TurtleMeng

Now I know it wasn't me when the stove-top creme brulee didn't set. I cursed my inadequate skill and rebaked them that time. My other problem is the top does not come out even. Spots burn before all browns. I have a cheap torch, perhaps that's the problem. Tried brolier once (unfortunately in the little toaster oven, don't know if THAT was the problem) but it would NEVER brown. I even picked them up and held them to the top and of coursed burned my hand more than the cream. Perhaps the kind of sugar is important? Brown, regular, superfine....

Oh, this is the only time I wish I lived somewhere else than LA. Everyone seems to have a BASEMENT. (I guess there are houses with them in LA, but I yet have to find one). It would be soooooo cool, figuratively and literally.

A homebaker's difficult situation, has been getting progressively worse: Right now I think I have 3 (10/9/8 inch)sprinform pans, 4 mini 4-inch springform pans, cake pans 6/8/9/10 inches 2 to 3 each, pie pan, tart pans 8 and 11 inch, tartlet pans,loaf pans, mini loaf pans, square pans 8/9 inch, half sheet pan, jelly roll pans God knows how many, cooling racks at least 4, heart-shaped pan, star-shaped pan, petit four molds, 7 inch brioche molds, savarin molds big and a dozen 3-inch ones (want to try Sherry Yard's Financier in the little cuties), 2 oval pans, 2 more oval pans (carried all the way back from Taiwan, crazy), 2 cake rings, 2 bundts (because one is smaller and fancy like a castle), 2 tube pans (because the 7 inch is so adorable), 1 madeline pan, 1 shell pan, 1 french bread pan, 3 muffin pans... (1) All my family members repeat the phrase "why did you buy another pan" when I buy another pan. OK, I won't ask for help on that one. (2) Is there any way on this planet that these can fit in a normal kitchen? Right now they are all stowed in the little cabinet under the microwave counter. Completely disorganized. Last time my mother-in-law put my KitchenAid paddle attachment in one pan somewhere in there. My gosh. The agony in the middle of making an apple cake for boyscout meeting. I guess this was partly griping and cathartic. But I wonder how other homebakers put away their stuff.

There's pictures of Wendy's cakes? Where? I wanna see! My husband tells me to bake less too......because he feels like he's gotta eat it. It just sits there and calls out to him. Poor man. Just give stuff to your neighbors, they'll love you, and if you ever need a favor from them (like who'll feed your cat when you're on vacation) then they'll already owe you...... Oh yeah, one of the neat things about chiffon. If you bake them off one day, then refrigerate them overnight, you can literally peel off the skin from the cake and you're good to go. ← Hi Anne I guess everyone wants to see Wendy's cakes, but I screwed up...being new and learing everyone's names, the cakes I saw were YOUR cakes. They are cool. I don't know how long it's gonna take until I can be THAT cool, but it's good to have a lofty goal. My husband is a little different...well he is kind of chubby already, but mainly he thinks, ahem, how can I translate this?....that I do not like to attend to my "duly businesses" (i.e., seeing more patients or answering more pages, whipping the son to play piano and do HW). Long story. My main targets are the other clinics in our buildings. Nurses love to munch. I have to bake a chiffon tonight and put it in the fridge. I want to see how the skin peels off. We have a tendency to eat everything when it's still HOT so I do not recall how it looked after a stay in the fridge. It's pretty pathetic.

hello are you telling me you always take the time to trim your cake (the top)? I try to avoid that like crazy (hence the cakestrips) because the trimmed top is more crumbly and hard to frost. Besides, my serrated knife sucks. I need a longer one...

Thanks, what kind of tooth picks are you talkinb about? I doubt the regular kind becasue they don't even seem long enough.

Hi Wendy Would you mind sharing the recipe? I went thru some old threads and saw your cakes. So cool. I'm gonna ignore my husband more (he constantly tells me to bake less) and be gung ho about baking. So if you just cool them in the pan, do they literally cave in(let's call it "cancave on top"), or are they just flat (i.e., without a dome)? Because flat is what I want anyways. I often use cakestrips in the hope that cakes will be flat without the dome. I know I should just get in the kitchen and bake one now, but I feel lazy (had a long morning's work). Yup, as Ling pointed out, Chinese people like chiffon. All these bakeries and wedding cakes you see run by Chinese have chiffon base. I do think genoise is kind of troublesome, like Chefpeon said, needing syrup and all that. Besides, it always makes me nervous folding in the butter that the thing will deflate.

