chiantiglace

you know mel, I don't even understand that question. So thats enough for me to go....WHat?

Ha, I did that once too. When I started cutting the chocolate I was getting chunks but they were long and narrow rather than short and stumpy. I took my small steel and a malet and banged away at broad areas of the bar. Then when the piece were the size of jaw breakers I threw them into doubled up ziplock bag and beat the crap out of them. Just an idea, and I got the sizes I wanted.

Lets start this thread off with a "standard" or "simplest form" dessert. From here on out I say no posted dessert should get any simpler than this. Since this isn't really difficult I don't think it will be hard beating it be either. This is an individual pastry(s) I made for my sister and friends for valentines day and decided it would serve as a great jumping off point for this thread if I turned it into a plated dessert. Right now I am in the process of of turning the components of this dessert into and elaborate formation (seperated) to show the differences in appereance and shock quality on a plate. To start this is a Almond biscuit, chocolate creme brulee, and Kahlua Caramel mousse covered in a mirror chocolate glaze It's plated with Coffee Anglaise and Chocolate sauce and sugar caramelized onto the plate Garnished with sugar shards (I made a really nice sugar cone to tilt on the side but right before plated I dropped it and shattered it. Luckily I made a couple shards for the hell of it and used those instead) and dusted with cocoa. Also I wanted to add, lets try to see everyones own ideas rather than trying to copy things we see out of the books. That will actually help us all out a little more because we all can buy the books but we all can't just jump into each others brains. P.S. I apologize for the inability to see the brulle because I kind of smeared the mousse over top of it, but its there.

Ha, I have never seen piping designs or buttercream much affected by humidty. I'd like to see some examples of what you are reffering to. But I have seen rolled fondant slip from the very crease on the edge of the cake and gradually fall down. It doesn't happen often only when somebody doesn't make the actual fondant just right. Pastillage is resiliant if dryed right for a couple days. But just like florentines they will begin to absorb moisture after a little bit.

you mean swiss or italian?

I probably live in the harshest of climates so I might be able to help you a bit. Really any little thing will help the cake. May I suggest lighter sponges and superior suport structures. Any filling you use should be stiff at room temp and practically solid at refrigeration. Royal icing, gumpaste and fondant are very difficult to keep set up. Fondant is a real pain. A lot of my friends who have used it swear against it especially for outdoor weddings because the fondant ends up peeling away and or sliding off the sides. And decoration in which gravity has a definate roll I would either exclude from or prepare at last minute for dryer products such as royal icing and pastillage. Any pulled sugar or cast sugar should be done the day of the event and should NOT at any time go under cooling stages. I suggest buttercream with elaborate piping designs and fresh decorations (flowers, fruit, etc) Also be careful of tilt. I've seen a few cakes in production working under another pastry chef that have "sloped" during production due to mis treatment + humidity.

I dont KEEP anyone, and I don't seem to have much say. I live in a resort town and anyone who does also will tell you the same as me, It's not just hard to find good help it's hard to find "help" period. Clientel are usually so dazed and confused with tourism antics they don't even care much less realize. I live in a very dumbed up area and am on the verge of shooting away for good.

is it chibouste? I don't remember. I do use the lemon chiffon recipe and have posted it here. The cones are only good if you have a relliable wait staff. My staff have never carried something flat, they are sure air heads and they really don't care about our plate presentations no matter how many times we have to discuss it with them.

I have the Modernist View, and it was one of my first books I ever bought. Man I studied that book cover to cover over and over and over. When I first read it I thought everything in there was way over my head. Now I have a bone to pick with a few of them. It still is one of my favorite books and I like it more than grand finales but there are some desserts that are ridiculous and should not be served. One called "Moma" is just like lemon chiffon bread pudding with a pastillage structure holding it up. MOre than half of the dessert seems to be Pastillage, it's really lame but nice to look at.

emmm, mango, rose flavor, lemongrass, green tea, papaya, mocha, and pomegrante.

Well Annie, feuille is french for puff pastry or more common feuilletage or pate feuilletee. brik is tunisian for a pastry of very thin sheets normally of phyllo dough filled with savory or sweet fillings and deep fried. Braewat is a Moroccan form of brik in which is prepped the same way but usually used with french pastry dough (puff pastry) and is baked rather than fried. So, use it for whatever you want basically and fry it or bake it. I suggest using the appropriate name for whatever you do.

Actually there is a quite popular dessert in which custard is baked inside a hollowed out apple. I made a nice long post on the hows and ideas of using this technique but my comp froze, the jerk. Anyways if you look in friburgs pro pastry chef book he actually labels this technique too. You could easily bake your custard inside your apple, then slice and line a tart with the set custard apples and maybe pour an apple glaze over top. I think I might have to try that myself it just came to me. But dont fear baking custard and apples together, though I don't think i'd use red delicuous.

