MightyD

a few years ago, a cook's illustrated magazine advocated the sugaring and squeezing of grated carrots to remove excess moisture in carrot cake baking. is it really worth the time and effort to do this? i do find my carrot cakes a bit soggy after a day or two due to all the moisture from the carrots - or is my recipe just too heavy on the carrots?

thanks very much to all!!

that's the recipe i have as well. does anyone know if it'll freeze well?

hi wendy, that would be absolutely wonderful if you don't mind doing that!! i don't need to make this until mid next week so i have plenty of time. thanks!!

hi all, i have a customer request for a "custard buttercream" and the closest i can think of is a german buttercream. problem is, i've never done it before and have no idea how it should taste, feel, etc etc. the recipe that i have is from the massive CSI's Baking & Pastry book. calls for equal amounts of pastry cream and butter, plus a touch of confectioners' sugar. has anyone tried this recipe? help!!!!

what's your favourite white chocolate to use in baking? i like valrhona very much but the price just kills me ...

I remember vaguely reading something about chocolate cakes and how cocoa affects its texture in that it affects the pH of the batter (ie alkaline in cases of Dutched cocoa and acidic in cases of natural cocoa). The more contact cocoa powder has in contact with the other ingredients, the more the batter deflates. so if you're baking a large batch chocolate recipe that uses cocoa powder, you might want to look into the length of time the batter is mixed. hope this helps!

hi everyone, does anyone know what the accepted general weight of eggs are? there are so many different versions - harold mcgee says 55g (17g yolk, 38g white), rees & amendola says 1.70oz which is 48.2g (15.6g yolk, 32.6g white), and i noticed that the PA&D magazine has egg conversions of 49.5g per egg (18.9g yolk, 30.6g white). i am trying to standardize my recipes and this is proving to be very difficult esp with larger yields.

tres expensive, no?

i've never seen cracks on the cheesecake we bake at school in rectangular moulds on sheet pans - perfectly smooth and even on top we bake it low in a convection oven at about 200F until jiggly this is the recipe we use - it's pretty good 670g cream cheese 270g sour cream 170g sugar 30g cornstarch 4 large eggs flavorings just mix everything together until smooth

in school, we do our cheesecake slabs on regular sheet trays - just plonk down a square metal ring in the middle with parchment underneath - works perfect everytime. just make sure you freeze it solid for easy removal. i've even seen a homemade square "ring" made of 4 pieces of wood used as a cheesecake mould - just bake as usual and freeze.

thanks for the great ideas!! i especially like the idea of using interesting papers (eg japanese etc) and the bamboo leaves but the thought of hand-cutting hundreds of these babies just does not appeal to me .... any thoughts?

wow - thanks everyone!

does anyone have ideas on what to use instead of those much-disliked-frilly-little-doilies used to hold individual pastries?

Laura B, how did you get your brioche a tete looking so perfect??!! mine always comes out a little lopsided ....

Zarela's (953 Second Avenue between 50th and 51st St) is great - reputed to have the best margaritas in town.

hi everyone! first time poster to eGullet here so a bit nervous ... in pastry school, we do use the french baguette recipe to make epis - very easy to shape and come out beautiful once baked.