Here goes another of my long-puzzled question. Chiffon cake. Has oil. Strangely enough, a lot of my baking books bought in Asia like to use it as a cake base, in contrast to sponge or genoise. Looking @ all the books here, they tell you a chiffon is baked in a tube pan and inverted to cool. Fine. I've made chiffons and done that, no problem. So, can you bake a chiffon in a regular round pan? Ok, that sounds dumb, of course anyone can. I mean how do you cool it? Just invert it? What if the cake is slightly higher than the pan? Just get 3-inch high pans? Is this "Inverting" really crucial? In Asia I even bought these "racks" (they look like a ring with 3 tongs on them, wish I could draw it here) that you supposedly can cool the cakes on them. I have not even attempted, with my limited time playing with my genoise. Thank you for your thoughts.

Sorry to be redundant, but after I posted it I saw Spaghetttti's (too many t's? )post and just wanted to point out the proportions is the same. It actually goes like flour: water: butter: eggs = 1 (in cup, not weight) : 1 (in cup, not weight): 1 (in stick): 4 (in # of eggs) It is rather easy to remember this way, although actually I weigh everything on a scale so I have to convert it back to weight.

With all the pros here, it's brave to venture a guess. I guess it can be a mental exercise... But it does seem to me (1)the water proportion is high, although it does evaporate, I don't know if all of it will, and you did mention your dough is a little soft. also a little low on butter(2) I do not know why using an egg white. Whole eggs are usually used (3) the temp seems high. Perhaps 375-->325, that's what I use. I tried to make my recipe to fit your proportion. It would come out like 3 whole eggs 100 g flour, same as yours 3/4 cup water (yours is 1 cup) 3/4 stick of butter, which is more than yours the salt and sugar should not be crucial

Hi andiesenji Since we are both in southern Cal, perhaps I should be able to find a Vallarta...where is yours? We do have a big mexican market by a different name, can't remember it now. I agree with you. The only reason I buy margarine is to line my cake pans as I am trying to save a little $$. (I guess I will get Baker's Joy someday but I like buttering and flouring, as I can use cocoa for darker cakes) I don't like shortening either and would rather use lard (but don't know where to find the good kidney fat, have not been able to do that). As a physician, I totally endorse the natural stuff. I was taking the cake decorating course and taught to make the frosting with Crisco, I kept asking the instructor how much butter I can substitute I think she got annoyed. The only drawback is the loss of white color. But who wants to eat that greasy-in-your-mouth stuff? Just got a bottle of the TJ stuff--it's actually a pint, $2.19, cheapter than the whipping cream which is also there for $2.99. But that's still expensive for me. But costco has the longest line so I thought I would indulge once. Besides Petco is right next door and I needed turtle supplies...

I'm one of those people. Ultra pasteurized cream is a scourge. If I happened across the numbnut that sold cream distributors on this idea, I'd throttle him/her. The most frustrating aspect of UHT cream is that, because of the high fat content, the non UHT stuff almost NEVER goes bad. I've used non UHT cream that was 4 months old and it was flawless. A little lumpy perhaps, but nothing a good shake didn't resolve. UHT is purely aesthetic - it doesn't lump. People freak out when they see lumps. There is no culinary trend that makes me sadder than the shift towards ultra pasteurization. Spilled milk may not be worth crying over, but this stuff definitely is. Stick with the Trader Joes heavy cream. And don't sweat the date. Just smell it - you'll know when it's off. It will get lumpy - that's perfectly normal. Celebrate the lumps. It means that you haven't been cursed with a substandard product. ← Thanks, I suspected such... I still wish they had a bigger bottle though. How much is in that little bottle? 1 cup? Ever since they raised the butter prices also (that was more than 1 yr ago I guess) I said bye to cheap Plugra and others, I've been watching my wallet, oh, and that they stopped carrying the vanilla beans (well, I turned "pro" and mail ordered, need a lot for creme brulee anyways)...I still love TJ, cannot resist just walking in there. BTW, everyone is talking about whole foods. We have plenty here which one are we referring to? Their "raw cream"? that stuff is like $9 for a glass bottle. Have not tried it just for the price reason. I don't think it's worth spending too much $$ on something I whip and use as filling. But for other purposes maybe. My quest for heavy cream has other reasons. One day I brought 3 little (4 oz) creme brulees to my nursess (I even torched right in the clinic). They gulped it down in minutes (one claimed she didn't like the "crusty stuff" and scraped it off, I fainted). Then K, my most trust-worthy head nurse, complained it was too small. I said a 4 oz ramekin is the standard size. Her words, which should be quoted and framed-- DO I LOOK LIKE A STANDARD PERSON? I promised her I would make the biggest creme brulee, when I get to it.

