pastrygirl

Thank you, Jeanne, and thank you, HeatherM, that circular ruffle technique really helps me visualize what to do.

Ok, I found tylose - Jo-Ann was out, but Michael's was just across the street and had a can. How much per pound of fondant? Or will I be able to feel the difference as I knead it in? The cake is assembled and in the freezer, tomorrow I will buttercream it and play with the ruffles and let them dry, then finish it all Tuesday morning.

An interesting thing about legalization is all the info. Everything is analyzed and labeled, lots of strains at 20% or higher THC. Strong stuff!

It's going to be a half sheet, I wanted the ruffles on the top (horizontal) surface, and larger scale than the pic above - a looser wavy fold of "fabric" (see link below). I was thinking today of going up to the cake store that has everything but traffic has been a nightmare lately so I didn't, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get any specialty ingredients but maybe I can run to Michael's on Sunday. Cake is to be picked up Tuesday morning. The shirt is kind of layered, so maybe I can pile layers of fondant on itself. Hmm, thanks for the advice, I've never tried gumpaste or tylose but I'll see what I come up with! http://static.rogerebert.com/redactor_assets/pictures/53a1ff52e3f95f4455000011/Purple-Rain.jpg

I've been requested to make a cake inspired by Prince circa the Purple Rain era - "a riot of purple" and white ruffles like the shirt he wore. I have little experience with fondant, am planning to use marshmallow fondant (melted marshmallows + powdered sugar). Does anyone have any tricks to making the ruffles perky and 3-D? Should I drape them over something the day before and let them dry? I want them to add dimension. Thanks!

SLU market starts May 14. I'll be the one cursing the sun and wishing it was 65 and overcast

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this: "If you’re making a cake, you can throw together the flour, sugar, butter and eggs however you please, and the cake will come out fine — that’s an associative process. Not so for preparing custard. You must first combine the sugar and egg yolks and whisk them into a froth before you pour in the cream. Blend the ingredients in a different order, she said, “and you end up with a runny mess.”" But what do I know?

I was asked to do some special order production for trade shows by a publicist. I used the client's products to make samples of candied nuts, granola bars, and muffins; easy work but specialized and they needed someone with the right health permits. They offered $30 an hour. So if it's a matter of testing a recipe where you spend an hour or two to make sure it works, $35-40 sounds good. If hours of research and multiple formulations go into developing a recipe, hourly rates could add up to hundreds of dollars per finished recipe. Try to find out what they are hoping/willing to pay, or what they have paid before and how many versions they want to see.

Slave is more accurate, I am extremely hard to please. What's so hard about a shiny kitchen and perfect every time? But seriously, I'd be happy to help you out with whatever I know, and chocolate sources. PFI has pretty good prices on callebaut and a few others http://www.bigjohnspfi.com/ or Merlino's should be willing to sell to you at will call. They don't have prices in their catalog, but are generally very nice and helpful on the phone. http://www.merlino.com/web_order/ Or I can hook you up with 2kg bags of Felchlin, it's about $7-$13/# depending on the variety. Peterson has more chocolate than merlino but I don't think they sell to the public. I work on capitol hill and will also be at the SLU Saturday market this summer. If it's too hot, chocolate just doesn't work. You can set up fans or put it in the fridge but some days you're better off not fighting it. I am not happy about record temps in Seattle, business definitely slows down when it's warm. Yes, a few nice polycarbonate molds are worth it. Get a few of a few different shapes. I think the exchange rate is still favorable, so check out dr.ca and choclat-chocolat. Hobby molds are too flimsy for filled centers, but I do use few in novelty shapes. I very rarely hand dip, it is so tedious.

In Seattle, the edibles market is exploding. A lot of confections but also syrups to mix into drinks and oils to cook with. I've heard about a cannabis food truck but not sure if it came to fruition. Personally, though I do consume it frequently in various forms and enjoyed "happy pizza" in Cambodia, I'd avoid a multi course meal of cannabis. Eating it gives you so much less control over how and when it hits you and how much you've consumed. I hope they make sure everyone has a safe ride home, and the next day off!

