Tweety69bird

I have long hair and besides it being a better practice in the kitchen - hygienically, it's just easier to work when it's all up in a bun or ponytail for when you're moving around and bending over etc.. As for the Food Network ladies, you don't see them taking off their jewelry either, do you? Or when they taste from the stirring spoon and put it back in the pot? That freaks me out.

I'm not, but Chef Rubber carries them in case you're looking for the mold.

Congratulations! You will get loads of great advice on here, there's many people who have done wedding cakes. I've done a few, so here's what I would offer as advice: -Don't feel pressure to agree to something you are uncomfortable doing. -Ask all the questions you want to ask. -Take notes on everything the bride says so you're not guessing later on. -Be confident when you're asking the questions (that's what I did and it WORKS!), remember they've probably never ordered a wedding cake before... -Do a search on the net for wedding cake forms to get an idea of what information others look for. -Make up your contract so that it has all of the info on there that you think is critical. Have 2 copies to sign, one for you and one for them. -As others said, have books and/or portfolio ready with ideas -Get contact names where you will be delivering the cake and find out what time you should be there. -Have all the non edible parts ready as soon as you can so they're done and you don't have to worry about it. -Make a timeline for everything that has to be done. -Definately don't sell yourself short. Charge accordingly. Do your homework before you meet with them so you have a good idea of what the competition charges. You should be charging more because it's dessert servings. -I provide a small tasting cake once all the details have been worked out and I try to do a mini version of the actual cake. This goes over very well, but it is more work, and I include it in the cost of the main cake. -You said you know how many people are coming, so have it figured out what your tier sizes should be. If it's a lot of people you can do a smaller cake and have other sheet cakes sent right to the kitchen as SushiCat said. This would be more economical for them. -Have an emergency kit ready to bring with you on delivery. Mine had royal icing, buttercream in the colour I used on the cake, scissors, gloves, a small spatula, a camera(!!) -Absolutely have a deposit for the non edible parts of the cake that you want returned to you. Otherwise you might as well kiss them goodbye. -Bring a friend with you to help with opening doors etc... and keeping you calm. Good luck!!!! Keep us posted!!

I thought I'd add a comment to say that everyone here has been helpful and friendly. It's amazing how much I have learned during my time on eGullet. There is so much to read, and even all the old posts are chock full of information too. I have tried to go through each page of just the P&B forum and read as much as I can. One day hope to find the time to read through the other forums. This site is a wonderful source of information, inspiration and support. So thank you to each and every one of you who have contributed to the wealth of information on this site. ... Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

To me, it's basically a pecan pie without the pecans. I like my butter tart with pecans!

I would think that if she wants to order some (8???) brownies from you that she must have tasted them before. I would have asked her if she had been pleased with the product in the past and then layed it on her that they are generally frozen prior to selling. As well, I would throw in some stuff as has been already mentionned about the freezing process trapping in the moisture or something above the layman's knowledge. I always hesititate before saying the word "freezer", but anyone who thinks that every product can be baked fresh daily for a whole bakery has no clue what they're talking about and I wouln't hesitate to explain that to them... in a much nicer way though. What did you end up doing?

Along the same lines, Fetchbook has been very helpful to me. As well, eBay can be pretty good to find books... you can enter your criteria and let it search for you. They will send you alerts when something comes up. I was able to get 2 of Notter's books at very sweet prices that way. Second hand bookstores can be places to make great finds occasionally. I found come good ones in LaSalle area when I was searching a while back. Also Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks will be a great place to look. She's in NYC. Good luck.

Anytime I've done a cheesecake with the sour cream topping, I baked the cheesecake till it was almost done, and then I took it out of the oven and spread the sour cream mixed with some sugar, on top, reserving about 1/4 cup. Then depending on the flavour, I would add that component to the left over and make a spiral on the cake using a piping bag and drag it out with toothpicks to make an attractive design. Then, back into the oven for about 5 minutes. Good luck!

I'll just add that you should have a decent camera and take alot of pictures. Later on you will be so grateful that you did! Enjoy, and I'm sure you will do great!

I haven't tried this but I do remember seeing Jacques Torres make a gelatin mold using a champagne bottle. He made the mold for half the bottle, made 2 halves in chocolate and stuck them together once they were filled with champagne truffles. It looked easy enough. I would think you want a heavy amound of gelatin in there to keep things as solid as possible, but I have no ratio for you.

According to the article that was in the Gazette on Saturday, they will still be selling their smoked meat through other stores.