Thanks for the replys. The Mexican stuff is really interesting. My nurses (I am a baker stuck in a physician's coat, both wear white anyways, comforting)are all mexican and they always tell me about how good the crema is, but no one ever mentioned WHIPPING it! That sounds exciting. We have plenty here in the local markets. Might be a bit expensive but should test it. It seems like there are different kinds--is the "Grade A Table Cream" the only whippable one? The problem with the manufecturing cream is it has such a short date. I guess the price you pay for not having it ultra-pasturized. I really like the Tradef Joe stuff (heavy cream), I will bet it's not ultra-pasturized, but it's small. The last time I forgot about one bottle in my fridge and it was like a month past the date. I sadly opened it just to see and it smelled perfectly fine. I think I made a small strawberry/cream/genoise cake and my nurses and I devoured it. (no food posioning) Perhaps the NOT-ultrapasturized ones don't go bad that quickly....but I hate to risk.

Hi Sobaicecream (that's interesting...is there such a flavor? I do love soba...) Don't know where you live. These things are all over the LA area and they are all oval. It's pretty crazy. Some bakeries don't even spend enough attention on them and they are half collapsed. Everytime I see one I frown. I am a little embarrassed to do this, but you can find a little pic on my "IN CONSTRUCTION AND DEFINITELY NOT PROFESSIONAL" website. trial site (It is a first-time attempt and might even move or disappear soon. I started on it because my friend was whining over the phone about her cake coming out as a pancake. I told her I will build a website for HER. Considering the # of pros roaming on this site, I get sweaty...but I guess baking is fun, not snobby, so I'll relax.) There are other pics but I can't remember off the top of my head which websites. Have fun!

one more question. Some recipes I got from Asia would always distinguish between "plant-origin" whipping cream (I guess that's not even a cream, it's like a whipped topping) and "animal-origin" (normal dairy stuff I assume). The "manufecturing cream"--is that the real dairy stuff? Does anyone use the "plant" stuff? I think I tried it once and it was yucky. Is there any use of it? Thank you.

Thank you, is the Challenge brand available to "lay" people like us? As far as butter goes...right now I've been getting the 4 1-lb blocks from Sams. I don't know why Costco will not come out with an unsalted butter. Will check Smart and Final again. Last time I bought their margarine and it was very disappointing, all oxidized, perhaps no one likes margarine these days....

Hi I am new. This place is exciting. Please pardon me if there is a thread to my question already (in that case, can you direct me to it?) I am not professional but I try to bake as much as possible. Currently I am getting my whipping cream from Costco ($2.99 for one quart, ultra-pasturized). I cannot afford the better-tasting stuff @ Trader Joe's as it is a much smaller bottle. Where do the professionals get it? I've heard the ultra-pasturized stuff is "bad" but what are my choices? What about "manufecturing cream" from Smart and Final? (I used that and it tasted similar to whipping cream to me). I know there are fat percentage differences but it's not like they are listed. Thank you for your help. I am trying to switch career to baking...

Hi I am new, this is my first post. I looked over my recipe and yours (I have not looked @ the other ones mentioned in the thread). This is a cake that took me 3 or 4 tries before it worked nicely. Mine is similar to yours except two things. I will list my recipe at the end. (1) no sour cream, but milk instead (2) proportionally, there are more yolks I think it would help, because too much whites make it more like a real souffle, which is supposed to collapse. Adding more flour would make it not fluffy. More yolks though, can bind the structure better and keep it nicely moist. Also, the corn starch is a technique borrowed from making Genoise, French sponge cake. I think it is ok to just use low-gluten flour, a mixture, or just starch, but they taste a little different. I personally used a mixture. Since you want it nice and fluffy, low-gluten (aka "weak" "thin" "cake") flour should be better. As far as cracking goes, try turning down the oven temp like described in my recipe. Do not open oven while it's baking. I think it helps. My recipe is as follows sugar 20 g salt a pinch milk 100 g butter 40g cream cheese 170 g flour 15 g corn starch 30 g lemon juice 10 g 5 eggs yolks 3 1/2 whites (sounds a little crazy, but even 4 was a bit too much for me) sugar 75 g (to mix with the whites) cream of tartar a dash preheat to 350 line 8-inch pan, mix everything up till yolks over simmering water (smooth the milk/butter/cream cheese first, then sift in dry stuff, then yolks) beat whites with cream of tartar and sugar. I REALLY think it should be beat till soft peaks, not hard. Mix the two. I do this very slowly in my KitchenAid and it mixers beautifully. When I tried to do it by hand before it never mixed well (and the cake actually came out with a denser layer on bottom) I bake in a warm water bath (not boiling water) at 350 for 25 minutes then turn it down to 300 and bake about 20 minutes. Good luck. I like this cheese cake also. I even went to Taiwan to buy the special oval molds for it.