You are suppose to measure the walnuts "chopped" becuase most people who do large quantities buy the pieces the way they are chopped, whole, sliced, slivered, halved, whatever. If a recipe calls for 1 cup chopped walnuts, chop the walnuts until your have 1 cup. Because 1 cup walnut halves might be 3/4 cup chopped and 1/4 cup ground. Ok? And just for the record all you people who remeasure your flour after you sift it, why????(im not really asking more or lese frustrated statement)

A.C.D. American Chocolate Design company, give you a lot of cool stuff for your chocolate.

I finally found this thread, it was a couple of months ago and we got into deep discussion. This should probably give your some answers. Also a reason why I didnt want to recap everything thats already been stated. Heavy cream

These are my favorite kind of books for many reasons, mainly they give you a large array of ideas and combinations to instill in your mind when comming up with something new. I have never used a recipe word for word but I have taken formula/ratio ideas from them and made my own recipes. I actually make desserts like this all the time and would go farther into it if where I lived there was a clientel for it. Infact I've been gathering pictures to make a thread here solely on "plated dessert" for us egulleteers to play with, I should start my first post in a couple of days, I have to pick up the slide pics in about an hour actually. Try to do exceptional desserts once and a while and practice photography is what I've been doing. Fortunately I have several photography friends that have been teaching me tricks. Also, check the shapes in these books and figure out what you like most. Then later when constructing you already have an idea what works and looks good before you start plate presentation practice. When I get older I hope to push for a larger variety of these style books in hopes people will start paying more attention because quite frankly I have taught myself more from these books than text style books packed with info. They don't give you "this is how it is and has to be" mood, it's more of a "i like doing this and it works/sells for me so why don't you try it".

always check if your chocolae is in bloom Also, regarding simmering the cream. That is necessary with pastuerized cream, not ultra-past. If it's U-P cream the least amount of "boil" is best. Since UP is the most common these days be careful and actually try to keep the cream at a simer for some time instead.

guess its not good to have lead formulate into your protein structure

I was just thinking today, the prize should really be a lot more than 50k. I mean baseball players are making p to 20mil a year. But the best in our field can't break 100grand. I mean, split 4 ways plus all expenses to practice/equipment and to get there is outrageous. You pretty much have to be corporate funded. I think we should all do our part to push advertisement on competitions. We always keep it amongst ourselves as if the average person won't appreciate it. I am constantly telling my freinds/family to tune and check it out because I know they'll be interested. Oh yea mel, sorry to hear of the struggle. But look on the bright side, your equipment isn't starting to break down left and right like a 10 year old project.

When I use butter I always use a more bitter chocolate and adjust the ratio with added sugar. I then bring the added sugar, butter and cream all to a boil and continue ganache procedure.

A lot of work. A specialty cake shop requires a lot of support from the town you live in. You pretty much have to be very very talented, or the much more common, be very well known/ popular with good advertising skills. Quite honestly I am not impressed with the average specialty cake shop. There are a couple of ladies on here that do a sensational job and I almost wish they're were more like them. I've had a lot of experience with "career changing women", not many men, and they usually just want to get to the point where they are making a living. It's not often I meet one, well I have never met one until I joined this site, that keeps pushing the limits and learns quickly. What you have to do is educate and practice your skills as much as possible until you are overly confident and then make a decision. Also, the biggest thing, keep in touch with what is going on every single day with new and modern twists to the pastry world. Don't just settle with common italian buttercream cakes over and over and over and over. Just because you change the color or the title on the cake or even the filling doesn't make you anything special. Push the envelope, always.

you dont need to melt the chocolate for ganache, just bring the strained cream back to a scalding point, our over chocolate and whisk until smooth after alowing it to rest for a couple minutes. Th only thing I can think of is you didn't strain the cream properely through cheesecloth(because the tiny spice particles. Or you over heated the chocolate when melting it(which you didn't have to do)

haha. You can do this several ways. Hell i could probably just throw something together. Don't fear. All you need is a jelled structure, usually a fruit puree/jam that has been stablized with gelatin and or pectin. The puree must have a very low water content so reduction may need to occur. Once structure is firm at room temp you the freeze the gel. Cut the gel in desired sizes and press into a batter that is firm enough to hold it. Any batter that is not chemically leavened isn't going to work. Usually a flourless cake works great. And yes you can leaven a flourless cake, even though it usually requires cornstarch to tighten up the batter. Friburgs Chocolate Truffle cake would work alright. I'm sure you could use shortbread recipes and muffin batter.

gonna need to know your step by step on this one. There are a lot of ways that this could have happened so theres no point in giving suggestions until we know exactly what you did.

I have never had a sickness at work that affected other people. Usually affects me mentally. Lightheaded usually. I have very bad allergies so i take allegra and don' suffer nromally from external symptoms. So when im sick it usually goes unnoticed. When i hd phenmonea I suffered from back sasm and muscle tension. I still managed to swim 4 miles of sprints a day andgo to work, i ust put it out of my mind.