OK, I'll take a stab at this. First of all, you ordered your bagels from Montreal, right? Second, I have no idea what a bialy is, but I do know you can freeze bagels just fine. Me, I like to toast them up and spread on the cream cheese, it's soooo good on a cinnamon rainsin bagel! As for eating them un toasted once they have been frozen... maybe a few secs in the microwave, wrapped in a damp papertowel will do the trick, but you'll have to eat it fast before the aftereffects of microwaving take effect...ie, rubberry and hard!

I think the icing on the cookie you linked to helps to make it look like it has sharper edges. Martha Stewart's sugar cookie recipe is a nice one.

Well, I deffinately feel better now... thanks for the advice guys.. I think I'm going to go with achevres' version. I actually even have Maldon salt, so it might be a sign... Dipping in chocolate would be good, but I'm just so disenheartened with this batch that I just want to get it over with... but I will keep that in mind for the next time I make them. They really taste great though... that's their saving grace.

Thanks for starting this thread... I had some bad results this weekend too. Trying the Korova cookies from Pierre Herme (hmm.... notice a trend here?) and they were too crumbly, so I nuked the batter to soften it and finally was able to form the batter into a roll that would hold together, sliced and baked.... and the cookies didn't move in the oven! They came out exactly as I had cut them... which is not the prettiest appearance... I was expecting them to spread a bit and come out, well, more cookie like.. these were a test run for this years cookie exchange.. and of course I've already made all the dough and froze it, so I have to figure out how to process it to get a decent result. I don't know which is worse, to have to present less than perfect items to other professionals like alanamoana had to do or to present them to a bunch of regular folks like at my regular job, where they all expect me to pull off something fancy!

rjwong and tommy, thank you both!

I'm going to be heading to LV in Jan and am trying to organize what we'll be eating while there. After reading all the LOS posts, with not one bad entry, I really want to go. While I usually opt for the hottest food available, my better half can't handle too much heat. Will the food at LOS be bearable for him? I hear that their scale of 1-10 for hotness starts at hot.

A Paris-Brest would be a great idea! Your daughter could learn the story behind its creation and tell it to the class too! Short version of the story - It was a dessert that was created on a train that went from Paris to Brest for some important individuals... royalty maybe, not remembering right now... and the chef came up with this creation and it was named the Paris-Brest because that's where the train was going. I tried to search for a better version of the story and the only thing I came up with is that it was created in honour of the Paris-Brest-Paris race, which is not correct. Other items are the St. Honoré dessert, Croquembouche or Macarons. Good luck!

Kerry, Very beautiful presentation! I love pears... and I can just taste this. Yum. Your chocolate pear is beautiful also, nice colour. I think the next person is going to be miladyinsanity Um... did you say something about a sous vide demo?

At Dic Ann's do they still slide your order under a little wooden door on the counter? What a silly claim to fame... burgers so flat they can slide under the door!

How did you top them off? I can see it being easy if you have a filling that crusts over, but my original aim was to use them for a liquid filling with no sugar. I wasn't thinking of rolling them in chocolate or cocao but rather leaving them with the shine. I did write back asking about how to fill the mold. The person told me to fill it to the top and then dump it as you would any hollow mold, but my problem is in the detail of how to fill it quickly enough without making a huge mess. ← We filled them with ganache and would put them in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Then we would just top off with chocolate in a cornet. I don't think you need your filling to crust over.... just that it's thick enough to support the weight of the chocolate without it sinking into the filling. If you were doing a liquor filling, maybe the 10 min in the fridge would thicken it up just enough to support the chocolate. Good luck.

In school we used chocolate shells that obviously had come out of a mold similar to yours... but we didn't make them. So all I can tell you is that we did fill them up and top them off with chocolate and they were fine, especially once rolled in more chocolate and cocoa, you never saw the original hole. They really should send directions with a mold like that. The only thing that doesn't sound like it'll cause a huge mess is to paint the shells... but that's only good for a few and very time consuming, and for sure you'd need more than one coat. Why don't you give them a call?

You got it. TPT means equal amounts of sugar and nuts. Whether it's powderred sugar or granulated... I'll let someone else chime in here...

Well done K8! Great demo. Inspiring me to make them too... we'll see. I'm sure my mom will be so pleased that I'll be using the table cloth she gave me for that!!

Michael, What a beautiful dessert! Very colourful and festive, perfect for New Year's! Can you explain a bit more the process that you followed for the Lime crème brulee "Legos" with the bubble wrap? Did you cook up the brulee recipe and then pour it onto the bubble wrap? I would think the brulee mix would be too hot... it's a fantastic end result. I trust recipes will be posted?