I don't mind a few bones. Most animals we eat have them, and cooking on the bone adds flavor. I have a hard time eating some preps, for example dishes where poultry is chopped into smaller pieces including bone, but that's more because I feel so inelegant trying to navigate bony, larger than bite sized pieces via chopsticks. I did have one dish in Bhutan that I couldn't handle because of bones. Kitchen staff took some chicken carcasses and hacked them to tiny bits then made a delicious curry for staff lunch. But it was at least half shards of bone, too tedious to try to eat around and too hard on my teeth to eat. I don't believe it was a traditional dish, just cooks trying to stretch the available meat. It still boggled my mind that anyone could eat it.

Thanks for sharing the video. I looked it up, and gelatin starts melting at 77F - I had thought it was around 100F, but now I'm reminded that the reason why gelatin has a nice feel in the mouth is that it melts below body temperature. Looks like an interesting way to do some cocktail flavors without having to weight them down with chocolate or too much sugar. Gelatin info: http://www.molecularrecipes.com/hydrocolloid-guide/gelatin/ I always think of buttercream as Italian meringue buttercream because that is what I use, but you're right, the American version with just butter and sugar would have a bit longer shelf life.

I'd think gelatin would be tricky. Isn't the melting point of gelatin higher than that of chocolate? There are gelatin gummy candies that should have a decent shelf life and could be dipped but I can't see how those would work as filled centers. Otoh, in theory you can put whatever you want in bonbons as long as you're honest about the shelf life. Buttercream might be delicious but keep for only a few days.

Not yet. Re-designing my packaging for a new bar would add another few grand to the project and I still have a few thousand units of packaging to use. I think a bigger bar would be better in some ways, mine only about 1-1/4 oz. I'd like to charge more and fit bulkier inclusions or multiple layers.

If you want to get serious about tropical & sub-tropical fruit, you just need a little greenhouse My brother built one out of old storm windows, it's maybe 5' x 4' x 4' and full of happy, fruiting citrus plants, including my yuzu that I keep trying to kill when I am allowed to take it back home. We're in Seattle, zone 5.

I like a challenge! I've looked into custom molds through Tomric in NY and the polycarbonate is less than $10 per mold but the die tooling is $200-300 plus possibly some design time. So if you want 100 of them to build a brand or product around it would be worth it, but not for a few molds for the hobbyist (unless you are a very wealthy hobbyist)

La fleur de chocolat does have a photo of the actual mold on their Facebook page. Find them and scroll through their photos, it's about 2 years old. No markings that I can see in the photo but maybe it will help. Here is the link to their FB page http://bit.ly/1SqhYV9 and a screenshot

It generally arrives in temper, but solid. You'll need to melt and re-temper it if you plan to use it in a liquid state.

@Lancelot that one looks a lot flatter than the one in the OP

Vegetable oil may be all or part corn oil. Your oven isn't straining at 450f. It's just nice and hot. What do you mean by it collapses? Rises really high then totally sinks in the middle? You might be using too much leavening. No reason why you couldn't try yeast.

Sounds like many sick and vocal celiac sufferers spoke up in that case, and it's more like food tampering than simply not updating your menu. Spring mix instead of local handpicked baby lettuces isn't going to cause people physical pain. It does seem odd to simply be a repacker of bread though.

Ok so I guess if you're substituting with glucose not adding it you're fine but I don't see why you need glucose. The caramel is 2:1 so it should be really runny. Maybe your cream reduced too much? Some water will boil off but I'd guess you would want at least 300g of caramel. Or can you add less fondant?

Just add more cream. Caramelized sugar is going to be hard crack no matter how you get there. Adding glucose is adding more sugar and may have thrown the cream:sugar ratio off.

Stirring the sugar after it has cooled might cause it to crystallize. That's how fudge and fondant work, though I don't have much experience with either. So I'm not sure but i do know that stirring sugar at a different time or temp can change things drastically. At 150f, hard crack sugar wold have thickened somewhat. And since you're not adding pure alcohol, rather liquid that is 20-50% alcohol, the water in the liquor might make the candy sticky.

Ok so for $120 you get meat for a gluttonous feast for 8-10 goose lovers. Still way less expensive than many other premium meats!