff the macaroons had peaks on them where I piped them - like ladyfinger batter. They kept their piped shapes too well. And, they did not form any foot at all when I baked them, though they sat for 30+ minutes. Using the same recipe I used last time, I'm thinking maybe 115-120 grams of so of whites is probably optimum.

Here is Herme's simple chocolate mousse.

Recommended by whom? Could you produce a reference? I know that no regulatory group (e.g. FDA, USDA) has issued such an advisory. I assume you realize that organic does not mean pesticide-free? USDA organic labeling implies only that synthetic pesticides have not been applied, while toxic natural pesticides may still be used. And even if you ate berries to which no pesticides, natural or synthetic, have been applied, you will still be eating pesticides since essentially every plant on the face of the earth produces endogenous pesticides to protect against predation. In fact, in a typical americna diet, more than 99.9% of your pesticide intake will come from endogenous pesticides.

In the 'Dessert by Pierre Herme' book, the first one, there is a recipe for transparent glaze that used Oetker brand clear glaze. I know its used on some of the desserts in that book, the lemon tart for instance, though I doubt thats why you see on cakes in the La Patisserie book.

Peppers are growing on me big time. I used to be mild salsa weakling, but gradually I've found myself attracted to more heat. Now I'm more apt to say things like 'How can they call this junk hot sauce!' I'm not a pepper junkie yet, but in a year, who knows?

Yeah, the liquid whites you buy at the store don't whip at all, at least the brand I tried. Of course, it said this in the small print on the back . . . which I only read when they failed to whip. ← I've been using Eggology whites for the past year or two with no problem. No disclaimers on the label, and I've been able to make It. meringue just the same as I would from "fresh" whites right outta the shell. I haven't tried freezing them yet, but will add that the list of upcoming kitchen experiments. ← That would be the brand of liquid whites that I did not try. I think the one I used was All Whites. Since then I have used powdered whites and they work fine too, but are a hassle in that you have to whisk them for a few minutes.

I dont have an exact answer, but I will say that whites last a lot longer than the expiration date on the carton, like weeks longer. As long as you're cooking whatever you put them in, I'd say they're good as long as they dont change color or start smelling bad. Yolks are a different story, since they don't have the antibacterial enzyme lysozyme which inhibits the growth of bacteria in whites (its called lysozyme because it causes lysis or bursting of many types of bacterial cells walls). I'd only freeze whites if you're pretty sure you're not going to use them in the next couple of weeks.

Looks like a damn good deal to me. Let me know if you're happy with what you get. Not to change the subject, but one thing I never understood is the price differences between vanilla beans and vanilla bean paste. A bottle of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon bean paste is 4 fluid ozs for $17. Since 1Tb of paste is equal to 1 bean, the 4oz bottle is equivalent to 8 vanilla beans. Yet NM sells 2 beans for like $13, or about $52 for the equivalent of a 4oz bottle of paste.

Well, why not? I wonder what would happen if you added some powdered whites to fresh whites? Maybe that would have the same effect as leaving the whites out by increasing the solids/liquid ratio? Time for another experiment!

Yeah, the liquid whites you buy at the store don't whip at all, at least the brand I tried. Of course, it said this in the small print on the back . . . which I only read when they failed to whip.

Yep, you can certainly beat thawed egg whites just fine. Egg whites are actually pretty durable. You can freeze em, thaw em, leave on the counter for a few days. . .

Cakes can rise to some extent even without baking powder. Baking powder releases CO2, but vaporized H2O itself can act as a leavener, because gasses expand when you heat them. Gas cells in whipped egg whites for exmple expand when the air inside them is heated. At the same time,the heat causes chemical changes in the dough to occur which harden the structure of the cake, so that when the cake cools, it retains the puffed-up structure when the cake cools and the pressure in the air cells drops, rather than reverting to it previous low-temp structure.

After a few weeks in lemon-land, tonight I am back to my true love -- chocolate. I tried Jgarner's macaroon recipe using whites left out overnight.These have brought me closer to what I'm trying to achieve -- a domical macaroon. Leaving the whites out helps quite a bit, as it gives a stickier batter that keeps its piped shape better. I think ideally you want the highest dry dry ingredient/whites ratio possible, to give the stiffest batter possible. As Jgarner said, these macaroons do not need to be steamed from below or frozen to be removed -- once they cool, 95% of them can be pryed off the parchment by hand with nothing left behind. I filled these with a ganache made with 12ozs Callebaut bitter, 4ozs Callebaut milk, 1 2/3C cream, and 4ozs unsalted butter.

I know its not the almond meal. I use Bob's Red Mill (I think thats what its called). As for whites, I always beat them as stiff as I can without overbeating. Hmm. . .